Many of you are following updates on the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. We are also paying attention to how this may affect Florida. If you are wondering how the current situation will affect Summit, we want to make you aware of our current plans based on the available information.
Read MoreSummit’s Governing Board is an intentionally built team of Summit partners whose responsibility it is to ensure that our church is being led with integrity. Integrity refers of course to moral integrity, but it also speaks to financial integrity, directional integrity, leadership integrity, etc. Their job ultimately is to make sure we have the right leadership, with the right priorities, taking us in the right direction as we live out the vision of Summit. The formal way of stating their role is to say that they govern by Executive Limitations, which are essentially 10 arenas of organizational integrity that they ensure we meet.
Read MoreIn new expressions of Summit, we won’t be pouring all our resources into hurrying a campus toward the rhino status of the Herndon, Lake Mary, or Waterford Campuses. We will be starting small, agile, and highly contextualized. The first year of one of these new campuses will look more like the original Summit did in our own humble beginnings in an apartment complex clubhouse. It will look more like a church plant, like a community of people gathering to worship and serve God.
Read MoreAs much as we have enjoyed traveling and reveled in our truly full summer, we never imagined not returning to our lives and to our church family. Being confident in the life God has given us is what gave us permission to enjoy the change in place and pace that we had during our sabbatical.
Read MoreA sabbatical is not a break; it is a season of a different kind to work, the internal kind of work that we often avoid by doubling down on external work.
Read More2018 focused on the life of Jesus—who he is, his actions, and his teachings. During this year in the life of Jesus, we were challenged to follow the Gospel Reading Plan, a tool to use to learn more about his life.
Read MoreThis year, the entirety of the offering collected at Candlelight Services will be given to One Lamb in Nairobi, Kenya. One Lamb began in 2011 when Ciru Mutura was called to meet the needs of vulnerable children. The organization works toward ending the exploitation of children due to poverty in their communities. One Lamb’s programs give these young girls resources and skills to benefit their lives while also sharing the truth of God’s grace and love.
Read MoreOne of the most beloved traditions we have at Summit is giving away the entirety of our Christmas Eve Offering to ministry outside the walls of Summit. Past offerings have gone to church planting, non-profit startups, global justice work, strategic initiatives with our global partners, etc. This year I am thrilled to inform you that the Christmas Eve Offering will be used to benefit vulnerable children in our own city through the very exciting work of two churches with whom Summit is forming a committed friendship.
Read MoreOn Christmas Eve, Summit Church is full of family, friends, and guests all celebrating when God came down as a helpless babe to begin the greatest rescue mission ever known. Sharing the good news of great joy together as a community is one of my favorite times of year. As a member of the Local and Global Partnerships team, each of these services holds an extra bit of excitement for me because we get to share with you another story about what love—on mission—can do. Each year, we give our Christmas Eve offering to a partner organization that has a God-sized mission to alleviate suffering, build up communities, and restore all that is lost.
Read MoreThis has been one of the toughest decisions my wife and I have had to make—tougher than leaving a great career in banking to join Summit staff, tougher than choosing our kids’ names, tougher than spicy or regular chicken at Chick-fil-A. It’s been tough because we felt God calling us to leave a church that we love greatly. A church that, for the last seven and a half years (five of them on staff), has loved our family so well. We knew that saying yes to God was going to cost us something.
Read More"What would it look like for us to make meaningful and long-term commitments to relationship in Africa that would—God willing— result in life transformation?" A few years ago, we set out out to answer that question. Quickly we learned that God was going to lead us through relationships and connections that he brought forward.
Read MoreLast week, our community braced for the worst as Hurricane Matthew was seemingly heading straight toward us. While we are extremely fortunate and grateful that, for the most part, the hurricane caused little damage in Orlando, we recognize that it has had a great impact on several local families...
Read MoreOur church family joins with our city in mourning the heartbreaking events of this past weekend. With the violent shooting of singer Christina Grimmie and the mass shootings at Pulse nightclub this past weekend, our prayers are with the victims and their families of these senseless tragedies.
Read More“We’ve been praying for you for a long time— so glad to finally know who you are!”
I had the privilege of speaking those words to a beautiful young lady as I met her one morning. And it was true— we’ve been praying for her for a long time without knowing who she would be.
Read MoreThis summer was a great one in the life of Summit Students! We had over 85 students serve at Surge in the City and edgeSERVES across all campuses! That’s thousands of service hours poured into the community by students who are making a big difference in the world around them.
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