COM Summer Training Project Talks

In this talk Mike Polley unpacks the project theme verse (Gal 5:1) and explains deeper about the theme for this years project. In it he also lays out a vision for the summer and how the theme should impact STP.

This was a talk given by Matt Reagan only a couple days after the disciples arrived. In it Matt poses the question “Are you a Christian?”. A simple yet profound question that Matt breaks down into 4 simpler questions that we should ask ourselves. In this he challenges everyone to ask themselves these questions and to journal, talk, and pray about them.

Andrew Chesebro warned us of the dangerous dichotomy of “sacred vs secular”. Three reasons the dichotomy is false:

1. God made all things good before the fall.
2. Because we have fallen hearts, all things are secular.
3. All of life is worship.

He begged the question, “are you mastered by things in your life or are you free to enjoy them rightly?” He said that we should allow all things in our lives to point us back to Christ.

Jason Meyer and his family paid a special visit to us during project. While he was here, Jason gave a talk about the great value of being part of a local church. He quoted Jim Elliot saying, “Wherever you’re at, be all in.” He shared about the common sins of both older leaders in the church and young college students. He said the older  leaders can get stuck in tradition whereas college students can get caught up in thinking they have right theology and are further along in their faith than they are when they really need to learn to walk faithfully and humbly. He emphasized that we’re really not who we think we are until we are a part of a local church, for it is there that our love for the church is truly tested.  He also reminded us that God didn’t just save us as individuals but as the “household of God” (I Tim. 3), an entire people, and as such, we are a family in God’s house.

Jared gave his last talk about Bible study this time emphasizing the importance of meditation. He defined meditation as “continued or extended thought, reflection or contemplation.”  The fuel of our meditation ought to be scripture.

Charlie Schumacher starts by sharing the story of how one of his brothers came to Christ and how one of them is still not interested in the Gospel. Charlie then looked at Jesus’ family and how Jesus said that He came not to bring peace between family members but that the Gospel would cause divides between natural families. He explained too that Jesus was the perfect witness to God in His earthly family and yet many of His family members did not believe Him until He was resurrected. He closed by redefining family according to the Bible and Jesus words in Matt 12:46-50.

In this Theme Training talk, Cecka talks to us about God’s name, Yahweh Shalom which means, “I am your peace”. He defines peace as = Shalom: to make whole/complete. A deficiency restored. He then shared about how God says to us, “Peace be with you” and how He sent Christ as the mediator of that peace. He then launched into the importance of discipleship and how through discipleship we are sharing God’s peace with others.

Jared Wass, Campus Outreach Minneapolis Mobilization Director, came and spent a few days with us last week. During that time, he gave this talk. He shared with us how work is from God and it is not a “necessary evil” but a good thing that even God Himself did.

Michael Wickenheiser introduces two new practical ways for students to approach studying the Word of God- specifically, the “word study” method and the “chapter/book” study method.

Tim Devane discusses the need for the gospel to go forth among the unreached people groups of the world, laying out some heavy statistics about the state of the gospel in the world and encouraging students to think and pray seriously about dedicating their lives to reaching the unreached.