To Build a....

...Video

Put three people in one room, and four people in another. To the first group assign the ambiguous goal of creating a "viral" video that will spread across YouTube and then the rest of the internet. This group includes some creative and unrestrainable imaginations. To the second, assign a more professional video; this group has a real-live film major. Heads are put together, scripts are written, and soon there is coming into view two real, defined goals. One day of brainstorming and a surprising amount of time spent in (how can we say it?) less material pursuits. But it will come together!

Internal thought process: We are college students. Most of us have no real experience with this kind of project. But it's happening! I did have to dip into my one class on Writing for the Media, which was humbling, but it's happening!

...Conference

What we are realizing is that most of the work we will be doing this summer will be to promote the Boston Winter Conference, which will be held in Boston in January. Most of us have been to Conference before in our own regions and know how much of an impact just a few days in such an energetic and focused Christian environment can have on your Christmas break and your life back at school. It has definitely been an "Ebenezer" in my life, something to look back on as a mark of a specific commitment to God.

Boston Winter Conference has been pretty small in the past, but definitely believe that through our efforts a lot more students will be encouraged to come to Conference.

...Community

6 girls riding the subway together every morning, working together (with David, too, of course!) all day, and spending their evenings cooking together, watching movies, or going out to see the town are going to get to know each other really well. Some of us are a bit less sociable, and we are definitely finding cultural differences between Christian and non-Christian colleges, and between East Coast and West, but slowly the barriers are coming down. For instance, those of us less comfortable talking about music or YouTube videos do get our time to discuss philosophy and theology...and there is always the common experience of boys.... Living in Christian community, though, is always a lot less "spiritual" than I imagine. It is doing dishes together, and laughing over stupid things. It sometimes involves Facebook and YouTube. It is just the willingness to really get to know each other, which in any context is a challenge to independent and prideful human nature.

...Life

I don't know if I voice the opinion of everyone here, but I am learning different things than I expected to. We have been here for a week, but it has not been what I imagined. The spiritual aspect of Project has been less rigorous than I expected. I imagined Summer Project to be a kind of spiritual boot camp, and honestly I was fearing having to open up to everyone and just expose my weaknesses and failures. I know they weren't focused on that, but I just thought that it would be training in accountability, I guess, and openness. And now I'm here and it's actually kind of slow. We had Bible Study one day last week, a bit of "Life Maps," but mine got postponed (that's where people sum up their testimony/struggles/family so we can understand them better, but obviously you can't fit everything in), and other than that it's just been normal spending time with the team, and sometimes being grouchy, and dancing around a little bit as you get to know them, and maybe a bit of sharing about our past or discussion about the Bible, but all so...normal, but slowly and determinedly loving.... And I am melting a bit, because that is grace.

Also, there has actually been a lot of fun...aka coming back from a multi-national Target in the dark through a potentially sketchy neighborhood, and eating pastry in the Italian quarter yesterday.... This is what life should be like.