Super Summer students learn about Jesus’ sacrifice, their identity in Christ; equipped to share the gospel

Rylee Hagan, a yellow school student from First Baptist Church Clifton, returned to Super Summer, excited to step away from her daily life to spend time with God and a like-minded community. She said she learned about the importance of forgiveness. 

“For a year, I've been struggling so much to forgive somebody… [but] this week. I was just like, ‘What am I doing? I'm holding on to this. I don't even want to,’” explained Hagan. 

She said she learned that Jesus’ love and sacrifice on the cross unites believers. 

“It was so amazing [to realize that] Jesus says, ‘I love this person so much. I died for this person too,’” said Hagan. “Just like [we learned] earlier, if two people love Jesus, they’re family… I think that it'll help me be a lot more forgiving.” 

Super Summer is a leadership training and development camp for Texas Baptists youth. With the theme, “Once and For All,” students attended school and breakout sessions, participated in recreation activities, spent time in worship led by 317 Collective and heard from Jordan McKinney, senior pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Cedar Hill on June 15-19. The messages focused on the finished work of Jesus and what it means to completely depend on Christ.

Oriol Sardà, a green school student also from FBC Clifton and foreign exchange student from Barcelona, Spain, said he is encouraged to share the gospel with his peers in Barcelona upon his return later this summer. 

“I know for sure that it won't be easy because God calls us to do things that are not easy, but I'll definitely try my best to help people know Jesus and what he did for us [on the cross], and to explain to people what I've lived and the good things that he's been doing for me,” said Sardà.

Practicing servant leadership, confidence in the Lord

Over the week, students had the opportunity to attend 18 unique breakout sessions on topics including finding community in college, the importance of worship, spiritual disciplines, missions, discerning a call to ministry and more.

Orange school student Julie Anne Cundiff, from First Baptist Church Sanger, attended a three-part breakout session titled “Leadership Across Different Realms: What transfers? What doesn’t?” led by Chuck Howard, retired Air Force colonel, pilot, teacher and current Chick-Fil-A franchise owner. The session taught attendees how to practice leadership across diverse careers and life experiences, and how Scripture guides us in leadership. 

Wednesday afternoon, Howard taught attendees about servant leadership. Drawing from John 13:4-5 and 14-15, he shared that servant leaders see and care about their followers to accomplish the mission. 

“Our goal has got to be making sure that the highest priority needs are met so that people can maximize their abilities and we can see those we serve grow,” said Howard. “Because Jesus came and servant-led us, we are able to continue the mission.” 

Cundiff learned that being a servant leader like Jesus could make a positive impact. 

“[Howard has] been able to point things that [leadership professionals] have said back to Scripture,” said Cundiff. “Our generation is so negative, and we need to start being more positive with our leadership, and I think that I'm going to bring that back and try to let God's words spill out of me [in leadership settings].” 

 This Super Summer was a first and last for Seth Johnson, khaki school student from Logos Community Church in Harlingen. He said he came to Super Summer hoping to be equipped for ministry involvement after high school. He said he learned in his breakout session that faith is grounded in knowledge and trust. 

“Trust is equal to confidence, and confidence is equal to knowledge. So trust is based on confidence, and to be fully confident in something, you need the knowledge to understand it,” said Johnson. 

He shared that he was impacted by Logos Community Church’s recent sermon series, “Jesus Over Everything,” and intends to apply what he learned at Super Summer by diving deeper into scripture to grow in confidence to surrender everything to the Lord. 

“I'm going to get more knowledgeable, dig deeper into the Word to gain the confidence and trust to give everything over [to Jesus],” said Johnson. 

“You are now hidden with Christ”

Wednesday evening, students gathered in Pilgrim Chapel for Rainbow, the nightly all-school worship service. McKinney shared a message on our identity in Christ.   

Drawing from Colossians 2:1-15, he told students that God’s fingerprints are on his kids. 

“The kingdom of God is such that he not only saves you into a kingdom, but he also will leave you distinguished. We're a peculiar people that there are qualities about our Father that come on to us,” said McKinney. “It comes through discipleship that molds and nurtures his qualities into us. That's what discipleship is, it's nurturing the qualities of God into our life.” 

McKinney told students that receiving Jesus means you have received a new identity. He shared that we each have a void inside of us that cannot be filled by anything but Jesus. 

“[In Colossians 3:3, Paul] says, ‘You are now hidden with Christ.’ So, what happens in salvation is not only does Jesus come and live inside of you, but now you live inside of Jesus,” said McKinney. “You don’t grow out of Jesus, you grow up into Jesus. You never mature out of Jesus because as soon as you mature out of Jesus, you are apart from God and you are lost.” 

McKinney concluded his message by encouraging students to live a resurrected life. 

“This is the almighty King who loves you. He has rescued you from hell. You are his prize. He sent his son to bleed for you, and he rose from the grave. So we stand, and we sing and we live our lives, we live resurrected lives. Not in shame, not in shadow, not in guilt, but as if to say, ‘I'm chasing you, Jesus,’… That is what you're rooted in. That is the gospel message,” said McKinney. 

Walking with God after Super Summer 

Sardà encouraged students who are considering it to say “yes” to Super Summer. 

“The things I'm learning here, the experience, the memories that I'm making here are things that are going to last forever, and I won't forget anytime soon,” said Sardà. “I'd rather be here now learning more about God [and being] surrounded with people who are Godly [because their Godliness] will always end up transferring to your own life.” 

Rylie Holly, a yellow school student from Calvary Baptist Church in Bonham, returns to Super Summer each year because the leadership and evangelism skills she learns helps her relationship with God to thrive. She encouraged students who are considering Super Summer that they will leave equipped to go out and share the gospel. 

“Super Summer has been a core part of my walk with God. Most of the things that I learn, I use on a day-to-day basis,” said Holly. 

This year, 570 participants attended Super Summer, representing 31 Texas Baptists churches, along with 125 adult volunteers.

To learn more about Super Summer, visit supersummer.com.