One of the highlights for me of the reGROUP calendar is our graduation ceremony. I would highly doubt that there are many people who would put “fun” next to “reGROUP” in a word association game, but that is likely because they’ve never seen graduation. I more often hear words like hard, painful, depressed, addicted, and lost when people talk about reGROUP, though talk to a reGROUP graduate and you may hear a different story—one of transformation.
Read MoreTake the trauma, the loss of community and culture, the years of displacement, the culture gaps, language gaps, poverty, etc. cover it all in an invisibility cloak, and you can begin to understand the challenges a refugee faces.
Read MoreOn June 12, 2016, 49 beautiful lives were taken in the city of Orlando. It's a day that will remain fixed in my memory forever—one that was filled with some of the deepest sorrow and feelings of helplessness I have ever experienced. In the days and weeks that followed the Pulse tragedy, I continued to grieve with my community.
Read More“The Church is people devoted to God, in community, on mission, for God’s glory.” This is the identity statement we have been internalizing as a church family over the last two years. Starting in January of this year, we began focusing in particular on what it means to be on mission as a church.
Read MoreUncomfortable topics and difficult conversations. I’m thankful to be part of a church that doesn’t shy away from these things. Summit engages a wide range of such topics, but in March we specifically looked at four injustices in our world. Four I-can’t-believe-this-stuff-is-happening-in-our-world-and-even-in-my-neighborhood kinds of injustices.
Read MoreI’m learning to see the beauty in my plans not going the way I’d hoped and my expectations not being met. The Saturday of niceSERVE 31 fell on our son Finn’s final YMCA soccer game of the season. His coach (and Summit’s Connect Director), Dan Sherfield, had a great idea to bring niceSERVE to the soccer field in the form of a cleat exchange.
Read MoreWe, a group of friends from Summit and their children, stood in the airport terminal, holding balloons and flowers. A few of us displayed signs reading “Welcome!” and “We are so glad you’re here!” in Arabic. We attracted quite a few glances while we waited.
Read More“I still can’t believe they don’t have kids that go to this school and this is how they are spending their Friday night! I don’t have friends like that…” That was what a parent told me at one of the events my Connect group hosted at the elementary school in our neighborhood.
Read MoreIt has been just over a month since the In Justice evening on racial reconciliation in March. As we approach niceSERVE week I want to come back to one of the main themes of the evening as well as touch on a major line of questioning that came up during the Q&A following the service. There were a number of questions that fall into the “How?” category
Read MoreIt started as a note on my desk a week before last Christmas, “Becky. Ramp. Ask Dan.” I walked through the office to our Connect Director, Dan, to follow up. Becky had approached him in the Summit Lobby to ask if the church knew of a trustworthy company that could help build an accessible ramp for her elderly parents. A few minutes later, I sent two emails.
Read MoreA lot of people ask me how things are going in our 33rd Street Jail campus, and I enjoy sharing what church looks like on “the inside”. Most people know that we have two church services each Sunday inside the Orange County Jail—one in the men’s facility and one in the women’s facility. What most people may not know is that our entrance each Sunday is never guaranteed.
Read MoreAs I reflect on the last month, and specifically on the Justice/In Justice series, I am reminded of how glad I am that I get to be a part of the Summit family. It is humbling to see our church family take on the weighty, God-honoring work of seeking justice in our world.
Read MoreI find green beans to be gross. You know—those mushy, over-salted blobs of green floating in some sort of mystery juice. Growing up the only way I would eat them was in green bean casserole, and even that was really only for the gravy and the fun little make-believe onions.
Read MoreRefugee.It's a strange word—one I'd only ever associated with faraway, war-torn countries. I had never considered the difference between an immigrant and a refugee. I had never internalized that coming to America was more than just a physical journey.
Read MoreRobin had spent four months considering joining the Base Camp team, but says that she could always find reasons to put off taking “the plunge”. But once she made the decision to volunteer, it was clear to those of us already serving that she had all the characteristics that we look for in a Base Camp leader.
Read MoreOur first flight on the long journey to Malawi left the Orlando airport at 4 a.m. By the time we landed and settled in at our first stop in Washington, DC, we were already groggy and hungry. A few of us found a restaurant open for a far-too-early lunch and we crammed into a small side booth for one last American meal.
Read MoreMy office is generally a reflection of the level of organization (or chaos) present in the rest of my life at any given moment. When things get crazy—work is stressful, deadlines are approaching, the baby gets sick, my husband is traveling—my car is usually the first thing to experience entropy. Followed by my bedroom. Then my office. By the time the mess reaches my workspace, I know it’s time for a change.
Read MoreIf these people knew me—I mean, REALLY knew me—would I still be loved and accepted by them? I think that’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another. Taking a step into community can be a scary proposition. It’s not always easy to clear our throats, raise up a hand, and say, “Hello, World… I exist!”
Read MoreThe Vault. January 20th, 2017. A night where around 150 middle schoolers invited their friends to climb onto buses and go around Orlando for a night of shenanigans and craziness.
Read MoreTwo years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Malawi with Michael Weaver on one of Summit’s Africa teams partnering with Children of the Nations (COTN). Our team was tasked with constructing new roofs on homes in the village of Mgwayi. With Michael’s background in structural engineering, he was a natural fit for this kind of work. But what started out as a very task-oriented trip, quickly turned out to be something so much more.
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