SummerLINK Clemson: Through the Storm

Yesterday, SummerLINK Clemson set off for Myrtle Beach. Within two hours of our departure, the back seats were all asleep and I had the quiet to reflect on life at its present stage. I am coming up on my first year anniversary of marriage, and I can tell you – the last year has been quite a ride. In between struggling as one sinner joined to another sinner in marriage (if you are married you understand the extreme hardships) and being rejected and scorned by my earthly family, the last year has been, quite honestly, a spiritual downhill mudslide. When I joined SummerLINK Clemson I was a very recent muddy wreck trying to let the Lord piece me back together. But I can testify that as long as I slid down the muddy slope, our God did not forsake me. He never left me alone. Though I went weeks without opening the Word to hear Him speak, He pursued me through His body, the Church, and spoke to me in the quiet as I laid down to sleep at night. He pursued me until I planted my feet in the mud, stood up, and took stock of my surroundings.

I firmly believe that He planted me in SummerLINK to provide me the spiritual refuge I need to rebuild. We have studied and prayed together, shared together, laughed together, and some of us have cried together. The Lord built His body as one, that we should have the heart to support each other in pursuit of Him, our glorious Father.

When we came within an hour of Myrtle Beach yesterday we were slammed by a fierce thunderstorm and traffic slowed to a crawl. It seemed that we rolled slowly through the storm for an hour, but we did come out from under that storm cloud. In my life the cloud is still over me, but our God has delt with me kindly. I have my husband to stand beside me, and I have the body of Christ to teach and rebuke me as I need it.

In Cornerstone Church at Myrtle Beach last night we kicked off our time together with a seminary lecture by Dr. Ewart and a period of corporate worship and prayer. I admit, at one point I looked up during our prayers (don’t tell me you’ve never done that before) and as I looked out over the bowed heads of my brothers and sisters and heard the murmuring of many voices beseeching our God for the sake of the lost, my joy was nearly complete. I have all I need in Christ, and these men and women who bow before a Most High God along with me are my earthly anchor in Truth. Praise be to God!

Ahead of us we have more knowledge to gain, more prayers to say, and strangers to evangelize to. We appreciate your prayers in love, and we pray likewise for you.

Blessings in Christ.

By Shelby Hercules

SummerLINK Myrtle Beach: Looking Back, Looking Up, Looking Forward

Hello there from Summer LINK Myrtle Beach! We now find ourselves at the one month mark. The team is continuing to be impacted by God’s goodness on a daily basis. In the past week, I have seen the Lord grow all of us in discipline, unity, intentional discipleship, and selflessness.

This past Sunday, the team was blessed with a worship service which some of us were able to attend with our families. Once again, Russ Bennett brought us a solid expositional sermon where we took a look at Matthew 7:12-20. In this passage Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount by speaking of The Golden Rule, entering by the narrow gate, and being careful of false prophets.

On Sunday evening, we had our prayer and praise time on the beach where we asked the Lord to continue to provide opportunities for us to share the gospel with others.  We were just about to wrap everything up when two guys names Brock and Gus from West Virginia walked up to us and started talking to us. We invited them to come to Krispy Kreme with us and they accepted. It was at Krispy Kreme where one of the members of our team seized the opportunity to share the gospel with them. It was an incredible moment. One minute we were on the beach praying for more opportunities to share the gospel, and then thirty minutes later we found ourselves at Krispy Kreme with two new acquaintances with the opportunity to tell them about Christ. 

On Monday night, we were greatly blessed by having Paul and Jenny Moore open up their home to us. Here we were able to eat a great home cooked meal and fellowship with a great family of believers. It was so encouraging to witness what the Lord has done in and through the lives of the Moore family. The families from Cornerstone church are nothing short of an incredible blessing from the Lord. They have selflessly opened up their homes to us, and taught us what a godly home should look like.

Also on Monday our group continued in our discussion of biblical community after reading the first chapter of “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Lord continued to strengthen our community and showed us that while it is our responsibility to pursue the depths of Christian community, it is not our responsibility to create it out of our own will. Christian community is not something that we can create; it is a reality that God has already created for us through our unity in Christ.

“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together

On Wednesday, we continued to unpack Matthew 7:12-20. Many sound theological truths were discussed during the evening…truths that we will continue to meditate on and apply to our lives. I will say that the number one thing I took away from the discussion is God’s simple yet serious reminder to continue to reach the lost. In the middle of working full time jobs, and finding ourselves in a structured schedule, it is easy to concentrate on the tasks that must be completed during the day, and lose sight of God’s command to us as Christians to evangelize. We must not lose sight of the truth that as followers of Christ our command is to tell the lost the truth of Matthew 7:13-14 and to point them toward the narrow gate.

 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”  Matthew 7:13-14 ESV

Thursday night was Gender night. While the ladies went geocaching, and continued in their discussion of biblical womanhood, the guys found themselves in 2 Peter 1 and discussed what it looks like to be a godly man of character. I would say that while I truly love every day that God has blessed me with here at Summer LINK, Thursday nights have become my favorite time. I cherish the opportunity to pursue growth in biblical manhood with these men. They are constantly teaching, challenging, and encouraging me in ways I have never experienced before. I am so thankful that the Lord has chosen me to be a part of this community. We have only been here for a month, and I already know that I have made lifelong friends.

On Friday, our Summer LINK team found themselves in a local coffee shop. Dustin Raley, the worship leader at Cornerstone and a few of the Summer LINK’ers played live music at the coffee shop. It was incredible to see my brothers and sisters in Christ use the talents that God blessed them with to share the gospel, and to worship Him through music. In addition to that, it was a blessing to meet other believers, and to hear about how Christ has changed their life as well.

Well, here we are finding ourselves at the threshold of Seminary Week. In just a few days Summer LINK Myrtle Beach will go from being an army of ten to an army of roughly one hundred believers on mission for the kingdom. While the SLMB team is excited and ready to welcome the rest of Summer LINK with open arms, this is also a bitter-sweet time for us. We know that this has really been the last normal week for us to be with our leaders Ryan Heard and Corey Dickinson. After Seminary Week is over they will be with us for only a few days before leaving and entrusting us to continue our mission for the summer. We know that they will always be a phone call away, and that they will be checking in on us regularly; however, we also know that we will be missing a part of our team. This brother and sister have had a tremendous impact in each of our lives, and they will be greatly missed.

Looking forward, we are excited to see the Summer LINK’ers from every location across the globe coming to Myrtle Beach. We have been looking forward to this coming week for some time and we know that God has incredible things planned for all of us. As a team we are looking forward to fully taking the responsibility of Summer LINK into our own hands. This is a responsibility that none of us are taking lightly, and we look forward to seeing God at work in and through our lives for the rest of this summer. Praise be to the God who has not only saved us by the blood of the cross, but has also given us the privilege to share the message of the gospel with the nations!


by Tim Dietrich

Summer LINK Clemson: Even in the Midst of the Craziness, God Provides

Only seven more weeks of the program that acts as a relief from my hectic schedule. I can't believe how much I have learned, just in these few short weeks with summer LINK Clemson. One of these things includes how God is in control and finds ways to reassure us that his direction is sovereign. When signing on with Clemson SummerLINK, I was a tad hesitant that it would conflict with my strenuous class schedule. Not being the only one taking classes, there was a bit of relief, but for some reason I felt that because I was taking the dreaded ORGANIC CHEMISTRY that my schedule was going to busier than others, and oh how I was wrong. It turns out, everybody doing summer LINK is extremely busy taking classes, working, and trying to manage their time just as I am. And still, after spending time with this awesome group of people being on mission for the Lord, there is always that little assurance from God telling me that this is exactly what I should be doing with my summer. Participating in Summer LINK activities during the week is sometimes stressful, but it isn't the activities that stress me out. I look forward to every single one of them, whether it is being trained in discipleship, or fellowshipping with families in the church. Yes, my classes are crazy hard, but I always find such a relief when I get to go do "Summer LINK" things. Sometimes, I find myself driving to the church just to hang out and help out with some of the other generation LINK staff. I just love the people that I am privileged to interact with this summer and cherish the time that I get to spend with them. That being said, this summer has still had it's hardships. There have been multiple instances when school has kept me from doing the thing that my heart desires, even the things that I feel that God has called me to pursue. These situations especially have been difficult because I feel like it is what God wants me to do, but also know how strong my fleshly desire is. It is sometimes tough to distinguish which one is real. And always, after much prayer and petition, God leads me to the wisest, most rational decision. Part of Summer LINK involves scripture memory and the first week me and my discipleship leader, the amazing Sammi Fife, agreed to memorize and abide on Galations 2:20, which states that we have been crucified in Christ so that he lives through us and we should live therefore live our lives by faith in him. What a verse to start off with! It was key in showing me that no matter what I am doing, I am doing it for the glory of God who sent his only Son to die on the cross for our wretched sins so that we could live. So as miserable as organic chemistry is some days, it is nice to have to perspective to know that this is what I had committed to this summer, and therefore, I need to do it in a way that pleases the Lord. The same goes for hectic busy schedules. As hard as it seems to make them all fit together, God has a way of working things out so that we can further bring him glory through being on mission with SummerLINK Clemson. Therefore, if I commit to things that I clearly do not have time for, I would not be able to do the other things well, and that would not bring honor and glory to my Savior. So when times seem bleak, and schedules don't fit together, I just have to remember this verse and know that this summer was a summer for the Lord to strengthen me spiritually and physically. Yes, school is hard...but YES, God has given me supernatural focus and concentration to do well in my class. Yes, there are constant schedule conflicts... but YES, God has a way of working things out in the favor of those who seek after Him. God does have overarching plan for our lives and He is sovereign in everything he does. And with these things, he constantly provides for us.

By: Katy Weaver

SummerLINK Myrtle Beach: He is Faithful

“Who can really be faithful in the great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

This past week has honestly been one of the most tiring weeks so far on Summer LINK (SLINK). All of us have started our jobs and many of us come back to the SeaMist ready to go to bed finding ourselves preparing to go to the next SLINK event. As a result of these long days there is a temptation for us to slack on essential disciplines that deepen our relationship with the Lord. For me one discipline that I have definitely been slacking on is scripture memorization. How can I know truth and guard my heart if I do not keep scripture in my heart? Graciously, the Lord has reminded many of my teammates and I of this truth and continues to mold us into men and women who will be “faithful in the things of daily life” (Bonhoeffer).

Also the Lord has just LAVISHED us with blessings. This past Sunday we had the opportunity to have our prayer and praise night at a neighborhood pool with some of the youth from Cornerstone Church. This was such a blessing because we were able to connect with some of the youth and really model before them what being a college student who is in love with the Lord looks like. Then, this past Tuesday we were blessed by having dinner at the Morton’s house where we discussed the introduction to Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and heard the testimonies of Blake and Ashley Morton as well as Lucas and Suellen Oliveira. It is always encouraging to hear how the Lord transforms lives through His gospel. It reminds me that you always have something to share with anyone you meet, the Gospel. For a believer it is encouraging and joyous and for a non-believer it is truth and freedom. Later on that night I found out that Blake drove motorcycles and then I so happened to find one in their garage.  The rest is history.

Then on Wednesday we were blessed to have Bible study at the Pauly’s house. They fed us a delicious meal, Andrew and I had the joy of sharing our testimonies, and then we dove into Matthew 7:6-11 and discussed truly seeking the Lord in prayer and evaluating our heart's intentions in what we were seeking the Lord for. What was very encouraging was that the Lord wants us to come to Him in prayer; He clearly states that in His Word. He is not a Father who is distant or wants to be distant. He is a Father who is near and close to us at all times, even when we do not desire Him to be or we think He is far away. He also is a Father who provides. He provides everything we need for every day. Seek and trust the Lord in prayer. He knows your exact needs and will provide.

Finally, this weekend was family weekend! Many of our families came down and joined the team in various activities. One of the activities was outreaching to different businesses in the community and showing our appreciation by giving them cookies. We baked 300 cookies and served around 7 businesses. It is really beautiful to see families serving together and alongside of each other with the purpose of sharing the Gospel! Also, that same day we had a cookout for the families where conversations were rich and athletic talents displayed.

All in all, our team is THANKFUL. God continues to bless us in amazing ways. He continually shows us His faithfulness everyday, whether that be setting us up to share the Gospel or revealing to us our sin and guiding us in sanctification. God is here. He will always be here. He is faithful and we are blessed to be used by Him here.

Much love from the team!

Michelle 

Summer LINK Raleigh: Preparation for the Philippines

Oh my how these few weeks have flown by. I feel like the first day of Summer LINK was just yesterday. So my story is a little bit different. I’m not a ten-week Summer LINK staff who attends staff meetings. I do not get to participate in all the big events that we have been planning. I will not be there for the retreat or a celebration at the end. However, I do get the privilege of extending the Summer LINK family to the other side of the world. 

I leave in two weeks for the Philippines. Then for six months I will be doing evangelism and discipleship among an unreached people group. How exciting, right? Summer LINK has been such an encouragement to me in these weeks of preparation. The equipping nights, bible studies, and intentional time with my mentors and leaders have been extremely beneficial to me. There are two main things that I will be able to look back and say: “I remember when this clicked for me during Summer LINK.”

1) Pruning is the placing of God’s word in my heart. It affects the way I live in community with others and make disciples. John 15:1-3 talks about God the Father pruning us as branches. During our first Equipping Night with Zach Nelson we discussed what it means to actually be pruned. Most answers were things like, “trials, tribulations, sin, suffering.” While these things are correct, the main answer was the placing of God’s word in our hearts. This is when we are pruned; when the bad is stripped away from us. When the Living Word of God speaks into our hearts and conforms us more into the image of our Creator. What does this mean? Spend time in the Word. I will not just read with the intention of learning about God or about the Bible. I will not just read Psalms or Proverbs to feel all squishy and warm inside. I will read the Living Word with the intention of God speaking truth into my life to sometimes painfully conform me more unto Himself. What will it do? It will change my relationships. I will live humbly with those around me. I will love them like Christ does. If I must confront I will do it lovingly and with God’s Word not with my own. It will transform those around me. 

2)  Calvinism. What? Really, Laura? You want to write a blog about Calvinism? Yes. I do. But not exactly. I’ve been fighting through these different views to see where I come out. I’ve been back and forth, angry, confused, and distracted. I had conflicting ideas within my head and I needed to do something about it. What a better place than around a campfire? (welcome to Summer LINK Raleigh where we have theological conversations day in and day out.) I do not have the space to spill out all my thoughts or all the words that came out of everyone’s mouth that night, but I do have my conclusion. Now I really don’t care which side you stand on in this battle, but I want you to hear me out. Here is my vague and non-Tulip conclusion about where I stand on this issue. I do not say this to convince anyone or educate you. I simply want to share how I am growing, and this was a big step!

First, there is a Great Commission. This implies urgency to go and tell all people. Second, you cannot deny Ephesians 2 that all people are dead before Christ gives grace.  Third, there is Romans 10. “… and how are they to hear without someone preaching? … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing the word of Christ.” My conclusion: Salvation is in the hands of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, thus people teaching the Word of God. Jesus commands us to go and tell. Therefore, it is not in our hands who is able to respond to God’s grace. We also do not know who God has chosen, therefore, GO TELL EVERYONE. Is it sad that people go to Hell? Absolutely, we should never lose that grief. Is it amazing that God even chooses to save some (billions and billions) from eternal damnation? Absolutely, we should never lose our thankfulness for his mercy. Is there tension? Yes, but rest comfortably knowing that you are not in control, but that our Sovereign God is. And go and tell this glorious Gospel so that more may hear of saving grace!

I am so thankful for everything the Lord is doing in my life and how we are able to serve our local church. While the other interns are doing dirty work, I have had the privilege of attending the events and reaping the wisdom from those who sit around me. I praise God for this group and the mighty things that will happen this summer and beyond!  

Camping with the Summer LINK team this past week

By Laura Hahn