24 Jul Evangelism
It’s hard to believe that we are all here this summer getting to serve a wonderful God in the midst of a global pandemic, but the Lord provides in ways that we could never imagine. We started our summer together at Tracy’s camp in Pinewood, SC. It was exciting to get to meet the people we would be spending the summer serving with. After a long drive to the camp, which included a short 5 minute “detour” for some of the cars, we all pulled up, nervous and excited for what the weekend and the rest of the summer had to offer. We started bonding as a team by spending the first few hours playing games and having fun together. After a few hours of sleep, we started our training for the month. Matt, the leader of our team, introduced our theme for the summer, “Freedom in the Gospel,” based on the book of Colossians. After we discussed the theme, we spent time learning how to share the gospel and practicing with each other.
After the launch retreat, we started our time in Charleston. On Tuesdays, we have a group prayer time, where we praise God, confess our sin struggles, and pray for each other and those we’re reaching out to. After prayer, we have Theme Night, where we talk about different topics in Colossians based on our theme. On Thursday, we have Bible Study Training, where we are learning how to use the Inductive Bible Study Method (Observation, Interpretation, Application). On Fridays, we have a team social, where we hang out together and have some fun. Saturdays are our kids camp days. Even though no kids came the first week, we used this opportunity to do a prayer walk through the community around the park. On Sundays, we meet at the church and have evangelism training where we learn about how to share the gospel. Afterwards, we watch our church’s online service and discuss how to apply it to our lives. We have small groups in the evening where we split into guys and girls to discuss the highs and lows of our weeks, memorize Scripture, share what we’re learning in our personal devotions, and pray together.
Along with our Colossians Bible study, we are reading a book called Gospel Deeps that talks about how the gospel is deeper and more glorious than we could ever imagine. One quote that stuck out to me was, “The gospel is shallow enough that it is safe for a toddler to swim in, yet deep enough to drown an elephant.” At first, I was confused. How can something be both shallow and deep? The gospel has one main point: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and he rose on the third day. This is the simplicity of the gospel. But as we ask questions like who is Jesus and how God can save sinners by Jesus’ death on the cross, this is when we begin to understand the depths of the Gospel.
Our team is looking forward to celebrating with four of the members of our team who are getting baptized! It has been awesome seeing God work in our team through this. We are planning a beach baptism near the end of Summer LINK.
God is working in ways that we could never imagine. Like Ephesians 2:20 says, God “is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us….” Throughout these first 2 ½ weeks of Summer LINK, we have already seen God transforming our team with the gospel.
I’ll leave you with a passage from Colossians 3:1–4, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
God bless, and in the words of Paul, Grace and peace be with you.