Summit College’s City Project
Jan 20th
Summit College’s City Project: A Student’s Perspective
By Nick Corbett, Recent Grad of NC State
Do something bigger with your summer with The City Project. Spend two months being immersed in the local church and cities around the globe. Travel to New York to learn more about one of the Summit’s North American church plants. Spend four weeks receiving theological training through a seminary class. Give your life away to the city of Durham, NC by partnering with ministries meeting the needs of the hurting. Intern with a Summit staff member as a summer intern. Finally, cap off the summer traveling internationally to see how God is working through the church. Why choose one of these options for your summer when you can choose them all? Download an application (due Jan 27th) today and read more about Nick’s experience with last year’s City Project.
In January 2011, the City Project was barely on my radar for my summer plans. However, after a grueling battle with the Holy Spirit, I was convicted and led to step out in faith to trust God where he was leading me. Initially, I faced opposition from family members, had some personal fears regarding support-raising and was anxious that this experience would impede my future career plans. Despite all of these, God continued to prick my heart to serve Him through CP. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This verse, especially in its context, struck me at the core and gave me the confidence to embark on this experience. I knew that God would provide for His child, and He faithfully did so in ways I never imagined.
I began City Project knowing I’d be a changed man after 2 months. And changed I was—but in ways I had never expected. During City Project, I grew to trust Christ more and more daily, as I learned to rely on His strength, not my own, in ministry. Being in a constant, Gospel-centered community with other college students for two months stretched my faith, too. I learned how the body of Christ faithfully and effectively works together, as students and Summit leaders from various backgrounds converged to do life together for this time.
Through ministry with Muslims during CP, God really burdened my heart for them to know Christ. I was able to continue this ministry after CP through a Friends of Faith group at NC State. Now I have graduated and am searching for what’s next. I know that I want to faithfully follow the Lord wherever He leads me. The Lord has shown me the sweetness and necessity of staying involved in the local church and the mission He desires to carry out through us. So, as I enter this next stage in life, I am trusting Him to lead me to a career that glorifies Him in a place where I can continue to work alongside a local church, like The Summit, in sharing the love of Christ with everyone.
Parents Meeting Announcement
Jan 18th
Check out this video http://vimeo.com/35013693
- Who? Parents Meeting: For all parents of 7th-12th Grade Students
- When? Sunday, January 22nd immediately following the 11:00am service
- Where? BC South Venue
- Questions? Email Jason Gaston (jgaston@summitrdu.com)
Updates From Our 2011 Church Plants
Jan 16th
Summit Church, here is a glimpse into some of the great things God has done through our U.S. church plants in 2011:
Summit Church | Denver, CO
From Bryan Barley:
On January 16, 2011, we had our first gathering in my living room. 10 of us met together, and I shared how I believed the Summit Denver was a movement of God, and how we desired to continue His work in the city of Denver. In that moment, I carried in my heart both fear and hope – fear that we were inadequate for such a task, yet hope that God’s grace is sufficient and He delights to make His power known through our weakness. God has been faithful, and we’ve seen some amazing things happen:
- 80+ people now attend our weekly gatherings
- On January 1, we moved in our new building (above; yes, it’s a warehouse)
- 47 people have joined as covenant members to become missionaries to the city
- 5 city groups have been launched throughout the city
- We’ve gained a reputation as a church that exists for the good of the city and the neighborhood
- This January, we will baptize 5 people, add 15 new members, and start a new city group
City Church | Murfreesboro, TN
From Trevor Atwood:
In all of my preparation to plant a church, few phrases stuck out more than this one: “Planting a church is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.” The idea is that planters shouldn’t expend all their energy quickly looking for immediate results, but get into a steady pace moving toward a mission, and expect results to come over time. In many ways, I have learned that to be true. But I’ve also learned to expect great things from the God of the impossible:
- In July, 25 people moved from the Summit as well as TX, VA, and TN to plant City Church
- God provided 13 jobs for those who moved; nobody went more than 2.5 months without a job
- 28 others have since joined as covenant members, bringing the total to 53
- 6 people have been baptized
- 4 people have moved from death to life (all coworkers and neighbors of team members)
- 70+ now attend our weekly gatherings
- Our people recently gave $8600 toward our Christmas Missions Offering to bless our city and plant new churches
Imago Dei Church | Raleigh, NC
We also partnered to help plant a church in Raleigh. Check out this update from Tony Merida, the lead planter. Since this video, Imago Dei has grown to:
- 82 covenant members
- 175 in weekly attendance
- 100+ people meeting weekly in 8 growth groups
Looking Forward
2012 promises to be an even better year, and we already have some exciting things on the horizon, including our latest church plant, Mercy Hill, which will be going to Greensboro in May.
Join us in praying that God would raise up more men and women from the Summit with a vision to plant their lives in another city in order to take the gospel to those who don’t know it.
To stay tuned on upcoming plants, or find out how you can be a part, go to www.sendrdu.com.
Prison Ministry Opportunity
Jan 9th
The Summit Prison Ministry has been helping teach a class about life issues and the gospel for men on Sunday nights at the Wake Correctional Center in Raleigh. More men are signing up for the class according to their friends’ recommendations and 15 new men are now asking for a Christian mentor. We are praying for men and couples from the Summit to step up and help us provide mentors for these 15 men who want to learn about Christ during critical times in their lives.
To learn more about this opportunity or other ways to get involved with the Summit’s Prison Ministry, join us at the next Prison Ministry meeting: Monday, Jan 9th at 7pm in the Bay at the Brier Creek Campus. Applications will be available to fill out for the next Blue Card training to enter the prison. For more information, go to www.summitrdu.com/prison or contact Jamie.
Volunteers Needed for our Christmas Services
Dec 13th
Hey Summit. As you know we’re just days away from Christmas at the Summit, where we’ll present the Christmas story in five identical services over the course of two days.
This will be the second largest gospel-driven outreach we’ve done this year (just behind Church at the Ballpark). We are expecting hundreds – perhaps thousands – of guests to walk through our doors for the first time.
We want to be ready for those guests by providing a first-class experience from the moment they pull onto our campus. We need you to help make this happen by serving in Summit Kids or on our First Impressions team. We have a need for 180 volunteers per service…that works out to 900 over the course of three days.
We know that this is a busy time of year and you don’t need to add one more thing to your calendar. But we’re challenging you to “attend one, serve one:” attend one performance of Christmas at the Summit, and then give our guests the gift of your service.
You can see all of the opportunities and sign up at www.ChristmasAtTheSummit.com. This weekend is our last big push for volunteers, so help us reach the goal of 900 people serving our community this Christmas season!
Christmas Missions Offering
Dec 12th
At the end of each year, many at the Summit respond to what God has done for us by giving extravagantly to our Christmas Missions offering. 100% of the money collected for this special offering goes outside the walls of the church to bless our community and world.
In addition, this is also a time of year where many give beyond their normal tithes and offerings through the Summit Church. Check out a blog post from our Senior Associate Pastor and directional elder, Rick Langston, for more details on how you can be a part of this.
Be Generous at Christmas: Give through the Summit! It’s been almost 10 years since we began our ministry to RDU as the Summit Church. We’ve seen God grow a core group of 300 to over 6000 worshippers. God has been absolutely faithful to us. In response, you have been faithfully generous, making possible many of the things we’ve seen happen.
As we come to the end of 2011, your generosity will make continued Gospel Growth possible. Here are some of the exciting things we believe God is leading us to do in 2012 through your continued generosity.
- Master site plan developed for the Brier Creek Campus – $300,000
- Parking lot at the Brier Creek Campus – $600,000
- Expanded Brier Creek Kids and Student Ministry space – $500,000
- Spanish Campus worship center – $800,000
- Chapel Hill Campus – $500,000
- Enhanced video technology at all our campuses – $250,000
- 2 New Church plants: Mercy Hill in Greensboro is next! – $300,000
- Over 1 million of our general budget is set aside for missions!
Those are God sized goals, and they should be. We believe God is always going to do bigger things than we can imagine or plan for. But it’s exciting to try to keep up with Him as He leads. When we look back over that last ten years, we continually see Him leading us to step out boldly and trust Him. And as we have, He has always done more than we could have expected.
Here are some of the highlights of the just the last year:
- Over the past year we’ve baptized over 700 people and seen our weekly attendance climb to over 6,000 people hearing the Gospel every week.
- Our small groups ministry has seen weekly participation in a small group reach 50% of weekend attendance.
- Through our local outreach ministry, we’ve seen 50 families get involved in adoption and foster-care, logged over 7,000 service hours during our week of ServeRDU, and partnered with 4 different prisons
- Our church planting ministry has planted 3 new churches in the United States, sent out 80 people to plant their lives in cities around the world and 364 short-term volunteers on short-term mission trips.
- We’ve launched the Cary Campus which has been reaching over 500 people a week.
- The South Venue of the Brier Creek campus opened up, making space for 900 more worshippers each week. –
- Finally, Our Church at the Ballpark this September saw over 7,000 people in attendance and 300 baptisms.
All of this is God working through the local church!
As you give this year and beyond to the Summit Church, you can know that every dollar is an investment in Kingdom advancement here in RDU and throughout the world. We get excited about your Gospel Generosity because we know it means more people hearing and responding to the message of God’s generosity. He gave everything so that we could receive everything that He has for us in the Gospel.
Because of His Generosity we seek to Live Sufficiently & Give Extravagantly!
Christmas Missions Offering
Dec 9th
For the past few weeks, you’ve been hearing about the Christmas Missions Offering. Every year during the Christmas season, we join together as a church to collectively love our world through the Christmas Missions Offering. 100% of this offering goes to bless communities here in RDU and around the world through meeting physical needs and planting churches. This year we’ve set a massive goal of $625,000–our largest ever!
We’ll begin collecting the Christmas Missions Offering in services this weekend, December 3 and 4 (as well as through the end of the year). You can also give online at any time.
If we’re going to reach this tremendous goal, it’s going to take everyone getting involved. We invite you spend some time this week praying about how you can participate. Together, let’s attempt great things for God as we expect great things from God.
SC United
Dec 8th
Guest blogger, Dave Turner
Summit College Pastor
SC United: This Friday (December 9th) at 7 P.M. in the South Venue at Brier Creek.
What on earth is SC United anyway?
The Particulars and Purpose of Summit College’s SC United
This Friday night, we have our last SC United of the Fall Semester. It is right in the middle of exams, but we think coming will be a great way for you to take a STUDY BREAK. Matt Papa will be leading, we will have lots of homemade desserts from Summit families, and we get to be with students from all over the Triangle. It is going to be a great night.
I am sure many of you have wondered, what’s the deal with the new Summit College gathering name – SC United – are those guys a soccer team or something? Well for all you concerned inquisitors we wanted to clear the air.
First, SC stands for Summit College. Makes sense, Right?
Second, we decided to use “United” as a way of symbolizing what Summit College wants to be about.
Let me explain: It would be easy to describe the landscape of RDU and the Summit Church as “complicated.” At the Summit Church, we have a ton of universities represented from Meredith College, to NC State, to NC Central, to UNC-Chapel Hill (just to name a few). Add to that numerous campus ministries who have partnered with us from BCM to Campus Outreach to Cambridge to CRU/Cornerstone and the list could go on. To make the situation even more interesting, the Summit is one church with many locations. We have multiple Summit campuses located across the RDU area that our 1200+ college students can attend (looking for one close to you? Check out www.SummitRDU.com for all our locations). All this to say, the Summit College landscape is a bit complex. And with these factors together has the potential to make our college ministry feel divided.
Yet, we don’t see this as a hindrance – we actually view this as an incredible opportunity that God has given to us as a gift. Because of the amount of college students from all the universities, the beautiful diversity of campus ministries, and the different/strategic locations of the Summit Church in RDU – our sphere of influence is broad for gospel. While these factors could divide, we see them uniting us. Yes, we are physically separated, but we are spiritually united. We are one body with one Lord on the same mission and with the same goals. Therefore, the exciting question is, “What could God do with a united group of students all over the Triangle?”
This is where the need for SC United comes in: because our influence is broad and our college students are in every area of RDU – we want to corporately gather together one time a month as one Body, united to seek our Lord together. We do this to remember, reflect, and refuel on His Good NEWS and to be encouraged and strengthened by what He is doing in other universities and campus ministries. Our desire for students is that they be sent out from SC United refreshed in who God is, what He has done and wanting to send this Good News out to others in RDU and beyond.
Although uniting under the beauty of the gospel is our main goal there are other aspects of SC United. (for example, how to join a Summer Discipleship/Mission Initiative or how to get involved in serving the City, etc)
We hope you’ll join us this Friday (December 9th) at 7 P.M. in the South Venue at Brier Creek to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever”– TOGETHER.
Christmas at the Summit
Dec 7th
We’re excited about our Christmas services planned for this year, all taking place at the Brier Creek Campus.
Thursday, 12/22 at 6:00pm
Friday, 12/23 at 12 noon and 6:00pm
Saturday, 12/24 at 4:00pm and 6:00pm.
Start inviting your friends, coworkers and neighbors today! Also, we’ll need a huge team of volunteers to help make this a great experience for our guests. Be sure to sign up! While you’re there, RSVP for the service you’ll be attending to help us with planning and sign your kids up for our special kids program! (did we mention that when you rsvp for a service, we’ll give you instructions to download a free Christmas mp3 from one of our own worship leaders, Matt Papa?!)
See you this weekend!
Christmas Missions Offering Part 2 (From RDU to the Nations!)
Nov 28th
At the end of each year, many at the Summit respond to what God has done for us by giving above and beyond their normal tithes and offerings through the Summit Church. These gifts given through the Summit make everything that happens here at the Summit possible! (including ministries for kids, students, college, young professionals, small groups, launching new campuses and events like Church at the Ballpark). Additionally, 14% of all gifts given through the Summit are designated specifically towards missions.
This is also a time of year where we give extravagantly to our Christmas Missions offering. Check out the blog post below from Curt Alan, our church planting and local outreach pastor, for more exciting details on the Christmas Missions Offering.
This past week, I traveled to visit our country’s largest and most comprehensive international church planting training facility. Prospective church planters from across the US come to this place for 8 weeks of intensive training and preparation before launching out to the ends of the earth – for the Glory of God and the advancement of Christ’s church.
In the current 8-week session, there are 93 adults enrolled – which is worthy of celebrating. However, what makes this even more incredible is that 12 of those adults are from The Summit! That’s 13% of the church planters being trained are from our church! This is unprecedented….and an incredible reflection of what God is doing in and through our church!
These 12 men and women will be taking the Gospel to places in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia – planting their lives in these places in order to establish Christ’s church. And if that weren’t enough, in the previous 8-week training session, there were 4 other Summit members – going to South Asia and Central Asia. Praise God!
The video below profiles just one of the families we recently sent out to the ends of the earth to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission and establish His church where there is none.
For the past couple of weeks, you’ve been hearing about the Christmas Missions Offering, one of the areas we give generously to at the end of each year. In this offering, our church comes together to give to those who can’t give back – to bless our city and our world. 100% of this offering goes outside the walls of the church to care for communities, advance the gospel, and plant churches here in RDU and around the world.
Last year, we set a goal of raising $300,000, more than we had ever raised before. But we didn’t raise $300,000…we raised $530,000!
It was this radical generosity that enabled us to establish 3 new international church planting teams, send out over 80 people to plant their lives in cities around the world to plant new churches, and to facilitate over 360 other volunteers to participate in short-term trips and projects around the world to proclaim the Gospel and meet the needs of broken communities.
This year, we’ve set a Christmas Missions Offering goal of $625,000! This is huge leap of faith. However, at The Summit, we’ve learned to attempt great things for God and to expect great things from God.
Summit, God is moving amongst us and through us! We invite you to continue praying about how you and your family will be a part of this year’s Christmas Missions Offering. Collection will begin the weekend of December 3/4.
