06 Jul SummerLINK Seattle: First Week Experience
On Sunday, June 30th, our team arrived in Seattle trusting God for one of the most fruitful six weeks of our lives for God?s Kingdom. Before jumping into Seattle, I?d like to back up to last week. We were very thankful for three days in Myrtle Beach with the other 100 or so SummerLINK and GenerationLINK interns. Thank you to the SummerLINK Myrtle Beach team and Cornerstone Church for hosting us. We were blessed by teaching each morning from Dr. John Ewert, Associate Vice President for Global Theological Initiatives at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, as a part of his seminary course titled ?Christian Missions.? Dr. Ewert equipped us by teaching on a number of topics including evangelism, church planting, and prayer.
We put our training into practice and headed out to engage people in the Myrtle Beach community with the good news of Jesus. A young lady that our group shared with was convicted by the Holy Spirit of her sin before God, repented and put her faith in Christ for salvation! Praise be to God who was working before, during, and after we came into the picture! Cornerstone Church has formed a relationship with her so that she can be discipled in a local church.
In Myrtle Beach, our team bonded over mini-golf, beach volleyball, and worship on the beach.
On to Seattle!
We?d like to say a huge ?thank you? to some of our friends for driving us from Clemson to ATL airport early on Sunday morning. Thank you Katelin Domanski, Brooke Simecka, Joey Evans, and Matt Chao! Katelin and Matt will also be joining us in Seattle from July 13-20th.
We are settled into our home at the Purple Door, a former fraternity house at the University of Washington that is now a home and ministry base for church planters and interns. About 20 other people engaged in ministry live in the Purple Door with us. It is awesome to be in community with them and hear about their ministries. We live right beside the UW?s campus, which, along with the Seattle area in general, is so beautiful!
The Purple Door
Our primary role is to serve as interns at Essential Church, a recent church plant in Bellevue, WA (a city in the Eastside area of Seattle). This week, we have been working with Essential?s pastor, Warren Mainard, to prepare for several outreach events over the next few weeks. We will be engaging with the community through block parties, a soccer camp, an after school program for middle schoolers, and helping families in need with the Heart and Home Thrift Shop. Throughout the summer, several one-week missions teams will be coming to serve at Essential, and we will help coordinate their ministry efforts.
In the evenings, we?ve had our first Men?s/Women?s Bible study, group Bible study, and reflection night. A few nights ago, we ventured to downtown Seattle to view the area from Columbia Tower (76 floors high!) and had dinner by the Puget Sound waterfront. Yesterday, Pastor Warren took us hiking on Tiger Mountain. I don?t think the beauty around this city could ever get old and the weather has been perfect!
Please join with us in prayer for our team, Pastor Warren Mainard, Essential Church, the missions teams coming to serve with us for one week, and the people in the community that we meet!
Mt. Rainier from the 76th floor of Columbia Tower
By: Crystal Burnette