summer project update

Photo by Peter Peckarsky. New ferris wheel 2 blocks from our hotel

the 1 and only:
Myrtle Beach

Here are a few words from my 3 week visit to Myrtle Beach (MB) for the summer-long Leadership Project:

sticky- it doesn’t matter when or how often you shower, you always feel sticky
cultural- MB= the mecca for Ohio, so you’re bound to meet an “Ohioan”, and walking down the strip is a free cultural experience in and of itself
"no vacancy"- there must be 1million beds in MB...and they're always full! And everyone is either on the beach, playing putt-putt or at Wal-mart on Hwy 501.

                                             seeing the theme lived out:

students at theme meeting Monday night

“Taste and See,” referring to Isaiah 55:1-5 and Psalm 34:8, is the theme for our summer projects. We want to learn that Christ offers us complete satisfaction when we walk with him and that we experience that reality by “tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.”

A student I met the 2nd day of the Leadership Project told me his goal for the summer was to earn money; he wasn’t really interested in the spiritual part of the summer.  I really appreciated his honesty, but I started praying that he would taste and see God's character and goodness and that there is so much more to take from this summer than a paycheck.  The last week of my visit I was catching up with him and asked him what he was learning so far; he shared how much his mindset had changed from the first week and how he couldn’t get enough of reading the Bible.  God changing the student’s heart was so evident and powerful- that doesn't happen by chance!

Continue to pray for our 150+ staff and students: that this June and July of “tasting and seeing” God and Jesus through relationships, talks, socials, work, sports training, Bible study and prayer training, and sharing their faith would be laying foundations to build on for a lifetime of satisfaction and obedience in Christ.