I’m more of a behind-the-scenes person or a sideline cheerleader, and I love planning events. I’ve had the opportunity to oversee Summit’s Beach Baptism event for the past six years, which—if we are giving numbers—that is 13 baptisms and exactly 1,033 people taking their next step to be baptized.
Read MoreI’ve been in this season recently where I’ve encountered a potential disconnect between my will and God’s will. I’m hoping and praying for something seemingly impossible. Something that could very well be in God’s plan, but maybe not. I don’t know yet. In this tension God is teaching me some things about my relationship to his will. And one of the ways he’s taught is through Summit’s Gospel Reading Plan.
Read MoreWhat is your response when you encounter Jesus? Not necessarily a conversation, but when something in your life clearly suggests that Jesus is at work, or you read a verse of Scripture and find it striking.
Read MoreWhen I was asked what I would want to record for the Jesus Songs project, my answer was pretty quick. I had written the bulk of a song called “I Call Him Lord” right after completing my first ever worship album release last year. It’s pretty typical (and frustrating) for me that whenever I get done with some big creative project, it’s usually followed by a wave of creativity that makes the project I just finished seem obsolete already.
Read MoreWhen 2017 rolled around, Farrah Torres wanted more than a resolution. She was heartbroken from a seven-year struggle with infertility and done with a faith that felt empty. Even as she went to service every Sunday she felt alone, longing for greater connection with her Savior and a church community. Farrah says, “It was all just a routine. I was in church, but I honestly didn’t know how to allow God in; how to worship him or live his way. I was ready for more.”
Read MoreYou wouldn’t be surprised to hear 4 and 5 year-olds Caroline and Amelia Frye explain how tall and fast the waterslide at Family Camp was. Nor would it seem odd that they had a favorite camp song that they’re happy to sing for anyone who’s interested (it’s about bananas and it has some pretty cool hand motions to go along with it). However, it was the answer to the question, “What was your favorite part of Family Camp?” that made me stop and realize what a special experience the Frye family had.
Read MoreIn late 2013, Becky had just moved to Orlando and realized really quickly that finding new friends in early adulthood can be tricky. A freshly-graduated Jordan knew she needed an environment to keep up with her faith. And after a previous Connect group had died a “natural, painless death,” Susanna was ready to start her own. And that’s how they got here—varied stories in their rearview mirrors, with different perspectives driving them, and solid friendships up on the horizon.
Read MoreA few summers ago, one of our pastors posed the question: “If you never get __________ (fill in the blank with your heart’s deepest desire), is Jesus still enough?” I sat there in the Herndon Sanctuary with sad, mad tears streaming down my face because I knew my answer to that question was no. I knew deep down that my hope was not in Christ alone.
Read MoreI have never been very good at the whole Lent thing—even though I’ve successfully given something up for Lent a number of times. Growing up in the Southern Baptist church, Lent wasn’t something I had any awareness of. So as a freshman in college, newly involved in a church that celebrated the season with the option of fasting from something, I remember being genuinely excited to try it.
Read MoreI grew up Catholic, so the Lenten season is very familiar to me. I can recall many years trying to find something to give up, usually landing on chocolate or TV (because being in 2nd grade and not having chocolate is a real hard thing). For the past several years, since becoming a mom, I have tried to focus more on a specific spiritual practice to add into my life that will draw me closer to God rather than giving up something tangible.
Read MoreIt happens the same each time: the sermon has just been wrapped up, the band reenters the stage, and the campus minister explains the process, which leaves many wondering how to spell the word intinction.
Read More“Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Those were some of the first sentences I learned in Wolof, a language spoken in a fair few places in West Africa. Though it’s been more than 10 years since I spent time working there, I have yet to hear or read that verse without it being replayed back to me in my head in Wolof.
Read MoreAs we have begun our journey through reading the Gospels and discovering who Jesus really was as he walked this earth, I have kept this one verse on a loop in the back of my mind. As I’ve allowed the stories of the Gospel of John to play out in my imagination, I find myself looking for the moments in which Jesus faced all of the struggles I face in my own life today—from the intense and painful moments of my life to the seemingly mundane and innocuous ones.
Read MoreI once asked my 9th-grade girls at Edge if Jesus feels real to them. I asked if they felt the bigness of what God did for us in sending the Messiah to die for our messes. I don’t know that they actually understood what I was asking, but I kept going. “It’s one thing to logically know it, it’s another thing to feel it,” I said to them. Then I told them what I so desperately wish someone had told me when I was their age, “It’s OK if it doesn’t feel real to you right now. It didn’t feel real to me for a long time.”
Read MoreNot long after leaving the Summit offices for the last time (I was carrying my goldfish under my arm while the staff gave me hugs—it was all very dramatic), I was invited to go on a trip and experience the work of IJM first-hand. As you may imagine, it was a life-altering journey.
Read MoreLast June, I walked into Cathy Drake’s Thornton Park home—full of strangers—for a Connect group meeting. I didn’t go because I wanted to make new friends or because I wanted to get plugged into Summit. I went because I thought I should go. I was wrestling with whether or not Jesus is who he said he is and the implications it would have for my life if I chose to believe it.
Read MoreSo maybe you’re thinking about joining a Summit team going to Africa this year. Or maybe you’re thinking about sponsoring a child. Or maybe you just find yourself thinking about Summit’s partnerships in Africa but you’re not exactly sure why.
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 MoreA little over three years ago, while traveling with my oldest son Samuel to visit friends in Uganda, I was struck by the thought that not everyone in our world or even in our church has a clear sense of our core identity as a church.
Read MoreThe Riverside community is a small area that lies in the northern region of the Central Florida area. For years, though most of us didn’t even know exactly where it is, Summit’s staff, prayer team, and I have known it’s name. You see, one of the most consistent prayer requests I can expect to see from the Lake Mary Campus each week is, in one way or another, for Riverside.
Read More
