Week two was spectacular! We are seeing the Lord work in the hearts and minds of the students and staff, and we can’t wait for what He does next!
Sunday nights our girls and guys split during the Men and Women of the bible class, taught by Mama Robin Lewis and Troy Wickline. Even though we split into groups, we each get to hear from both teachers. Counselor Bobbie Padilla challenged us with John 4, reminding us that we need to be careful of what we are filling our water pots with.
Monday night we got to hear from one of our support staff members, Seth Ramirez. He is teaching us through the book of Philippians. He exhorted us from Philippians chapter one by reminding us,“You can fake the fruit of God for awhile, but until it comes from Christ you won’t truly be satisfied.”
Thursday was our second ICE of the summer. ICE stands for Ice Cream Extravaganza, and this week’s theme was Water Olympics. Students and counselors dressed up as a water animal and each room came up with their own synchronized swimming. We ate otter pops and cheered each other on in competition for a super snack pack swag bag!
This week’s lecture series we were blessed with a message from Tim Green, who encouraged us with 1 Timothy 4:12 — “Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” He also encouraged us to remember, “We matter to God.”
Saturday we hosted our fourth annual TruthFest. TruthFest is a one-day youth apologetics conference that we hold for our Edge students, but is also open to the community, or anyone who has a desire to learn how to share and defend their faith. This year we had speakers that covered the topics like the Christian heritage of our country, and reaching the transgender community. Monty Sharp exhorted us, “A failure to endorse the truth is, by default, a lie.”
“I think what stood out to me was our final message brought by Lu Wing explaining the power, authority, and empowering we have as Christians because we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth in us. That at the end of TruthFest, it was remarkable to focus on the empowering we have by the Holy Spirit to actually walk in truth! I know it ministered to me, as well as every single girl in my room.” - Jude Espinosa, counselor
Watch the recap video from last week to see more of what we’ve been up to! And be sure to check out the hashtag #otesummer16 for more photos!