Summit Ministries

There are no words that could adequately describe the past two weeks. This was my second time attending the Summit as a student, and I did not think it would be possible to top my first trip in 2005. Well, it did!! We had an incredible group of students of whom I was very proud to be a part.

Up bright and early this morning for a great breakfast prepared by the Kitchen Staff, then devotions led by a staff member. Today's speaker was Dr. Del Tackett of Focus on the Family. He spoke on the subject of Leadership and the Christian history of our founding fathers and their impact on our country. To me, this was very important because of the present state of our country as a whole. We have come so far from the roots of our past. The Christian heritage we have a nation is immense; no matter where you turn in our nation's capitol you can see the past in the present—see the grace of God watching over our nation's leaders.

Wow. Today was absolutely amazing. As Doctor Noebel usually says, "...More fun than a human ought to have." This morning, I woke up at about 7:15 am. The previous night was extremely hot, so our room had left the fan on at full blast all night. As I woke up, I was overcome with severe chills. Little did I know, it was going to be quite a cold day.

I came to Summit Ministries, thinking that nobody could change my atheistic beliefs. I had grown up in a Christian home (and my father was actually a pastor of a Presbyterian church) so I had been shown a lot of love and support from many Christians. However, I grew up in a very liberal environment, where I was taught that I should question everything…that I should delve deeper and deeper into "truths" that were given to me since I was born.

I came to Summit Ministries with an open mind. My parents sent me because I will be going to a secular college and they want me to have a strong foundation for the faith that I possess. I am so glad that God put this ministry on their heart because I have learned so much already, and we still have one week to go. Like Dr. Noebel says, "We're going to have more fun than a human ought to have." I strongly encourage any parent to send all their kids to this ministry, because their lives will be changed forever.

On June 24th, in the 2007th year of our Lord, the ardently determined students of Summit Ministries undertook the daunting tasks of scaling Pike's Peak and rafting the mighty Arkansas River. Both groups began their adventures at 6:00 am and returned by 2:00 this afternoon. Roughly 50 young men and women rose to the lofty height of 14,110 feet above sea level, atop the scenic and majestic Pike's Peak. A second group of about 100 went rafting down the Arkansas River through raging rapids. Both groups returned to the Summit Hotel with excitement and enthusiasm about the warm showers and long naps to follow the long days activities.

Today was our first long sports time and cookout at the park!!! It was a beautiful day, and although rain is nice, we were glad thunderstorms did not cut our time short.:-) I was mainly on the volleyball front, where the pros were amazing to watch and the speed volleyball was fast and fun! From what I heard of the other games—football (which quickly devolved into a simple game of catch amongst those who actually knew how to play :-P), frisbee, soccer, and catching the baseball—they were also great. The musicians were hard at work as well, choosing solitude and the beauty of melody over inferior human companionship. Some Air Force Academy cadets came looking for siblings, and hoping to have some fun, which they did get a little, but their fun ended in a sprained ankle.

Coming to Summit, I never anticipated just how good the speakers would be. Mark Cahill was the only one I had heard before, so I suspected they would be good. Wow. I am amazed I haven't heard of them before. Today, Mr. and Mrs. Nutting, a geologist and biologist respectively, came and spoke to us on the subject of evolution. It was entertaining and enlightening both at the same time. They addressed the issue of a young earth, the mathematical chances of evolution, the evidence against macro–evolution (technical term, learning stuff all the time), as well as how there is a large variety of evidence for a worldwide flood. The open forum was almost better to listen to as they offered evidence on how dating methods often reveal a young earth and how even the moon offers evidence of this.

"If you do not engage the culture, the culture will engage you."—Mark Cahill

Today is Wednesday which means that we are half–way through our first week already. The amount of knowledge that we have obtained in the time that we have been here has been fantastic. Although frustrating at times, the idea that we must understand what we believe is understood. I enjoy many of the speakers, but being that this is my second year here, I notice some familiar names and faces of the speakers here at Summit. Two of these are Dr. Frank Beckwith and Dr. Michael Bauman.

The second full day at Summit! This morning I woke up much earlier than I'm used to to try to fight for one of the 9 or 10 showers available for the 90–some girls here. Victory was achieved and what was even more awesome, the water temp wasn't 20 degrees!

God is great!!! It is amazing how God's hand has led so many like minded people here to Colorado to glorify Him. Dr. Linden started this day off with a awesome message on leadership by trusting in God's sovereignty. No human has the right to grumble or complain because God has control all to come about for His own glory. How awesome it is that God has given us all a spirit of joy here at "The Summit." He has also blessed us with a chance to rejoice in His beautiful creation, here among the mountains.

It sounds so melodramatic, doesn't it? Day of Destiny. And yet, isn't that what we live our lives for? Something to break us out of the routine, the normal, the every day... something to be our Day of Destiny after which we know that we can never be the same.

Our time at SUMMIT came to an end today, I am not sure how to feel. It is a feeling of excitement to go into the world and use the knowledge that I have gained over the course of the two weeks. But it also means leaving good friends that were complete strangers to me two weeks ago.

Well, today started off with another 7am wake–up. Though this time with the clanging of a pot instead of that infernal bell. Following another excellent breakfast, we made our way to the classroom to begin the day. Unfortunately, Doc Noebel left last night to speak at a home–school conference in Denver so we missed him and his Bible hour this morning. Del Tackett, however, spoke in his place on America's Christian heritage. He was followed by Jeff Myers who spoke on leadership.

Many of us are lamenting that the days we spend here at Summit are waning. Every day brings a more intense learning curve of information, and during every speaker's presentation, we furiously scribble notes as they share all of their expertise. Of the dozen speakers that we've heard in the past ten days, Dr. Michael Bauman's topics (the meaning of meaning in a morally relative culture, major themes in C. S. Lewis' book The Problem of Pain, and the differing opinions of century–old church leaders Augustine and Pelagious) have had the most impression on me.

Another day at Summit ticks by, bringing us closer to the end. Everyone seems sobered by the fact that we can not stay here forever. New friends are preparing for separation and tears are already being shed in anticipation of returning to their old lives in the real world. But every tear is worth it, because I don't think that a person here would trade their newfound friends and experiences, for the pain of separation. Everyone here has been truly blessed by the atmosphere of encouragement in which they are surrounded. The staff are truly a blessing, and every one has a heart for the Lord that continually challenges all the students to grow. Every kid is learning and changing, and I can already see a difference in many of them even in this short amount of time.

Greetings from the Summit! For those of you who are reading this, you are already aware of various aspects of teaching that we are receiving. Summit has been equipping it's students to be the responsible and strong leaders of tomorrow for several years now and has certainly not wavered from that goal in any way, shape, or form. 2 Tim 2:15 states "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

Today was day eight here at Summit! It has been an amazing experience so far. God is awesome and has continued to teach us new things each day!

Hello, friends and family! As most of you know, here at Summit the speakers and staff have helped thousands of students gain wisdom and understanding by teaching them what a Christian's worldview is, as well as showing them what secular worldviews teach. Wisdom and understanding's value and importance can be found countless times in the Bible; the following verse is a perfect example: "Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold." Proverbs 3:13,14

Today was a fantastic day; filled with excitement and new understanding. As usual, the day started out with breakfast, our daily devotions and then 2 or 3 speakers talked with the summit group on various world subjects/issues in today's society. Our afternoon consisted of lunch, one more session and then free time. After free time we had dinner, open form, free time, then praise and worship. Next we had a session with Dr. Noebel ending with a video. Our day was busy yet very fulfilling.

Here we sit in Colorado… A room filled with the rooms of tomorrow. Learning how to defend what we will say, When we stand for Christ in our schools each day.

Today started out very windy, but God's majesty still shined through! The wind gusts were up to 75 mph! During all of that it was still very sunny and we were ready to learn about God's word. Getting up very early can be difficult for us because we get so little sleep. It really blesses me to see strangers introducing themselves to other people. Coming to Summit forces us to have to come out of our "comfort zone", and meet new people.

Hey! It's news from Manitou Springs once again! It's been tough sleeping for only 6 hours, but the speakers are CAPTIVATING!

Today we had Kevin Bywater speak about Islam and the Gospels. I was really excited about the Islam session because in St. Cloud we have a lot of that group living there. He spoke on how we can evangelize to them without shaming them. Shaming might sound weird, at least that what I thought at first except Kevin explained that if you are in a debate with a Moslem you can shame them if they "lose" the debate. So he said that if we keep a calm voice and don't try to put them down… that will get a long way.

Day number two of Summit Ministries and session two is starting out really well. I requested to write on the second day because I didn't think I would have much to say about check-in and everything on Sunday, but honestly, even the first day was a blog-worthy experience as my learning experience started last night. First off, the staff here at Summit are great people with a real heart for what they're doing. Everyone has a passion for this ministry, from the lecturers to the cooks, (not to say the cooks are any less, important—food comes pretty high on my list of life essentials and cooking for almost 200 hungry teenagers is no small feat). Back to the passion thing, it's been really cool to see these people's energy and the effort they put into making it a great experience.

After spending an entire session at Summit I have found that my definition of "day" is slightly messed up. Night Watch does that to a man (or woman). I've never considered myself a "night person," but I think I've mostly adjusted to my new work schedule of 10pm-4am each day. I will admit, however, that I still suffer pangs of envy as I send the (fortunate) Summit staff to bed each night at midnight.

A few days before I arrived at The Summit I was doubting whether or not I made the right decision to take two weeks off work to attend. I had to justify it in my mind by saying that I was going to get 3 college credit hours. It only took a day to realize that God had definitely been leading me.

We've just wrapped up a wonderful testimony time. The awesome power of God never ceases to amaze me. What a blessing to see how much Summit has meant to people.