Belief Amidst Exile
Our Summer Training Project this summer was unique in that this year we had the privilege of partnering with the St. Louis region and the Louisville region. It was a blessing being able to be around two other teams learning how they do things. It was very sharpening for our team and influential for our students.
The theme for the summer was 'Exiles'. Exiles comes from the book we studied this summer which was 1 Peter. Peter wrote to Christians who were dispersed throughout Asia. He wanted his readers to have a new identity as an Exile which means that this is not our home but our home is in heaven. Therefore that should change the way we live our lives here. This is what we wanted our students to have a better grasp of: that their hope would not be in this world, their career, their money, their physical home, their health or even their family. Rather, if they believe in Christ they have a new hope, a promised inheritance that is imperishable.
One main emphasis this summer was for our students to develop a habit of reading the Bible. We wanted to give them tools to equip them to study it better. We really think that happened. Every morning before work students were underneath our tent reading 1 Peter with each other. This is probably my favorite thing to see happen at STP. To me it means that our students love reading their Bibles, and if we are going to help our students do one thing well, we want it to be this.
“This summer, Project shaped my relationship with God. He showed and gave me the confidence to read and study the Bible with my peers. He took away my fear of being bashful while I prayed aloud. He showed me my outright sin and more of the sneaky and deeper sin that I wasn’t willing to admit and bring to Him. Overall, this summer was a time of spiritual growth and maturity, but also allowing myself to be satisfied in the Lord. What a summer, nothing else like it!”
—Kaylee, Sophomore, University of Minnesota
Lucas and ariana cecka
Summer Training Project Staff Directors