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!