Pushing the envelope

What a week! Burlington is BEAUTIFUL! Mountains and a lake…what more can you ask for?! Only one major mishap so far…my co-worker and I got locked out of our dorm the first night we were here…had to go to my director’s house and wake him up at 12:45 to help us get back in! Woops!

The team leaders got here yesterday and today was the first day of training with them. I love this group of students! It’s encouraging to see their excitement for the summer. One of the highlights was hearing each person share their testimony…it’s amazing to see how God has brought so many different people together. Justin (our director) gave some great vision on what he would love to see happen this summer. One of our goals this summer is to “push the envelope”…we’ll have each student in the program give their testimony in front of the group. We’ll go out and initiate spiritual conversations with people in Burlington. The thought of doing either or both of these things will make some students extremely intimidated. But they’ll push past their fear and see God work in and through them. It's a good thing I have it all together and won't have my "envelope pushed" at all :)

We showed a clip from “The Mask of Zorro” to illustrate some principles about discipleship. Zorro takes time to train Alejandro. He tells him that he’ll teach him everything he knows. He saw something in Alejandro and helped call out his giftings. He believed in him. He was patient with him. He affirmed him. He showed him by example. All of these things are basics when discipling someone. Discipleship is friendship with a vision…you see where the person can go and who they can become and you walk alongside them as they get there.

The team leaders will take some time tomorrow to prepare for the students who will be on their team. I can’t wait to watch them step out in faith, lead well and see what God does through them.

The rest of the students get here on Saturday and then the fun really begins!

Burlington or Bust!

Tomorrow morning I’ll be hittin the road for Vermont! I think I’ve completely overpacked…my car is stuffed! I’ll be up there working with The Navigators for 9 weeks…helping to staff a summer training program – Green Mountain Summer. Forty-six college students from around the country will be a part of GMS (29 of which are from our ministry at Penn State!). The purpose of this summer program is to give the students an opportunity to live in community (we’ll be living in a dorm for the summer…yep, I said WE!), give them an opportunity to grow exponentially in their relationship with Jesus and to give them an opportunity to work in the community of Burlington and minister to their co-workers. I’ll be giving more specifics of the program in later posts…so stay tuned!

I’m so excited to be experiencing something new. While I’m excited, I don’t know what to expect. What will the town be like? What will GMS be like? What will my role look like (I'm the women's director...I'll be overseeing 24 women)? While I don’t fully know what to expect in terms of all of the details, I do expect one thing…for God to move. A group of 50 people are taking their summer to get to know Jesus in a deeper way. That’s a recipe for something huge to happen. People will learn to love one another and serve one another. It won’t be easy all the time, but in the end we will see something bigger than we could have asked or imagined. I can't wait to see what God has in store!

I’d be fooling myself if I thought that the transformation would only happen in the lives of the students. I know I will be challenged, stretched and will have to depend on Jesus in many ways. I can’t live out of my flesh or out of my fears…I need to move in strength, confidence and truth.

Our theme verse for the summer is Psalm 86:11 – “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an UNDIVIDED heart, that I may fear your name."

Pray for undivided hearts this summer!

Now I've Done it!

I can't believe I'm writing my first post on MY blog! Leah, aren't you proud of me?!! I've been putting this off for over a year...it's long overdue! What kept me from starting a blog? I couldn't think of a name! I'm still not too sold on my title, but it comes from a theme I seem to be coming across in my life. It's a lesson parents try to teach their children...it's not all about me! At this stage in life I think I should have grasped this one by now! At any rate, I'm learning it all over again. I feel as though God is asking me to step beyond MY limits. Go beyond what I think I can do and enter into what only HE can do. The results of what I do, what I accomplish, will only be because of HIM, not because of me. Life isn't about looking to see how I can meet my needs...it's about looking outside of me, BEYOND ME, to see how I can serve those around me. All of this is indeed beyond me...I need the strength of the One greater than me.

Well, I need to stop typing and head to bed..it's much past my bedtime! But I can sleep well knowing that I've finally begun what I've wanted to do for so long!