Pouring Out

If I could describe the second half of Summer Project in a couple of words, it would be "Pouring Out."  The second half of the summer was markedly different than the first because we as students were running the project after staff left.  There were no adults around to keep us accountable, so we had to step up as leaders and make sure that project ran smoothly and that we were being effective in serving the Lord.  As I said before, all of the Campus Crusade staff and interns left at the end of June, so they chose 6 student directors, team leaders for our various ministry teams, and Bible study leaders.  With that came new time commitments with our already-busy schedule, more responsibility, and more opportunities to grow.

As a Bible study leader, I was especially challenged in my use of time.  I discipled 3 other girls each week for 2 hours each, as well as myself getting discipled by another girl.  The first hour of discipleship was sharing the Gospel out on the beach, and the second hour was spent in the Word, kinda like a mini Bible study.  I learned SO MUCH through teaching others; all the preparation that I had to do really made me dig into the Word and spend time processing all that I wanted to go through with my girls.  It was awesome being able to meet each of them where they were at and pour out all that God was teaching me.  I also spent a lot of time preparing for Bible Study each week.  This summer we studied the gospel of Mark in-depth, and I really learned so much more as a Bible Study leader because I studied the Bible in a more intense way.  It amazed me how much I could get out of Mark and how there were so many perspectives from other girls in the Bible study.  It really is true that you learn more as the teacher.  But..through this I learned how important it was for me to be in the Word for myself, because it's hard to pour into others when you're running on empty.  So I did experience some dry times when I was doing more things for the Lord than I was with the Lord.  Through that I learned the value and necessity of spending time with God every day.  I am excited to lead the women's Bible Study in Smith Hall this year at college.  I also am looking forward to being discipled and discipling an underclassman girl...I can't wait to use what I've learned on Summer Project back at school.  I am so thankful that God blessed me with this training and experience in leadership.

I saw so many people step up into leadership roles this summer and it was really encouraging to see.  We as students got especially close because we had to support each other even more to be able to lead in ministry.  It showed me the importance of building up and encouraging other believers.  Our busy schedule remained and we grew stronger as a project when we banded together.  One big event that we had was a large-scale outreach where we focused on serving and loving the community.  We had a big Slip'n Slide on the Beach, a sand castle-building contest, and handed out freezy pops in order to draw people in and just start conversations.  We also had a large graffiti board with the questions: "Are you afraid to Die? What's Next?" written on it, and people could go up and write their thoughts on it.  This outreach focused on reaching as many people as possible in a relational way.  So this summer not only focused on training and building up believers in our movement, but also reaching the lost and building relationships outside of our group. 

We were also able to really pour out to our coworkers and be ambassadors for Christ in the workplace.  We all built really strong relationships with our coworkers, whether it be friendships, spiritual conversations at work, inviting them to our weekly meeting, or hanging out outside of work.  We had many people come to our weekly meetings-some were from work, some were neighbors, and others were people we met during outreach.  Pouring out to others through leadership and outreach really characterized second half of project and gave us vision for the upcoming school year.  We've been trained and poured into so that we can pour out what we've learned to others.  2nd half of project really provided us with that hands-on experience and helped us to see what it will be like when we go back to school. 

"God does not call the equipped; He equips the called."  We have all been called to reach out to others and build each other up; we have all been called to pour out what's been poured into us, and He will equip us to do so... I just want to encourage you as I have been challenged in that.