Tough yet Rewarding

Well everyone, “Killing the Giants” week is officially over. It was definitely the hardest week of project so far; however, at the same time, it was the most rewarding and beneficial for the kingdom of God.

As I mentioned earlier, we had set a goal to have 6,104 evangelistic conversations throughout the week. An evangelistic conversation is where we offer to tell them individuals about God’s amazing gift of salvation. After a week of going out and sharing with as many people as possible at all times of the day, our project of about 140 people including staff had 6,511 spiritual conversations! The more amazing part is that 275 decided to put their trust in Christ and accept him as their savior!!! How unbelievable is God? If we can just be available, He will provide results that have eternal consequences.

Reflecting a bit on what I have written, I am unsure if I clearly explained what exactly the “Giant” is. Well, the “Giant” is that little voice in our hearts that encourages us not to share how amazing God is. It is the persuading spirit that frightens us that our friends will judge us based on our beliefs. It is the spirit that tells us that we do not know enough about our faith to actually be able to share it. When it comes down to it, it is the devil.

So where do we go from here. This coming week is themes “All for One.” From what I know so far, it is a week filled with community building. Basically, so all of us students can get to know each other well. We, as students, are pitted as a team against all the staff throughout the week. There are different competitions and other tricks throughout the week. It should be pretty intense.

For about the past week I have been debating the issue of “Predestination” or “Free-Will.” If you know what these issues are or have particular scriptural insight, it would be sweet to get some opinions. Throughout it all, I continually realize that God is a loving, just God who in the end will make the right decision because it is not his nature to be wrong.

Other than that, thank you all for your prayers and continue to do so. All the glory goes to God!

"Killing the Giants"

Starting yesterday, the theme of the week is "Killing the Giants." Basically what that means is that this week will be fully focused on sharing our faith as much as possible. The "Giant" we are trying to kill are the people who have yet to hear about Christ and the other people who are lost in the world.

One of the goals we have established as a movement this week is to have 6,104 spiritual conversations. Wow, that sounds like a lot to me even now. That means throughout the week, each person has to have about 55 conversations. That is a lot too.

I must tell you about the start of "Killing the Giants" week, which was yesterday. My bible study leader, Dan, and I went out sharing on the boardwalk. We came across five guys who had just graduated from high school. They were here on senior week, which is basically a vacation for a bunch of high school graduates. We approached them to just talk to them about our faith and asked them to do a survey, which is basically about life and what they believe. All five were super excited to take the survey, which is not too common. After the survey I started talking to two of them about their faith and what they we believed. I went through a small booklet called the “Four Spiritual Laws” and explained to them that God really does love them. However, there is something that stands in the way of God’s love, which is our own sin, or anything that comes between God and you. In addition, I explained that God sent his son Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins and offer us eternal life. Lastly, I asked them if they would want to accept Christ as their own savior in their life. Both of them wanted too! It was unbelievable to see God work in that situation and how faithful the Lord really is.

On Sunday afternoon, we had an organized volleyball tournament and found people to play from the boardwalk and the places of our employment. It was sweet because over 200 people were there and the tournament was great. Many people heard about God for the first time and had the opportunity to accept Jesus as their own savior.

Just this week, God has provided some great conversations with people on the boardwalk. Please continue to pray especially for this week because we will be sharing during all our free time. Pray that our goal is reached and people’s lives will be changed forever. All the glory goes to the one and only!

The Details

It has been a pretty long time since I have written and I apologize for that. The delay is partly due to busyness and partly due to laziness.

The third week of summer project has started. So far, I have worked a few times at the Grate Bay Golf Course. My boss is so good along with all my coworkers. Everyone is laid back and easy going. It is such a welcoming environment where I can be free to learn and make mistakes. God has provided opportunities to share His love the last few days with a few co-workers. One guy is going to be a sophomore in college next year and we are really praying hard for him. It has been great to show love to people and just work hard for the glory of God. I work with two other guys that are also here for the summer project and it has been encouraging for all of us to work side by side. We have also had time to share with each other are own stories and how great God has been in each of our own lives.

This past weekend, about 20 new people have come who just got out of school. It has been a lot of fun getting to meet each one and attempting to remember everyone’s name! This past weekend was also the first weekend I was here. On Saturday, we did an outreach on the boardwalk. It was great to talk to people and just see where they are in their life. So many people have questions and just wonder why we would go out and talk about God. I like to tell them that God has loved me so much that it would be selfish of me to keep it all to myself. After the outreach, all of us got together to share stories. Six people came to know Jesus in a personal way that night. It gives me chills just thinking that six more people know that God loves them so much no matter what they have done and has forgiven them of their sins. They know where they will spend their eternity.

I went to my first Sunday service here too! The whole project goes to Ocean City Baptist Church. It is kind of cool, because the church gets over 100 new people over the summer. While the church is a bible-believing solid place, it is still very traditional and a bit old-fashioned. One of the highlights is this old lady named Grace. She hugs every single person that comes in the door! Honestly, everyone, no matter age, gets a hug from Grace in the morning.

Lets see, other than that, I am really excited for tomorrow because it is my day off. I am going to Philadelphia with a few people from here to just see the city and get a real Philly Cheese Steak.

Ohh yea, before I forget, I wanted to let you all know my address here if you wanted to send mail or what not.

1301 Central Avenue
Ocean City, New Jersey 08226

May God have all the glory!!

A Job!

Well everyone, I am happy to inform you that I finally got a job today.

For the past few days I have been searching, applying, and calling so many places to find the right job. It was kind of a long process but also really fun. I probably will never again have the free for all search for any random job out there. I went up and down the boardwalk so many times and around the city a few times. I applied everywhere from small pizza places, Ben and Jerry's, coffee shops, and even an electronics store.

Last night, I found out two guys I know (one of them is Erik Kuhn for those of you from Minnesota) got a job at a golf course in town. While I really do not golf at all or anything, it seemed like a pretty cool job. I went with those guys this morning who were already hired to see if there were any openings. After talking to the manager, he said that he would get back to me to see if there are openings and what not. At around 11, Kuhn called me up and told me I got the job. It was so sweet. I did not even fill out an application for the golf course and the "interview" was about a five-minute conversation with the manager about how Accounting is not a good major to have because "all Accountants are liars." He could not understand how a Christian could be an Accountant.

Anyways, I start tomorrow morning, bright and early, at 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. I will be doing grounds crew work with the guys and a lot of Hispanics. I am actually pretty excited because I have never really had a job that was outside all the time. However, I am a bit scared that I will get worn out because it does get pretty hot around these parts.

Other than that, every Tuesday night, we have this thing called "Date with Jesus." Basically what it is is just this long quiet time. We all go out individually to wherever we want and either pray, read the bible, journal or whatever. You can take however long you want, 2,3,4 hours or whatever. Although it was kind of tough at first it was really cool. Just spending time devoted to listen to God is so great.

On Monday, I also went on my first outreach on the boardwalk. It was also pretty cool; I was with my Discipler/Bible Study leader, who is from Ohio. We ran into two kids who actually go to the school he graduated from. It was sweet; we had like a half hour conversation about their faith and how they grew up and what they believe in. It was really interesting and just eye opening to see a different perspective.

That is about it for now. We will have our first "official" bible study, which is called our "Action Group" tomorrow. Sweet, that is it for now...take care all!

Finally Here!!

Well, as the title reveals, I am finally in Ocean City, New Jersey. Actually, to be honest, I am writing this blog while flying back home for my sister’s graduation in Kenosha. Anyways, this gives me time to reflect on the first few days of project.

On Wednesday morning we left Columbus, Ohio at about 8:30 in the morning. Around 1:00 p.m. We met three other cars in Pennsylvania who were also headed to project. This gave me a chance to get to know some people before we even got to Ocean City (OC). It was also lots of fun to travel with four other cars through Philadelphia traffic.

We arrived at the place we are staying in at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The place I am staying at is called the Ambassadors Inn. About 80 students will live here. The Ambassadors Inn is the central location for things that go on at project. Many of the activities we do occur here and also dinner every night. There are also two other places were people live which are on the same block. They are called Grandma’s and The Mansion. The Ambassador Inn is just gigantic with four floors. Also, there is a huge deck area that is covered where we all 110 of us have dinner each night. (As a side note, only about 60 students have arrived so far. There are other colleges which are in quarter terms who will arrive this coming Saturday.)

As I started moving my stuff into the Ambassador, the director of the project (who is also the director at the University of Minnesota) comes up and asks if I would want to be emcee for the first meeting tomorrow. I was pretty surprised and honored to be asked. With so many other people who are probably more qualified, I was humbled to be offered the task.

On Thursday morning, we had our first meeting. It was fun to emcee the event, but at the same time a bit intimidating because I did not know most of the people. At the same time, it was a blast because people were into it and accepting of my weird and quirky personality and style of emceeing. All the Glory goes to God for that (and everything else)!

On Thursday afternoon, a group of us went out to the Boardwalk to look for jobs. It was the first time I have been to the Boardwalk, and let me tell you, it is unbelievable. The Boardwalk is basically a two-mile strip of stores, restaurants, etc right off the ocean. Between the stores and the ocean is this really wide-open area where people can walk, bike, run, etc. It is unbelievable. So I applied for a few jobs. I was not able to find a coffee shop with any openings so I went around town just randomly applying at places. So far I have applied at Ben and Jerry’s (which would be sweet), City Hall, and an electronics store. We will see what God has in store.

Thursday night was the last meeting I emceed. That also went quick and well. After the meeting, all of us went down to the boardwalk to watch a fireworks show and go to this really cheap carnival.


Friday was mostly a workday to clean up the three places were people live. While this may sound like an easy thing, you must imagine that these places are not used except only in the summer. So some dirt, grime, mold, etc starts building up. To add to the day, it was raining and cold. But the cleaning went well, and afterwards a bunch of us went and played in the huge puddles.

Friday night, many shared their story on how they ended up in OC this summer. It was truly amazing how different paths people took in getting to OC.

Reflecting on the first few days I have realized a few things. I already like the people so much. People are real and open with servant hearts. They are not afraid to reveal their weaknesses or shortcomings. I have heard a few testimonies, and people have shared their darkest part of their lives along with things they were not proud off. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for the summer. It has been great to have deep conversations with numerous people too!

Alright, this has been a super long posting, so I will be done for now…Please continue to pray for me to find the job God wants me to be at…