Men's Time!

Hi, this is Andrew Reinke here again, and here is a little update from me about our men's time over project! Hope you enjoy!

This Wednesday was full of wilderness, swamps, alligators, and manly activities. This week our project day was just devoted to Men's and Women's time, so we headed out to a state park and camping area to have our men's time learning about what it takes to be a MAN!

For men (especially me), competition can really bring to the surface exactly what is in our heart at that time, so whether or not the staff put us in these situations completely purposefully, it was something that I really noticed in myself and hit me hard. While we were competing during men's time, I was getting frustrated a little bit, and it was more with my attitude than anything, but I'm sure that it came out towards others. I've been a little frustrated with some things that were just really bothering me, and I had been trying to work through them, but this realization was probably the biggest help for me to go along with my desire to have the attitude of Christ in all things.

Now to actually talk about what the staff had more intended for us to learn from our men's time...

We have been covering what it means to really be a man and a man of God with the acronym RACE. We have been covering a different letter each week and we finished up since the staff will be leaving us soon.

R- Reject Passivity

A- Accept Responsibility

C- Courageously Lead

E- Expect God's Greater Rewards

Each one of these areas in our lives really impacts the way we treat our friends, family, loved ones, coworkers, and everyone we meet. Fact of life: men are different than women! ...Oh, good one there Andrew! Thank you for pointing that one out for me... But really, this is important to recognize, that there are roles that each one needs to fill and step up to the task because we were designed this way. Men today have in a lot of ways gotten away from what we were designed to do. Being a man is definitely not about age, physical abilities, a deep voice, or chest hair... It is easy for a guy to just sit back, be lazy, and just do what he wants. Rejecting Passivity is the first part to what we need to do to become a man. A man's role is to be a leader for others, and being passive towards what needs to be done is definitely a no-no. This kind of ties in with the next part of Accepting Responsibility. In life there are responsibilities that will need to be fulfilled and we as men need to step up to the challenge set before us. What man doesn't like a good challenge? I would say that a real man, one following after God, should always be up to battle the challenges of life set before us. As a man, I want challenges, adventures, battles, and struggles. I've got some other news: the Christian life doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be boring! It should be filled with fun, adventure, facing fears, trusting God, and leading through the unknown. We as men were also designed to Courageously Lead. Now this does not mean that there should be a dictatorship or lording over others, but as a servant willing to help others and follow our commander, Christ! Christ's love for us is great and all, but for men, we want someone great who we can follow after. This is something that gets overlooked by many people in the church today, and I agree with the staff on project, that in some ways this alienates men. It is all about Jesus' love for us, but that does not have as great of an appeal as a great commander who leads by sacrifice and serving to do what is best for us.

1 Timothy 1:12 "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day."

Now since we know that we were designed as men to do these things, what's next? Well, Expecting God's Greater Rewards, of course! If we come to realize that in all things that we do, when we are living for things with eternal significance, the rewards are greater. God will bless us far beyond what we can ever obtain here on earth, and that in itself should be motivation to live for God. We all strive and seek for others approval, so why not seek for the one who approval really matters? Live for Christ, not out of obligation of some religious activities, but because you love God and want to follow Him as your leader, and expect Him to reward you for following him well! These are just a summary of what we learned, my thoughts on it, and what I hope that I can follow through with in my own life, living to be a real man of God.

During our men's time day, we complete athletically in different races throughout our day, and then compared the similarities to these races and how we are to live the race of life seeking after God. We were challenged in areas that most men have struggles in and were told flat out how it affects you: spiritually, psychologically, and literal changing in our brains. Great instruction and accountability passed down from men seeking after God, to us college guys seeking to become men of God. We of course had food, because it cannot be a men's time if there is no food, and we really challenged to make sure that we understood what it looks like to be a man of God and if we wanted to commit to being a man. I am extremely grateful to all the staff men for the challenges that they have given us and the instruction, so that we can go hard after God.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day —and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Surfin!

Hi this is Janelle!
Being here on the Walt Disney World Summer Project has completely changed my life for the better. I have learned so much and grown in my faith so much already. Being on project is such an adventure, I have met many coworkers and have built so many lifelong friendships already! I look forward to the rest of God's plan for this project!

Kingdom to Kingdom to World

Our Movement Launchers Team has been hard at work planning ways that this outreach can be an ongoing mission. Currently they are working on reminders for carpool groups to be intentional while at work.
Movement Launchers are also working on having this long term effect. They have already reached out to Mosaic Church to work together. We would like to work together with anyone trying to reach Disney World. If you know anyone or a group that has a heart for Disney and sees the potential that is here, we would like to work along side that group. Please contact Matt Barg (bargx011@umn.edu) or Sarah Fowler (shfowler@ncsu.edu) with the contact information of the group or individual interested in this mission. Also, if anyone has a story of how they were affected at Disney through Summer Project, we would like for you to share your story with us, and you can do that by contacting Matt or Sarah.

Top (left to right) Sarah, Demarick (staff), Chad (staff), Kevin (student leader), Matt (associate project director), Christi;
 Middle (left to right) Johann, Kelly (staff);
Bottom (left to right) Kelsey, Liz, Kurtlan (student leader), Holly;
Not Pictured Bethany

One student's perspective

Hi, I'm Andrew Reinke from Lincoln, Nebraska. I go to school at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, will be a junior next year, and am studying Architectural Engineering. I am having a blast here in Florida at WDWSP12! Here is a link to my blog,  http://andrewreinke.blogspot.com/, where you can get one student's perspective on what is happening here on summer project. Hope you find it enjoyable and keep praying for all of us as we are here on summer project, we would all really appreciate it! Thanks!

Ministry Teams

Here at Walt Disney World Summer Project not only do we get to spend 35+ hours a week working at the most awesome place ever, but we get to spend lots of time focusing on our ministry and growing in that area! Since there are so many aspects to our ministry here, what we call "ministry teams" is an amazing tool for us to individually and collectively learn about all of these details.

There are six ministry teams and each is made up of about ten students. We want to let you know what is happening in each team, so we'll post weekly regarding the activities and stories of them all.

The first team on the list is the Prayer Team. The students on this team meet weekly to pray (surprise!) about a multitude of events happening here and with our co-workers. They're currently planning a weekly worship night for students to praise the Lord for the work he has done here so far, and they're going to plan a prayer walk for the project before staff leaves.

The World Vision team has decided to put together information about a country each week to make us all aware of that country's state, specifically spiritually. Their motto is, "Bring the world to project, and project to the world." The two countries we've learned about and prayed for so far are Russia and Haiti, and the information the team has given us will be really helpful when meeting international co-workers from those places. Understanding God's heart for the nations is one of our main focuses here.

The Evangelism Team has planned outings and given us relationship-building and conversation-starting resources to lead us into potential spiritual conversations with anyone God leads us to. Learning all kinds of tools for evangelism has been SO helpful to us as we've spent many days initiating conversations with people at Walt Disney World and some of its more popular surrounding areas such as Orlando, Kissimmee, Old Town, and Celebration.

Community Life is an exciting part of Summer Project. The group is planning activities to encourage relationship building with each other and our student co-workers. They are guiding us all as we seek to be a Biblical community, living in transparent relationships and shining His light through that.

The Co-Ops (Communication Operations) Team is in charge of providing the project with communication tools among students, as well as ways for students to share stories and media with their families, friends, and supporters. They gather information from the group as a whole and are working on exciting ways to share statistics and stories of how God is working.

The last team is the Movement Launcher Team who leads the project in the task of launching a sustainable Spiritual Movement of Disney interns this summer that continues on past the departure of the Summer Project. Their motto is "Kingdom to Kingdom to World," which means pointing Magic Kingdom to God's Kingdom and then to the World. This task is vital, and is the core of our endeavors here on project.

As you can see, this Summer Project isn't all about spending every day riding Space Mountain or getting Cinderella's autograph (although those are perks on a very rare day off!). We are blessed with a greater purpose, having the opportunity to be vessels of Christ's love for the nations and to be a humble part of his great plan to return all Creation to himself as we seek to follow in his footsteps as a community of believers.

WDWSP "Going Surfing Everyday"

Surfing Every Day

Welcome to the WDWSP '12 student blog! This blog is where all 60 of WDWSP's students will have opportunities to share experiences with eachother and co-workers and stories of what God is doing. Even after 11 short days He is doing BIG things! The students here come from North Carolina, California, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Texas, New Mexico, Philadelphia, and so many more places, and the community that has formed between us all has been incredible, even in such a short time.

Our project's theme is "Going Surfing Every Day." Our entire goal this summer is to explore the "waves" of Walt Disney World by engaging in discipleship and spiritual conversations, sharing the Gospel with the world, and building a community of growing believers.

This week is the beginning of a summer full of working and sweating in hot Orlando, and we couldn't be more excited. The Lord has already been giving us opportunities to meet CPs (College Program students working at Walt Disney World) from all over the world. We are beginning to build relationships with them and hope to have the chance to share with them the ways that Christ's love has transformed our lives. This is such a special time to reach out to the nations as God has called us to!

We would love to have you join us for the epic summer adventure of surfing all of the waves God sends our way. It's so incredible to know that people are praying for and supporting us as we embark on this "magical" summer!

Much love in Christ,

The Students of WDWSP '12