“Take these open hands. I know that I can reach another with what I have. Make purpose live through me.”
These words, written by Tessa, one of the 2014 Keynote Summer Project students, became a theme of what the students learned and experienced during project.
The hope for Summer Project was to create tools to help start spiritual conversations about Jesus. In five weeks they created five! One of these was a music video using the song, Take These Open Hands, referenced above.
Other tools the students worked on were:
- a survival handbook for college freshmen called Ramen with a Side of College
- a video with live-action drawing to accompany a spoken word poem
- a poster series with web-based interaction called Faded Words
- a social media campaign that can be used by Cru movements across the country!
Each week project students and staff participated in at least two outreaches on social media, through social justice, or by initiating conversations on a local college campus using an art and belief survey. Tessa commented, “…most of the outreaches were very relational and helped me see that sharing Christ doesn’t have to be formal.“
At IUPUI, Karen and Stephen talked with Nick. He was very open to taking the survey. As they talked, Nick said he is bothered by street preachers who yell at people through megaphones. Karen and Stephen established common ground when they said they didn’t prefer that method either! Nick was open to going through four points about knowing God.
Karen said about their conversation, “…we went through the four points slowly with plenty of dialogue and questions. His main hang up about God is that He doesn’t show Himself to everyone in an obvious way and make them believe in Him. We explained that a relationship with God requires faith because it reflects a desire to know Him and not being forced to know Him. Nick was fascinated by that idea and we could see it click with him. We gave him the opportunity to place his faith in Christ, but he wasn’t ready in that moment; he needed to take the time to count the cost. However, he told us that we helped change his perspective on faith and helped him think differently than he has before.“
In the process of learning more about sharing their faith and developing creative resources, the students also learned to work together, defer to one another and hold things loosely. Tessa reflected, “It’s easy for us to take pride in our ideas because personally, it feels like this is what I have to offer and sharing an idea is like putting forward a part of myself. I’m not a competitive person by nature, but I’ve realized that this is one area in my life where I feel that competitive drive come out. In this project, you knew once you put something out there, you had to hold it loosely and know that everyone is working to make that idea better. It can be hard to let your original idea go, but the end result is way better than what you could have done on your own.“
When we return the time, talents and resources God has given us to Him, He “takes our open hands” and uses them for His glory.
Comments on this entry are closed.