We've been here at Myrtle Beach for over a week now, but it definitely feels like a lot longer!! All of our students have gotten their jobs now, and will begin working this week!! This year they will be working at Wendy's, Ocean Creek (housekeeping), Sketchers, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Salsarita's, Zaxby's, and Build-A-Bear. This past weekend we had one of my favorite times of the week, beach evangelism!! Beach evangelism is a time when all 73 of our students and staff hit the beach for an hour and a half and interact with people hanging out on the beach with the intent of sharing the gospel with them. You might be thinking "man, that is pushy", or "I don't know if I agree with that." But, if you are a believer in Christ, I would ask you to search the scriptures and even your own heart regarding your feelings on evangelism. How did you come to faith? Was it merely by watching someone's actions around you, or did someone talk with you about what having a relationship with Jesus is really all about? Two of my favorite verses about evangelism are these:
1 Peter 3:15-16-"15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Romans 10:13-15 "For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

These verses tell me that not only is it commanded by God's word to be an obedient Christian and share my faith, but it is the only way that the lost will be reached. I'm not saying that it isn't intimidating to walk up to a stranger and ask them hard questions about where they stand with God, but it is possible with His strength! One of the cool things about this summer is that students come in with fear and anxiety about sharing their faith on the beach, and once they get out there and see how God works, they become truly passionate about it!! This Saturday, I had a prayer answered that i have been praying daily for a year! Last year, in the middle of the summer, I met a teenage girl named Karin on the beach. As I shared God's word with her for the first time, she wept. She knew that I had a peace and a contentment in my life that she knew nothing of; I told her it could be hers in only a moment. She hesitated saying, "I don't know enough about Jesus". So for the last year, I have prayed that someone this summer would walk up to her on the beach and share their faith with her again (she's from Myrtle Beach). As I was walking back from our evangelism time on saturday, my friend Ashley told me that she got to talk to a girl we had spoken with last year. Immediately i was filled with hope, knowing that it was her. Then Ashley said, "she remembered everything yall told her last year. Her name is Karin." I burst into tears at God's faithfulness, and was filled with excitement when i found out that she will be going to Clemson in the fall, where Campus Outreach is expanding!! We have invited her to come hang out with our students this summer, so please join me in praying that she will show up! Not only did that happen, but 4 girls committed their lives to Jesus on Saturday. I will keep updating more about evangelism, but feel free to leave questions or comments asking more about it!!

Home Sweet Mariner!!

We're here!!! We arrived in Myrtle Beach Friday afternoon and are staying at the Mariner Motel for the 2nd summer in a row!!! here's a picture of us from last summer ;). It's always really hard for me to get settled into a motel room, so Jake got me two shelves from wally world last night and assembled them for me to put all of our kitchen stuff and food on them!! We also got a 3-way light to make our room a little brighter, and it feels like our little nest. We're really excited for the next few days-the students get here on Wednesday, but we have some work to do before then...tomorrow is a little something we like to call "bunk bed day", where we take the motel beds and furniture out of the rooms and replace it with our very own double size bunk beds that fit two to a bed!! We will be working hard all day to assemble them and get the rooms ready for the disciples coming in. Hopefully i'll capture Jake in the middle of a manly task and post a pic sometime soon :) i do have to say that I love myrtle beach. Myrtle is where i came on vacation every year as a child, and it takes me back to the good ole days when i listened to a Raffi tape in my parent's orange oldsmobile station wagon on the way to the beach. I love to go to the restaurants my family went to, go shopping where we went...basically i love traditions. We are starting a new tradition this year-going somewhere FUN on our sabbath!!! it will be so fun to get away and spend time with Jesus for a while and then come back refreshed and energized. Hopefully i'll be able to keep the blog updated since we have internet in the room this year!!! i feel like im at the ritz carlton!!

What Do I Know of Holy

One of the things i like to do when i spend time with Jesus is to listen to songs that talk about His character and reflect on who He is. Today i was listening to this song, What do I Know of Holy by Addison Road. It really paints a picture of me as a human, in my humanity, how I want to have God all figured out, and put Him in a box...but we can never do that with God-He is so much more perfect, powerful, and unlike His creation that we can't fathom all of the facets of His majesty. It is my prayer that as you listen to this song, as I did, it will lead you to repent of how easy it is to go through the motions with God and not stop to meditate on how unfathomable and flawless He is!

To listen to the song, Just click on the title:

What Do I know of Holy

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?


What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees


What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?


What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?


What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

Leadership Project Evangelism 2009

This video was taken at the end of last summer at the Leadership Project and is a story of how some of our students were able to use the training they received in Myrtle Beach in their daily lives...

Mansfield Plantation entrance
us at dinner at the Goat Island Grill
Jake on a rope swing at Mansfield
slave quarters at Mansfield
riding bikes around the plantation :-)
me with Valerie!!!
Jake with his discipleship group going to shoot guns!
Together for the Gospel 2010

Well, I haven't updated this blog in a looong time...over a month!! April is one of the busiest months for us on staff, so i'll give a few highlights of what has been going on this past month:

-we had a great Easter with the McCouns!! It was my first Easter sunday with them, and it was great!! We went to Perimeter Church in Atlanta which is a wonderful, reformed missional church. We also had some time to just relax and read while students were at home with their families!

-From April 13-15th, we went to Together For the Gospel in Louisville, Kentucky. The conference was a pastor's conference, and there were 7,000 people there, the majority of them men. The theme of the conference was "The Unadjusted Gospel", meaning that there is one true gospel and it cannot be changed regardless of modern culture...it is always relevant! We heard sermons from Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul, CJ Mahaney, Mark Dever, my favorite John Piper and more!! One of the most encouraging pastors we heard from was Matt Chandler, a pastor at the Village Church in Texas. Matt was diagnosed with a brain tumor around last Thanksgiving, when he suddenly had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. Now going through chemotherapy and being told he has up to 3 years to live, he is walking by faith and is a living witness to the grace of God and the fact that Jesus is better than life. Their family (he has a wife and 3 young children) is claiming Psalm 112:6-8 which says

For the righteous will never be moved;

he will be remembered forever.

He is not afraid of bad news;

his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is steady;

he will not be afraid,

until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

-We have been planning and preparing for the Leadership Project, which will begin on May 26th this year. We will be heading to Greenville next week to prepare, and then down to Myrtle Saturday morning. Woo hoo!! We have 73 students coming to the beach this summer, 23 of them from PC. We are so pumped about the theme for the summer, "Witness". This comes from the scripture 1 Peter 2:9 which says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Our theme has two facets: That we are image-bearers of Christ because we all, as humans were made in the image of God, and yet when we become Christians we possess the Holy Spirit and so throughout our lives we are becoming image bearers as we continue to be transformed into His likeness. Secondly, the fact that we are image bearers compels us to be message bearers, and to share Him with others!! We are so excited to see what God will do with the theme in our hearts and in the hearts of our students.

-I met one of my heroes in the faith's daughter, Valerie Shepard. Valerie is the daughter of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Jim was a missionary in Ecuador who was killed while trying to witness to the Auca Indians. His wife, Elisabeth, and daughter Valerie later lived with the tribe and they became Christians! Elisabeth has written many books about Biblical femininity, but two of my very favorites are Passion and Purity and Let Me Be a Woman. Her daughter, Valerie and her husband are church planters in North Carolina, but they have also been missionaries to the Congo in recent years. Valerie spoke of being a wife, mother of 8, and the struggle with the belief that she had to live up to her mother's reputation (she discovered this through studying Galatians and the false gospel of works). It was awesome!! Here is a picture of me meeting her!! :) :) I was SO excited since i reference Elisabeth's work with girls all the time!

-We went on our anniversary trip to Mansfield Plantation in Georgetown, SC. If you've ever seen the movie The Patriot, part of it was filmed here! Jake and I had so much fun exploring the plantation, riding bikes, and getting to know the other couples that were staying there! We also went antiquing around the town and to dinner at some great restaurants, my favorite was the Goat Island Grill.

Here are a few pictures from the month!! I will try to do better at updating what the Lord is doing in our lives. Right now I am reading through a great book about sin. If you know me, you know i struggle more with cheapening the grace of God than with legalism, so this book, The Enemy Within, is a great practical tool for me. I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with fighting sin!!