Summit Ministries

Well, we have reached the conclusion of our last session of Summit this summer. What a crazy ride! I am so glad you decided to experience a little piece of Summit with us through this Blog. The student here, last session, and in VA worked very hard to offer you a glimpse of their amazing experience here at Summit. This is my second year staffing with Summit and I can tell you, these summers at Summit transform lives in a way only God's grace can explain. I speak for the staff when I say we couldn't be prouder of our students and all there hours of intense study! The students wanted to tell you all one last time what they thought of their time at the Summit. Here are a few lines about Summit or referencing some important phrases that became a part of our dialogue here at Summit:
"Summit taught me that good communication is not about what I say, it's about what you hear." - Laura
"Summit is money!" -Sarah
"In order to impact our world, we first have to understand it and then learn to love people." -Abbi
"Summit has taught me how to think... critically." -Sarah
"Summit has challenged me to reconsider the split between sacred and secular." - Jarred
"Be Real." -Mallory
"Real people searching for real truth." -Caitlin
"Everything teaches something. Its important to know what you believe and to know it to the max!" -Nicole
"Changed my life." -Luisa
"I was taking notes and I was overwhelmed with all the information." -Whooster
"Even Jocks have a worldview." -Lee
"One word - Phenomenal" -Emily
"Two words - Really Phenomenal" -Michael
"At Summit, I have learned so much crucial information about engaging the worldviews around me and knowing what I believe. More important for than this, however, I have realized the need to try to love, as Christ would, whoever the Lord places in my path in order to point them to Him." -Timothy

I came to Summit to prepare me for the different views I would see at college. I have met tons of new friends with the same intellectual curiosity about Christianity that I have. I have especially enjoyed our small group and how it was able to deepen my understanding of the Gospel. We were able to trace the symbolic meanings of thorns throughout the Old and New Testament while battling mental and physical exhaustion from a day of hard "Summit work." The speakers at Summit each brought a new element to the table. From crazy Dr. Wise and his wild antics to Dr. Bauman's mind twisting concepts, Summit never produced a dull moment. Although we spent over 70 hours in lectures, we had plenty to do outside of the lecture hall. The extracurricular activities here rock. It sounds simple, but it's true. Everyone has their niche that they fit into with their own little set of people. The time outside of the classroom has been invaluable to building relationships that I hope last a lifetime. I have treasured my time here at The Summit and hope to return next year for even more training and good times! BTW the counselors here rock!

Russell

Well hello everyone out there in internet land! I hope everyone is doing well! Summit has been an awesome experience. I hope to take home all the information I've learned and apply it to my life. Today we played wiffle ball which was craziness, and took the group picture finally after a day of rain. It started raining this morning but by God's grace he stopped the rain and brought out the sun just for us!
Today we learned about the laws and Government, masculinity and femininity, and reworking the great commission which had a lot of good info and a lot of applicable uses. One of the major points was that we need to work through the local church to influence the world and not to look at the church as the building that we come to worship in but the group of believers that are there and in the community! It's been a great 2 weeks here at Summit. Everyone here is sad that were all leaving Saturday.. :[ God has been in all the speakers and I recommend it to anyone considering coming.

God Bless,
Earl

Summit has been absolutely phenomenal, just like last year. We've had a ton of great lectures by a handful of amazing professors and speakers. Topics ranging from feminism to abortion to economics to social justice, it's all been extremely enlightening, helping to spark our interest and further our knowledge of the world around us. At Summit, we've been learning something very important: not only to see the world around us, but to know the world around us. As C.S. Lewis once said, "I believe in Christianity just as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." We've learned the worldviews of other people around us and how to see the world through Christian lenses. We've also learned how to approach people who don't hold the same beliefs as us, with love yet with the will to stand firm in our beliefs without compromising. Today we learned from speakers such as French, who taught us about what to do when we are approached by hedonistic university professors who don't hold the same beliefs that we do and often abuse ours. We also learned from Cleveland who taught us about economics, justice, and different worldviews. And Moffitt who taught us how to make a difference in our world and change the problems it has today. Every session was really helpful, in giving us all some knowledge that we didn't have and adding on to the knowledge that we did. Besides these fantastic sessions, we've also had a blast playing different sports, going to WalMart, hanging out in the Lion's Den, and so much more. Summit's been a truly remarkable experience, once again for me, and I pray that we all strive towards the same goal. To be, "...Children of God...in a crooked and depraved generation...in which you shine like stars in the universe." (Philippians 2: 14-16) -Jori

Hey guys, my name is Caitlin. I am one of the students attending Summit at Bryan College.
I'm supposed to be informing you about the wonderful day we had today. Our first speaker today was Kevin McCullough. He is a political radio host. We had a great time listening to him explain all the faults in our government, but we had an even better time when we got a chance to debate our views of government. We all followed the poor man to the lunch table and gave him one heck of a time. I made a decision today that I NEVER want to be President. Following the heated lunch table debate was Dr. Jones and his speech on Truth and Beauty. Directly following Dr. Jones was our "free time". To anyone who is wondering, the Summit Staff lied. It is NOT "free time"; they just make you THINK you can go to your room and crash. When in reality they set up tempting things to do like volleyball, frisbee, and soccer. I am very proud to say that I am learning volleyball pretty well. I am NOT proud to say that ultimate frisbee TOTALLY kicked my tail. And I thought it was a homeschooler's game. Anyway, to finish things off we went to our evening session with Reverend Moore. This has been a very stimulating and exhausting day. All this to say, I love it. Come to Summit! Whoo! -Caitlin

"Alright, guys, this next part is called Flipper, and it's not named after the dolphin." Who would have thought that after surviving a week of intensive lectures, I'd die on a Class-4 rapid doing its best to live up to its name? It's Sunday, the first day of our second week, and the Summit staff certainly developed an interesting way to turn our minds upon God. This morning, I -along with over half the students at Summit- woke up before seven, snatched a quick breakfast, and headed to the Ocoee River to go white-water rafting. Once we were there, I hopped into a raft with six other kids and the coolest guide in Tennessee. Somehow, I survived Flippers, Diamond-splitters, and Slicers to make it back to Bryan in the afternoon. After some downtime and another fantastic dinner, I was herded into the Rudd Auditorium to hear Mike Haley present a lecture on homosexuality. He did a fantastic job of displaying how society is affected by the gay/lesbian agenda, then went even further to inform us on how Christians should react, even presenting his own life story to illustrate his points. After a full week of learning, it's still a blessing to be here and to learn about the issues that will shape the society that I'll be growing up in.
-Kevin

Its day 7 and we are half way through the session. All the speakers have been fantastic and mind blowing. The days are just all flowing together but have been changing to me personally. It is my second year here and I'm learning something new from every session. Every day after our minds have been blown away by the speakers, we come together for a recap in small groups that always have deep discussions - after all the jokes in the first twenty minutes.
Today was only a half day of classes and the rest was up to us. I decided to go to Chattanooga to talk with the locals. Our goal was to just get a friendly conversation with the people there in the city and see where God would take it. While at a gas station my friends told me to buy a rose for no reason. So I did that and ended up giving it away at Walgreens to an old lady. I first approached her and asked her how she was doing and if she needed any help. She replied saying no and I then asked her after some small talk if she wanted the rose. She said "don't you have someone more special to give it to?" I quickly replied that I wanted to give her the beautiful rose and her smile was priceless. She accepted the small gift and continued on her day. The story was nothing big, just a small gift and the rest was up to God. Who knows what that might have meant to her. All I know, it was an awesome trip!
Tomorrow is Sunday and supposed to be our day of rest. But not for us adventurous types - we are going whitewater rafting. Some are going to the Zoo and the rest are being more conservative and doing things like laundry. Exciting right?
Alright, that is it and its back to the summit community. Please be praying for us as we are seeking to understand God and continue our week of session after session. And always pray that God's plan and purpose will be done. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed,
~Michael

Hellooo..i woke up this morning. I think this has been the fifth morning that I've woken up at Summit. Though I actually woke up in time to eat a decent breakfast, as opposed to yesterday, today was one of the hardest days to get up. I Love my sleep, and I wish I could get more, but I suppose I'm thankful for the sleep that Summit allows me to have. After I woke up, I ate a great breakfast. I've been very, very impressed with the food so far at Summit. Then I moved into the blur of sessions, speakers, and topics that I now have to dissect for this blog. Dr. Bauman talked about the Trinity and Augustine vs. Pelegius (I probably just butchered that name). Maybe "talked" about these subjects is a bad way to put it. He didn't really lecture about it, but really prodded the crowd's brain, and essentially debated about it with the entire crowd. He explained the problem the early church faced with these issues, then we discussed the problem, but I don't really feel like the problem was resolved. I loved it, but I wish he had told us the answer at the end... or maybe he did and I just wasn't completely with it. After the morning sessions, we ate lunch; good food as usual, and I drank two more cappuccinos which I really need to stop drinking coffee before I get addicted to it and go home and stop drinking coffee and completely brake down due to my new addiction acquired at Summit... so I need to stop. After lunch, our first female speaker, Dr. Impson lectured on feminism. The first half of her lecture consisted mainly of the history of the feminist movement. The last half of her speech kind of ticked me off. She made modern feminists look like self centered, ignorant, and completely unjust women. I completely agreed with her, (I wasn't ticked off at her, but modern feminists) aaaannnnddd I'm only half done with this blog... but I have to go to my small group. To finish up real fast, the last guy was really really, really good. He was one of the best speakers. I know I've heard him somewhere before, but I completely forget where. I guess that's the blog THE END. -Joshua

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." -Flannery O'Connor. Whether or not the eggs served at breakfast this morning at Bryan College were actually eggs or not, they were pretty hard to stomach. In all actuality, the food that has been served (so far) at Summit 2009 has been quite delectable! Different servings from day to day are as big of a contrast as the speakers we are privileged to hear. This morning started with an early, shrill, ever annoying sound of the alarm clock, followed by a woman-like possession of the bathroom by Daniel... Though this blog is written by the both of us (Luke and Daniel) hopefully you'll be able to tell the difference between the two (yes mom and dad).... FOR THE RECORD! My (Daniel) long absence in the shower allowed me to avoid the poisonous fumes from Luke's suave hair spray. Once the both of us were all dolled up, the smell of our B.O. was almost unrecognizable, and we finished breakfast, we headed towards the auditorium for a 6+ hours of intensive mental Olympics.
The whole day included three speakers. Dr. Ken Turner, Mr. Scott Klusendorf, and Dr. Kurt Wise spoke on numerous topics which challenged and stretched both of us and provided good conversations and debates throughout the day. This morning started off with none other than the ever famous Bible professor, Dr. Ken Turner. His session this morning focused on the false interpretation of the Bible. Dr. Klusendorf is a known speaker on the particularly controversial subject of abortion. He brought to the table many great scientific and philosophical points and reasons for supporting pro life. Dr. Klusendorf will be participating in a debate at UNC (University of North Carolina) in the proclamation of pro life this fall. Both of us are looking forward to attending this event. Certain differences with the views of the speakers kept us thinking, and meditating on what is really true. As far as apologetical 'tactics' go, Dr. Wise taught us to argue defensively, where as Dr. Klusendorf taught us to argue offensively.
In conclusion "Trot out the Toddler" ....we'll explain later

Sincerely,
Luke and Daniel

[Editorial Note] "Trot out the Toddler is a phrase that Scott Klusendorf taught the Summit students. His point is to emotionally challenge others by considering the ramifications of our views of the unborn if such views were applied to a toddler. The killing of an unborn child should be no less appalling than the killing of a toddler.

Today at Summit is the third full day here, and I must say this is an experience unlike any other I have had. I've had dozens of Christian camp experiences, and none can compare to this. I come from the "Bible Belt" in Texas, and being from there I have grown up with "Christian" beliefs. I know them in my head, but here, here it is blatantly obvious that these are beliefs put into action and applied to daily lives. The worship has been amazing. Josh Bales is one of the single Christian artists I have seen that not only has a passion for the Lord, but shows it with every word of every song. Hearing him lead these nearly two hundred students in worship, and when we all come into one voice, sounds like a chorus of angels. The passion here is amazing! The activities are so focused on unity and togetherness, it's hard to feel alone or unhappy here. The sessions here are simply unbelievable. John Stonestreet and the other speakers have been amazing. Opening my eyes, personally, to so many things. The first thing they said was, "We are to love God with all our hearts, strength, and MIND." I've never understood that until now. The stimulation, both spiritually and intellectually, is greater than almost anything I've ever seen in my life. I honestly cannot believe how much I'm learning, and all the weapons I have already acquired in the eternal war. Taking sociology this previous year, I was exposed to many worldviews, but I have never really delved into them, and taken into consideration that these beliefs live in the same world as me, even closer than we realize! It is extremely pleasing to me to see all these students eager to learn, and not only that, but discussing everything! Not talking about sports or pop culture, but about religion and Christian viewpoints on different worldviews. This is simply the most amazing camp I believe I have ever experienced. I honestly cannot wait to learn more every day. -Nate