Summit Ministries

My experience at Summit has opened my eyes to much about our world today but more so about people, especially myself. You only think you are open to new ideas until you disagree with something. Then, all of a sudden, your wall comes up and no truth but what you deem as truth seems to matter. Kevin Bywater spoke today about witnessing to people from different religious backgrounds, and what stood out most to me was that this process requires you to obtain a relationship with the person or persons that will eventually gain their trust enough in order for them to let down that wall of what is "truth" to them. But what I realized was that I, myself, am just as un-teachable as they are. Thus, in gaining a relationship with them I must not, according to Mark Cahill, approach the situation with the purpose of mere persuasion as you would a debate but instead I must be personal with them. We need to treat them as real people and try to love them, sincerely asking questions about what they believe. This seems so simple, yet I think I end up failing at this little detail quite often. This takes so much pressure off me when witnessing because I am not just trying to force my beliefs on someone but rather let the Holy Spirit use the conversation to do what He desires in it.
Another thing I have really appreciated about Summit is that it is such a good environment to ask all those tough questions. I love it when you can go to a place in which the answers to your questions come from people who have actually already sought out those answers rather than those who are content with giving you an answer just to appease the audience without ever being helpful in the process. Professors today need to be passionate about what they know. How else is that going to be passed down to the students? If the teachers don't care what they teach about then the students usually won't care either. That is probably one of the most important things the professors here give to us - they help us care.
Other than all of the classes, I have to say, Summit food is absolutely amazing! I would write more but it can't really get better than that!