Summer in New Jersey

I love cooking– especially for large numbers of people. I’ve never really learned how to cook for just one person. I am pretty sure I inherited this trait from my grandma– who always cooks enough food for “an army” (she seriously has a freezer full of extra food at all times. It is pretty amazing). I also grew up cooking for a family with two brothers who are football players. Either way– cooking for lots of people is the way I prefer to do things. This summer– one of my jobs in Ocean City is going to be grocery shopping and planning out the meals for about 30 people… sounds like a great job to me.

Yes, this summer I’m taking a break from Philly life– although I’ll only be an hour and a half away– to be a part of the Ocean City Beach Project. I’m going to be living and working with student leaders from campuses all across the region in Ocean City, New Jersey. These students have decided to spend the summer further developing their faith and leadership skills as a way to pursue God and their callings. Three other CCO staff members and myself will live with about 20 college students in community this summer. Besides for coordinating our food– I’ll be helping facilitate the community, mentoring and discipling students, and helping work out all sorts of logistics. The students will be taking classes two times a week– focused on topics like worldview, social justice, racial reconciliation, identity, leading Bible studies, vocation, and more. We also will be involved in the life of a church that is right across the street from our house, and students will be required to work on the boardwalk. Students have really left this project transformed– my co-worker told me about a student who came to the beach project looking for an opportunity to live in community; and left excited about engaging her campus in third world debt relief.

Besides for all this serious stuff, it is sure to be a crazy time: let’s face it- 25 or so people in one house? I’m sure I’ll have some good stories for you.

If you want to read more about it, click here: http://ocbp.ccojubilee.org/ocbp/

How does this connect with my life and ministry in general? Well, one of the things I love about my job is the opportunity to work with student leaders. Currently I’m developing a new student leadership team (we have four students who have just been offered positions!) for our campus at Eastern in the City.  Focusing on student leadership development this summer will help me bring back ideas to our campus.  I don’t know how it will all fit together yet- but I am confident it will.  Things always do.