CP Group Update

One of the many privileges of being on staff with Generation LINK is the opportunity to lead a small group in the context of the local church. Crosspoint Church and Generation LINK share the same DNA of discipleship, which means that it is a priority for each Generation LINK staff member to be meaningfully involved in a Connecting Point (CP) group. Crosspoint offers a great variety of CP groups for all members and attendees, ranging from gender-specific groups to multigenerational coed groups. CP groups are the best avenues through which Crosspoint attendees can quickly and meaningfully assimilate into the life of the church. 

As a part of the Generation LINK college ministry staff, I have the blessing of leading a CP group for upperclass guys. We all gather together on Sunday nights in order to pray, study the Word, confess sin, repent of sin, serve and encourage one another. I have been blessed to have a potential future GLINKer, Jonathan Whittle, co-lead with me. The Word is the central and essential component in our gatherings. I thank God for the genuine love for the Word that these upperclassmen possess by the Spirit of God within them. This semester, we have walked together through a biblical view on Relationships and through God's sovereign work through the life of Joseph as recorded in Genesis. I have witnessed and experienced a growth in our group's understanding of God's sovereignty over our circumstances, through which he is working all things toward his grater plan of redeeming man for his glory.

This semester, the guys in our group have met with a different guy from the group during the work week in order to spend time getting to know each other better, praying for one another, studying the word together and encouraging one another in their walks. Through this time together, our guys have become very unified and transparent together which has led to greater authenticity and frequent repentance. I thank God for his maturation of these men of God and for their faithfulness to his Word and his Church. Many of the guys in the upperclass CP group have chosen to pursue membership at Crosspoint Church because they desire to serve meaningfully and understand the biblical precedent for commitment to the body of Christ via membership in the local church. This community is a blessing and leads me to worship God for his great character and desire to share himself with his people. Ultimately, I am thankful to God for the opportunity to serve him in the local church through Generation LINK. 

Written by: Ryan Heard

Serve with Gladness

A part of my responsibility as a Generation Link staffer is serving with the student ministry of Crosspoint Church.  I am now in my second year as a G-linker, and it is rewarding to look back on the past year and a half working with these teenagers.  However, I did not always have this perspective.  When I applied for Generation Link, I communicated my preference to work in several roles but student ministry was not at the top of the list.  Don’t get me wrong, I love teenagers and am very grateful for the time I have been able to spend with them.  Initially though, I must confess, I did not appreciate the role I had been given.  I desired a role that would send me on the fast track towards becoming a pastor.  However, God began to work in me and correct my selfish thinking. Generation Link, and the Christian life for that matter, is about serving God through the local church.  I was approaching it from the standpoint of “how does this benefit me?”  Thankfully God showed me the sin of my heart and allowed me to enter my time with Generation Link with a heart of gladness for the ministry opportunities He had given.

For lack of a better phrase, whatever cards God has dealt you….how are you responding?  Are you struggling with bitterness and resentment because your hopes and dreams are not playing out as desired?  Don’t fall victim to the same lie as me.  Wherever you are, whatever role you are in… disciple making is your calling and command.  Pray and fight for a heart of willingness to serve your God and your church through whatever means are presented.  I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to have worked with these teenagers during my time on staff with Generation Link and I truly would not trade this experience for anything.  Trust in God’s promise that He is “working all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.” (Paraphrase of Romans 8:28)

Written by Will Jackson.

The Gospel Goes Forth

For those who attend Crosspoint it is pretty easy to notice the many college students that come into Crosspoint each week.  In fact, college students make up close to half of the attendance each week.  As Crosspoint looks at Clemson’s campus we see a huge need for the Gospel to spread throughout all of the campus!  That seems like such a huge task, and it is, but the only way it is possible is if we depend on the Spirit of God to penetrate hearts and open people’s eyes to their need for a Savior.  So here are some things that Crosspoint is doing to strike Clemson’s campus with the Gospel:

Connecting Point Groups:  This is, in part, an “easy” way to reach the campus with the Gospel.  If we dive into Scripture and see how Jesus made disciples there is a very beautiful dichotomy going on.  First, He called people to follow Him and they did.  And with those two that He called, He literally lived with them for three years.  So there is this aspect of “life on life” with one another that we see in Scripture.  Essentially what Jesus was doing was equipping these guys to reproduce Himself (as He already reproduced Himself in them…well 11 of them) after He ascended.  I do believe that this aspect of disciple-making is what we predominately see in the midst of CP Groups.  Fellow college students live “life on life” with freshman, sophomores, and upperclassman while washing them in the word so that these students can then reproduce themselves…make more disciples!  There are some freshman guys that are already ready to lead!  How awesome is that!?  And this is only done by the work of the Holy Spirit.

We also have many students meeting one on one with international students, sharing the Gospel with them, and discipling them to send them out.  Think about it, we ourselves might not go the China, Iran, or India, but if we equip students from those countries to take the Gospel back, oh how the Gospel with spread throughout the Nations!  Crosspoint doesn’t have to go too far to “go to India” for there are so many students from there right outside our doors!  Pray that we will stay bold to the preaching of this word and depending on the Spirit of God to penetrate the hearts of man.

Evangelism Night:  This could be the other side to that dichotomy I mentioned earlier.  In Scripture we also see Jesus speaking to crowds and other individuals about who He is and calling them to repent.  Making disciples is going out and sharing the Gospel in the every day context AND living life on life to send out others to make more disciples.  These are not mutually exclusive!  Because by making disciples you make disciples who will then go out to make disciples who make disciples, etc…You see where I’m going with this?  It’s multiplication to the extreme! 

Needless to say, a big group of college students meets on the first Wednesday of every month to go out and share the Gospel.  We have freshman coming out and striking people with the Gospel.  There are beautiful examples of mentors showing mentees how to share the Gospel and then allowing them to do it.  It’s amazing how good the Lord is! 

One thing I do want to mention here is that this is a structure event and therefore quite possibly harder to find some person to share the Gospel with.  We STRONGLY encourage sharing the Gospel in the everyday context.  We are just ordinary people, doing ordinary things, with Gospel intentionality!  Crosspoint wants not only the students at Crosspoint but the adults in different contexts to share the Gospel with those who they interact with on a daily basis.  Because then it’s not the unbeliever going to the church, it’s the church going to the unbeliever!  Further displaying the Church as the body of Christ!  Oh how I pray that we would do this as a family of faith at Crosspoint! 

But those are just a few things that are going on in the College Ministry side of things.  Please pray that all our students and all of those who aren’t students to live a lifestyle of Gospel Intentionality.  Also, that we would have opportunities to share the Gospel, wisdom to see those opportunities, and boldness to speak in those opportunities.      

Women's Retreat 2012

The following quotes are not verbatim:

“It’s been a nice weekend where I have met a lot of different women of a variety of ages.”

“I’ve really been trying to get to know many of the other women.  It’s not necessarily in my comfort zone to be extroverted.  This has provided a great way to get to know more women.”

“Well, I can’t spend all my time talking to you, Mary Emily; I need to meet some other people.”

“Man! There are so many women here!  I want to meet them all!”

To each of these quotes but the first (and, maybe the third one), I was very encouraging and very encouraged.  The first one came from my roommate.  To her, I promptly replied, “Duh, that’s the point.”

And it is the point. Pastor Jason and the women of the Women’s Ministry team desire to see Mathew 28: 18-20 and Titus 2 carried out among the women of Crosspoint Church.  The Women’s Fall Retreat was an attempt to begin and further develop both of these foundational verses.

Matthew 28: 18-20 begins with the Gospel.  If we don’t know it, we can’t go proclaim it.  Friday, Robin Lewis, gave a beautiful presentation of the Gospel starting with creation, moving through the fall to our redemption through Christ and finally ending with a new life of repentance and faith.  There was not a heart untouched in the room.  Unfortunately, because of the conversations—in small groups, with my roommate and with one of the most Godly women I have ever met—inspired by the night’s talk, I broke the only rule Pastor Ken gave me for the weekend:  “Don’t stay up late talking. Get some rest!”  Oops. Sorry Pastor Ken!

The second passage, Titus 2, sets a high standard for those women who are called out by God.  The passage doesn’t leave much room for interpretation and demands a certain behavior from Godly women.  As Cayce Finley and Liz Chasteen emphasized in their talks Saturday, reality often looks different from what is expected by our perfect God.  But thankfully, “God never tires in his desire/effort to sanctify us.”  He ever works at making us like Him.  One way He accomplishes this goal is in community.  We, as women, need each other to learn more about and go deeper with our God.  “Sanctification can only be worked out in the context of Christian community because the Christian life is inescapably corporate.”  This is a call to join small groups but it is also a call to have Godly women lead a younger generation in the ways of Biblical womanhood.

Krystal Brummitt and Mary Beth Oxendine did a wonderful job of describing how powerful the Gospel is.  Both women shared their testimonies inspiring women to look at the evidences of grace in their own lives as well as producing the desire for more of the one, true God; to draw near to him; to put off the old self; and to live a life worthy of His calling.

Many lessons were learned and new relationships developed all to the glory of God.  Keep a look out for future Women’s Ministry events but until then think of the women around you who you can encourage, speak truth to or humbly learn something from.  We are blessed to have so many Godly women in our church.  Seek them out.  Then prayerfully and humbly grow closer to God.

Posted by Mary Emily

Life in the GLINK Guys House

What is life like in the Glink guy's house???

Well, let me tell you about it.  First off, we've got a sweet crib which is a huge blessing.  Not only is our house getting it done, but we have a gigantic plot of land (back yard) that gives us space for activities, frolecking, etc.  In fact, this spacious backyard is home to a wood pile which is especially handy when it comes to needing a place for bonfires, which we intend to have soon. 

In order to really convey life in the house... I must first explain each of it's inhabitants.  Our house consists of myself AKA Jared Armfield, Will Jackson, Josh Dorrity, Phillip Lee, Jesse Winchester, and Ryan Heard.  Let's break down who these gentlemen are, what they are like, and so on...

Me- perfect roommate, enjoys writing poetry while drinking hot tea, really sympathetic and compassionate, I cook all the meals for everyone, make their beds, lay out their clothes and such (kidding of course), you'll have to ask my roomies what I'm like as a house-mate, hopefully not too bad.

Will Jackson - solid guy, likes to play on his IPAD, but when he's not doing that he's usually preparing for youth, speaking truth, or GLEANING truths from others.  Will has been a joy to be around, definitely and encouragement day-in and day-out, wise beyond his years and will make a great hubby for a lucky gal.

Josh Dorrity - not only a house mate, but my roommie.  When he is not serving the youth in some form or fashion, Josh can often be found watching a Madea movie with a cup of red-berry juice.  Josh is a fun-guy, very relational and people oriented.  He really does a great job spending time with younger guys from the church whether it be watching a football game, catching a movie, or having a meal.

Phillip Lee - most likely to represent the house in the olympics.  If you don't know Phillip, let me inform you, the joker can run.  Phillip is a great guy, really driven.  He studies hard and is faithful to do a lot of the behind the scenes work for many of the international ministry events.  I look forward to living with him in India for 6 months.

Jesse Winchester - our very own Emeril.  My man can cook up a storm... BAM.  Not only can he cook, he also serves as our interior designer.  The only reason that our house has any "flare" is because Jesse put in the elbow grease.  This fact can be best appreciated by entering his room, the "GQ", which unlike the rest of the rooms in the house, looks like a page ripped out of a magazine.  Jesse is a joy.  He puts in so much work splitting time between Starbucks and First Impressions for the Church, I appreciate him.

Ryan Heard - our 'little drummer boy.'  Ryan is the 2nd member of the "GQ" and he goes hard in the paint... in fact, I'm not sure when he sleeps or that he actually does sleep.  Ryan puts in a lot of time at the church, wether it be serving in the band or making our website look tasty.  He is a rare servant and a beat factory.

So, I've laid out everyone in the house... the best way to think about life in the house would be to imagine all of these personalities under one roof... however, if you don't feel like doing that, you can just watch this short video as it describes life in the GLINK house quite well:

Let your imagination run wild!

Student Ministry Update

A lot has happened since I joined Generation LINK staff at Crosspoint in August, and it's been great to see God working even in these past 2 months. I am one of 3 G-Linkers working specifically with 6th - 12th grade students under our Student Minister, Josh Jones. I've had the privilege of serving with this ministry for the past 2 years as a small group leader and a SummerLINKer for 2 summers, and now, I am in this new position of leading these students, specifically middle schoolers, in a greater capacity than when I was only a small group leader for some of the middle school guys, and God is continually sanctifying me and helping me grow as a teacher, mentor, and leader.

We kicked off the school year with our weekly Sunday night meeting that we call "Awaken." This is more of a large-group teaching time in which we worship together, and then usually split into middle school and high school to have our lesson in order to tailor the message to the students' age. I am one of the teachers for middle school, along with a few other leaders, and I've seen a lot of these students really get involved in the discussion questions and dive deeper than I thought was possible for that age group. We're going through a new curriculum called "The Gospel Project" which is basically going over the Bible as a whole and showing how it all points towards Christ and the Gospel. We want the students to see God's Word as a meta-narrative - 1 book instead of 66 separate books, and how it all fits together, has authority, meaning, and purpose. Please pray that the students would continue to be more and more receptive to the teaching and that they would continue growing spiritually.

We've also been meeting on Wednesday nights which we call "Equip." We meet in host homes - high school at one house and middle school at another, and the format is based more on small groups and Bible study in a more casual atmosphere. The high schoolers are going through the sermons that we hear on Sundays and dissecting the Scripture further and discussing application of it to their lives. The middle schoolers are studying "The Life" which is a study of who God is. It's been good to give them this basic foundation of our faith and to help them learn more about topics such as the Trinity, why Jesus had to die, how we have the Holy Spirit, etc. Discussion has been great, and I pray that it will continue to get even better.

We also took a trip on Labor Day this year to go tubing down a river in Helen, GA. This was a great time of fellowship for our whole youth group, and also was great for our 6th graders to get to know other students in the group since this was one of their first opportunities to go on a trip with the student ministry, and they had not been with us very long.

Also, we are about to go on our annual Student Ministry Fall Retreat to Camp McCall in Sunset, SC. We have more than 50 students and leaders going, and it will be a great time of worship and teaching under our guest speaker, Tracy Turner. He is teaching off of the theme of the weekend, "SIMPLE."

The theme is designed to show that the command God gives us to make disciples is simple; it's just a matter of obedience. Other topics will also be discussed and the Gospel will be preached. We put a lot of finishing touches on the planning of the weekend today, and we are all pumped for this weekend and praying that our students take this weekend seriously and seek after God. 

Please pray for this weekend and our students - that God would take hold of their hearts and that they would truly be His disciples and find their identity in Him alone.

Posted by: Josh Dorrity

Fall Getaway 2012

Four years ago I was a freshman at Clemson and an attendee at Crosspoint. Shortly after arriving in Clemson I heard about Fall Getaway. I did not know too many people yet, so I hesitantly signed up. I remember being nervous climbing into my assigned car with girls I barely knew, not really sure if I was ready to embark on what was to come in the next couple of days.

By Sunday, however, I was not ready to leave.

Every year since then Fall Getaway has been a priority. I have not missed one since that fateful day in 2008!

It is a weekend no one should miss. The retreat at Camp McCall provides many great benefits to the students including a great time of refreshment through solid teaching of God’s Word and guarded time with the Lord; abundant opportunities to meet and spend quality time with friends; and a setting among the newly changing leaves of fall in the mountains.

This year Fall Getaway was held September 21-23. The second day we were there was the first day of fall!

Crosspoint Church is apart of the NACPF network and we were glad to have Zach Nelson, the Director of Public Relations and a Church Planting Mobilizer of the NACPF (North American Church Planting Foundation) lead us. “Zach graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2001 with a degree in Communication Studies, and later received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is in the process of completing his Doctor of Ministry degree in Counseling from SEBTS. Zach did outside sales for a period in time before he served on staff with two separate churches since 2001. Zach's passion for church planting grew as he served on staff at Open Door Baptist Church as the Minister to Students and their Families from 2006-2011.”

Zach Nelson guided us through Acts 1 and 2. The themes of the sessions were: the restoring power of the Gospel, the transforming power of the Gospel, and the saving power of the Gospel. Many of the students I talked to after the weekend said what struck them the most was when Zach read the hymn “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” aloud. He wanted to emphasize the point that our God brings salvation to lawless people who recognize they have crucified Jesus.

I have included Stuart Townend’s hymn below. Read it for your soul’s understanding and delight. May our boasting be in Christ alone.

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Dustin Raley led the students in worship, something he has done at Fall Getaway for the past few years. He was a member of Crosspoint Church until recently when he moved to Myrtle Beach, SC where he is now the Minister of Worship at Cornerstone Church. He married Avery Latham two weeks before Fall Getaway.  We are so grateful that they were able to travel to Camp McCall and play a big role in the weekend.

Fall Getaway is a truly unique weekend. The students and leaders are surrounded by God’s beautiful creation and are among many brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a sweet time together with new and old friends.

Posted by Anna-Grace Watkins

Our Trip to Raleigh: The 9Marks Conference

Posted by Gray Gardner

Last weekend Crosspoint treated its Generation LINK interns to a two-day conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference, sponsored by pastor and author Mark Dever's ministry, 9Marks, focused on conversion and happened on Friday and Saturday. In the span of 24 hours, we were able to sit under six sermons and 5 panel discussions from David Platt, Danny Akin, Tony Merida, Mark Dever, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Matt Chandler.

David Platt, famous for his book Radical and the Secret Church movement, kicked things off with an incredible message entitled "The Glory of God-Centered Conversion: How God saves people for the sake of His name." Platt focused on Ezekiel 36:22-32, discussing four truths from the text which connect personal conversion to global mission. I haven't heard such a powerful sermon in a long time. It was a great way to kick off the conference!

David Platt from 9Marks



Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), and Tony Merida, pastor of Imago Dei church in Raleigh and preaching professor at SEBTS, spoke in succession after Platt. Then, to conclude the first day, Mark Dever preached a sermon out of Acts 9-12. (If you've never heard Mark Dever read the Scriptures, you need to listen to one of his messages!)

One of my favorite sermons was preached first thing Saturday morning by pastor and author Thabiti Anyabwile of First Baptist Church of the Cayman Islands. Thabiti is by far the most encouraging person I've ever been around. He spoke so graciously with the other speakers during panel discussions, always using his words to edify others. His sermon was no different, giving encouragement and grace to all of us in the congregation.

The biggest takeaway from Thabiti's sermon was his statement that all Christians - all disciple-makers - are shepherds, and that all "shepherds should smell like their sheep." His point was that shepherds should be spending time with their sheep. They should be close to them, living among them, walking beside them through both the muck and the pastures. This challenge has encouraged me to get close to the "sheep" I am shepherding as a small group leader and staff member at Crosspoint Church.

Thabiti Anyabwile from 9Marks



After Thabiti, Matt Chandler, one of my favorite pastors to listen to from the Village Church in Dallas, Texas, closed out the conference with a sermon from Romans 8:28-32. Chandler nailed the theological significance that God works for the good of those who love him in light of the fact that He has foreknown them, predestined them, called them, and justified them, in order that he might glorify them. The depth of these realities lead Paul in Romans 8 to conclude, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

While the plenary sessions provided ample opportunity for us to learn, I think I can speak for the rest of our team when I say that the best part of the conference was having the opportunity to talk to the speakers. I was personally able to talk with Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, and Thabiti Anyabwile. All three conversations revealed men who were - despite their near celebrity status - very much shepherds and lovers of people. They encouraged and challenged me in our conversations and displayed pastoral care in taking the time to talk. Although they likely will not remember me, I was greatly impacted by the humility and grace with which they carried themselves.

After last weekend, I hope to make reoccurring trips to the 9Marks Conference every year!

Generation-LINK: What I've Learned

This is my second year serving as Generation-LINK Staff at Crosspoint Church! I really love it and I’m so thankful for this opportunity.

I thought I’d give a little glimpse into what Generation LINK looks like practically for me and what I learned through this program.

I serve as our Kids Worship Director at Crosspoint. I love children. I always have. When the Lord put G-LINK before me as an option a little over 2 years ago, I just knew I would want to serve with the littlest ones at Crosspoint.

The thing is, I had no experience (other than one year teaching in the two year old room and lots of babysitting). I didn’t know how to coordinate a schedule, keep a nursery clean, equip volunteers and teachers for serving, different curriculums, etc…

Insert Generation LINK.

That’s what this program does. It equips you.

About one month into the program I was given the task of researching and writing a policies and procedures for our nursery at Crosspoint.

I was clueless. I’m not a mom and I wasn’t an education major.

I was encouraged by the pastor I served alongside to spend time talking with other churches about their procedures and what they do that works well. I loved that. I learned so much.

With lots of guidance and many conversations, a policies and procedures was put into practice for our nursery ministry and in February 2012, we held our first volunteer training for our nursery volunteers. And I got to be part of that. Talk about humbling.

That’s another aspect of G-LINK. Experience.

This isn’t your typical internship. I have the privilege to serve alongside some of the most humble, kind, gracious, leaders (our pastors). They invest so well into us. There were many meetings with our Discipleship Pastor, Jason where we looked at the P&P and he gave me feedback and direction. We would meet again and do the same. There was a great balance of oversight and freedom to run with this assignment. I knew that at any moment I could pop into his office and ask questions, but I also knew that he would not be checking in on me every day.

I could never learn what I’ve learned sitting in a classroom. I’ve learned so much about investing in the next generation at Crosspoint through serving as G-LINK Staff. It’s invaluable the knowledge I’ve obtained through watching our pastors lead their families, teach family discipleship from the pulpit, and teach me how to train volunteers, research curriculum, and shepherd our volunteers well.

I absolutely love what I get to do. It’s my dream. Because of  (almost) two years of Generation-LINK, I know better how to do children’s ministry within the local church, and how to help equip families to disciple their children in the home. I’ve gained an invaluable amount of experience that someone my age wouldn’t gain just anywhere. I’ve been entrusted with much responsibility and guided well to carry out my tasks. I’ve learned that this is more than a job, it’s a calling.

My love for children has grown beyond their cuteness, but for their souls. These little boys and girls that I get to oversee are potential brothers and sisters in Christ. They are future pastors and husbands and wives and missionaries.

Oh how I long to teach them well. To teach them of Christ and their need for him as their Savior. I’m learning how to do that through serving alongside those who are wiser than I. What a joy. A humbling joy.

I can’t say enough how thankful I am for this opportunity. I could go on and on about the benefits of Generation-LINK and many more great aspects. Maybe in another blog!

 I have no doubt these two years will produce fruit in my life for many years to come. I’m excited about this second year. I have much more to learn and I’m eager to go deeper.

Posted by Krystal Brummitt

India Daze

The day-to-day of my life in India is quite different from my American life where the days felt rhythmic.  When I first got to India, I felt like my days would never find a pattern, but I think they are beginning to fall into a rhythm.

I have now been in India for two months. Throughout July, I lived more of a nomadic life, staying in hotels for the first few weeks then moving to an apartment and finally to my new home with my roommate, Amy, at the beginning of August. Now that I have lived here for two months,  once unfamiliar things are becoming familiar. For instance, constantly hearing a foreign language, smelling strange spices, and seeing all sorts of animals while driving my scootie on the streets. Who knew it would become normal to see a camel grazing or a cow mooing right outside my window?!

During August, Amy and I have kept very busy! On India's Independence Day we participated in a children's program with all the kids from our church. We had so much fun with them: sharing Bible stories, playing charades, running out of gluesticks, and eating cookies!

I have met many new friends and spent much of my time developing these friendships whether over coffee or a meal or by catching the latest Bollywood release! (I have yet to see a movie in theaters in English.) Amy and I are also members at a gym in one of the malls near our house, and we have begun teaching aerobics classes there. We teach Zumba, Pilates, and Spinning. It's a lot of fun and a great way to meet more people, women especially.

Every Friday, Amy and I, along with some of our Indian friends, walk around a local neighborhood. Through this time, we have gotten to meet many people and even been invited into some of their homes! It's always an eye-opening experience to walk in less trafficked areas, seeing the way India lives and going into their homes, experiencing their hospitality. I'm so glad to be here in India and share in the work being done here!

Jai Masih Ki (Praise the Lord),
Rachel

College Welcome Back Events!!!

Last week the Clemson Community welcomed over 4,000 new students and many others who were returning for another school year! With all of these students coming into town, Generations LINK's College team was especially busy!

We planned a week of "Welcome Back Events" for new and returning students! The week included an ice cream social, trivia and coffee night, lots of ultimate frisbee, and more! We also made a point to have a presence at the events that Clemson puts on for the students, such as the Welcome Back festival and the organizations fair! The picture below is the publicity we used to get the word out to students about our events! As you can see, we are not done yet!

After all of our labor in planning and preparing, the first week went great! Praise the Lord! We met and were able to make connections with over 400 college students! On Sunday we also had Starting Point after every service where we fed all of the college students some fried chicken as they learned about Connecting Point Groups! We had around 300 college students come to starting point interested in learning about joining a CP group!

We are so grateful for the Lords faithfulness as he is enabling us to reach the Clemson community with the gospel message. Pray that we continue to labor for the Lord and find hope and strength in him alone. Pray also for all of the college students that are now back on campus. Pray that those who are lost will be sought out and made into worshippers of our great God!

In Christ,
Jennifer Gardner
Generation LINK Staff- College Ministry

Summer LINK Clemson: Week 9

I cannot believe that another week has come and gone with Summer LINK Clemson. It seems not too long ago that we were having our orientation and getting to know one another! Now we’re getting close to the last week of serving with Crosspoint staff this summer.

This week has been, like many others have written before me, an incredible week of fellowship, teaching, and learning. We had the honor of gathering at the Welborn’s (yes, parents of BTChubs..) home this Monday night for Equip Night. You want to know what a true Southern home-cooked meal looks like? Well let me just tell you how Kathy Welborn blessed the stomachs of all the Clemson Summer LINKers: picture some home-made fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, rice, fruit, salad, two home-made red-velvet cakes, macadamia nut cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, turtle cookies, and your choice of either vanilla ice cream or cookie dough ice cream. Can you say YUMMY!! We were truly blessed and full of happiness and satisfaction. It was also an immense blessing for us to hear the testimonies of Mark and Kathy Welborn and how obedient they have been to the Lord’s calling on their lives. Twice in their walks with the Lord, they have been faithful to the Lord and have given up everything to help start a church. Mark reminded us that we can respect God and fear Him, but we must understand what it truly means to love Him. Our quiet times, our fellowship and discipleship with other believers, and our prayers should change as our love for Him grows. We’re thankful for their obedience and faithfulness to help start Crosspoint Church and for continuing to faithfully serve the body of Christ! We continued our study of Robert Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism by discussing Jesus’ method of delegation unto His disciples to spread the truth of the good news. We pray that we would be teachable disciples of Christ and learn how to delegate to fellow believers in order to teach them more about Jesus and watch them grow in His ministry of evangelism and discipleship!

We celebrated another special day this week on Thursday night by honoring Miss Katrina Ross’ 20^th birthday! We all got to indulge in some delicious chocolate cupcakes (thanks to Miss Emilyn Banfield) and sing happy birthday to one special lady with a beautiful servant’s heart before CP group. To end the summer socials on a high note, Summer LINK Clemson traveled to Atlanta this past Friday to spend the day at Six Flags. This was a day all of us were looking forward to and expecting to be the highlight of our summer! Although it was a hot summer day, we all had a blast riding rollercoasters (multiple times), walking around the gift shops, and exploring the water park to cool off a bit. Nothing like the thrill of a rollercoaster to drive out the fear in us and draw us closer together as a group!

We’re so thankful to be under the teaching of Crosspoint this summer and to be pushed and challenged by the Lord in evangelism this summer. Ken taught on living in light of Christ’s return last Sunday and it has been reigning in our hearts all week. It completely changes and impacts your day when you put the second coming of Christ and His promise of restoration on the forefront of your mind. We are thankful and grateful to be in prayer for those that we have gotten to have gospel-centered conversations with and we pray for more! God is Sovereign and we are humbled to be used by Him to further His Kingdom.

We pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ serving in Boston, Honduras, and India and our hearts are with them! We know God is doing wonderful things in and through them.

Laura Gann

Boston Update (week 4)

This past week we were able to do homeless ministry for the first time on our trip.  On Wednesday afternoon we had a training session on homeless ministry. We learned a lot about homeless statistics in Boston and how to engage, love, and serve the homeless. That night we went to Boston Commons and handed out socks and sandwiches to the homeless people that were there. These things served as icebreakers as we were then able to talk to these people individually about their lives and pray for them about the things that they face. I was blown away by how the Lord can use such small things to make such a big difference. The majority of the people were so thankful to have someone to talk to who was really concerned with what was going on with their lives. For some of these people it was the only conversation they had all day. The Lord really showed me how we could display the gospel to these people just by loving them and praying for them. We ended the time with singing and prayer. This was one of the most memorable moments of this trip for me personally, as we saturated downtown Boston with the praise and worship of our Savior.

On Saturday we had another encounter with the homeless as we helped Hope Fellowship Church with Hope Café. We helped prepare breakfast and serve breakfast to the homeless as they came in. We were able to have good conversations with them while they ate.  A man from the church shared the changing power of the gospel.  Some of us were able to take the leftovers and hand them out at the T station. This was a really cool ministry that they have at the church and I am so thankfulthat we were able to have a small part of it.

As we enter this next week a lot of our energy and thoughts are going to be on Community Fun Night as we try to plan and prepare. Please be in prayer for this event as we try to effectively engage the community and reach people with the gospel.

Posted by: Caitlyn Carlile

Summer LINK Honduras Week 4 Wrap-up

     It's been a great week here in Honduras. We thoroughly enjoyed our visitors, the Strawderman family, VBS at the dump was a success, and we've had great success in our continuing ministries at the dump and bilingual school.

     Yesterday as the Pirkles dropped the Strawderman family at the airport, we continued our schedule with the bilingual school and soccer games at the fields in the community of Lucinda. We started the day at the school by helping the sixth grades students memorize the Honduran National Anthem. Afterwards, we read one-on-one with third grade students. These times of working in small groups with students are my favorite because they allow us to build deeper relationships with the kids and enter into gospel-centered conversations.

     After an afternoon of soccer, we joined the Pirkle kids for dinner at Letty's, a local restaurant near the hospital grounds. It was a great time of fellowship with them and another great chance for us to enjoy local cuisine. We capped off the night with a movie night in our living room.
     Today we traveled to La Ceiba to do some shopping and grab lunch at the mall. We also planned an outreach for our time at the mall and printed off some Spanish versions of The Story. We divided our team into three groups and gave out internet cards with the link to The Story online. Each group had great encounters with both believers and non-believers. We even met a guy whose wife lives in South Carolina! Today was a great opportunity for us to be intentional with the gospel. J.C. was able to have a great conversation with a young believer and encourage him in his faith. Logan and Becca talked to two older women who were devout Catholics. I was able to talk to two young girls who were headed for college. When I shared the gospel with them, they said that it was familiar to them because of the bible classes they had in school. So I was able to encourage them, and leave them with a link to The Story. I'm really thankful we had this opportunity today.
     Tonight, our guys are helping out with the last movie night in Rio Estaban and tomorrow we will be returning to one of the local churches we've attended. We are planning on spending the afternoon tie-dying t-shirts and going to the waterfall with Johnny, one of the kids from school.

Please pray for our time with Johnny tomorrow. We hope to spend the afternoon encouraging Johnny, teaching him about discipleship, and spurring him on to steadfastness in sharing the gospel with his friends and classmates.

     Post by Kimberly Sherman
     Pictures by Elizabeth Pirkle and Dan Strawderman

Generation LINK and the NACPF

Check out Generation LINK Director Jeremy Chasteen's recent post on the NACPF blog! http://www.nacpf.org/follow-us/nacpf-blog/

SummerLINK Honduras - Strawderman Week!

Our time in Honduras continues to be blessed by the Lord. This last week we have had the privilege of having the Strawderman family coming alongside our team and the Pirkles to serve the Lord in Honduras. They arrived last Thursday evening, and took Friday to rest and get a tour of the ministries around here, such as the hospital and the children's center.

While they were learning the ropes, we continued our ministry at the bilingual school in Rio Esteban. Friday was a crazy day at the school. They have been doing some cultural awareness things with Indians, and Friday was designated for a presentation and a contest for the "best dressed indian." Three girls from the school were dressed as cute little indians and had to go through a series of things to be judged on. A few of our team members were asked to be the judges. The excitement from the contest distracted the students from school work tremendously. It was hard to find gospel opportunities with such short attention spans; however we did enjoy getting to spend the day further building our relationships with the children and serving in whatever way the teachers needed us. That afternoon everyone went to the recreation field in Lucinda to spend time playing soccer and investing in the people in the community. It was a great day for the Strawderman's to reunite with the Pirkles and for our team to meet them and simply spend time in sweet fellowship. We ended our day with another delicious homecooked meal provided by the Pirkle family! We have been so blessed by their family's servants heart!




Saturday we continued our ministry at the Dump in La Ceiba. Our most recent visits there have looked a little bit different than they have previously. With the extra hands from the Strawderman family, we wanted to attempt to do a VBS with the children at the Dump. Nothing like this had ever been tried there before. None of us knew what to expect going into this at all. Most of the children living there have never had any kind of organized activity, and definitely have not really been exposed to the great truths of the gospel. We really wanted to be intentional about sharing Christ's love with them and providing fun things for them to do that they may not have the opportunity to experience before.  Everyone did a great job splitting up tasks and just being faithful to serve wherever someone was needed. The first day definitely was difficult, but overall it went very well. We were able to evaluate what we did well, and what things we needed to change for the next two visits, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Sunday we spent the morning studying through some passages in 2 Kings with some of the other missionaries on the compound. Afterwards we got to spend some time worshipping the Lord through song, lead by our very own, Kelsey and JC. It was a wonderful time praising the Lord. That afternoon we spent time resting and enjoying each other in fellowship at the beach until the rain came. Sunday evening we went the this place called Rosie's. Rosie is a local from Rio Esteban who runs a restaurant on the beach. We communicated what kind of meat we wanted, whether it was chicken, shrimp, or lobster, a few days ahead of time. Local fishermen catch whatever we requested and Rosie had it all cooked and ready to go once we arrived. The food was delicious! We had rice, fried plantains, and chips and salsa along with whichever meat we chose. We all enjoyed our meal and watching God's beautiful creation as the sun was setting over the water. It was impossible to look at that and not praise the Lord! After dinner we were surprised with a dance by some of the people in the Rio Esteban community. The Garifuna is a culture that is primarily only in Rio Esteban. According to Rosie the culture is going to die out if the older generation doesn't continue to teach the younger generation about it. Therefore, the dances we saw were native dances from the Garifuna people in the community. The beginning some younger girls in pink skirts did a little dance lead by a beat from some drummers and singing from Rosie. Soon after these men with headdresses came out and did more native dancing. It was kind of odd to see at first, but it was cool to get to see this part of their culture. They even were intentional about getting us to participate with them. They pulled some of our team out on the dance floor and tried to teach them some of the dance. It was a fun night full of laughter and good food!

Monday we jumped right back into going to the bilingual school. The Strawderman's were troopers and got up at the crack of dawn and accompanied us. We really enjoyed getting to have them at the school with us. Their family has a servant heart and it was such a joy to see them build relationships with the kids in only a few hours. By the end of the day they were holding their hands and dragging them across the field to play with them. Their willingness to serve the Lord faithfully has been a huge encouragement to us while they have been here. Sometimes the days at the school feel long and can be very frustrating. It was so refreshing to have so many joyful spirits around!

Tuesday and Thursday we continued doing VBS at the Dump.  We were able to make changes that improved the flow of things. Story time was now with the whole group at once so we could have the remaining people to encourage the children to pay attention. Tuesday was about Jesus' baptism and temptation. Thursday was about Jesus' death and resurrection.  Our vision for the teachings of VBS were to clearly explain Redemptive History to these children.  Overall, the story time went well, even though there were some unruly children who just couldn't sit still and pay attention.  The group who did the craft got the opportunity to expand on the teaching, which was really awesome!  Games were focussed on team building and being able to work together. The children seemed to really enjoy the different groups as a whole, so hopefully this week has paved the way to do similar types of ministry at the Dump.

We have loved having the Strawderman's here with us for a week! We are so thankful for their desire to serve the Lord faithfully through missions. It was such a joy to work alongside them and see how the Lord used them while they were here. Please be in prayer for their awesome family as they travel back to the States in the morning!

Photo credits: Elizabeth, Ceci, and Kim
Written by: Hannah and Ceci