My First Boston Project Summer
I survived my first Boston Project summer! Our Scripture theme for the Summer Missions Program was from Isaiah 58:10 - Spend Yourself. One youth summed up the theme this way: "To just go and go and go till you're ready to drop, and then watch and see how God just fills you right back up."
That is how I would describe my summer... "go and go and go." We had 20 summer staff and 240 youth from all over the country join us this summer to serve and learn in Dorchester. As the Assistant Director of the Summer Missions Program, I was responsible for many aspects of running short-term inner-city missions trips. No day was the same, except the late nights and early mornings. It was a summer of many details, many people, many challenges, and many blessings.
As I did my best to balance all the details and relationships, I was blessed with many opportunities to watch God move. I talked and prayed with youth as their worldviews were changed. I listened to Janet and Nicole, two teenage girls, describe their first encounters with ministering to people who were homeless. I witnessed staff discover and develop gifts that they never thought they had. I saw teens from different churches and backgrounds come together and serve as one, to the point that I couldn't tell which church each one was from. I experienced the joy of seeing lives reclaimed for Christ. God was busy in the lives of the staff and youth.
God also used this time and season of my life to grow and challenge me personally. It was a shift for me to go from being highly involved in the hands-on ground level ministry to being in a position of leading others as they serve. I believe this was truly a refining summer for me. I haven't had a chance to totally process all of what God has taught me, but I do know that He was working in and through me this summer.
Amidst the "go and go and go" of the summer, I had to cling to the second part of Isaiah 58 - the promises: "if you spend yourself... the Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame." I not only survived the summer because of God's provision, but I had the amazing opportunity to see how the Lord was busy working in the lives of teenagers, our neighbors, my staff, and me.
