Wildwood Summer Project 2010 - women's time

Last Saturday, we pulled together only the women and only the men separately.
For the women's time, the staff women decided to highlight the lies women believe and proclaim God's truth that replaces those lies. After dessert and an introduction from The Jesus Storybook Bible (which we highly recommend, even for adults!), the women were given a list of lies to prayerfully consider. The women circled the lies they believed, then traded papers. One by one each lie was read and women in the room stood if that lie was circled on their paper; this allowed everyone to see how many of us struggle with the same lie. Then the truth of God's word was read to combat that lie.
I was stunned when nearly the entire room of women stood when this lie was read: "I am not beautiful." It was really eye-opening to see women stand for each lie, often a majority of women for each lie.
After a time of sharing and prayer, the night ended. A new environment of trust and vulnerability began that night, and we pray it continues throughout the summer!

Wildwood Summer Project 2010 - week 1

Students have been in Wildwood just over a week. We had a great (and busy) student orientation week, and now, most students have their jobs and we are all settling in to our project schedule. Here are a few stories from our staff:
One of the questions we often ask others is, "On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your desire to know God." One staff member and a student were on the Boardwalk initiating conversations. The two people they were talking with answered this question 10 and 7, respectively. The young man who answered 10 (let's call him Luke) said, "This will be a moment I'll look back on and wonder if we don't go through the booklet (speaking of the Knowing God Personally booklet which explains simply and concisely how to begin a relationship with God through Jesus)." As the conversation continued, all of the friends "Luke" was with on the boardwalk dispersed, and he was left alone with the two project members. At the end of the booklet there is an opportunity to express your desire to follow Jesus through prayer. At this point in the conversation, Luke said, "I can tell this is for me because everyone else has left." As they talked more with Luke, they could see God's perfect timing at work in their initiative. . . . Luke had just been asking "big" questions that weekend because of another booklet he had been given which had said the end of the world would be May 15. What a great reminder of how God moves and works in the lives, hearts and minds of people and how He can use us!

Another couple of our staff were on the Boardwalk initiating conversations, when one responder said to them, "I know what you are going to tell me. You are going to tell me that I can know God personally through Jesus because Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sin.. . . That's just too easy and not fair." This individual is stuck because she can not believe that God gives us the gift of eternal life freely, at God's expense.

God is also answering the personal prayers of the staff and students on our project as they live in close community with one another and build friendships on the project.