...contrary to the perception you might have, we weren't in a tropical jungle taking the gospel to the natives. Instead, we were in Ocean City, New Jersey staffing a Campus Crusade summer project.

Along with 38 other staff members, our job was to help disciple and train the 108 students who spent the summer preparing to become leaders.

Specifically, Dave was not only in charge of the budget for the entire project, but was also personally involved in leading a Bible study and discipling 4 students. At the same time, Jen was a part of the project leadership team and responsible for developing 3 younger staff women.

KILLING THE GIANTS

The highlight of the project was the 3rd week, known as "Killing the Giants" week. The theme of killing the giants comes from I Samuel, when David goes up against a giant Philistine and kills him. I love that story, because it shows the awesome power of God. In verse 47 of I Samuel 17, David says to the giant,

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s..”

Each person on the project set a personal faith goal for the week--a number indicating how many people they were trusting God to share Christ with that week. The numbers were then added up to come up with the project goal of 4,231.

Amazingly, we not only met the goal of talking with 4,231 people about Christ, but we far exceeded that goal. In fact we initiated conversations with over 5,000 people and saw over 200 people trust Christ.

Though the numbers in and of themselves are impressive -- a testimony to God's great faithfulness -- they don't tell the whole story. The numbers can't begin to explain the drama behind each person with whom Christ was shared.

One night after our meeting, Jennifer and I decided to go out to the boardwalk to share our faith. We were tired and we really wanted to go back home and relax. But being "Killing the Giants" week, we decided to head out and share our faith. As we approached the boardwalk, we saw 2 young boys sitting on a bench, just hanging out. We approached them and began a conversation. I will never forget them because it turns out that they will both be freshman at Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia. This is the high school of Kobe Bryant, the young superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers who had just won the NBA championship.

We had a great conversation and I was able to share the gospel with them. When I gave them an opportunity to respond, they both said that they wanted a relationship with Christ. I could tell that Chris & Chris were good friends, so I closed by saying, "The Bible says that you are now a part of God's family. Do you know what that means? It means that you two are brothers!"

One of the boys got a big grin and put his arm around his friend and said "That's so cool!"

I then told him that he was my brother as well, to which he jokingly replied, "Wait! you guys are married right? That means you're married to your sister!"

We all had a big laugh, exhanged e-mails and then we left. As we walked away, Jen remarked about how cute they were and how she wished we could take them home with us. There are many more stories we could share about people we talked to and conversations we had. There is nothing more exciting and thrilling than seeing someone come to know Christ as their Savior. Thank you for your partnership in taking the gospel to Chris, Chris and the hundreds of other people we talked to this summer.

LOOKING TO THE FALL QUARTER

While in Ocean City we have been hanging out with our students from Davis who are here. They are so excited about this fall, and it is fun to see how much they are learning here on the project. They are not only learning how to more effectively communicate their faith with others, but they are also gaining valuable leadership experience that will help our ministry in the fall.

One great part of summer projects is that the staff leave halfway through the project (we fly home to California on July 16) and turn it over to the students to run it completely. As they lead the project, they learn by experience, and that helps them when they get back to campus. It will be fun to see these students get a chance to put into practice all that they have learned while they have been in Ocean City.

We have many exciting events planned. We will keep you updated on how they planning for these events are going.