Summit Ministries

My name is Paul Gutacker, and I am a Summit newb. Yes, this is my first summer serving as staff at Summit (I never went as a student) and it's been an absolute blast. The first thing I noticed about working here is that the other staff are totally amazing. For instance, there's this guy named David who has like 24/7 energy, or a girl named Pam who has amazing insight into teaching, or my leader Dan who has the most ridiculous eyebrows in the history of faces. In all seriousness, my fellow counselors are some of the most awesome young people I've ever hung out with, and my leaders (Ben, Dan, and Allison) are truly a pleasure to work with.

Enough about the staff. So, I get to hang out with a bunch of guys (16–20 year olds, at least in my group) and talk about life and God and the world. That's pretty much my job. Don't get me wrong, talking about serious and sometimes controversial issues with ten guys – who have great sarcastic senses of humor – isn't the easiest thing to pull off, but when it does happen it's really rewarding and meaningful.

For example, last night we talked about homosexuality. We talked about how we as Christians need to view homosexuals with compassion, and wrestled with how to speak truth to them in loving ways. The ten guys in my group had clearly learned a lot from yesterday's speaker, Mike Haley, and our discussion showed how seriously they were thinking about the issue. It was good to share with each other names of friends and family who struggled with homosexuality, and to spend time praying for each of them.

Serious discussions, prayer, wild capture–the–flag games, good ol' southern barbecue, trips to the zoo, huge blisters from playing Ultimate barefoot—this is the life of a Summit counselor! And it is a good life indeed. I'm really looking forward to three more weeks of this.