I've been home now from NMB for about 2 weeks, but still wanted to post a quick update. Our final week with the staff team in North Myrtle Beach focused on "passing the baton" to students as they took over leadership and direction of the summer mission. Several times throughout the week we were able to celebrate as a staff team all that God had done in the first 6 weeks of the summer mission. Many of us commented on how life-giving the summer was and how refreshed we were heading back into our "normal" lives at home (which is not always the case after a crazy 6 weeks!). Several of us commented on how much we enjoyed connecting with each other as staff, which was especially sweet because many of us had never met before setting foot in North Myrtle. I even heard one person say they felt like they were leaving the summer mission a totally different person after seeing God work in and through them. This life change, which you can often see happen before your eyes, even in a short amount of time, is the best part of being on a summer mission. I am so used to the "global missions" world of summer mission trips -- preparing students and staff for cross-cultural experiences, language barriers, encountering vastly different worldviews, etc. This summer was especially visionary for me because I got to work with staff and students BEFORE they head overseas next summer. I could see the wheels turning as they considered how God might be able to use them next summer on a global summer mission. Multiple students and even 5 of our staff have committed to going on overseas mission trips with Cru next summer. What a cool thing to witness firsthand; I feel like this summer I got to see the students develop into the students I normally work with for global summer missions. It was sad to say goodbye to students and staff, but a fun part about my role on the Leadership Team is that I get to return to North Myrtle at the beginning of August for a final debrief with students! Much of my time will also be spent wrapping up details and logistics of the summer mission (budget, stewardship of our resources and relationships, evaluating and planning for 2017, etc). I LOVE this stuff. So much preparation goes into a summer mission. I knew I was headed to NMB in August last year, and it's been a year of planning to ensure a successful summer mission. I'm excited to be able to go back to North Myrtle and get to close things down and prepare things to set up well the next summer leadership team.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
September 2022
Categories
All
|