Over the course of the summer in Santa Monica, we saw God do amazing things!  68 people received Christ as their Lord and Savior!  That alone is enough to make the summer a success.  But God is also sending back to their 25 campuses, 80 students equipped and experienced to lead others in reaching the lost on their campuses for Christ! 

Sometimes a prayer letter (see previous post) isn’t enough space to share all we want in one month.  So below is a more detailed list of the things and experiences Becky and I had this summer on the Santa Monica Summer Project. 

• Moved our family of 4 into a 1-bedroom apartment in Venice.
• Set up a beach motel for 80 students (including 10 bunk beds) and figured out who would stay in each room
• Each developed/trained 2 staff members
• Baptized 8 students in the Ocean
• Made an epic trip to the dollar store to put together welcome gifts for 80 students
• Trained and oriented a staff team of 24
• Trained and oriented 80 students for an 8-week summer mission
• Coordinated child care for several special events
• Led devotional times
• Led prayer times
• Celebrated Scott’s 40th birthday
• Counseled students in walking with Jesus and life decisions
• Developed 5 themed weeks of project
  • “Laying a Foundation”
  • “Holding Fast to Him”
  • “His Heart, Our Part”
  • “All For One”
  • “Leaving a Legacy”
• Gave a sermon on God’s grace from Luke 15
• Initiated tons of conversations
• Shared the gospel many times
• Shared our testimonies several times
• Led 3 people to receive Christ!
• Contained a small Scabies outbreak among the students
• Composed team job descriptions for all of our ministry teams (outreach, prayer, community, etc.)
• Shared the ministry of the Holy spirit several times
• Hand-picked each of the 80 students to be in a small group with one of our 16 staff
• Co-led a staff team of 24 and Lead Team of 8
• Confirmed Becky is my favorite co-worker:)
• Got a sunburn
• Coordinated with Trinity Church for all our meeting venues
• Rode our bikes on the ocean bike trail
• Co-led a training time for students on how to lead a small group
• Hand-picked each student to have a role after the staff team left
• Developed relationships with business owners and pastors in the community
• Got real good at parallel parking
• Got 1 parking ticket
• Ate out too often for too much
• Printed hundreds of pages of material at Fedex Office
• Trained our staff team in The Growth Model and The Grid
• Spoke to the student women about pursuing purity with guys
• Ate a student-cooked dinner 5 nights a week
• Weekly we participated in
  • an all-project outreach
  • church service
  • weekly student meeting
  • family fun night
  • ministry training session
  • day off
  • project social
  • a Bible study
• Played in a student vs. staff softball game
• Coordinated the turnover of project leadership from staff to students
• Put on an epic men’s conference
• Rode the rides at the Pier as a family
• Played at the beach and swam in the ocean
• Learned to lead with a new co-worker
• Saw God show up in the students’ lives, our lives, and our kids’ lives!