About two years ago, I was sitting with a group of my friends when one of the guys turned to me and stated, “I’m gay, and Christians hate gay people.” I calmly replied, “I don’t think that’s true because I’m a Christian, and I don’t hate you.” As a student who has grown up in the arts and the musical theatre world, I have always been in the middle of the same-sex marriage debate. I always knew what I believed to be true about homosexuality, but I have not always known how to express
I really was not sure what to expect upon my arrival at Summit Ministries. All I knew was that I was excited to see what God had in store for me. In the last few years God has slowly been showing me that I have a passion for motivational speaking. When I shared this with my family my dad started mentioning a place called Summit Ministries and suggesting that I should go. I wasn’t sure at first, but after I had read some of the materials, I knew, without a doubt, that I had to go to the student conferences.
After breakfast, it began! All out, head on, 100 miles an hour, non stop lights, with no breaks (ok, we actually did have breaks in between lectures... but). So much ground has been covered, yet some of the best parts of our first day cannot be explained. You have to be here to fully understand.
Today, John Stonestreet reminded us that we live in what historians are now recognizing as the “Age of Information.” We live in age of Google, FaceBook, Magazines, and Hollywood being at our generation’s fingertips. It is also the age of no neutral information: an age where the culture seeks to live for pleasure far more than it seeks to live for ideals. Most importantly, Stonestreet reminded us that we always have the opportunity to respond.
Before we prayed and started our evening worship session, Brandon, the staffer leading us, challenged us to consider what corporate worship even is. As our 180 voices rolled and boomed through the first verse of Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God,” it hit me: we may all be living in the same dying Western culture that John Stonestreet analyzed this morning, but ALL of us are also on the same team with the exact same mission.
After breakfast, it began! All out, head on, 100 miles an hour, non stop lights, with no breaks (ok, we actually did have breaks in between lectures... but). So much ground has been covered, yet some of the best parts of our first day cannot be explained. You have to be here to fully understand.
Today, John Stonestreet reminded us that we live in what historians are now recognizing as the “Age of Information.” We live in age of Google, FaceBook, Magazines, and Hollywood being at our generation’s fingertips. It is also the age of no neutral information: an age where the culture seeks to live for pleasure far more than it seeks to live for ideals. Most importantly, Stonestreet reminded us that we always have the opportunity to respond.
Before we prayed and started our evening worship session, Brandon, the staffer leading us, challenged us to consider what corporate worship even is. As our 180 voices rolled and boomed through the first verse of Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God,” it hit me: we may all be living in the same dying Western culture that John Stonestreet analyzed this morning, but ALL of us are also on the same team with the exact same mission.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget my roommates, Dan, Eric, and Daniel. We did our best to clean our room every morning for the daily room inspection, and actually did a pretty good job. Every morning, Daniel left a note for the room inspector. Some of these notes could probably have been interpreted as love letters, but honestly, they weren’t meant to be. They did get us an extra point or two in the “other? category of inspection criteria. Only once, though, did we beat the score of our neighboring room by attaining a perfect 30. They were hard to outscore because they hung up a Justin Bieber poster and purchased a pet fish and kept it alive in a bowl on their dresser.
