SUMMIT Magazine | Issue 28 | For God's Glory

RELATIONSHIPS matter. TRUTH matters. WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE matters. YOU MATTER.

Celebrating 15 Years of God's Goodness

A Look at Spiritual Practices

Creative Ways That Kids Worship

Issue 28 / Fall 2017

L.J. JUDY

A LETTER FROM JOHN

RACHEL VASQUEZ THE PARKERS John, Brandy, Mulunesh, Sinkenesh, Archike, Samuel, Abush, and Aschalew

This fall marks the 15-year anniversary of Summit officially opening its doors! This year also marks my 40th year of being alive, which considering some of my choices, is a feat all its own. When Isaac, Andy, and I left to go our separate ways for college and such, we parted with the certainty that we would one day be in ministry together again.

However, we had no clarity on the timing of our reunion. I assumed we would start the church (then nameless) when we were 40.

I was guessing at that age we would maybe know some things and have what it takes to start a church. All we knew then is that we had very little idea what we were doing or how to start a church.

Now, being the age I am and looking back on 15 years of Summit, I am struck by what has proven most valuable to know.

I know I can trust God. I know that only he can transform lives. I know that he can reach anyone with his love and work through anyone to change the world. I know that I need him to sustain me, my family, and our church. I know that God can use surrender more than he can use skills.

I know that all of this—this beautiful, messy, inspiring, hurting and hopeful, Jesuscentered, community-transforming family we call Summit—is here because of God’s goodness and exists for his glory.

that our identity as a church is rooted in what it means to live for God’s glory. You will see into lives and read stories that we can look to as examples of what it means to be centered on God and his purposes rather than our own.

My hope is that as you read this, you will get a picture of what it looks like to live for God’s glory in your own life and that you will take steps toward living out that picture of what could be. The final statement in Summit’s vision is that we would worship God. Worship in that sense is not limited to what we sing, but includes how we live. For the last 15 years, people at Summit have worshiped God in how they work, in their friendships, with their families, in their schools, in how they serve, etc. They have worshiped in ways small and unseen by others. They have worshiped in big ways that inspire those around them.

For 15 years, God has been worshiped at Summit in seasons of joy and pain, in victory and loss. All those acts of worship, lived for God’s glory rather than our own, have been used by God to lay the foundation for what Summit is today, and will continue to be used

by God for his glory and the good of our world in the years to come.

I am honored to be a part of your church and look forward to growing with you in our knowledge of what really matters and, more importantly, who really matters. May God be glorified in these pages and in our lives.

I know that people, all people, matter to God. In other words, what I know that really matters is centered on God and his purposes, rather than any person’s skills or abilities.

In this issue of the Summit Magazine we are looking at what it means to recognize

John Parker Lead Pastor

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Our vision is to form biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God.

MIRANDA LEE

CONTENTS

Radar

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Made for Mission See the many ways God used our focused season of being on mission.

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Fifteen Years of God’s Faithfulness Summit turns 15 this year! Together we’re celebrating the ways God has shown up over the years and used our church and the people in it as a reflection of him.

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Connect

Worth the Risk This Connect group is breaking the mold of what it looks like to learn, serve, and worship together with their vulnerability, creativity, and some dancin’ around the living room.

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Finding Their Sabbath Mark and Lauren weren’t sure what it would look like, but they knew they needed rest, and so that’s exactly where their path to Sabbath began.

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Rethink

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Why Does God Need Glory? Can’t I just be doing something good?

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Family

Childlike Worship Through farmers’-market-like stations, the kids of Summit are encountering an array of ways to experience and worship God.

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44 Cover Photo & Illustration by: Greg Perkins

Love Built the Walls When the Thompsons decided to move to Winter Park, they had no idea God would not only build a community for them, but provide a community willing to build for them.

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Etc.

Artist Feature Doug Fudge's pottery blesses those around him and serves as a reminder of God using challenges to mold us.

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LEXI CIULLA

CONTRIBUTORS

K ALEB HARRELL

Writer

RACHEL VASQUEZ

Photographer

DEVON PIERNI

Artist

LEXI CIULLA

Writer, Artist

SHAWN ROMANO

Designer

ABBY HOLMES

Editor

Both of Kaleb’s parents are teachers, so the Harrell home was sort of like a 24/7 grammar school. As Kaleb grew up, he learned to appreciate writing and its balance of creativity and structure. On a Friday in 2008, Kaleb asked his (now) wife out and when she turned him down, she said he could join her for church at Summit that Sunday and the rest is history. Kaleb serves on Summit’s writing team, and has participated in Connect groups and niceSERVE. He is a cofounder of Hawkers Asian Street Fare, and has recently taken up sketching.

When she was 15 years old, Rachel took a darkroom class that started it all! She’s done photography as a hobby, worked for a studio, and eventually started her own business (Rachel V Photography) in 2011. She and her family— husband Stephen and two children, Isla and Oliver—have been attending Summit since 2010. In addition to being one of our long-standing magazine volunteers, Rachel has served in Base Camp, participated in niceSERVE, and been a part of several Connect groups. She’s also quite the world traveler— Rachel has been to 27 countries and 5 continents!

By the time Devon could hold a pencil in his hand, he was using it to draw. He started attending Summit when he was in the 5th grade, and then went on to attend our student ministries, Surge and Edge. When he was a freshman in high school, Devon started teaching himself how to use Photoshop and honing his skills as an artist. He has served as a Junior Volunteer in Base Camp, is currently in two Connect groups, and just wrapped up a summer internship at Summit. In addition to his interest in physical and digital art, Devon enjoys plants and floriculture, photography, and writing.

A young Lexi, inspired by old episodes of SNL, started writing skits and performing them for her family. Over time, she developed her writing skills and is now a grant writer for a local nonprofit. Since Lexi showed up at Summit in 2014, she’s transitioned from her early days of slipping out immediately after service to meeting some of her best friends through her Connect group, writing for the magazine you’re holding, and serving as a Storyteller in Base Camp. She really, really likes Matt Damon, creating curated playlists, and trying to convince people she’s taller than she is.

Shawn’s interest in design started when he was a kid, though he wouldn’t have called it “design” back then. Like most kids, he liked drawing, but it was lettering and typography that really sparked his interest. In 2005 Shawn was invited to Summit with a coworker and instantly felt at home. Since then, he has spent time on staff as Digital Media Director, and he and his wife, Kate, have volunteered, led Connect groups, and were on one of our first teams to serve in Malawi. Shawn enjoys podcasts and documentaries and recommends 99% Invisible and Abstract.

Abby was invited to Summit in 2011 and quickly became involved with our First Impressions team. Four years ago, as a high school English teacher, she became interested in editing and she has been writing and editing for Summit ever since! Since then, she has served as a team captain for First Impressions, a team leader for niceSERVE, and serves on one of our communion teams.

She’s switched it up since her English-teaching-days and now teaches high school psychology. She also loves traveling, reading, and cooking.

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WHO WE ARE Summit Church is one church in multiple locations, living out our vision so that people can know that they matter to God. All of our campuses share the same vision: to form biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God. Whether you find yourself unsure about who Jesus is and why that matters, ready to jump right into community life, or somewhere in between, you are welcome here.

Locations Summit Herndon 735 Herndon Avenue, Orlando, FL 32803 Service Times: Thursdays, 7 p.m., Sundays, 9 a.m.*, 11 a.m., & 6 p.m. (*ASL interpreters available)

Summit Waterford 11602 Lake Underhill Road, Suite 110, Orlando, FL 32825 Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Summit Lake Mary 100 Technology Park, Suite 110, Lake Mary, FL 32746 Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.* (*ASL interpreters available)

Summit at 33rd Street Jail Women’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m. | Men’s Service Time: Sundays, 2 p.m.

(These services are for the Horizon Wing & Female Detention Center inmates at the Orange County Jail.)

Connect With Us Find us on the web: summitconnect.org

Summit Church

@summitchurch

@summitchurch

blog.summitconnect.org

Contact Us Office Hours (Herndon Campus Location): Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Phone: (407) 897-8130 Email: summit@summitconnect.org

Church Staff

LEADERSHIP TEAM Our senior staff members are responsible for leading the church and its ministries according to Scripture.

Lead Pastor John Parker // jparker@summitconnect.org Worship Pastor Andy Simonds // asimonds@summitconnect.org Organizational Development Pastor Jeff Kern // jkern@summitconnect.org Waterford Campus Pastor Garry Abbott // gabbott@summitconnect.org Lake Mary Campus Minister O.J. Aldrich // ojaldrich@summitconnect.org Herndon Campus Pastor Zach Van Dyke // zvandyke@summitconnect.org Teaching Minister Jim Keller // jkeller@summitconnect.org

DIRECTORS These folks oversee the departments and staff at Summit, helping to make sure everyone who comes through our doors feels welcomed, informed, and enabled to step into community here.

Family Ministry Director Tracy Beeson // tbeeson@summitconnect.org Herndon Children’s Ministry Director Deanna McLellan // dmclellan@summitconnect.org Waterford Children’s Ministry Director Keely Hardaway // khardaway@summitconnect.org Summit Connect Director Dan Sherfield // dsherfield@summitconnect.org reGROUP Director Kailey Newkirk // knewkirk@summitconnect.org Creative Director Greg Perkins // gperkins@summitconnect.org Worship Director Trey Colson // tcolson@summitconnect.org Technical Director Joel LeGros // jlegros@summitconnect.org For a full staff list, please visit summitconnect.org/staff.

Magazine Staff

Editorial Directors Greg Perkins, Katie Schmidt Art Director Greg Perkins Graphic Designer/Photography Manager L.J. Judy Associate Editor Kari Freeman Editors: Trey Colson, Will Dickinson, Abby Holmes, Allison Hurtado, Anna May, Jessica Meyer, Ann Miller, MaryEllen Oliver, Virginia Schultz, Ashley Simonds

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Contributing Writers: Lexi Ciulla, Laura Cook, Laura Diaz, Kari Freeman, Kaleb Harrell, Austin Hill, Allison Hurtado, Jimmy Kaufholz, Sarah Land, Jeremy Lukens, Kailey Newkirk, Brandy Parker, John Parker, Harrison Porter, Katie Schmidt, Andy Simonds, Melissa Stillman, Zach Van Dyke Contributing Photographers: Brad Arthur, Kate Bosse, Ryan Bowden, Annastasia Charles, Brian Hogan, L.J. Judy, Greg Perkins, Luke Tevebaugh, Rachel Vasquez Contributing Artists/Designers: Lexi Ciulla, L.J. Judy, Jeremy Kennedy, Miranda Lee, Greg Perkins, Devon Pierni, Shawn Romano, Beau Wingfield

RADAR

The week of niceSERVE culminated in surpriseSERVE at the Herndon Campus, a chance for all of us to build care packages for those experiencing homelessness in Orlando.

Made for Mission

KATIE SCHMIDT

On August 5th, 2017 I attended an event at Summit. It was the event where some of the 725 backpacks collected for the Backpack Drive were distributed to African refugees relocating in our area, and I attended the event with some of the high school students who I accompanied as part of the team that went to the Dominican Republic to partner with Children of the Nations this summer. And about a year ago, actually around the time we started working on the last Summit Magazine you held in your hands, I would’ve told you, with some mild hesitation, that I just wasn’t sure if I was wired up to care much about “mission” and being “on” it.

Some of the 600 mugs given to local nurses SU M MIT

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RADAR

This spring, we as a church spent our Sunday services, our weeklong events, and our time, energy, and sweat into looking to what it could mean for us— as individuals and as a church—to live on mission.

We looked to the story of the Good Samaritan, seeing clearly the ways Jesus calls us to love our neighbor and how he redraws the boundaries of our neighborhood to include everyone. We saw that as we seek God with our head, our hearts, and our hands, we allow ourselves to be opened up to hearing what God has in store for us. And that’s a big deal. That’s where we see that a heart established by grace leads to doing justice. It’s where we see that we can do a lot of good when we move toward doing good together.

Sixteen high school students took a week of their summer to build relationships with students and children in the Dominican Republic.

A group from Summit welcomes Syrian refugees as they arrive at the airport for resettlement.

At our In Justice Speaker Series, we covered poverty, human trafficking, refugees, and racial reconciliation.

And that’s what happened. That’s what God did in and through each of us—good.

Taking the words taught in sermons and at events like the In Justice speaker series, this church was far from just hearers of the word. Together, we helped sponsor 64 children following Africa Sunday. More than 1,200 people showed up the week of niceSERVE and served all over our city—acting as the hands and feet of Jesus in our community and doing whatever task was at hand to convey to someone that they matter. We sent 67 people to 5 countries, building long-lasting relationships with those doing God-honoring work in communities around the world.

But the numbers only tell us so much. There are stories. Stories of the group of men that met early in the morning at the home of an elderly couple to build a wheelchair ramp because their daughter reached out to her church community for a recommendation. The Connect group that rallied around the spark of an idea and created mugs for local nurses to let them know they are deeply appreciated. The woman experiencing homelessness who was not only given a care package full of necessities, but invited into worship.

Those teams sent to Africa and the Dominican Republic, learned and served alongside Dominican students, laughed and cried with caregivers of special needs children, and sat in huts and cinderblock homes and saw true faith lived out. For Surge in the City, our middle school students committed to spend a part of their summer mulching trees in impoverished areas and making our City Beautiful all the moreso.

Time and time again, we’ve seen our very big God use the seemingly small steps of individuals to make a big difference in this world. We’ve seen the ways God has fashioned our hearts, each of our hearts, to meet a need in this broken and hurting world. And seeing that—seeing you all show up and show off Jesus—was about as much proof as I needed that I am, as an image-bearer of God and reflection of Jesus, very much wired up to care about God’s mission to set the world right.

RADAR

Theirs

Creating a new home for students at the Herndon Campus

The plans for what will be the new Student Ministries space at Herndon

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For the entirety of the existence of Summit (those 15 years you’re about to read about on the next page) the students at the Herndon Campus have not technically had a home in this place, but that has never stopped them from making one for themselves. They have turned the Lobby into their game room, the Connect group rooms upstairs into their living room, and the Base Camp Live Theatre into their Sanctuary.

The students of Summit are bold and creative in the ways they pursue Jesus. And we want to be a part of supporting them as they grow into the leaders God has created them to be. As they embrace this new space and claim it as their own, they will undoubtedly hit the ground running, dreaming up ways to come alongside God as he uses this place.

What kind of events can we throw here to invite our friends from school? What kind of games can we come up with that will make everyone feel included? What kind of ways can we join together within these walls to figure out how to serve those outside of these walls?

But this fall, they will have the opportunity to walk into a space and not just make it theirs, but know it’s theirs.

Our new Summit Students space is being created for our students and every detail is designed with them in mind—from the octoball court on the front lawn to the big open space where undoubtedly many a ridiculous game will be played and worship song belted. The pictures on the walls will be of the memories they’ve built, the snacks in the snack bar will be their favorite flavors of sour patch kids, and every detail will be an effort to not only create a home they can feel safe and comfortable in, but invite others into.

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They’ve made any borrowed space we’ve given them over the years their own. We can’t wait to see what God does through them—through you as you build memories and relationships and your faith in this new home that’s all yours.

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RADAR

BRANDY PARKER

GREG PERKINS

To reflect on Summit being 15 is a bit like looking at your 15-year-old child and simultaneously loving who they are now, while still missing who they were when they were small.

I have watched Summit grow since the very beginning and I am awestruck by what God has done and continues to do in this place. As I look back at Summit over the years, memories of people and events flood my mind. Like how the offices were once in my house and Partnership Class in my living room. Or the time we held a married-couples prom, or how we used to serve donuts on Sunday mornings. But what stands out to me most are the countless lives changed by the gospel, and just how extraordinarily faithful God has been to this church these last 15 years. The fingerprints of his provision and faithfulness are all over this place, and throughout the mile-markers over these pages are reminders that Christ builds his church.

Celebrating all that God has done!

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RADAR

SEPTEMBER

VISION NIGHT

What you now know as Vision Sunday, was once Vision Night! We shared our vision and how we intended to go after it. At night!

MARCH

FIRST SUMMIT GATHERING

An apartment clubhouse in Maitland became the first home to Summit services.

SEPTEMBER

FIRST SERVICE IN ALOMA CINEMA GRILL

“There are few times in your life that you have the opportunity to be a part of something that you know is so much bigger than yourself. Where you can sit back and watch God work in ways that you know only he can, and are humbled to be a part of something that you know will touch so many lives. Despite the early hours of setup and late afternoons of tear down, having to vacuum up the popcorn from the night before and the lingering smell of fried foods, Summit was a place filled with anticipation of what God would do next.”

—Bre Hallberg

OCTOBER

FIRST BAPTISM

"Kathy and I were very excited that God was working in such incredible ways through this church. And as we were talking to John and Isaac about doing baptisms, they wanted to have it in a more natural setting. Our house is on a lake so—why not do it here? We filled up our backyard pretty quick. It became very obvious we couldn’t keep doing it in the backyard of our house. It was really something seeing all these people lining the dock and along the shoreline cheering for those that were committing their lives to Christ. I was so glad God gave us the ability to even do it, to host it at our house.”

—Sid Mair

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MARCH

HOT EASTER

After a whole spring break week of the heat being on in Winter Park High School, we opened the doors to the cafeteria, saw heat waves come out, and experienced something we now refer to as “Hot Easter.”

JANUARY

WE MAKE THE MOVE TO WINTER PARK HIGH SCHOOL

“Winter Park High School was a time where Summit really became home for many people. We met several of our closest friends in those days and all still look back fondly on that season. It actually was a lot of hard work converting the cafeteria into a Sanctuary every week, but it was fun. It is where we started getting involved. Camie started helping at Base Camp and I served with the worship team and Sunday set-up and tear-down crew. We literally had to truck in all of the equipment every Sunday: stage, sound, Base Camp materials… We had a big team that helped every week.

It was a great way to be involved and get to know people. We were building relationships, we personally were growing, the church was growing. It was wonderful to get to witness that every week.” —Brad Matlack

"Summit was such a refreshing and vibrant place to be and everything was done with such excellence. I remember that hot Easter thinking ‘this is crazy, but oh well, God has to be in this!’ and just laughing that we had to sit in the car to cool off before going to lunch to celebrate Easter.” —Leigh Ann Horton

OCTOBER

FIRST NICESERVE

In the early days, Summit spent a lot of energy toward making church happen, but once we got our footing, it was clear that we were meant to serve outside of our own walls. We wanted to be a church that was committed to being good for our community and those in it. We celebrated our first church-wide service day, niceSERVE, and served at five locations throughout Orlando!

SEPTEMBER

FIRST SERVICE AT THE HERNDON CAMPUS

Summit holds its first service at the Herndon Campus in what was then called “Theatre 3”, spent some time being called “The Garage”, and is now called “The South Meeting Room."

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FEBRUARY

BCL L AUNCHES

Our family production, BCL, had its first performance over 10 years ago! BCL is still host to many laughs, characters, and opportunities for families to grow together as they hear and see Bible stories come to life.

FEBRUARY

SUMMIT CONNECT GROUPS L AUNCH

Or "Community Development Initiative Groups" launch. Aren't you glad we shortened that?

APRIL

HERNDON SANCTUARY OPENS

The Herndon Sanctuary and Lobby made their official debut Easter 2007.

MAY

SUMMIT’S FIRST TRIP TO AFRICA

At a retreat, Summit’s leadership team realized that God had, in different ways, put a deep burden on each of their hearts for what was happening with the AIDS crisis in Africa. The world was recognizing that this was the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time and we knew that God wanted us to be a part of what he was doing in bringing hope in very desperate circumstances. And so we followed relationships that opened doors for ministry in South Africa and, shortly afterward, in Malawi. Since then, we have sent 48 teams and 673 travelers to 6 countries in Africa.

OCTOBER

FIRST AND L AST DOG PARK BAPTISM

"It was definitely a different kind of experience. First, there were all sorts of dogs running around. I mean everywhere. And they all seemed to be playing in the water. Then it was time for me to get in the water and it was so hot and smelled so weird. Isaac made a joke about that.

But we did it. I can’t remember how many people got baptized that day, but I don’t remember it taking that long. Maybe because Isaac didn’t want to be in that water anymore. I remember thinking that this won’t be a day that I could forget. And also, I had to throw my clothes away because they smelled so bad.” –Rachel Colson SU M MIT

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AUGUST

FIRST WORSHIP ALBUM

Summit’s first worship album, Table of Undeserving Friends, is released. Since then Summit has produced multiple worship compilations and worship bands’ albums.

RADAR

MARCH

SUMMIT STUDENTS HAVE THEIR FIRST WEEKEND AWAY

”Dangerous and Daring” (now Weekend of Valor) is our wilderness retreat for middle school students to learn about how to be bold in their faith, to be adventurous in how they pursue Jesus, and also how to build a fire.

SEPTEMBER

THE DREAM OF MULTISITE IS BORN

In order to maximize the ability to impact our community and reach people, in the fall of 2009, Summit started dreaming of what it would look like to be a multisite church with several locations throughout the Orlando area. Our first endeavor in this was our Going Local campaign and what would eventually become our Waterford Campus!

SEPTEMBER

REGROUP L AUNCHES

Since its inception, our recovery ministry has seen over 220 people graduate and celebrate their willingness to seriously address whatever it is that was standing between them and the person God created them to be.

SEPTEMBER

GARRY ABBOT T IS HIRED AS ASSOCIATE WATERFORD CAMPUS MINISTER

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FEBRUARY

GARRY ABBOT T IS GIVEN NEW TITLE OF WATERFORD CAMPUS MINISTER MARCH

SUMMIT WATERFORD MOVES INTO THEIR PERMANENT HOME ON L AKE UNDERHILL ROAD

MARCH

WATERFORD CL AIMS L AW TON CHILES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AS TEMPOR ARY HOME

“Every Sunday I arrived at 6:30 a.m. and went to work transforming 1st Grade classrooms into Base Camp rooms. Often that entailed moving around desks and hiding anything that we didn't want the kids to mess up! I would even take pictures to make sure each kid's desk made it back to the right place. Over time the volunteers and I worked out a great system of getting up all the rooms dividers, carpets, Bibles, and curriculum materials. And then when service was over, the volunteers worked together to get all the things we go out back into the portable church and into our storage closet. It was like putting a puzzle together to get it right, but, when all was said and done each week, it was as if we had never been there!” —Jessica Gomez

DECEMBER

AL ASTAIR STERNE, THE PL AZA CAMPUS PASTOR, RECEIVES CHRISTMAS EVE OFFERING AND MOVES TO VANCOUVER TO PL ANT ST. PETER'S FIRESIDE

“I knew I wanted to church plant before I accepted the Plaza Campus Pastor position. The leadership team at Summit knew I wanted to church plant before offering the position. It was a strategic decision on both our parts: here’s an opportunity for us to invest in you and help you develop skills you’ll need in church planting, while also serving a need within our wider community. It took 5 years of intentional discipleship for God to get me ready to take the first step of actually church planting. What I learned is that while we’re in that waiting pattern we’re invited to be actively patient. I didn’t want to jump ahead of God, but I also heard week after week that God didn’t want me to take a backseat in my spiritual formation. ‘Grace is opposed to earning, not effort’ was the mantra I heard over and over from Summit.”

–Alastair Sterne

SEPTEMBER

SUMMIT’S SECOND MULTISITE OPENS—SUMMIT AT THE PL AZA SU M MIT

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RADAR

JANUARY

FIRST SERVICE IS HELD INSIDE OF THE MEN’S WING OF 33RD STREET JAIL

JANUARY

GARRY ABBOT T TR ANSITIONS TO NEW ROLE AS MULTISITE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR APRIL

FIRST ANNUAL FAMILY CAMP

“I was separated, going through a divorce at the time, and this was going to be a time that I could attend Family Camp with my son Jeremy and we could have some bonding time. I enjoyed the time to be one-on-one with my son—we played basketball at 10p.m., had fun, did standup paddle boarding. It gave us both time to slow down and just be with each other.” –Sway Ciaramello

JUNE

TEAM TEACHING

Zach Van Dyke joins Jim Keller as Summit takes meaningful steps toward team teaching, which now includes Kailey Newkirk, O.J. Aldrich, and Garry Abbott. Modeled after the early church, this rotating team of teachers allows attendees the unique opportunity to hear the same sound, biblical truth from more than one voice.

APRIL

L AKE MARY CAMPUS L AUNCHES (COINCIDENTALLY, GARRY ABBOTT TRANSITIONS TO NEW ROLE AS LAKE MARY CAMPUS MINISTER) “My husband (fiancee at the time) and I jumped at the chance to get in on the ground floor of a new and smaller campus where we could really connect and form meaningful relationships. We only knew a handful of people at that first meeting, but it was like we were already family, united by this exciting new adventure! Every single person involved in those first few years was so dedicated and hardworking and ready to take on each new challenge as it came. It was so meaningful for me, especially in the beginning, because I truly felt known. To be able to come to church and be greeted by name was a huge deal.” —Kelly Molter

NOVEMBER

ISA AC HUNTER STEPS DOWN AS SENIOR PASTOR

In the midst of an unprecedented and unasked for season of change and pain, God continued to be faithful to Summit and provided peace and comfort. Through his goodness, our church locked arms and pressed on as an expression of his grace, love, and mercy.

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OCTOBER

OUR FIRST SUMMIT UNIVERSIT Y CL ASS, RECONSTRUCTING EVANGELISM, IS HOSTED

FEBRUARY

GARRY ABBOT T MOVES TO NEW ROLE AS MULTISITE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR/LOCAL AND GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR

APRIL

“BEACHLESS BAPTISM” AT HERNDON CAMPUS

"I was actually pretty excited that we were moving the baptisms to Summit—to me it made it that much more of a special occasion, because we were at the location (or one of them!) that we spend most Sundays loving each other and sharing in the Lord’s Word! I remember being up in front of everyone, looking out into the crowd and feeling how amazing God is to have brought us all together, even when the weather threatened*, to a safe place that I for one feel is home." —Meghann Washington *The weather actually turned out to be quite pleasant at the beach.

MAY

THE BCL TEAM BRINGS THE PRODIGAL MUSICAL TO THE ORL ANDO FRINGE FESTIVAL

APRIL

THE FIRST SIXT Y-MINUTE SEMINARS IS HOSTED COVERING TOPICS SUCH AS ANXIET Y, DEPRESSION, & ADDICTIONS “At the time, I had encountered family members and friends who had or still battle with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and addiction of varying kinds. That’s why I made the decision to attend.

About half-way through the opening session I realized that not only would these seminars help me navigate conversations and offer genuine encouragement to the people in my life, but it would also grow and stretch me emotionally and spiritually.

I was hungry to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological aspects of these topics and to learn about my role in it all.” —Kara Akers

JUNE

GARRY ABBOT T TR ANSITIONS TO NEW ROLE AS HERNDON CAMPUS PASTOR

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

GARRY ABBOT T TR ANSITIONS TO NEW ROLE AS MOBILIZATION PASTOR

NOVEMBER

FIRST SERVICE IS HELD INSIDE OF THE WOMEN’S WING OF 33RD STREET JAIL

L AKE MARY HOSTS OFFICIAL GR AND OPENING SERVICES AT THEIR PERMANENT LOCATION

RADAR

JANUARY

GARRY ABBOT T TR ANSITIONS TO NEW AND CURRENT AND LONG-L ASTING ROLE AS WATERFORD CAMPUS PASTOR

MAY

NICESERVE 29 MARKS 100,000 HOURS OF SERVICE IN OUR COMMUNIT Y

Through our actions—through all the raking of leaves, cleaning of windows, playing with children, painting of buildings—over the years at niceSERVE events, Summit has served Orlando and communicated to those living in our community that they are valuable to us and to God.

MARCH

BACKPACK DRIVE GOAL SET FOR 500

And we exceeded that goal! Through our congregation, 725 children and teenagers, who would have otherwise shown up on the first day of classes empty-handed, were able to proudly sport a brand new bag, fresh pencils, and most importantly, the confidence to take on the year.

DECEMBER

$83,913 IS GIVEN TO CHILDREN'S HOPECHEST

“The Christmas Eve Offering reaffirmed that our relationship with Children’s HopeChest is an ongoing one—it’s not just a we go and come back thing.

We provided for more longevity of the ministry, which is the hope. You want to have sustainable organizations. That’s one of the incredible things about Ayni and this organization. They’re super focused on sustainability. So the offering was such a neat way for Summit—for all of Summit—to affirm the work being done by Children’s HopeChest, which is an extension of our family and they feel the same about us.” –Emily Brown

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At God’s Table

their family through times of need and tension as well as times of generosity and joy. During their time serving with a nonprofit in Brazil, the couple had an aching desire to take communion, but they did not know who could serve it to them.

Then they realized something; they could serve communion to one another and to their children. They remembered that God calls imperfect people to his table, which meant that they already had everything they needed to lead their children into communion. No training or qualifications required: just acceptance of God’s grace. Out of their obedience to follow God’s pull on their hearts has grown a joy for service that is undeniable to those around them.

When families with young children come to take communion, Harold is known to get down on his knees in order to serve communion on their level. To kneel to the level of a child creates a physical, concrete image of the equality found at God’s table.

For both Harold and Connie, serving communion means meeting people where they are spiritually as well as physically. Connie and Harold’s desire to share the communion table with people just as they are has had an impact on many, but especially on the Foley family. Doug and Naomi Foley are volunteers at the Lake Mary Campus and have four young daughters. Their oldest daughter, Hannah, is deaf. Harold explains, “Connie has learned how to say ‘The body of Christ broken for you, the blood of Christ shed for you’ in sign language.”

Naomi recalls, “The first time Hannah received communion from Connie after she had learned to sign ‘The body of Christ broken for you’ was powerful! The moment literally made me cry, and each time Connie signs that for Hannah it always chokes me up.”

“It really helps Hannah feel connected to the Lake Mary body,” Doug explains. “It brings glory to God by removing barriers that separate his children from his presence.”

Separation is the opposite of what communion is. Think of it like this: if communion was a dinner party, Harold and Connie would probably be the ones getting everyone’s place cards ready. They’d go around and make sure everyone knew not just where to sit, but that each person’s seat was intended just for them: a personalized invitation to wholeheartedly engage in the meal and moment set before them. They’d help others find their way to the table. By simply communing with God and others, the Davis family has allowed God’s love and faithfulness to be on display in their lives.

Harold puts it simply, that “communion is an act of just understanding God’s forgiveness to us and our response is just ‘thank you, Father.’ It comes from a heart of thanksgiving: ‘Father, thank you for what you’ve done for me.’” Through Harold and Connie’s hearts of thanksgiving has flowed an invitation to others to approach God’s table just as they are and experience God’s mercy and grace.

A couple’s willingness to serve communion and display grace SARAH LAND

ANNASTASIA CHARLES

It 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. Every time communion is served at Summit, it is served by attendees and church staff alike. The invitation is given to come to God’s table, not Summit’s. So while communion can feel steeped in tradition, it opens up endless possibilities as to what may be happening in the hearts of each person as they approach God’s table. This seemingly simple act of taking bread and dipping it in wine or juice then becomes a deeply spiritual moment for many. For some, though, the act of communion can carry with it feelings of hesitancy due to odd experiences with the sacrament in the past. For others, shame charms them into the lie that they are unfit to take part. Harold and Connie Davis, however, experience communion as a tangible way to worship and thank God for sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of all—regardless of how worthy or unworthy they may feel.

Harold and Connie are two First Impressions and Prayer Team volunteers at the Summit Lake Mary Campus. They also serve communion, and know that people are sometimes nervous to take part. When Harold knows someone is hesitant to take communion because they feel unworthy, he addresses it this way, “Well, what did you do to receive God’s gift in the first place?

Did you not come to him in your sin and as you are and accept his offer of forgiveness? I mean, he’s not trying to wait for us to clean our act up or get everything straight and in order before we can enjoy his blessings. He wants to pour out his blessings upon us and he’s done that through his son the Lord Jesus.”

If you were to ask Harold and Connie why they love to serve communion, you’d learn that it has an incredibly deep meaning for them: a meaning with roots stretching deep into the Amazonian rainforests of Brazil. They’d share that for them, communion is an act of worship that has brought

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“Communion is an act of just understanding God’s forgiveness to us and our response is just ‘thank you, Father.’”

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PHOTO BY L.J. JUDY

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Worth the Risk This Connect group finds their need for God reflected in their need for each other LAURA DIAZ

KATE BOSSE

Last 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. And if I’m honest, I secretly hoped if I showed up to this Connect group with my mess on display, they wouldn’t love me. I thought if they didn’t love me, I could give myself permission to stop seeking God. I thought very wrong.

They loved me so well it turned my world rightside-up.

Exactly one year after I walked into Cathy’s house, and somehow managed to make those strangers my closest friends, they piled into my home office to reminisce about what God has done in the life of this Connect group thus far.

On a weekly basis, we see each other more often than most of us see our roommates. There are roughly 20 of us and while you’ll find the core 12 meeting on Sundays after church to study the Bible, you’re bound to find the rest of us at a movie night, happy hour, or a beach weekend.

With as much time as the group spends together, it’s hard to believe it almost didn’t exist. Mark Nuzum had been wanting a 30-something, singles group for years. He works in ministry, leading small groups for a living, and the thought of adding another group to his list was not particularly appealing. But there came a point when he couldn’t wait for it anymore. He saw the need; he saw no one else was going to take the lead on it, and he saw that it wasn’t about him. So in April of 2016, God started laying the foundation for relationships that are now much deeper than we ever could have planned.

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When asked what life was like before this group, a hush comes over the otherwise wildly chatty bunch. It’s hard to remember life before we came together. While being a part of this group certainly hasn’t eliminated our struggles, it has made it so we don’t have to bear our burdens alone. These burdens range from the struggle of living a Christian life among non-Christian friends to the burden of clinical depression. And let’s not forget single people problems, including, but not limited to, occasional loneliness, the stomach flu, and thwarting questions from nosy family members about your love life, or lack thereof.

As beautiful as our togetherness is, it wasn’t instantly easy.

Cathy remembers the first meeting was awkward. No one said much and, as the hostess, she was worried that maybe they weren’t going to click. Babita Hinduja, who joined the group in the summer of 2016, recounts she was nervous to open up because it was such an emotional time in her life. “But when you take the risk—because it is a risk—and you’re met over and over again with love and acceptance, your wall breaks down and you’re able to be more vulnerable,” she says.

There is something supernatural about the connection this group has—how free and vulnerable we are with each other.

While the connection wasn’t instant, it’s been fun to watch it evolve. When I asked about favorite memories, I was met with stories of weekends at the beach, Valentine’s Day surprises, and a certain jumbo-sized-float that never did make it to calm waters. The consensus is that these fun experiences were unifying, which ultimately led to more vulnerable relationships.

It’s this vulnerability that created a safe space where no one is afraid to open up about their needs and their struggles.

Earlier this year Kelly Wallace, one of the founding members of the group, was rehabbing an investment home. Each new step of the project brought a new set of problems. She was already exhausted, desperate, and depleted when she realized she had several weeks of lawn work to do before the house could be listed—or so she thought. Within days of that news, eight group members came together to do 64 hours of work in a single day.

Together we’ve experienced the losses and births of loved ones, the beginnings and ends of relationships, career crises and career milestones. Whatever the occasion calls for—mourning or merriment—we are in it together.

The spirit of service is contagious. Even if we are not feeling like putting in the effort at first, when you know your friends are going to serve—or sponsor a child in Ethiopia, or shop for the Backpack Drive—you realize it’s not about you. It’s about reflecting God and his glory to each other and to the rest of the world.

In talking about what reflecting God’s glory to each other looks like, the excitement in Lisa Puckey’s voice has the entire group

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hooked on every word she says. “Together we more fully display the character of who God is—all of the beautiful things about him.”

Lisa lavishes each member of the group with compliments from gentle and kind to handy and vivacious. She pauses for a moment and exclaims, “Wow, God is amazing.”

Seeing God reflected in each other puts this group in a state of worship. “Not the stand-in-church-and-raise-your-hands kind of worship,” Lisa explains, “but rather, being in awe of him by seeing his glory on display.” We often find ourselves in worship in the most unconventional of ways. When talking about the ways we worship together, Babita can’t help but giggle as she says, “This isn’t the holiest-stand-up-straight kind of worship, but just feeling so free to dance around the living room on a Friday night, you see our freedom in Christ.”

It’s that freedom that makes this group’s connection so unique. We are free to struggle without condemnation. We are free to express our needs without fear of judgement. We are free to use our resources and talents without jealousy. It’s encouraging to see how we come

“Together we more fully display the character of who God is—all of the beautiful things about him.”

The group came together to purchase and stuff six backpacks for the 2017 Backpack Drive.

together as different parts of the body of Christ to do kingdom work for his people and his glory.

In sitting and (mostly) listening, through joyful tears, I saw the beauty of our need for each other and how it reflects our need for God. I’m not wrestling with who Jesus is anymore. I’ve seen his unconditional love lived out through this group. And when I made my public declaration of faith with the step of baptism last October, nearly every member of this Connect group was there cheering—front and center.

C.S. Lewis wrote in his book, The Four Loves, “We need others physically, emotionally, intellectually; we need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves.”

While I’m wholly unqualified to be adding to the words of Mr. Lewis, I’d venture to say we need others if we are to know God and his glory.

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True Grace David grows in his understanding of how much the cross is meant to cover LAURA COOK L.J. JUDY

“I feel like what reGROUP has helped me do is focus less on me—trying to fix sin and trying to fix the fact that I couldn’t fix that sin on my own. I just feel so much closer with who Jesus is as a Savior, and specifically, a Savior to me.”

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David Kaplan sits in a room full of men. The mood is somber, yet welcoming. Heavy, yet free of judgement and shame. He fidgets slightly in his chair as another man shares why he showed up tonight: the struggles he can’t beat on his own, the sins he’s been fighting for ages, and his desire to be known and loved despite how messed up he is; how messed up he feels. David is amazed at the vulnerability happening before him. And for the first time, he talks about his own struggles without a reaction of disapproval, disappointment, or judgement. For the first time, his struggles are met with no strings attached: there’s love and there’s acceptance. And, for David, it’s life changing.

room with a bunch of people and everyone is sharing, it’s hard to be prideful,” David says. “You realize that, ‘Man, I’m pretty messed up. But so is everyone else.’ It’s almost more normal to be messed up than it is to be on the right track. And it’s okay.” David references his favorite book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, saying “It’s for people like me who have tried and worked so hard to make sure that we’re in good standing with God when, really, I couldn’t get it by effort.”

And, with that new realization, David began to forgive himself for the sins he’d struggled with and couldn’t defeat on his own.

His new reGROUP community—the men who were walking alongside him and holding one another up—they were part of this process, too. “I think the accountability that came from these guys, the encouragement, the camaraderie, and having people say ‘Hey, it’s okay I’m there with you, I get it.’

It really helped me forgive myself and realize that God is not on my case. That’s a big part of reGROUP, they are accepting because they are mimicking Jesus,” David says. “I was just constantly reminded that Jesus died for this sin…and that it’s okay that I have issues that I can’t fix by my own abilities.”

“One thing about reGROUP is that when you go in, there’s a sort of acceptance from everyone there just for being there, just by showing up,” David says of Summit’s recovery ministry, which he completed a few months ago. “It is very welcoming.”

For David, the reason for going to reGROUP began because he wanted to figure out how to work through some of the sins and struggles he’d been dealing with most of his life. But he never imagined that he’d walk away with an entirely new understanding of who God is and how God’s love works— even after being raised in a Christian home and feeling like he knew all the right answers. “I considered myself a professional Christian,” David says, only half kidding, as he explains how he grew up thinking that he’d just earn God’s love with his performance and achievements at being… well…good. “It’s kind of like a badge, a title. It’s just the way I thought…subconsciously attempting to earn grace and love from God and others.”

Grace is what David found at reGROUP. And it changed everything. “I realized that now I can look at God for how he truly is. He saved me! It is miraculous that he did this and is still doing it! Before, I would agree that it’s great to go to God and ask him for things and pray, but in my heart I was still the guy that was going to come through on my own,” David says. “I feel like what reGROUP has helped me do is focus less on me—trying to fix sin and trying to fix the fact that I couldn’t fix that sin on my own. I just feel so much closer with who Jesus is as a Savior, and specifically, a Savior to me.”

So when David reached a point with a particular struggle where he couldn’t actually conquer it on his own, he wasn’t sure what to do, where to go. And that’s what led him to reGROUP. “I got to the point where I was literally powerless against the things that I was struggling with,” David says.

“I can’t fix this. I don’t know how to fix this. I literally can’t achieve my way out of this. I tried every possible way.”

David has finished his ‘official’ time in reGROUP. He says, it’s not like specific temptations are suddenly gone. But now he knows he doesn’t have to conquer anything by his own power or determination. And his newfound understanding of God’s grace has even changed how he interacts with others. “When there’s not shame about being a sinner and being messed up, it really helps you get to know people really quickly…it’s just walls being torn down when you share your struggles,” David says. “It’s been really cool to see the conversations over the past few years. My friendships are deeper because they really see me and I really see them.”

As David took the courageous step of joining that room of men week after week, a trusting community began to form. And as he listened to the vulnerability shared and the acceptance given, he realized one of the things he was missing in his relationship with God: humility. “When you’re sitting in a

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Finding Their Sabbath One family's journey to their life-giving Sabbath

KARI FREEMAN

It looked like a quiet campsite, deep in the woods of Wisconsin, where Lauren and Mark Lanker took a week to journal, canoe, marvel at God’s creation, and actually rest. It was in that quiet that the words they had heard in a sermon almost a year prior finally took root, not only in their hearts, but in their lives. It was there that their need for true and routine rest became more real than the fear of dropping all the plates they continually had spinning. It looked like going for it, even though it didn’t seem possible.

Mark and Lauren describe how simply committing to start the process of observing a Sabbath each week was in fact the hardest part of the journey. “But then it just makes sense,” Lauren says, reflecting on when the couple actually practiced their first Sabbath together. “This is how we were designed.”

Mark agrees, saying, “What got us going was the fact that we needed it. We saw a void in our lives. We were doing a lot of things like everyone is. When we first started though, we tasted the fruit almost immediately.”

It looked like pulling out a calendar and balancing two schedules best described as antithetical to Sabbath rest, and picking out whichever extended periods the Lankers could find.

Lauren, running her own website from home where work could be continually at her fingertips and Mark, a doctor working the night shift, sometimes slotted out periods that started in the

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middle of the afternoon or didn’t quite last a full 24 hours. As challenging as it was to schedule, the need to acknowledge their “humanness and need for rest” far outweighed any struggles they had with time.

It looked like inviting friends into small pieces of their Sabbath: cooking, playing games, and really talking together.

“The concept of Sabbath and taking a day of rest is foreign to most people,” Lauren explains. “We didn’t really know people who practiced Sabbath to see what it looked like.” A fact that could easily have been a deterrent, yet Lauren and Mark embraced the challenge of starting from scratch in figuring out what Sabbath could look like for them. They even took a couple in their Connect group under their wing when they saw how intrigued they seemed by the concept of Sabbath. Darling and EB Heldt started to embrace the idea alongside the Lankers. Lauren and Darling especially formed a bond as Lauren helped Darling walk through her first experience with taking an extended time of intentional rest in the form of a sabbatical from work.

It looked like closing the computer, putting down the phone, and accepting that they weren’t actually needed for a day.

“Our biggest realization was that six days really are enough to do all the necessary things in life,” Mark explains. “To grasp that seventh day is counter-productive. None of us are that important,” he finishes with a chuckle.

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“And it puts God back in his right place as creator and takes the crown off of our heads that we’ve placed there,” Lauren adds. “That mentality is what drove us into the ground and made us cry out for Sabbath in the first place.”

Darling describes an especially helpful metaphor that Lauren had shared with her as she began diving into the practice, “She talked to me about ‘time tithing,' I have no problem giving God ten percent of my money, but giving him a percentage of my time?” Darling shakes her head, “We’re all given 24 hours and it’s really about trusting him with them. Just like not spending this money, by not spending this day, I’m going to trust that God’s going to provide for all of my needs with the other six. My ‘I don’t have time for a Sabbath’ was really my ‘I don’t trust God.’” Some days, it looks like messing up—rearranging an afternoon after locking keys in the car or realizing that time spent on an iPad wasn’t very life-giving. “We had to figure out what qualified as work and what qualified as rest,” Lauren explains. “Give yourself grace and time and space to figure out what is rest,” she encourages.

Mark adds, “It’s helpful to let every Sabbath be like a rough draft. We did have to draw lines in our minds as to what is life-giving and what isn’t. It’s very individual and we learned over time what works.” Sometimes it meant recognizing that rest, much like a muscle, will take time to learn how to use again after setting it to the side for so long. It’s expected that we would get it wrong from time to time.

A lot of days now, for the Lankers, it looks like a family bike ride and taking turns spending time with their one-year-old daughter, Juniper, while the other journals, prays, or reads Scripture. They might schedule a phone call with a good friend, walk to a restaurant, or cook a new meal together.

“Imagine waking up and thinking, this day is free for things that matter, that I can choose right now,” Mark describes.

Lauren agrees, adding that “Sabbath is always the sweetest when it’s a balance of solo time with God and then coming together as a family and resting and worshiping together.”

Though the journey to get there looked like days of missed Sabbath as they made the transition from a family of two to three when their daughter was born, when the Lankers finally got a chance to “come up for air,” they realized that their new Sabbath would be different, but just as beautiful as the old one. They now get the chance to explore what is restful and life-giving in their new normal.

And so now, it looks like a couple on a dock watching the sunset, breathing a sigh of relief as the 24 hours of rest they’ve been waiting for all week begins. Lauren quotes Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Mark and Lauren express their heartfelt desire that we would all recognize God isn’t trying to take our time away from us when he commands us to observe the Sabbath. He’s giving us a day to set our minds back toward the One who’s actually keeping all of those plates spinning. He’s telling us how to live life to the fullest.

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“Sabbath is always the sweetest when it’s a balance of solo time with God and then coming together as a family and resting and worshiping together.”

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Praying with the Power of God

pray silently. For Cathy, the discipline of prayer didn’t just happen, it was learned. She started with the BIble, and saw prayer as a part of God’s character. She began to read about a God who answered prayer. Cathy thought to herself, “If the God of the Bible can answer prayer there, why not here?”

A few years back, Cathy was looking for a way to get involved.

She met with O.J. Aldrich, who was then the director of Student Ministries, and told him she had a ministry idea. Her husband attended his men’s Bible study on Tuesday nights, so Cathy was looking for some way to spend her time on those evenings. At the time, Tuesday was the same night the middle schoolers met for Surge, Summit’s student ministry.

“God gave me an idea that I should pray for these students on Tuesdays,” Cathy recalls. “I didn’t know O.J. but I thought that if he would give me a list of the teenagers’ names and the leaders, I’d pray for them as they met.”

Her request was met with a resounding yes. Even if she couldn't physically be at Summit, she was praying for the students and the leaders. “I feel like at that time in my life, it was really important to God,” Cathy says. “I did it for over two years.”

Her ministry of prayer has trickled throughout the Lake Mary Campus, where she attends and is on the Sunday Prayer Team, and into her community. Her friend and fellow Summit attendee, Breck Fudge, can attest to the gift God has given her. When they met, Breck says she was drawn to Cathy. They instantly became friends and confided in one another and eventually decided to take prayer walks together.

“Cathy is always the first person to step in and pray. That’s her go-to for everything,” Breck says. “She doesn’t say, ‘Oh let me fix this,’ she immediately tells you, ‘Let’s bring this to God.’ In a way, she makes it all for his glory and not at all for hers. It’s not anything she’s done other than taking you to God in prayer.”

And while Cathy gives, she also receives. Currently Cathy is going through something tough: her mother is in hospice, as she is coming to the end of a fight with Parkinson’s disease. Every week Cathy goes and visits her mother. She’s never sure if her mother will remember her, or how her day will be.

There’s a man who is blind living in her mother’s skilled nursing facility and usually Cathy would stop and chat with him, but one day she was intentionally isolating herself and planned to just walk by. She realized that, due to his blindness, he might not notice her if she walked by without greeting him. But, as she did, the story of the Good Samaritan popped into her head.

“So I said, ‘Lord, if I pass him again I will stop and speak,’” she says. “And of course I did.”

As she stopped to speak to the man, he asked how her mother was doing. She replied that she was in hospice care, and wasn’t doing well. He told her he was a volunteer and could go sit and talk with her. Normally Cathy isn't comfortable with this due to

Cathy Brennan’s go-to is to bring others to God in prayer ALLISON HURTADO

BRAD ARTHUR

Many of us feel that prayer with a stranger is awkward. Maybe it’s uncomfortable to share that our dog is dying of cancer. We think it’s silly, but our hearts are really hurt. Maybe it’s our own sin that we need prayer for, a broken relationship, or a situation that feels too dark and we don’t want to bring sadness onto others. But there is no prayer too large or small or silly to bring before God. Just ask Cathy Brennan.

“I haven’t always been a prayer type,” Cathy says. “I had a very big need one night and out of desperation I went to a prayer gathering and I just began to hear people praying out loud in their own words. It’s different than the memorized prayers you learn when you’re little.”

Cathy was intrigued by it, so she went to her best friend and together they decided to start a Bible study one summer. As they were trying to decide on a study, they concluded to make a list of questions and pray for answers. Cathy recalls one of the questions being, “How many books should we buy?” For one reason or another, through prayer, they settled on 40. Guess how many people signed up? 40.

“When you see God hear and answer prayer, it cultivates prayer,” she says. “How could you not pray after that?”

While we are all called to prayer, all believers have different levels of comfort. We all know a prayer warrior who won’t hesitate to pray for a stranger, and we all have a friend who would rather

“When you see God hear and answer prayer, it cultivates prayer.

How could you not pray after that?”

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her mother’s physical health, but before she could say a word he said, “I will pray for her and pray for you.”

“I would’ve missed this opportunity if I would’ve kept walking,” Cathy says with tears in her eyes.

Cathy thinks prayer comes out of knowing who God is. She isn’t organized with lists or bulletin boards. She can't give you a method. She lets God bring people to her mind and talks to him.

In the top corners of the pages in her Bible, she writes down every title she sees for God. She writes one down every day to remind herself of how many facets God has.

“I feel like prayer is worship. It’s a sense of his presence,” Cathy says.

Her friend Breck uses the word ‘presence’ when she describes Cathy. “Cathy envelops people with the Holy Spirit when she prays for you,” Breck says. “She cries with you and bears your burdens.

One day she and the other ladies in my Bible study surrounded me and prayed for me. It changed my whole week. It was just like I could feel God’s presence through Cathy.”

Next time you find yourself at the end of a service at Summit, with something chewing away at your soul, and you hear the campus pastor say “If you are in need of prayer, there will be folks up here to pray with you after the service,” go up for prayer. The prayer team will be there, sensing God’s presence and ready to stand alongside you in prayer.

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MELISSA STILLMAN RYAN BOWDEN

Made New The story of a couple embracing God's promise to make us new creations When 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.”

Willie, Farrah’s husband, was surprised by her deciding to renew her faith because he’d been feeling the very same way. He says, “I had been wanting that, too, but had just been waiting for her to catch up. It had to come from a place of love; I didn’t want her to feel like I was pushing her.”

The couple began looking for a church where they felt more at home. Willie and Farrah had been to the Summit Waterford building in 2015 while taking a 12-week course for a state adoption that fell through. In February of 2017 they decided to try attending a service there, and right away they felt the connection they were looking for. A few weeks later, when they heard announcements about the upcoming spring Beach Baptism, they wondered if it might be their next step.

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“I walked into the water thinking, this is my opportunity to just wash away everything. To come out of that water new.”

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Willie, who spent time in Catholic, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches during his childhood, was baptized as an infant. Farrah had also grown up in church and been baptized as an infant, and she had questions about adult baptism. Through talking to Garry Abbott (Waterford Campus Pastor), Willie and Farrah got the full picture of baptism—that it’s a public act of worship that outwardly displays what God has done inwardly to change your heart.

Farrah says, “I asked Garry about the difference and he explained that my parents made that first decision for me, and now I could make the decision for myself. That was eye-opening for me. His guidance made me feel so comfortable at a time when I was nervous about leaving what I knew. I really wanted him to be a part of our baptisms.”

On April 23rd Garry baptized Farrah and Willie at Summit’s Beach Baptism. Willie describes the scene at Bethune Beach as, “a sea of people on the beach. It’s moving—overwhelmingly beautiful to see everybody there to worship God and support those getting baptized. We took the church to that place. There was music and barbeque, it felt like a big family celebration—with our Summit family. When we came up out of the water, Garry said to us, ‘These are your people, lean on them.’ I can’t wait to go back for the next Beach Baptism in October to support the people getting baptized.”

For Farrah, her baptism has felt like an affirmation of the new way she wants to live. “Recognizing my faults, I wanted a clean slate,” Farrah explains. “I walked into the water thinking, this is my opportunity to just wash away everything. To come out of that water new. I carry that feeling with me every day. It’s what I want to build my Christian foundation on—making that promise to God, that although it’s not going to be an easy road for me, I’m trying and I’m committed to his path.”

Since the Torreses began attending Summit Waterford, Garry has played a big role in their journey to follow Jesus in the context of community. He says, “From the moment Willie and Farrah walked through the doors at Summit, they were open to listening to what God was saying to them and responding accordingly. To see Willie and Farrah move from walking through those doors to standing in front of the Summit family boldly proclaiming their faith in Jesus through baptism was a tangible answer to prayer.”

Part of that path has been opening themselves up to trying another adoption. At the suggestion of Garry, the couple is working through Bethany Christian Services and is about midway through the adoption process. Farrah says, “I truly am convinced that this was God’s purpose for us—to bring us here all along. Going through the adoption process, I felt like we were going to be this isolated little couple off to the side, and that no one would be able to understand our situation. But there is such a support system at Summit. I feel more hopeful now, more trusting. We look back and know God’s hands are in the timing. He is there in the tough times, holding up his part of the commitment.”

Now that they call Summit Waterford their church home, Farrah and Willie have jumped in with both feet. Willie is part of a men’s Connect group and volunteers running tech for the worship team. And Farrah has plugged into a ladies’ Connect group and served with Base Camp on Team Summer. Willie says, “Today we’re worried less about us, and giving more. If something is going on with one of the ladies or guys in our groups, we’re there to support them, as Christ supported us.”

Matthew Blahnik, a friend from Willie’s Connect group, confirms that attitude, saying, “When you’re exploring a new place it can be easier to keep at a distance and hang in the background. I was so encouraged by Willie and Farrah’s courage to dive right into the vision from the get-go. Willie jumped on the chance to join our men’s Connect group on Saturday mornings and next thing you know I see them plugged in everywhere: Base Camp, niceSERVE, Beach Baptism, you name it. They are the real deal and I love watching them bring God glory everywhere they go.”

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Willie had always believed in Jesus, but hadn’t made a public declaration of that faith. He feels that his baptism in April was important to his spiritual growth, as he strives to become more and more of the man God wants him to be for his family. He says, “Some days are better than others with the whole process, but that doesn’t stop us from continuing the journey to be more Christ-like. By the grace of God, we get a shot every day to be new creatures.”

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A Chorus of Others

SHAWN ROMANO

ANDY SIMONDS

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Why do we sing? Have you ever thought about it? It starts early—when we are children—so clearly there is something innate and instinctual about it.

Perhaps it’s tied to our creative impulse—part of what it means that we are created in the image of a Creator.

So we sing as children for the same reason that we color, or paint, or dance, or build things.

There must be an emotional component as well— something that needs to be said that is beyond what can be said with words alone. The melody adds another dimension to the words. Or we hear a tune without any words at all, and yet we feel something—even understand something—though we would struggle to put words to what it is we have felt and understood.

How old were you when you stopped singing? Not everyone has, of course. And I know, you probably still sing in the car sometimes when you’re by yourself, or in the shower if no one’s home—but for the most part, if you’re like me, you probably have some level of apprehension about singing in public. We have inhibitions around singing (along with every other form of the creative, emotionally expressive tools we were born with). We have learned to overlay cognitive filters like: “Is it any good?” and “Is this socially appropriate?”

When I go to church and I’m not singing onstage I often have this whole thought process about singing just loud enough to participate, but not too loud, because I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to be heard over other people, etc, etc. I hate to admit it, because it is so far from the ideal version of what I want to be happening in my head and my heart in that moment. In that moment, I’m not expressing something about how I feel about God through a medium that goes beyond words. In that moment, I’m not creating something good and beautiful by unashamedly

joining my voice to a chorus of others—agreeing together with words and melodies that celebrate the goodness and beauty of God's character.

It’s a missed opportunity. Stated stronger—it is a sin of omission.

So what is it that I’m missing out on, and how is it that I have missed the mark? In Matthew 18 Jesus tells his disciples that unless they change and become like little children, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, a lot of theological ink has been spilled on the phrase “kingdom of heaven” and I have neither the time, nor the depth of knowledge to delve into that here. But we can all agree that whatever the kingdom of heaven may or may not be, it most certainly involves being close to Jesus— being connected with the way things ought to be and were made to be.

My sin of omission is that I avoid living according to my design. I am less human, less than myself, less able to feel joy, less able to commune with the One who gave me the gift of the potentiality for any of this.

Singing is a part of how that gift is received. It’s one pathway to recovering some of what was lost when we grew old enough to know good from evil and realize our nakedness. Genesis tells us that after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve knew that they were naked. Nakedness, both figuratively and literally, involves a type of self-awareness and selfconsciousness that means forgetting that we were made to delight in another. The irony is that we lose ourselves by looking too closely at ourselves. Singing helps to release us from ourselves and to find our true selves in the process—not as men and women who have been expelled from creation’s garden, but as little children who are welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.

“Whatever the kingdom of

heaven may or may not be, it most certainly involves

being close to Jesus—being connected with the way things ought to be and were made to be.”

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Why Does God Need Glory?

KAILEY NEWKIRK JEREMY KENNEDY

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“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” —1 Corinthians 10:31

As our team prepared for the upcoming teaching series on God’s glory, we got together in the conference room to kick around some thoughts and ideas. We talked about what is meant by God’s glory, and what questions we had about it. And a question that came up from a few different people was something akin to this: Why does God need me to give him the glory? In other words, is God such an egomaniac that he needs us to constantly lavish credit on him for all good things? To constantly remind him of how great he is?

We teach children that this is a very unbecoming quality, and yet this is the demand of our God? It’s a confusing concept. And for the person who doesn’t know Jesus at all, it’s probably even insulting. Why can’t I just be doing something good? Why does it need to be for someone else’s glory?

Let me solve an initial mystery upfront by saying this: God doesn’t need our glory. He’s God. He doesn’t need it.

He will still be just as glorious without it. It doesn’t diminish a single glimmer of his glory when we refuse to worship him. When we make more of ourselves than we should, he is still not made less.

But the fact remains: if our glory doesn’t go to God, it will go somewhere. Maybe to a relationship. Maybe to a job title. Maybe to a child we cannot seem to unclutch. It will go to something—anything—upon which we look and say, “Without this thing, I am no one; this thing is what I live for; this thing is the highest good I know.”

Our glory will go somewhere. And if not to some other place, it will go right back into us. Even when we think we’re being noble. Even when we think we’re just doing something good for goodness’ sake and there’s no need to give the glory to anyone. That, in itself, is a kind of self-glorification. Under the guise of humility, we will not allow credit to be given anywhere outside of the benevolent inclination of our heart. When we deny God the glory which is rightfully his, we’re trying to live like a god ourselves—but with only one worshiper.

We will glorify something. We will live for something.

And God knows it will usually be something that doesn’t give life back.

We are creatures—beautiful, complex creatures who bear the glorious image of God, to be sure—but creatures all the same. We’re designed, as an architect designs a cathedral or as an engineer designs a vehicle. He molds it just so,

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making it capable of high speeds and moving in reverse.

But the car can only do what its maker made possible.

We forget that everything we are capable of is the gift of our designer. This is particularly true in times of flourishing, when we believe we’ve accomplished so much with our own two hands, by the sweat of our brow. In such times, we’re so prone to forgetting this fact that Scripture reminds us in no uncertain terms to “remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…”

(Deuteronomy 8:18).

We retain our jobs, only because he has made the hands and feet that work them. We have friendships, only because he has given us hearts capable of love. We would not eat had he not designed soil to grow crops and chickens to lay eggs.

The air we breathe, our beloved Lord first spoke into existence. Without his word, we would suffocate.

All the good we are capable of is owed to God’s generosity.

When we eat and drink and do all things to the glory of God, it is an acknowledgement of a fact that would remain true, whether we acknowledged it or not.

It is an ascent to reason.

It is sanity. And if ever I doubt this concept, I need only to try to take back control of my life and its outcomes to find how very quickly I begin to feel insane.

God does not need our glory. But he wants it. I would argue that, in our right minds, we want to give it to him. And to offer our lives for his glory should not require us to be pious legalists either.

When we practice God’s presence in our normal, everyday activities, we bring glory to him. As we wash our dishes or comb our hair or change a dirty diaper—we can make these moments as sacred as any other, depending on the company we keep as we live them. After all, it’s not the absence of our humanity but the presence of Jesus that makes something holy.

“When we deny God the glory which is rightfully his, we’re trying to live like

a god ourselves—

but with only one worshiper.”

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Pharisee ZACH VAN DYKE

Like

Jesus told a story one time of a Pharisee and a tax collector who both went to the temple to pray (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee stood up and prayed, “I thank you, O God, that I am not like other men, thieves, ungodly, adulterers, or even like that tax collector. I fast twice a week and give tithes of all that I get.” But a tax collector standing far off, not even looking up to heaven, beat upon his breast and cried, “O God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Then Jesus said it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who left the temple justified of sin.

But Jesus didn’t tell the rest of the story.

As soon as the tax collector finished praying, the temple’s First Impressions team immediately grabbed hold of him and hugged him and welcomed him into the family. They assigned him an accountability partner to help rid him of any besetting sins. They gave him 15 books he needed to read if he were truly to live a changed life. They gave him an orange vest, a white name tag, and his schedule for the parking ministry. They invited him to a Connect group. And then they convinced him to enroll in Temple U so he could learn a thing or two about telling his story truthfully for the sake of others.

One day, not too long after, that tax collector walked into the temple to pray. He stood up and said, “I thank you, O God, that I am not like other men…"

OK not really, but hopefully you get it. It seems to me, with a lot of next steps designed to teach us and help us glorify God, it’d be easy to end up another Pharisee. So what are we to do?

We are to repent, and believe, and then repeat.

For us as Christians, whether we like it or not, repentance is a way of life. It is, simply put, agreeing with God. The Greek word for “repentance” (metanoia) means “to change one’s mind.” And by changing our minds to agree with God, he begins to change us into who we were always intended to be.

But let me be clear: repentance itself isn’t change. Repentance is only the method by which God changes us. And it’s a process that happens over and over and over again.

BEAU WINGFIELD

Me

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“David didn’t know how God was going to atone for his sin. He didn’t know how he would be declared righteous before a holy

King David was changed through repentance. Psalm 51 is one of the most honest and beautiful prayers of repentance. Occasionally a psalm has a caption at the beginning that gives it context. Psalm 51 starts, “A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone to Bathsheba.”

Prior to this, David had messed up big. And he messed up big because he forgot who he was. When we mess up, if we look hard enough, we’ll see it all started with us forgetting who we are or rather whose we are. David had lost vision for what God had called him to as the king. But instead of leaving him alone, God sent him the prophet Nathan, who tells David a story about two men, one rich and one poor (2 Samuel 12:1-7).

The rich man had lots of sheep and cattle; the poor man had just one small lamb that was like a daughter to him. A traveler came to the rich man, and rather than taking from his own livestock to feed the visitor, he instead took the lamb that belonged to the poor man.

David, outraged at the injustice, burst out, “This man deserves to die!”

Now, stealing the poor man’s lamb is a sad thing, but it’s hardly a capital offense. Why did David overreact like that, especially after all he'd just done? He'd just slept with another man's wife and then had him killed, for goodness' sake!

David had become like the Pharisee in the parable. He'd become self-righteous. When David as a young boy stood before the giant Goliath, he needed God. But now he was king and was prosperous and didn’t need God. He’d served God well and the evidence was in all his blessings. He had done enough to stand before God and not be afraid.

But God sent Nathan, and David was faced with the truth about himself. David says the rich man deserves to die for stealing the poor man’s lamb, and Nathan responds with the most devastatingly-direct sermon application in the history of the world: “You are that man.”

Now if David had held onto his self-righteousness, that truth would’ve killed him. He could have responded by runing away because he’d never be good enough to make up for his mistakes, or

God after all that he’d done. But we know

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how he did it.” by trying really hard to fix himself. But he did neither; he repented and believed.

David was devastated at first, but by the time he gets around to penning Psalm 51 he’s singing! He’s glorifying God! He goes from confessing his sin to singing aloud of the righteousness of God. David glorified God by repenting of his self-righteousness and believing the good news that he has a God who would accept the righteousness of another on his behalf.

That’s worship. That’s glorifying God. David repented and believed in a God who would give up his righteousness for David’s sins. He believed this without fully seeing it. David didn’t know how God was going to atone for his sin. He didn’t know how he would be declared righteous before a holy God after all that he’d done.

But we know how he did it. We’ve seen it.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he looked at his disciples— broken, messed-up, sinful people—took bread and broke it and said, “This is my body, broken in place of you.” He took wine and said, “This is my blood, shed for the forgiveness of your sins.”

And then he said, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, remember me” (Luke 22:19-20). Because when we remember him—when we see him taking our place on the cross, exchanging his righteousness for our sin—we cry out, “O God, have mercy on me a sinner!” But more than that, we believe that he is indeed transforming us into the image of his son for the sake of others.

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Worship The kids at Summit encounter Jesus and worship in creative ways AUSTIN HILL L.J. JUDY

“Engagement” is a buzzword in today’s American education system. It seems to be an increasingly difficult challenge to inspire and maintain an engaged student, let alone an entire classroom. Surprisingly, fidget spinners weren’t the solution. A child in 2017 is exposed to more stimulation, distraction, and opportunity than perhaps any generation before. So how does a leader of children navigate through all of this to engage a student’s heart and mind?

This is a question that the Base Camp (Summit’s children’s ministry) staff and volunteers wrestle with on a weekly basis. The Lodge, which fourth and fifth graders call home on Sunday morning, presented both the greatest challenge and opportunity with regard to student engagement. At this developmental stage, many students begin to think more abstractly, ask deeper questions, and crave a more individualized learning experience.

Christina Stoecker, a Summit intern in summer 2015, was specifically tasked with the project of “Lodge research.” Her goal was to answer the question of how to keep students engaged, and yet—rather than an answer—a new question arose. “How do our kids express their relationship with God, and what spiritual pathway fosters their relationship with God best?” Christina found herself reflecting. “If we give students the opportunity to experience different pathways, they’ll discover more about themselves as well as about God.” The conversation shifted and Lodge stations were born.

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Two Lodge students write thank you notes to those who have encouraged them

“Kids are natural explorers and learners, so creating this [new] environment seemed like a logical way to engage in worship and introduce some of the spiritual disciplines,” says Deanna McLellan, Herndon’s Children’s Ministry Director.

“We wanted to create a safe space for them to choose how to engage with God. Many of these kids are beginning to figure out what it looks like to read and apply Scripture, to spend time in prayer, and to see God in different aspects of their lives. They light up when you give them choices and allow them to learn in a way that interests them. The hope is that these kids might discover a new way they enjoy worshiping.”

The Lodge stations feel like a small town farmers’ market.

But instead of an array of art, food, and culture, each station provides an opportunity to worship a dynamic, creative God. In the same way one may attend one market stand for the local honey and another for the handmade mugs, one student in The Lodge may spend the entirety of class on their knees in prayer while another chooses to express themselves through art or dance. The goal of stations is not for students to pass through the same sequence of steps like products on an assembly line, producing a calculated, perfect result. The goal of stations is relationship. The goal is love.

Deanna describes worship as “the way we show how much we love and adore our Creator. Our overflowing love for him.” Base Camp values each student’s uniqueness and desires to create an environment where everyone can pour out their love, worshiping God in their own way.

According to students, the Lodge stations accomplish just this.

Danny Gonzalez, a fifth grader in The Lodge, says he thinks stations were created at Summit “because everybody is unique and thinks differently.” In the art station, Danny explains how they “put fingerprints to show how all of us are different and unique.” Danny also creates a wordle, which he says “sounds like a Pokemon character.” Surrounding

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“Many of these kids are beginning to figure out what it looks like to read and apply Scripture, to

his name on the center of paper are words to describe what makes him unique—words God knew were true before Danny was born.

spend time in prayer, and to see God in different

Another fifth grade student, Paisley Owen, participates in the gratitude station where she uses the opportunity to write her mother a card, expressing thanks for how “she helps encourage my gifts and talents.” On the other side of the room, Harper and Ansley Phillips, sisters in The Lodge, participate in the art station while a dozen other students are scattered throughout the room, engaging in prayer, reflecting on Scripture, and reading Max Lucado’s children’s book, You Are Special.

aspects of their lives.

They light up when you give them choices and allow them to learn in a way that interests them.”

Harper enjoys the stations because they “help us learn about God. Instead of just reading the Bible, we can do it in a fun way.” Perhaps more than anything else, the overwhelming theme on the day of stations is “worship is fun.” In fact, when asked how she defines worship, Paisley provides that as her one-word answer—“Fun.” Harper agrees, sharing how she believes “worship is having fun, praising God through song and dance.”

Worship, the outpouring of love and adoration, can sometimes look like reflecting on how we were uniquely created. It can be expressing gratitude to those who have loved us. Sometimes we worship through prayer and reading God’s word. Other times through singing and dancing. And for the students in The Lodge, worship is almost always fun.

Harper and Ansley go on to describe how God feels when he is being worshiped by his children. According to Harper, he is “sad-happy. Like, crying happy.” “I think a single tear running down his face,” adds her sister. Ansley continues, “I think it’s sometimes hard for people to understand God so I think he’s very happy because we’re at such a young age and believing in him.”

These students love to worship God, and they are right: he is “sad-happy” when they do. I think a single tear of joy does trickle down his face. The Lodge stations provide an opportunity for Summit’s young worshipers to grow in their capacity to love their Father while learning new ways to express that love. And when anyone, child or adult, intentionally pursues God’s presence with a posture of worship, they walk away transformed by his love. This is the heart behind Lodge stations.

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The

of Children “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

—Matthew 19:14 Their tiny hands come together, their eyes squeeze tight, and they bow their heads. The kids of Summit are praying sweet, heartfelt, and sometimes surprising prayers, and these petitions to Jesus came straight from their hearts!

Isabel’s room is across the house from ours. She will often get scared and my husband and I have always told her that if she gets scared, she can pray to God for comfort. She woke up in the middle of the night, and I heard her over her monitor pray for God “to come help me not be scared.” It was so special getting to hear her pray without prompting from us. God is working in her, and thanks to the monitor in her room I was able to hear her sweet prayer for comfort.

I told our kids about a boy that was raising money for his first missions trip and asked them to pray that the money would come in. I explained that the family really didn’t have the extra money to cover the trip if their son didn’t raise the money. Kai prayed, “Dear Jesus, thank you that Chase has the money.” This surprised me because I had just said he needed the money. Then it hit me he was praying a great believing prayer with thanksgiving.

Maddie Lu surprises me daily because she is always so quick to pray. If she’s not feeling good, if one of us is sick or something is happening, she will close her eyes without hesitation and pray.

I have a 7-year-old daughter, Elyna, who has been mad at God for months over him not saying yes to giving her fairy wings. She really believed that she would wake up the next day with them on her back so she could fly!

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Judah prayed that when his Aunt Kristen had her baby it would just feel like a pinch.

Once, we were taking a walk after a pretty intense rain.

Somehow our family has adopted the habit of saving worms after rains and putting them back in the grass. That night, after saving many worms, our daughter prayed for God to keep all of her new worm friends safe so that she could play with them again tomorrow.

Healing. Both of our children have prayed over me as I grieved the loss of their brothers. Literally, there were times I was crying deeply in front of them and they closed their eyes and asked Jesus to make their mom feel better. It was the sweetest experience and heartfelt moment we’ve had.

Sofia has prayed for everything, but the funniest thing, to me, that she has prayed for is when she tried catching a lizard and its tail fell off. She asked God to take the lizard’s pain away and thanked God for allowing its tail to grow back.

One of our good friends, Doriss, who we met in Africa, is about to graduate from college into a tough job market in Malawi. Our daughter, Andi, knowing very little about her job situation, prayed that “Doriss would find a job that makes her happy, maybe at The Science Center or in her country.”

We have tried really hard to teach our kids not to just ask God for things, but to thank him for what he has done and/or given to us. Our three-year-old, Sophia, loves to thank God for everything from our house, our couch, our table, our car, bathtub, friends, puppies, you name it. It can get lengthy, but I don’t want to stop her because she’s completely right to thank God for all of those things.

My 9-year-old had trouble with a bully at school who used to be her friend. She was upset and angry. A few days later, I caught her praying for this girl so that God can heal what she was hurting about that was making her be mean to her and act out for attention.

Every night when putting Asher to bed we have prayer time.

Sometimes we take turns. Last week Asher prayed, “Dear Father God, please heal Nanny’s pain.” No prompting or previous conversation about it that day. But I know even at 3 he’s listening and observing. He felt the need to advocate in prayer for his grandma’s pain.

My oldest prayed to God to help him with his anger one night and over the next few days said he hadn’t felt anger after saying that prayer.

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Experiencing Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is this happening to me? Is God even there?

HARRISON PORTER LUKE TEVEBAUGH

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During times of serious trial, one or more of these questions can cross an individual’s mind. When life is hard, we often question who God is and why it seems like he isn’t showing up.

Many of us have experienced trying times in our lives and have been deeply shaped by those experiences. Luke Cook is no exception.

Luke is a senior at Colonial High School who hopes to go on to college to study architectural engineering. Luke is amazingly mature, hardworking, fun-loving, adventurous, and kind. He enjoys biking, playing water-polo, and prides himself on his two-handed bowling technique.

Yet his life has not always been easy, and because of this he used to get caught up in his past.

Due to an extremely difficult family situation, growing up, Luke and his siblings did not live with his parents, but with his grandparents who raised him and continue to be his primary family.

In 6th grade Luke began attending Summit’s ministry for middle schoolers, Surge. This was about the same time his grandmother, one of his primary caregivers, became very ill.

This experience deeply shaped Luke’s view of his role in his family—he began to take on more responsibility to care for both himself and his two younger siblings. Of course, it was not easy for someone at Luke’s age to take on such a huge role.

But even now, he manages working 40 hours a week, playing high school athletics, and doing well in school.

In the midst of the challenges he was experiencing at home, Luke found community at Summit.

After middle school, Luke moved up to Summit’s high school ministry, Edge. Luke’s leader, Stephen Feibelman, describes Luke as a natural leader and exceptionally mature. “Over the two years I’ve known Luke,” Stephen says, “I have begun to see him focus that maturity on his own faith by beginning to ask hard questions. His life experiences might easily have influenced him to run from God in disbelief, but somehow or another he decided he would keep showing up at Edge and making bigger leaps in his faith.”

One of those steps of faith came in October of 2016. The students of Edge, including Luke, went to Pensacola for Edge Goes to the Beach (a weekend getaway for high schoolers).

This event deeply impacted Luke and his relationship with God. For him, the weekend brought vital time away from the stressors of home life, work, and school. It was here that he experienced God’s word in a different way, and it was here that he fully surrendered his life to God. Stephen confirms that Edge Goes to the Beach had a unique impact on Luke—he was able to see Luke jump wholeheartedly into a better understanding of his own faith. “Throughout the weekend we worked through the things that were holding us back from becoming more like the people God made us to be,” Stephen explains. “That message seemed to resonate with Luke, and he spent much of our free time that weekend reading the Bible, trying to piece together his part in God’s story.”

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“I didn’t feel like God’s presence was there, but I knew that something was going to come soon. If a cloud goes over the sun, the sun doesn’t disappear.”

Pensacola, Luke sat and read the Bible. For the entirety of the 7-hour drive.

Asked why he decided to do this, he simply says, “I wanted to know it for myself.”

Jerod Freeland, one of the adult leaders at Edge who was sitting by Luke during that very long bus ride, says, “I was encouraged by the intentness of his reading the Bible.

It is amazing how God speaks to each of us through the same Scripture.”

Since returning from Edge Goes to the Beach, Luke has continued to deepen his faith—he’s attending not only Edge, but also weekly worship services with Stephen and his wife.

He has taken steps toward volunteering and serving others, and perhaps most profoundly, his relationship with Scripture has given him peace in the midst of his circumstances. He explains that he now turns to the Bible to better understand how to navigate situations.

We can all learn something from Luke and his story. His life has had a lot of adversity, yet he trusts. Luke explains that “God is always going to be there. He always has something planned. I’ve always known about Jesus from a young age, but in my middle school years I went through so much. I didn’t feel like God’s presence was there, but I knew that something was going to come soon. If a cloud goes over the sun, the sun doesn’t disappear.”

Luke trusts that God is always with us, that he will never leave us nor forsake us: his word—that same word that Luke dove all-in to—promises us that.

Luke’s story is a tangible example of the peace that comes with knowing who God is by drawing near to him through his word. Throughout Luke’s middle school years, his grandfather would always quote a piece of John 14:27 to him: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you...”

As Luke understands it, “God’s peace is knowing God’s faithfulness and presence in our experience, even if he feels distant.” Through it all, he has found truth in the promise of God’s word—he is always with us, he will never leave us nor forsake us.

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Built the Walls LEXI CIULLA BRIAN HOGAN

I do not know much about construction, but I do know that there is a lot that goes into the building of a house.

As complicated as building a house is, it is also a very practical thing. You follow a list of instructions (hopefully a little less head-scratch-worthy than those that come with an IKEA dresser) and, voilà, you’ve got a house. Now, I am most definitely over-simplifying this process, but what I am getting at is the fact that building a house is a science. If you follow the proper steps and do things the right way, you have a house and that is that.

Building a home is a lot more abstract. How does one build a home? At what point does a house cross the theoretical threshold and become a home?

Herndon Campus Pastor Zach Van Dyke believes that the reason we have such a strong reaction to the word home is because we were built for it. “A true home—not just a house—is the perfect metaphor on this earth for what we were designed for: belonging,” Zach says. “A place where people who love us can call out what is most true about us. A place where we can thrive.”

For LaWanda Thompson, community is what built her house, and it is also what makes her house a home.

“We wouldn’t even have a home if it weren’t for our community,” she says.

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Until she was over thirty years old, LaWanda had never seen the ocean. When she finally did, it overwhelmed her with its power, its majesty, its seeming infiniteness.

Few physical things on this planet serve as a better metaphor for God than the ocean. LaWanda thought that to live near it would be nice. She and her family felt disconnected in Atlanta and needed a change. So she Googled what the best places to live in Florida were, and stumbled upon Winter Park. LaWanda had also never owned a home before. She thought this, too, would be nice. Winter Park, Florida it was.

Though the Thompson family knew no one in Central Florida, from the moment they arrived (in the summer of 2011), they instantly felt more connected than they ever had. They started attending Summit, where LaWanda connected strongly with many of the sermons, and developed a respect and appreciation for her pastors.

Summit was a place that she could see herself and her family settling in, planting roots.

LaWanda being interviewed at the key ceremony for her family's new home

A major step in the true roots-planting process was applying for a house through Habitat for Humanity.

After applying in 2014, LaWanda heard encouraging information from Andy Holland, the Habitat staff member who had been assigned to her family’s case.

They were in the running for an upcoming build, but there were a couple of other families being considered also. Habitat makes decisions on who gets housing based off a couple of factors, including the applicant’s level

of need, their willingness to put in some work helping build the house (in Habitat lingo this is called “sweat equity”), and their ability to pay back a mortgage through an affordable payment plan.

But in 2015, the Thompson family fell on hard times.

LaWanda was having a lot of health issues that were leaving her consistently hospitalized, yet completely undiagnosed. Her husband, Asante, wound up having to quit his job to take care of their three children. This decrease in income, paired with the mounting medical bills, was creating a huge financial strain on the family.

They soon received a devastating phone call from Habitat, alerting them that they were no longer eligible for a home, as they had fallen out of the necessary income bracket. Andy promised LaWanda that he would “circle back” to the Thompson family to check on them at a later date, but during a time in which she was already feeling abandoned and unheard by the medical community, LaWanda had little hope that Andy would actually follow through.

This time of fear and uncertainty led LaWanda to do something she had never done before. “Until this happened,” she explains, “I had only ever let my inner circle into my struggles.” She had always wrestled with shame and embarrassment with letting other people see her in a state that seemed helpless. But after a particularly moving Summit service one Sunday in August 2015, LaWanda swallowed her pride and walked up to the front of the Sanctuary to ask for prayer.

On September 1st, 2015, LaWanda Thompson’s inbox pinged. It was Garry Abbott, her pastor, following up on her prayer request from that day in August. From then on, it was a whirlwind year of “manna falling from Heaven,” as LaWanda puts it. But it wasn’t always easy.

Over the course of the next year, there would be many answered prayers, but there would also be nights when LaWanda would not know if there would be food on the table for her children to eat. There would be more Sundays when she would need prayer. Sometimes she would write down her prayer requests at the bottom of her Summit bulletins and turn them in with her tithe envelopes. (That’s right—even in the midst of her family’s financial crisis, LaWanda was still tithing. How’s that for faith in action?)

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During this time, LaWanda continued to visit the Prayer Team and several Summit pastors. Through the relationships she was building at Summit, she was learning about resources available to her family that were helpful during their time of distress. For the Summit staff and volunteers that LaWanda confided in, prayer often led to action, and the Thompson family never went without—even though there were many times when it came down to the wire.

“We wouldn’t even have a home if it weren’t for our community.”

Eventually, things began to look up. LaWanda’s medical issues were finally being addressed in the appropriate way and she found herself on the path to healing. Asante found a great new job. They were starting to dig themselves out of the hole that they had fallen into. But they were still praying. They were still looking for home.

On a hot August day in 2016, LaWanda’s phone buzzed.

It was Andy from Habitat, circling back, just like he said he would.

“Are things better now?” he asked. They were, she told him. “Good,” he said. “Now, let’s get you a house.”

A big part of securing a house through Habitat after you’ve qualified is accruing that sweat equity thing I mentioned earlier. These are hours in which the family hoping to receive the house puts in actual hard labor toward building said house. A portion of these 500 sweat equity hours can be community support hours. When LaWanda let Zach know that she was on her way to getting the house that she (and many members of the church) had been praying for, he let Dan Sherfield know. As the Summit Connect Director, Dan had been working with a couple of Connect groups who were looking to serve in a way that went beyond the typical niceSERVE project.

Remember earlier when LaWanda said “we wouldn’t even have a home if it weren’t for community”? Well, she meant it! She wasn’t speaking metaphorically or being overdramatic. A group of volunteers from Summit had the opportunity to—in a very literal sense—be the hands and feet of Christ.

In the end, a tag-team of volunteers from several Summit Connect groups put in 128 hours toward building the Thompson family a house. A house with a cheery turquoise door. A house that—after a key ceremony on May 13th, 2017—was ready and waiting to become a home.

God is glorified by—and he therefore honors—our vulnerability. It can lead to connection and connection leads to home. Sometimes that home isn’t an actual house. Sometimes it is a feeling or a hug or a reminder that you’re not forgotten—whether that be in the form of a note from your pastor’s wife reminding you that you’re being prayed for, or a smiling face in the church lobby, or a phone call delivering on a promise you never expected to be kept.

It is important to note that LaWanda and her family did not approach their situation passively. They brought their community in rather than shutting them out. They prayed and allowed themselves to be prayed for, and in that process, God was glorified—and he was honoring their faithfulness even before they would see the fruits of it.

We were created for home; for something more than but also no less than a giggle over fruit salad or the joyful sound of bare feet bounding down the hall or crayon-renderings of anime superheroes hanging on the refrigerator. For the Thompson family, home was being built here in Winter Park long before their physical house was, and to God be that glory.

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Book Recommendations

Spiritual Practices

The Rest of God

Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath By: Mark Buchanan

“I’ve found not all books are created equal. Over the years I’ve developed a 'top 10' list of books that I not only wanted to read, but should try and master. Dallas Willard’s book: Spirit of the Disciplines is one of those books. For those who want to learn how to grow spiritually for a lifetime, this is an invaluable text that will guide you and prepare you to go deeper with God.”

“Rest seems to be something that is naturally elusive.

We struggle with stopping to produce, or moving until a state of exhaustion. Why? Maybe because we struggle to understand we are valuable, that we matter to the Creator even if we stop. When God gave the law, which stated that the Sabbath, rest, should be part of our rhythm of life, he was trying to break us free, like he did in freeing his people from slavery in Egypt, from the false idea that our life should be eat, sleep, work, repeat. Rather, rest—stepping back and remembering we are loved and that God is at work in this world—should be added to our lives because that is part of our design. In this book we are reminded that there is wisdom in the rhythm of work/ rest, that Sabbath is about freedom, and we are given practical advice on how to restore rest in our lives.

For all of those reasons it is well worth reading.”

JEFF KERN ORG ANIZ ATIONAL DE VELOPMENT PA STOR

GARRY ABBOT T WATERFORD C AMPUS PA STOR

The Spirit of the Disciplines

Understanding How God Changes Lives By: Dallas Willard

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ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

Richard J. Foster

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart

Money, Possessions, and Eternity

Randy Alcorn

Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation Ruth Haley Barton

Celebration of Discipline

The Path to Spiritual Growth By: Richard J. Foster “Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline is a Christian classic and it is probably one of the most challenging books I have ever read, but utterly delightful at the same time. Foster calls us to inward, outward, and corporate disciplines to deepen our walks with Christ.

The inward disciplines are meditation, prayer, fasting, and study. The outward disciplines are simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. The corporate disciplines are confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. The genius of this book is that it walks us through what we can do, how we can be actively cultivating a more authentic spiritual walk, and allow the Spirit then to use our efforts to take us into a more meaningful and authentic spiritual life.

This book is a must read and a must re-read for any believer who wants to go deeper. Enjoy!”

Your Money Counts

The Biblical Guide to Earning, Spending, Saving, Investing, Giving, and Getting Out of Debt By: Howard L. Dayton Jr. “I was assigned this book when I first started on Young Life staff out of college. I had no idea that the Bible talks about money more than anything else. It makes sense because money has some of the greatest tendency to fight for our affection and our attention. I wish I had paid more attention the first time I read it, but I’m glad it finally hit home over the course of my life and marriage.

The wisdom within putting money in its proper context with God is life changing.”

JIM KELLER TE ACHING MINISTER

O.J. ALDRICH L AKE MARY C AMPUS MINISTER

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Album Review

JEREMY LUKENS

Children of Light L.J. JUDY

“All we can do is plant the seed. Our God will be the one to make it grow,” David R. Burleson sings in “Harvest Song,” one of the standout tracks on Children of Light, his first solo worship album of original songs. His voice a folksy tenor that glides through the mid-tempo Americana arrangement, David sings a call to evangelism while offering reassurance that God will bless and work through our faith. “Our smallest steps in obedience, our God, our God, He will uphold,” he sings.

“That’s something that [former Summit pastor] Isaac Hunter used to say all the time,” David says, sipping a latte at a local coffee shop. “It had a real impact on me and I wanted to lean into that with the song.”

Recording Children of Light was itself a small step of obedience. After three years of leading worship at First Presbyterian Church, David left and worked various jobs during the day while playing gigs with his band at night. Eventually, God called David back into ministry, and it started with volunteering regularly at Summit. That step of faith came with some trepidation, though.

“The idea of being in ministry full-time and leading worship was daunting to me,” David admits. Working with Worship Pastor Andy Simonds helped. “Andy really brings a certain academia to it, the way he plans certain songs for each service that match the sermon’s message, the incorporation of Scripture into the songs,” David says. “Being at Summit and working with Andy has really helped me develop as a worship leader.”

Scripture is at the core of every song on Children of Light. The album deftly intertwines David’s original thoughts, phrases he’s heard from his time at Summit, and direct quotes from Scripture. One of the recurring themes throughout Children of Light is that God sanctifies those who accept Christ as Lord— he makes them more like Jesus.

The slow, shimmering “Show Us Your Heart” draws from Luke 19:10. “Show us Your heart, oh God,” David sings. “Fill us with Your passion to seek and save the lost, that the whole world will know the Savior as Jesus the Lord.” The song is a plea for God to mold our hearts. David explains that, “We need to break down the walls in our hearts that make it difficult for us to love others, especially those with different values or beliefs.”

The country stomper “Wake Me Up From This Dead Man’s Sleep” draws heavily from Ephesians 5:14 as it acknowledges God as the only one who can heal a sinner’s broken heart.

“Create in me a brand new heart; bring Your healing to the deepest part,” David sings over swirling guitars and acoustic fingerpicking.

“That’s something that I think and pray about often,” David says. “I pray that a lot with our volunteers. I pray that we will look more like Jesus than when we came in.” Over the last seven years as Waterford Worship Minister, David has attempted to find a place in the worship ministry for anyone who wants to serve.

“Davey has always been consistent in finding and developing people who want

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to get involved in music,” says Jeremiah John Dunlap, a former Summit intern who produced Children of Light.

Although David wishes he could have involved more of the 40+ volunteers from his worship ministry, Summit volunteers played a key role in the creation of Children of Light.

Recorded mostly at night at Jeremiah’s house, the album features Summit volunteers Dan Taylor and Ben O’Riordan on electric guitar, Brian Boyce on bass, Josue Torres on drums, and Aubrey Jenkins on background vocals.

The album was also mixed by Summit’s Technical Director, Joel LeGros.

“Dan and Ben are amazing guitarists and Aubrey has an amazing ability to just step in and nail a vocal on the first take, figuring out how it should sound and making it come out in a way that perfectly complements the song,” David says.

Jeremiah is similarly effusive in his praise of the volunteers who contributed to Children of Light. “Being at Summit, you’re surrounded by some of the best musicians in the world who just want to contribute to your work,” Jeremiah says.

To David, a relationship with God is complex, and he wanted to write songs that help people connect with God even in the midst of struggles and confusion. Children of Light examines some of the complexities Christians face. “Speak to Us” looks to the yearning to hear God’s voice and have a conversational relationship with God. “We are but strangers who roam about this earth; open our eyes that we may see,” David sings.

Want to hear it for yourself?

Pick up your copy of Children of Light in the Resource Center at any of our Summit campuses!

“I wanted to write a song about this because of how many times I’ve closed my eyes to pray and said, ‘I need you to speak to me, God. I need you to speak about this,’” David explains.

“Harvest Song” talks about the assurance of salvation. “How will we know we’ve met with our Savior? How will we know the fruit’s begun to show? How will we know His Kingdom is here and now? How will

we know we’re filled with the Holy Ghost?”

David sings, asking the poignant questions Christians can struggle with at some point in their lives. David then answers the questions by talking about the fruit of the spirit as described in Galatians 5:22.

Children of Light is an eclectic worship album both thematically in its discussion of some of Christianity’s toughest questions but also sonically, ranging stylistically from

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the twangy harmonies of “Our God Is Love” to the upbeat rock of “Wake Me Up From This Dead Man’s Sleep” to the soft, intricate melodies of “Like The Trees.”

“Even if nobody liked this album, it would still be great worship for me,” David laughs.

“It’s a milestone of my walk with God. It takes me back to when I wrote the songs, when I was wrestling with Scripture and with God and with life.”

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Artist Feature

Doug Fudge KALEB HARRELL GREG PERKINS

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The word “potter” appears 19 times in the Bible and each time it’s used in the same context: God is the potter and we are his clay. Doug Fudge can’t think of a better metaphor for our relationship with God as believers.

Doug began making ceramics in high school, and it was love at first sight. “I was a business major for a day in college,” says Doug, “but I quickly changed all my electives to art. Later, I changed my major to pottery.” After trying his hand as a starving artist, he eventually realized God had a different path for his career. In 2004, he entered the insurance industry with his father, later creating an agency they still work in together. “I realized I wasn’t called to ceramics full-time at this point in my life, but I can still enjoy my passion and make an impact with it.”

Ten years later, Doug serendipitously obtained a kiln through a three-way trade with fellow Summit attendees— and that was all he needed to reignite the fire.

Today, Doug has a studio in his backyard, and he has been exercising his talents in service to his church, molding beautiful coffee mugs that are gifts for Summit staff and new partners.

But his art wasn’t always something to display on the mantle. “When I started doing this, everything looked like junk,” confesses Doug, “but that’s how I knew it was my gift, my passion: I kept coming back to it.” Being a potter has taught him patience and trust through life’s challenges as God works the same kinds of transformative changes in him.

“When I throw a pot, I am constantly making corrections,” Doug explains. “Some of those corrections cause a wobble, but then another small adjustment brings it back to center. I think this is the metaphor— not that God simply ‘molds’ us, but that he is constantly challenging us to grow, then bringing us back to center.”

Doug admits that his favorite part of throwing pottery is taking dirt and clay, and turning it into something beautiful. “I love that something I create could and should last longer than I do...and I like playing with fire,” says Doug, only half-joking.

Doug and his wife, Breck, along with their two sons, have been attending Summit for six years and serve proudly at the Lake Mary Campus in a number of ways.

Doug and Breck lead a Connect group together, and on Sundays Breck is a greeter while Doug, fittingly, brews and serves coffee. Their family loves being a part of and contributing to the local community that the Lake Mary Campus offers.

So, what is the newest wobble on the wheel of life for the Fudge family? Doug and Breck recently felt called to adoption—and as fate would have it (rather, as God would ordain it), their family raised the adoption funds through—you guessed it—a “mug-raiser.”

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L.J. JUDY

Voices of Worship

Jen Holloran

VOCALS & PIANO | Waterford One of my most transformative moments at Summit was in our early days of taking communion in the green room before service. Having a long-time friend serve me the elements was a powerful moment of community for me, and I re-experience it now every time we take communion together.

Nick Sarasty

KEYS | Waterford/Lake Mary

The people who serve on the worship team are serving as any other Summit volunteer would. They’re giving of their time, talents, and resources to help make church happen, in this case to help lead others in worship. It can be a rewarding and awesome thing, especially when these musicians and singers and technicians are able to engage in worship along with the congregation they’re serving. We asked our worship volunteers to share some of their favorite or most memorable experiences.

I feel the presence and power of God whenever I get glimpses of congregants deeply involved in the worship. I feel extremely blessed to help be a small part of helping another follower of Christ feel connected to Jesus in deep ways.

Nathan Beam

VOCALS & GUITAR | Herndon When the church feels free to mourn, celebrate or shout out loud, it gives me a sense of understanding of exactly where each of us is landing that week. I am truly moved when I see the internal life of the congregation get met with the healing hand of God through worship. That type of vulnerability is stretching, intimate, and good.

L.J. Judy

VOCALS | Waterford One Saturday night, I slept on one ear weird. It was sore the next morning, so I kept that in-ear monitor out. What I found though was that I could actually hear the congregation singing and worshiping, something I couldn’t hear with both in-ears in. That day was so transformative for me as a worship leader because I finally got the full picture of why we’re on stage (and behind the booth): we have the immense privilege of leading the church’s voices as they become one in praising God.

Mike Bustillos

VOCALS & PIANO | Waterford Every time we sing “Death in His Grave” at Easter with the accompanying video, it hits me hard. That big drop where the whole choir sings and the drums come in and the molten floor* explodes into color and life...gets me every time. *The molten floor was in the video, not the church building.

Never say never, but there’s almost zero chance we’ll have to worry about lava at any of our Summit campuses.

A lot of planning and preparation goes into getting things right—several weekly meetings, three-hour rehearsals, early call times—but that doesn’t mean everything goes perfectly all the time. We’re imperfect people and we mess up sometimes and that’s just how it is. As a wise man once said, “It’s all about grace, y’all.”

FAVOR IT E LY R I C S "Even if I made my bed in hell, still there you would find me."

—Nothing is Beyond You Brad Perrott, Vocals & Accordion | Herndon

Nathan Beam

VOCALS & GUITAR | Herndon Every time I played, something went wrong. That was my signature move. I have sung words wrong every Sunday I have led. Some of you reading this may literally only know of me because of how often I do that. And how often I say, "Hah, that's wrong [into the microphone]."

"So unchanging, your promise is sure.

Never ending, your love will endure, you were you will be you always are the great, I am."

—You Will Remain Dana Feurtado, Vocals | Lake Mary

Ken Jenkins

LIGHTING OPERATOR | Waterford

"Alleluia!"

—All Creatures of Our God and King Mike Bustillos, Vocals & Piano | Waterford

I once faded the lights while the pastor was explaining communion.

Patrick Michael Chin

"Tune my heart to sing Thy grace."

—Come Thou Fount Madison O’Connor, Vocals & Guitar | Herndon

VOCALS & GUITAR | Herndon I have a real gift of totally botching at least one thing every Sunday that I help lead. Usually it's something about the call to worship, but if it's not, then I'm guaranteed to have at least one lyrics mishap. I don't like to look at my chart book, but then I often get in the zone and don't remember a lyric that I've sung 1,000 times.

"He canceled my debt and he called me his friend."

—Death Was Arrested L.J. Judy, Vocals | Waterford "Still my best intentions fail me And I give in to my frailty Wind up on my face In spite all my misgivings, all you ever give is grace."

—Grace Bob Smith, Guitar | Lake Mary

Bob Smith

GUITAR | Lake Mary

A couple times I was standing in the Lobby when I heard the rest of the worship band start.

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Let Us Sing Loud!

Words? In devotion to me?

No. No my name is small and can’t be heard But Yours.

Yes, yes, yes, Your name Should be sung loud Let us sing loud!

“O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be…”

Which facet of this Diamond should we sing of tonight?

What color is Your character?

What color do you see, brother?

Every color is beautiful In its own way And we look to this, our Prism The grace-giving summation of everything good We look to Him I look to Him Without Him, none of this means anything It’s all just a useless few years In which we keep yelling our names Never to be heard

DEVON PIERNI

JIMMY KAUFHOLZ

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GREG PERKINS

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

ORLANDO, FL PERMIT NO. 676

735 Herndon Avenue Orlando, FL 32803

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Service Times: Thursdays, 7 p.m.

Sundays, 9 a.m.*, 11 a.m., & 6 p.m. (*ASL interpreters available)

Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.* (*ASL interpreters available)

Connect With Us

Summit at 33rd Street Jail (These services are for the Horizon Wing & Female Detention Center inmates at the Orange County Jail.)

Women’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

Men’s Service Time: Sundays, 2 p.m.

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