In The Routine
“Welcome to Summit—so glad you’re here” I said time and time again to each and every person who walked through the doors of Summit week after week for the eight-week duration of my summer internship.
When I had decided to apply to be a summer intern, I had been attending Summit for a little over a year. During that year, I had walked through the doors of Summit countless times and heard, “welcome to Summit—so glad you’re here” and each time it became a little bit more routine to me.
“Over the course of my eight weeks as an intern, I gained more and more respect for Summit and the people who show up every week to make church happen here.”
I figured it was just a nice and hospitable thing that the church says every week. I would shake the greeter’s hand back and give a smile, but that’s all it ever was to me. Little did I know how much those volunteers truly meant it. Before each service, all the First Impressions volunteers meet at the Information Booth. At these meetings, I quickly discovered that each volunteer was devoted to the vision of Summit and that these volunteers were a family that truly enjoyed sacrificing their time to make Summit a welcoming, comfortable place for everyone.
Over the course of my eight weeks as an intern, I gained more and more respect for Summit and the people who show up every week to make church happen here. It was in the small, routine things that I saw love and joy for not only Jesus, but everyone. When I say everyone, I mean literally every adult, child, and teenager who walks through the doors is truly loved.
Summit truly does care you are there and they truly believe that every single person walking through the doors has a Savior whose body was broken and blood was shed for them. They really believe that you matter, that what you do with your life matters, that your story told truthfully is good news, that you’ve never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to Jesus. So next time you hear one of those Summit-isms from a volunteer or a staff member, I hope you’ll take it to heart. They feel privileged to be able to tell you.
Over the summer, I learned more about the love of Jesus than any other summer before. I discovered that his love is more glorious than we can imagine and grasped a little bit more how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. As my internship comes to a close, I would like to thank Summit in its entirety for the opportunity that I had this summer to serve alongside them for eight weeks. It has been such a blessing to see behind-the-curtain of a Sunday service.
We are so appreciative for all of the volunteers who show up and make Summit a welcoming environment. If you would like to join the team of folks who make Sunday services happen, let us know!
Brian Miller was the First Impressions Intern for the summer of 2016.