Life at The Summit

From May 30 to June 12, my life was subjected to constant renovation.

May 29--My birthday, senior picture day, graduation open house, Ronnie's departure, grandparents visit. In a word: Insane. That said, I hardly had time to even comprehend the fact that the next morning I would fly to Colorado Springs, CO for two weeks, where I would attend a youth worldview conference offered by Summit Ministries.

When I did have time to think on it, I was nervous. Between flying by myself and being dropped in an unfamiliar place among unfamiliar people, my subconscious was under constant worry. I don't do well with people I don't know...

But I underestimated myself. Or God, rather; I certainly wouldn't have pulled it off without him, as always. One of my roommates--and now one of my close friends--Erin said that the first time she saw me, she just knew that we would get along. And we did :) Right off the bat, I was bombarded with introductions. Within the first few minutes, I already had a posse to call my own. Meet my people:

Laura Oliver--Under 5 ft, phenomenal photographer, dog-lover, Texan, awesome

Shanan Balian--Fantastic musician, worship buddy, Utah...ian? awesome

Erin Flathers--Roommate, hilarious, Taylor University student, Virginian, awesome

There were others, of course, but these three were my core companions for the entire trip.

Summit. How do I even explain it? It goes so far beyond words; I have trouble telling people what exactly it is.

Let's start with the setting: Manitou Springs, CO--hippie-capital of the world, I'm convinced of it. It's a tiny tourist town full of odds-and-ends shops, parks and, well, hippies. Summiters are housed in an old hotel that was built in the 1890s.

Purpose: In essence, Summit is a Christian leadership camp. Its goal is to instill in its students a firm understanding of the world around them and how it thinks and operates, while building a firm foundation of the Christian faith and why we believe what we do.

Methods: Throughout the two weeks, students go through approximately 72 hours of classes. Incredible speakers who are experts in their fields give thought-provoking lectures. Dr. Noebel, founder of Summit Ministries and a particular favorite among the students, usually begins and ends the day with his own bits of wisdom. Students also have the opportunity to participate in activities like rock climbing, white-water rafting, paintballing, and just relaxing and hanging out around town.

The world is a bigger place than I could ever imagine. There are so many (well...ok, basically only 6) ideas floating around that people--namely teenagers--have given up on understanding or arguing; rather, they blindly absorb anything and everything offered to them. It's sickening.

After Summit, I can look around and identify worldviews in even the most common settings--"Be who you want to be." Postmodernism--there are no absolutes. Nationalized health and wealth. Marxism--From each according to his work; to each according to his need. Tolerance. Secular Humanism--Refusal to accept Christianity's rebuke. The list goes on and on.

Relationally, I'm pretty sure that I took some huge steps. I was constantly pushed to step outside of my comfort zone and actually get to know people. My friends and I regularly discussed that day's lesson, how we saw it in real life, our interests, histories, dreams...it was great!

I could go on about this indefinitely, but I hate to make this so overwhelmingly long then have nobody want to read it... So I'll just finish by saying that EVERYONE should go to summit--it's one of the best decisions you could make! There are adult as well as student conferences, and they're held all over the country all throughout the summer. For dates and locations, check out http://www.summit.org/. ALSO, I have the power to give out $100 discounts on tuition for first year students in 2010--sessions go till the end of August. Please please please contact me! I'm so passionate about getting people out there; I think that everyone needs this knowledge but not nearly enough are exposed to it! And I'd like for that to change!