Getting to this point.

Most of you only know bits and pieces of my background, so I wanted to share with you how this Summit Oxford opportunity all came about. It’s pretty neat because it’s been in my peripheral vision ever since I was a senior in high school, but I never expected it to become a reality. Summer 2008 I had planned to spend overseas in Poland doing missions work with the Navigators.  I went through the training in Colorado Springs and everything, but God ended up shutting that door.  So at the last minute I was looking for something fun and worthwhile to do during the summer.  The year before, a very good friend of mine had gone to a Summit summer conference in Colorado, and was going back this year to staff.  She had told me how incredible it was, and encouraged me to go.  I looked it up and thought it sounded like an interesting and cool opportunity.  I asked my parents about it and applied, still not knowing a ton about it (like the fact that a big portion of the day was spent in lectures, and there was a huge emphasis on reading, studying, researching in order to learn more about the world around me and understanding why I believe what I believe).  Well those two weeks absolutely rocked my world, seriously.  It completely changed the way I viewed the world by showing me the biblical worldview lense to look through.  It didn’t even take a day for me to realize how messed up our society is, how Christians aren’t playing an active role to uphold truth, and that it wasn’t just okay to sit on the sidelines (even in church ministry) doing nothing.  Those two weeks were spent primarily in lectures, small groups, and open forums.  I learned a ton of information, but I think the most important thing I recognized was how little I actually knew about my own faith. I grew up in church, so it was what I had known since I was a baby.  I couldn’t really tell you why I believed it, because it really wasn’t my faith…it was my parents.  Needless to say, I drew closer to the Lord during my time there, and began to see big pictures of His will for my life. 

While I was there one of my two favorite speakers was Kevin Bywater.  At some point towards the end of the conference he told us about Summit Oxford.  I thought it sounded like such an incredible opportunity.  I especially thought it was cool because it was in England, where I’ve always wanted to live, since I was born there.  Anyways, I saw how much it cost, and I knew it was an extremely rigorous program (academically).  So I basically counted it in the category of “that’s sounds cool, but it will never happen.”  I really didn’t think I was very smart when I was in high school, since I didn’t make a 35 on my ACT like some people I knew.  So I constantly doubted myself, and I was never an avid reader, so this seemed like it was something for those “genius” type kids.  Also, in order to attend Summit Oxford, you must be at least a junior in college, and back then that seemed like a long way off.  But over the years God slowly changed my heart in a lot of areas. He taught me things about Himself, about my calling, and bout my identity in Him… Through those years I was occasionally reminded of Summit Oxford, but mostly ignored it.  Then in January 2011, after going through an extremely rough, Spiritual desert of a year, He rekindles the fire in my heart.  He lit a passion in my heart that wanted nothing else than to reveal His glory and further His kingdom.  Through this time I was asking Him what He wanted me to do in the future (immediate and long-term).  I had several different options on the table for the next year, and I constantly came back to Summit Oxford.  I prayed about it and prayed about it, and got pretty clear direction that this was where I was supposed to go, and that it was going to be the beginning of a lifetime of Christian service.  So I began the application process.  7 months later I was accepted and began preparing to leave in January.  That’s where I stand now: getting ready mentally, financially, spiritually, etc.  Looking back, it seems so unreal that this has actually become a reality. It’s been quite a journey, and the Lord has been extremely faithful to me!