Legacy

We just got back a couple of days ago from our 3 weeks in San Diego. I think I might be caught up on sleep now...and almost caught up on laundry.  To be honest, I (Trina) was not quite ready for project when we started.  There were a lot of last minute decisions and a few kinks to work out.  We were the Ops Directors, which meant we were a part of the leadership team and in charge of all the "details" of project: notebooks for students, finances, housing, schedules, etc.  The first 3 days were just the staff, trying to make sure we had it all together for students to show up.  Though the check-in process can be a bit hectic, the arrival of students really brings the excitement.  21 students (one guy had to drop out at the last minute due to sickness) from all over the country showed up June 17th ready to go, full of expectation, faith, and maybe a little nervousness.  But it wasn't long before they all bonded together and started experiencing God working in their lives.  In fact, by the end of project, they were referred to as the "blob" since they tended to travel around in one cohesive group.

2 weeks doesn't seem long, but it is amazing what God can do when that time is focused and full of opportunities to learn.  We spent almost every morning together hearing from Jay Cline (a fellow staff member) teaching on how to walk in dependence on the Holy Spirit.  It was always challenging and brought God's power to change our lives to the forefront of every day.  Following the teaching, we had "tool times" for training in evangelism.  Then we had time set aside for everyone to spend some quiet time with the Lord using a devotional guide called Thirsty.  After a quick lunch we all met up to put what we'd learned into practice by sharing our faith either at the beach or a local college campus.  For most of these students, this was the first time they had ever done anything like this.  God took their mustard seeds of faith and used them beyond what they thought possible.  Our first day on the beach, I went with Katie (from Marshall University in West Virginia) for her first evangelism experience.  I identified with her shyness and fear of talking to strangers, but after some prayer, we just went for it.  We had some fun and encouraging conversations with some teenage girls and a single mother dealing with a rebellious son.  We met back together with everyone after a couple of hours to share many stories about the interactions God had given us. Every day was full of encouraging stories...whether about people ripe for the gospel or difficult conversations with hurt and jaded people far from God.

Our evenings were spent together, either hearing from a guest speaker teaching how to grow in our ability to have spiritual conversations with nonbelievers, or in our small groups (3-4 students getting a chance to go deeper together).  We had the privilege of hearing from Randy Newman, writer of Questioning Evangelism, Scott Waller, a PhD who works with professors, and Holly Sheldon, a member of our National Leadership team who specializes in helping us send all of our students into the world with a mission.

Needless to say, we have come away with plenty to think about and continue to process.  I'm just hoping that we can all really make the time to fully digest it and put everything we've learned into practice.  Pray with us that these 2 weeks in San Diego were just the launching point for God doing some amazing things in and through everyone on the Legacy Summer Project.