Summer LINK Raleigh: Life Together

While in prison, Paul prays a beautiful prayer in Philippians 1: "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (vs. 3-5). Summer LINK Raleigh officially began at Open Door Church this past Tuesday, May 28th with Paul Whitfield (Summer LINK Raleigh Director) teaching us from this passage. Paul asked the question, "What does this partnership in the gospel look like for us?" The students shared their excitement about partnering together for the sake of the gospel through Summer LINK. 

In addition to studying the book of Philippians during Summer LINK Raleigh, all Summer LINK students are reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together. Here are a few of the truths the Lord's been showing me about Christian community as I've been reflecting on Life Together and Philippians:

1) Christian community is a privilege 

Bonhoeffer writes, "It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God's Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone" (18). It is clear in the book of Philippians that Paul experienced deep Christian community and fellowship with the saints at Philippi and as he is separated from them in prison he "yearns" for them "with the affection that is in Christ Jesus" (1:8). How quick am I to take Christian community for granted! What a beautiful truth that I have the great privilege of walking in fellowship with other believers during Summer LINK and throughout my life!

2) Christian community only happens through Jesus

This may seem obvious to you, and yet I think it is a profound truth. Because of the blood of Jesus, we are united with our fellow believers for eternity! God chooses to put His Word into the mouths of men so that they may speak it to one another. We need other believers to be "bearers and proclaimers of the divine word of salvation" (23).  Philippians 1:6 has long been a favorite verse of mine: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." As we discussed this verse, I saw it in a new light on Tuesday. I have always applied that verse only to my own spiritual growth. And yet, Paul is actually referring to the Philippians as a people, as a community. So, this means that other believers are a necessary part of God completing his work within us!

3) Christian community is an imperfect reality

If you're anything like me, there are times when Christian community does not look the way you imagine it could or should. In a sense, it's good to always desire to grow and to have deeper community. Yet in another sense, we may often face disappointment with community because we have an unrealistic picture in our minds of what it should look like (or a "wish dream" as Bonhoeffer calls it). Every "human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive" (27). As we sin and are sinned against, it is easy to become disillusioned with Christian community. And yet, sinning and being sinned against is an opportunity to respond in thankfulness that not only we, but our brother/sister has been forgiven by Christ's blood. 

4) The goal of Christian community is the Great Commission

Bonhoeffer writes, "the goal of all Christian community" is believers "meeting one another as bringers of the message of salvation" (23). Paul describes his brothers and sisters at Philippi as partners with him in the gospel. It is as we go into the world with the gospel and show the lost a picture of true community that the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 will be realized and God's kingdom advanced. I pray that as Summer LINK students experience community, they will be driven to penetrate the lostness that surrounds them with the gospel in Clemson, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, Boston, Seattle, India, and Honduras.

As we begin Summer LINK Raleigh, here are a few specific ways you can be praying:

1) Please pray for deep community and fellowship among the Summer LINK Raleigh team.

2) Pray for the students to be bold with the gospel as most of them work part-time jobs. In addition, please pray for our outreaches into local neighborhoods and campuses.

3) Pray that we would be a blessing to Open Door church and that we would serve the church and their staff well.

Here's a few pictures from our first social this past week...

Paul, the grill master!

We finished the night off with a fun game of fishbowl!

By Jenna Wayment

Summer LINK Myrtle Beach: Week 1

Bike week is over, but cheer up... Summer LINK has started!

On Tuesday, May 28, our Summer LINK Myrtle Beach team arrived at the coast to begin what we trust will be the most fruitful summer of our lives! After an afternoon of settling in and getting acquainted with the Sea Mist Resort, we traveled over to Cornerstone Church to begin the first of three orientation sessions. It was there that we dove into Ephesians 2:1-10 together to see God's purpose in having each of us in Myrtle Beach this summer. We discussed how we were once dead individuals, walking in sin and darkness; however, God has made us alive together, raised us together and seated us together in Christ. We are now unified in mind and mission for God's glory! Based upon this truth, we desire to grow as disciple makers through reaching the lost together, serving the church together and living in gospel community together!

With Wednesday morning came our second orientation session, where we discussed how Philippians 2:1-11 teaches that humility a) must characterize believers, b) is only found in Christ and c) exalts Christ for God's glory! We expressed our desire to serve God through serving the Church, the city and one another. I was so blessed to see the that the Lord was knitting our hearts together! Pastor Russ Bennett of Cornerstone Church then shared about Cornerstone's history and heart to be a healthy church that proclaims the Word of God in the midst of such lostness. After orientation, we grabbed a quick lunch, discussed a few administrative details, and embarked on our first team-building activity: The Scavenger Hunt. We split in two groups and raced to solve riddles, complete various tasks and ultimately rendezvous at a park to share stories, enjoy watermelon, and play outside. 

Thursday brought our final orientation session. Here we discussed how Ephesians 4:1-16 teaches us to a) live lives that reflect the gospel, b) live as part of the one body of Christ, and c) live to build the body of Christ. We discussed how God has uniquely made us and yet how God has deeply unified us in Christ, a unity that we must be eager to maintain. We know we will inevitably encounter conflict, both from without and within the team, but we desire to handle it biblically. We desire to humbly speaking truth to one another so that Christ will mature us as he builds up his body in love. This discussion of unity paved the way for our team to break off into three ministry teams (Outreach, Hospitality, and Socials), in which the students were entrusted with real ministry responsibility for the summer. After each team prayed, brainstormed, and planned for a while, their passion for and ownership of the vision was clearly visible! We spent the rest of the afternoon together on the beach, connecting with one another and some families sitting nearby.

On Friday, the students spent most of the day taking care of job-related responsibilities. Several students had meetings while others applied for new jobs. That evening we gathered together to discuss how the day was and then took time to discuss Saturday's outreach. Our outreach team cast vision for how we can pursue the two (at least) lifeguards whose posts are out in front of Sea Mist. Some of our team had already had multiple conversations with these lifeguards, so we decided to continue reaching out to these guys by bringing them some gifts they would enjoy on the job and by getting to know them and bringing them the gospel. We all decided to go to Walmart together to build two "gospel gifts" for the guys, consisting of two water bottles, trail mix, bananas, sunflower seeds, gum, chap stick, and a mini fan, all of which fit inside an insulated lunch bag. 

This morning, Saturday, we gathered together to rehearse the gospel and pray before going out on the beach. We then set out in two groups and delivered the gifts to the lifeguards, who we learned are an American named Alex and a Polish guy named Jon (pronounced "yon"). We had great conversations with them, learning who they were, their religious background and their work schedule. We shared who we were, why we are down here, and that as followers of Christ we desire to get to know them and serve them. We invited them to Cornerstone and they invited us to join them in some Sunday afternoon volleyball! We will likely see Alex and Jon multiple times per week for the next 10 weeks! Pray that the Lord would bring them to faith in Christ and that they would join Cornerstone through our continued outreach! Ultimately, pray the the Lord would continue to work in and through our team for his glory! 

Post by: Ryan Heard

Summer LINK Clemson: FIRST DAY!

Summer LINK Clemson has officially BEGUN!!!  For the past few years Crosspoint Church has hosted a Summer LINK, where college students can intern at Crosspoint and be poured into by Generation LINK and church staff members, and this summer we are back again!

Our team is composed of seven girls, two guys, and two Generation LINK staff members (Sammi Fife and myself).  Our vision for Summer LINK Clemson is to disciple future leaders to go and impact the nations for God’s glory, and we have the blessing to do that very thing in the Clemson area at Crosspoint Church.

On our first day we started to get to know one another and learn of the vision and goals of Summer LINK (Intentional Discipleship, Ministry Experience, Gospel Community, and Leadership Development).  It was a long day, but a fruitful one with time in the Word, community building, outreach, and fellowship.

We learned that we are to abide in Christ, and it is through that reliance in him that we will bear fruit.  We even saw some of that fruit when we went out onto the Clemson campus.  Our team was able to engage with nearly a dozen students with the gospel.  It was an eye opener for many on our team of the “lostness” on the campus, but it encouraged and challenged everyone that we are here to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

We ended the day with amazing fellowship.  One of Crosspoint’s Connecting Point groups invited our team out to the lake to enjoy some food, games, and fellowship.  It was a great way to cap off the first day of Summer LINK, and we are excited to see how God uses us this summer.  Please be praying for us as we seek to glorify Christ.  Soli Deo Gloria!

By:  Sean Alford

 

GLINK India: More Than A Gap Year

The gap year. A concept we're all familiar with as it's grown more popular over the last few years with students taking a year off after high school to go volunteer abroad or a month after college graduation hopping on a plane to start the adventure of couchsurfing, cultural immersion, and volunteer work. The gap year for its own sake does not offer much merit beyond self-discovery and personal memories; however, the same concept buttressed by the structure and vision of GenerationLINK proves to make the time abroad of infinite worth.

GenerationLINK may seem like another gap year opportunity to some as it involves taking a year between graduation and getting "a real job," and for me, the experience of living in another culture and getting to travel pretty frequently. I've even had a relative refer to my year in India as a "long vacation." However, vacations are marked by self-indulgence, rest, and the idea of getting away from real life for pleasure. My year in India has been anything but that. It has not been a miserable-stripped-of-all-joys experience. It has not been constantly painful or lonely. It has not been a break from my real life. It has not been martyrdom by any means, but living in India is not a vacation. This year has stripped me bear of comforts and securities taken in things besides the Living God. I have learned more about myself, who I am and who I want to be, my strengths and weaknesses. I have experienced the richness of community that comes through the bond of Christ breaking boundaries of culture and language. I have learned to manage money and travel alone to another country where I don't speak the language. I have learned to pack light. I have found more of what I was made for.

One of the advantages of being overseas through GenerationLINK is the strength of partnership provided through Crosspoint as a sending church. I have gotten to spend the last ten months in India with an amazing team of servants of Christ passionate for the work of the gospel being done among those who have not heard. Through this partnership, my time in India gains meaning it otherwise might have lacked as I immediately was grafted into a team established in our city and able to come alongside the work already in progress. Though I struggled in the beginning to figure out what my days would look like and how I would be a part of the work, I was never a lone-ranger in this city of a few million. I was able to come and begin with a foundation laid by the people who had previously come and those who were still here continuing the work.

About six months ago, my roommate and a national partner began visiting a Hindu home and shared with them stories from the Bible as well as prayed for the family. I tagged along a few times and became familiar with this family. Soon after the first of the year, the oldest daughter believed and was made alive with Christ! It has been awesome to see the transforming power in her life over the last few months. I began meeting with her to help me develop my Hindi speaking abilities, but soon we were translating stories from English to Hindi so we could share with others from the Bible. That time transitioned into a discipleship relationship in which we met to discuss the commands of Christ and what she is reading about in the Bible.

One afternoon we met together and discussed the command to love. Love your friends. Love your enemies. Love your neighbors as yourself. We looked at several passages, seeing over and over this basic command to love. She understood, but had a practical question. She asked me about when her neighbors and family ostracize her or treat her badly or talk about her negatively. How do you love then? Loving became more than just an abstract idea at that point; we weren't talking about the faceless neighbor or nameless woman at the grocery store who cuts in line or the man who cuts you off in traffic, but the neighbors within the walls of her own house. How was she going to love them, day in and day out? "But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 4:4-5). "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). We only have the power and ability to love because we have been loved. Only the gospel will enable us to love our enemies because we were once an enemy and we have experienced Love.

Praise the Lord for bringing me to India and doing much more than I would have ever imagined in intersecting my time in India with my sister's belief in Jesus! What grace that He would use me to teach this sister and water her with the Word that God might bring growth in her life!

GenerationLINK has given me much more than a gap year - it has been the means by which I have been able to be a light for the gospel in a very dark place, to meet this sister and be a tool used to help her grow in the gospel. It is the means by which I have partnered with work already being done to build upon a foundation previously laid and leave more accomplished for those who will come after me. It is the means by which I have gained vision for what's to come in my life, not because of self-discovery, but because of a greater understanding of The Vision, God's vision and how I can be caught up in it for the rest of my life.




Written by Rachel
GenerationLINK Staff | India

Kingdom-Minded Partnerships: The Benefits

Generation LINK Director Jeremy Chasteen explains the benefits of Kingdom-minded partnerships on the NACPF blog. 

Generation LINK: Theological Education

I can remember when I was a senior at Clemson University, looking toward graduation, and trying to figure out what to do next.  I was set to earn an engineering degree but I felt very strongly that God was calling me to give at least a few years to full time ministry.  When I heard about Generation LINK I was immediately drawn to the program because of one key factor: theological training. 

I already knew that I wanted to pursue a Master’s degree at a Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary from my prior experiences with them (conferences and such).  However, I never knew the extent to which Crosspoint Church in Clemson partners with these institutions.  Crosspoint is considered a Great Commission Equipping Center.  This means that Southeastern Seminary is able to offer classes to be held at our church and taught by our pastors and leaders.  When I found out that I could serve meaningfully in the church, get ministry training, AND begin my seminary education the deal was sealed.

Two weeks ago many of us met with other seminarians from around the South East at Anderson University for a marathon weekend with one of the resident Southeastern scholars.  At various points in the semester some of us have gone in smaller groups to the main campus in Wake Forest, NC and another extension campus in Charlotte, NC.  Needless to say, Generation LINK offers a very flexible environment that helps foster this kind of training.  I am about to finish up my second year with Generation LINK and I have been blessed with the opportunity to complete half of the required credits towards my degree in Ministry Leadership at Southeastern.  This semester we have staff taking classes in Old Testament, Hermeneutics, Bible Exposition, Church History, and Field Ministry (Field Ministry is administered right here at Crosspoint). 

I can’t begin to tell you how valuable it is to be learning and simultaneously wrestling with these issues in real life ministry.  My suggestion is simple:  If you are pursuing theological training for future ministry, consider Generation LINK so you can begin both now.

Written by:Will Jackson | Crosspoint Church | Clemson, SC