Philly! IT Summer Project 2008

Hey all!!! I hope all is well with everyone reading this! 

I just thought making a blog would be an easy way to keep in touch and keep you up to speed with what God is doing in my life. 

I'm currently into my 4th week in Philadelphia for the IT Summer Project. This 7 week program entails a lot of different aspects. The most influential so far has been taking a course entitled Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. This is an amazing class. Normally, it is a 15 week class that meets once a week. We took it in 15 days. Definitely intensive. It was spectacular, though. For each week/day there is a different speaker who offers their own specific "perspective" on that topic. The speakers were all really awesome and had so much experience and information to expound to us. 

Perspectives has four different sections to it, the first being the Biblical history of the world Christian movement. This is all about how God had it in His plan to bring about a movement of people seeking Him wholeheartedly from the very beginning. God's purpose is revealed in depth from Genesis to Revelation. There are so many things I had never seen before that were brought to my attention in this section. 

The next section is all about the Christian movement in world history. This is a really interesting section because it shows you what has all been going on after the Apostles were commissioned by Jesus. Just learning about how God has been working in people all over the earth (even in times where you wouldn't think He did) to accomplish His goal was amazing. So many people just like you and me were used in huge ways to bring God's glory to people all over the earth!

The third part of Perspectives is all about a cultural perspective. In this section you learn about how the gospel is spread to different cultures and the tactics used to evangelize foreign peoples. So much information is brought forth in this section. I had to read it 2 or 3 times to really understand it all! It is so worth it, though. Learning how to effectively contextualize the gospel for a tribe sealed off from the rest of the world is a powerful tool. 

The final portion of Perspectives is over the strategies used to accomplish the task remaining. Mobilization, sending, and going are all covered in depth. Each brings its own specific and unique aspect and none can exist without the other two. It is a powerful combination of topics that gives a fire to be a part of God's global plan!

At the conclusion of the class I had the opportunity to take a 2 day Perspectives Coordinator Workshop which would give me the tools and knowledge to lead my own Perspectives course wherever/whenever I wanted! This is going to be an awesome, awesome tool to advancing God's Kingdom.

All in all, Perspectives has been life changing. God has shown me so many things that I've never known or seen before. I have a new view of who Jesus was and what He was all about, and I have so much new knowledge and skill to use on my campus at Iowa and everywhere else. God has really been doing things in my heart and I just pray that He continues to break down my walls of hindrance keeping me from living all out for His plan! 

Thank you so much for all of your support and thoughts and prayers. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to experience a summer like this. The friendships I'm making and the things I'm experiencing are beyond words. But, I will still try to condense it into blog-form for you. :) I'll keep you posted on new things I do in Philly! God bless!