The Summit All Campus Choir
Jan 26th
Guest blogger: Pastor Chris Gaynor
The Summit All Campus Choir launches Wednesday February 1st at 6:45 in the Bay at Brier Creek. Let us know you’re coming and/or RSVP for childcare today!
This year, for the first time, we are launching a Summit All-Campus Choir! Starting February 1st, we’ll spend 8 weeks together rehearsing for a concert of worship for the whole church on Friday, April 6th (Good Friday).
This new format allows us some key advantages and new opportunities. We now have the ability to invite people from every campus to be a part of the choir, while maintaining a commitment to their local campus! Some of you have not been able to be a part of the choir because you believed it was better for your family to attend a different campus. Others of you would love to go to a different campus, but your commitment to the choir has kept you at Brier Creek. Now you have the chance to do both – attend another campus and be part of the choir! This also gives those of you who historically have not been able to make a year-long commitment to the choir a new chance to join us!
In a church of over 6000 people, I’m praying for a huge turnout of people who want to be a part of this. If you love to sing and worship, this is for you! If you sang in a high school or college choir and miss getting the chance to sing, this is your opportunity to do it again! If you always wanted to sing in a choir but never have, here’s your chance! Even though we plan to do this again in the fall, you only need to commit for this session of 8 weeks! We hope you’ll join us on February 1st! Let us know if you can make it and/or RSVP for childcare today!
COME ON COLLEGE STUDENTS!
Jan 24th
Are you a college student? Do you like FREE PIZZA & ROOT BEER? Ready to get involved?
Come this Sunday after the 11AM service at North Raleigh for free pizza and root beer to hang out, meet people who truly care about you, and find out exactly how you can get in on what God is doing in and through the Summit at North Raleigh. Come this Sunday and bring someone with you. Spread the word – all college students are invited!
RSVP: Please email mitch.mccaskell@gmail.com to let us know if you are coming (and how many friends you are bringing) so we can be sure to have plenty of pizza and root beer!
Have questions? Contact Mitch McCaskell at 601.201.6578 or mitch.mccaskell@gmail.com.
See you Sunday!
Summit Pre-Launch Party!
Jan 19th
Hello,
We hope everyone is having a wonderful week! If you are planning on coming to the Pre-launch party on saturday, Jan 28th at 6pm, and you HAVE kids, we really need you to go here to register. Since childcare is provided we need to know as much information as possible in order to be prepared.
Thank you for your help, and we look forward to seeing you at the party!!!
Get involved with World Relief at NRC!
Jan 13th
Reaching the World in our backyard…..
Hi, I’m Phyllis Yankey and I’ve been attending the North Raleigh campus since it began. I’ve only lived in this area for two years but because of the love and compassion of Summit members I feel very much at home here. Recently Pastor Daniel and Andrew Castle of World Relief asked if I would be willing to be the North Raleigh campus advocate for refugees being resettled in our area. Wow, I am blown away by the opportunities the Lord brings our way. My training was on the mission field in bush Alaska, but I guess that is easily transferable to Raleigh (except for the culture, the terrain, the weather, the language…). Nevertheless, God has given me and you this chance to reach out to the world from our own backyards! World Relief is resettling refugees just minutes from our campus, and they need our help. They have a wonderful system in place but they need us to be Christ’s arms and legs by physically helping these new families and individuals learn to navigate their new homes and the area. The first few weeks after a refugee arrives is a very critical time with appointments, filling out forms, learning the bus system, how to buy food, and learning employment skills. Some individuals come from areas where they have never had electricity or locks on a door; everything is new for them, from opening a can of food to learning to use a phone. Regardless of where they came from all of the refugees have had to flee from their homelands. It is a learning experience not only for them, but also for us as we seek to effectively connect with them in order to love and serve them well. We have already been given the call, as we are learning in our present study. I want to invite you or your small group to step up and love the world. There is a place for everyone from teaching at Employment Skills Workshops (there is one coming up on January 21, 12-5) or training refugees how to ride the bus (something I have yet to learn). Just this week I was able to share the gospel with a young Burmese woman only to discover that she is already a believer. We were both so excited to find each other as sisters in Christ!
Feel free to email me, phyllisyankey@gmail.com, or call, 907-252-4294, anytime. I would be thrilled to answer any questions you have or help you start building new relationships with our friends from around the world.
By: Phyllis Yankey; North Raleigh campus advocate for refugees, World Relief.
North Raleigh Elevate
Jan 12th
Why North Raleigh Elevate?
The church of tomorrow is in our student ministry today. As Steven Furtick says, “The church in America is a generation away from extinction and at the same time, a generation away from the taking the Gospel all across the planet.” This future is being determined by what happens in students age 12-18. The place where this battle is being fought is in our middle and high schools across the country.
The call of God goes forth to the church to be stewards of our students and wisely shepherd and disciple them.
That’s what Elevate is all about.
The launch of Elevate at North Raleigh campus this semester is something we as a staff are incredibly excited about. Elevate happens every Sunday at NRC from 5:30-7:30. At Elevate, we are the church to middle and high school students. We build community and relationships, we have fun with games and conversation, we worship the Lord through song and prayer, and we open the Word of God and ask God to do something amazing in our lives.
While the worship and teaching at Elevate are sure to be powerful, one of the best parts of North Raleigh Elevate is our unbelievable team of volunteers. Our volunteers are some of the highest quality people we have at our church. They teach small groups, run production, facilitate services, acts as hosts, and share their stories with our students. Being a part of launching the weekly Elevate at North Raleigh means being able to build relationships and learn from some of the best that Summit has to offer.
Another thing that continues to blow me away at Elevate is the way that some of our students comprehend the Gospel and are then able to articulate it beautifully. Those are moments where I become a learner and am awestruck by the depth of God’s grace.
We are in the process of developing a student leadership team to reach a new generation of leaders. By being a part of launching Elevate at North Raleigh, students get a unique opportunity of being on the ground floor of launching something awesome. We would love to see a ministry owned completely by the students, where students set up and tear down, greet, run production, lead worship and teach.
And it’s happening.
God is moving.
The church of tomorrow is being built today.
I think of a middle school girl who led her best friend to Christ last year. I think of that same brand new believer inviting her sister to Church at the Ballpark and her sister accepting Jesus there. I think of a group of sisters who share the Gospel with their friends at school. I think of the moment where I witnessed a student realizing that his life is really about Jesus, and not himself.
That is who student ministry is all about. We love Jesus so we want to worship Him. We love Jesus so we want to study what He said. We love Jesus so we want to share the greatest news the world has ever heard with the student of Wake County. We want to lift Him high, that He might draw all men to Himself.
In a word, Elevate.
By: Jonathan Lenker; North Raleigh Student Pastor
jlenker@summitrdu.com
Updates from our 2011 Church Plants
Jan 11th
Summit Church, here is a glimpse into some of the great things God has done through our U.S. church plants in 2011:
Summit Church | Denver, CO
From Bryan Barley:
On January 16, 2011, we had our first gathering in my living room. 10 of us met together, and I shared how I believed the Summit Denver was a movement of God, and how we desired to continue His work in the city of Denver. In that moment, I carried in my heart both fear and hope – fear that we were inadequate for such a task, yet hope that God’s grace is sufficient and He delights to make His power known through our weakness. God has been faithful, and we’ve seen some amazing things happen:
- 80+ people now attend our weekly gatherings
- On January 1, we moved in our new building (above; yes, it’s a warehouse)
- 47 people have joined as covenant members to become missionaries to the city
- 5 city groups have been launched throughout the city
- We’ve gained a reputation as a church that exists for the good of the city and the neighborhood
- This January, we will baptize 5 people, add 15 new members, and start a new city group
City Church | Murfreesboro, TN
From Trevor Atwood:
In all of my preparation to plant a church, few phrases stuck out more than this one: “Planting a church is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.” The idea is that planters shouldn’t expend all their energy quickly looking for immediate results, but get into a steady pace moving toward a mission, and expect results to come over time. In many ways, I have learned that to be true. But I’ve also learned to expect great things from the God of the impossible:
- In July, 25 people moved from the Summit as well as TX, VA, and TN to plant City Church
- God provided 13 jobs for those who moved; nobody went more than 2.5 months without a job
- 28 others have since joined as covenant members, bringing the total to 53
- 6 people have been baptized
- 4 people have moved from death to life (all coworkers and neighbors of team members)
- 70+ now attend our weekly gatherings
- Our people recently gave $8600 toward our Christmas Missions Offering to bless our city and plant new churches
Imago Dei Church | Raleigh, NC
We also partnered to help plant a church in Raleigh. Check out this update from Tony Merida, the lead planter. Since this video, Imago Dei has grown to:
- 82 covenant members
- 175 in weekly attendance
- 100+ people meeting weekly in 8 growth groups
Looking Forward
2012 promises to be an even better year, and we already have some exciting things on the horizon, including our latest church plant, Mercy Hill, which will be going to Greensboro in May.
Join us in praying that God would raise up more men and women from the Summit with a vision to plant their lives in another city in order to take the gospel to those who don’t know it.
To stay tuned on upcoming plants, or find out how you can be a part, go to www.sendrdu.com.
Because of His Generosity…
Dec 9th
At the end of each year, many at the Summit respond to what God has done for us by giving extravagantly to our Christmas Missions offering <http://www.Summitrdu.com/cmo> . 100% of the money collected for this special offering goes outside the walls of the church to bless our community and world.
In addition, this is also a time of year where many give beyond their normal tithes and offerings through the Summit Church. Check out a blog post from our Senior Associate Pastor and directional elder, Rick Langston, for more details on how you can be a part of this.
Be Generous at Christmas: Give through the Summit! <http://www.SummitRDU.com/give> It’s been almost 10 years since we began our ministry to RDU as the Summit Church. We’ve seen God grow a core group of 300 to over 6000 worshippers. God has been absolutely faithful to us. In response, you have been faithfully generous, making possible many of the things we’ve seen happen.
As we come to the end of 2011, your generosity will make continued Gospel Growth possible. Here are some of the exciting things we believe God is leading us to do in 2012 through your continued generosity.
· Master site plan developed for the Brier Creek Campus – $300,000
· Parking lot at the Brier Creek Campus – $600,000
· Expanded Brier Creek Kids and Student Ministry space – $500,000
· Spanish Campus worship center – $800,000
· Chapel Hill Campus – $500,000
· Enhanced video technology at all our campuses – $250,000
· 2 New Church plants: Mercy Hill in Greensboro is next! – $300,000
· Over 1 million of our general budget is set aside for missions!
Those are God sized goals, and they should be. We believe God is always going to do bigger things than we can imagine or plan for. But it’s exciting to try to keep up with Him as He leads. When we look back over that last ten years, we continually see Him leading us to step out boldly and trust Him. And as we have, He has always done more than we could have expected.
Here are some of the highlights of the just the last year:
· Over the past year we’ve baptized over 700 people and seen our weekly attendance climb to over 6,000 people hearing the Gospel every week.
· Our small groups ministry has seen weekly participation in a small group reach 50% of weekend attendance.
· Through our local outreach ministry, we’ve seen 50 families get involved in adoption and foster-care, logged over 7,000 service hours during our week of ServeRDU, and partnered with 4 different prisons
· Our church planting ministry has planted 3 new churches in the United States, sent out 80 people to plant their lives in cities around the world and 364 short-term volunteers on short-term mission trips.
· We’ve launched the Cary Campus which has been reaching over 500 people a week.
· The South Venue of the Brier Creek campus opened up, making space for 900 more worshippers each week. –
· Finally, Our Church at the Ballpark this September saw over 7,000 people in attendance and 300 baptisms.
All of this is God working through the local church!
As you give this year and beyond to the Summit Church, you can know that every dollar is an investment in Kingdom advancement here in RDU and throughout the world. We get excited about your Gospel Generosity because we know it means more people hearing and responding to the message of God’s generosity. He gave everything so that we could receive everything that He has for us in the Gospel.
Because of His Generosity we seek to Live Sufficiently & Give Extravagantly!
SC United: This Friday
Dec 7th
Guest blogger, Dave Turner
Summit College Pastor
SC United: This Friday (December 9th) at 7 P.M. in the South Venue at Brier Creek.
What on earth is SC United anyway?
The Particulars and Purpose of Summit College’s SC United
This Friday night, we have our last SC United of the Fall Semester. It is right in the middle of exams, but we think coming will be a great way for you to take a STUDY BREAK. Matt Papa will be leading, we will have lots of homemade desserts from Summit families, and we get to be with students from all over the Triangle. It is going to be a great night.
I am sure many of you have wondered, what’s the deal with the new Summit College gathering name – SC United – are those guys a soccer team or something? Well for all you concerned inquisitors we wanted to clear the air.
First, SC stands for Summit College. Makes sense, Right?
Second, we decided to use “United” as a way of symbolizing what Summit College wants to be about.
Let me explain: It would be easy to describe the landscape of RDU and the Summit Church as “complicated.” At the Summit Church <http://www.SummitRDU.com> , we have a ton of universities represented from Meredith College, to NC State, to NC Central, to UNC-Chapel Hill (just to name a few). Add to that numerous campus ministries who have partnered with us from BCM to Campus Outreach to Cambridge to CRU/Cornerstone and the list could go on. To make the situation even more interesting, the Summit is one church with many locations. We have multiple Summit campuses located across the RDU area that our 1200+ college students can attend (looking for one close to you? Check out www.SummitRDU.com <http://www.SummitRDU.com> for all our locations). All this to say, the Summit College landscape is a bit complex. And with these factors together has the potential to make our college ministry feel divided.
Yet, we don’t see this as a hindrance – we actually view this as an incredible opportunity that God has given to us as a gift. Because of the amount of college students from all the universities, the beautiful diversity of campus ministries, and the different/strategic locations of the Summit Church in RDU – our sphere of influence is broad for gospel. While these factors could divide, we see them uniting us. Yes, we are physically separated, but we are spiritually united. We are one body with one Lord on the same mission and with the same goals. Therefore, the exciting question is, “What could God do with a united group of students all over the Triangle?”
This is where the need for SC United comes in: because our influence is broad and our college students are in every area of RDU – we want to corporately gather together one time a month as one Body, united to seek our Lord together. We do this to remember, reflect, and refuel on His Good NEWS and to be encouraged and strengthened by what He is doing in other universities and campus ministries. Our desire for students is that they be sent out from SC United refreshed in who God is, what He has done and wanting to send this Good News out to others in RDU and beyond.
Although uniting under the beauty of the gospel is our main goal there are other aspects of SC United. (for example, how to join a Summer Discipleship/Mission Initiative or how to get involved in serving the City, etc)
We hope you’ll join us this Friday (December 9th) at 7 P.M. in the South Venue at Brier Creek to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever”– TOGETHER.
A Reminder for This Weekend
Dec 1st
Hey Summit–
Few important things we want to remind you of this week:
Christmas Missions Offering: <http://www.SummitRDU.com/cmo>
For the past few weeks, you’ve been hearing about the Christmas Missions Offering. Every year during the Christmas season, we join together as a church to collectively love our world through the Christmas Missions Offering. 100% of this offering goes to bless communities here in RDU and around the world through meeting physical needs and planting churches. This year we’ve set a massive goal of $625,000–our largest ever!
We’ll begin collecting the Christmas Missions Offering in services this weekend, December 3 and 4 (as well as through the end of the year). You can also give online <http://www.summitrdu.com/give> at any time.
If we’re going to reach this tremendous goal, it’s going to take everyone getting involved. We invite you spend some time this week praying about how you can participate. Together, let’s attempt great things for God as we expect great things from God.
Christmas at the Summit <http://www.christmasatthesummit.com>
We’re excited about our Christmas services planned for this year, all taking place at the Brier Creek Campus.
Thursday, 12/22 at 6:00pm
Friday, 12/23 at 12 noon and 6:00pm
Saturday, 12/24 at 4:00pm and 6:00pm.
Start inviting your friends, coworkers and neighbors today! Also, we’ll need a huge team of volunteers to help make this a great experience for our guests. Be sure to sign up <http://www.christmasatthesummit.com/volunteer/> ! While you’re there, RSVP <http://www.christmasatthesummit.com/register/> for the service you’ll be attending to help us with planning and sign your kids up <http://www.christmasatthesummit.com/register/> for our special kids program! (did we mention that when you rsvp for a service, we’ll give you instructions to download a free Christmas mp3 from one of our own worship leaders, Matt Papa?!)
See you this weekend!
From RDU to the Nations!
Nov 28th
At the end of each year, many at the Summit respond to what God has done for us by giving above and beyond their normal tithes and offerings through the Summit Church. These gifts given through the Summit make everything that happens here at the Summit possible! (including ministries for kids, students, college, young professionals, small groups, launching new campuses and events like Church at the Ballpark). Additionally, 14% of all gifts given through the Summit are designated specifically towards missions.
This is also a time of year where we give extravagantly to our Christmas Missions offering. Check out a blog post from Curt Alan, our church planting and local outreach pastor, for more exciting details on the Christmas Missions Offering.
This past week, I traveled to visit our country’s largest and most comprehensive international church planting training facility. Prospective church planters from across the US come to this place for 8 weeks of intensive training and preparation before launching out to the ends of the earth – for the Glory of God and the advancement of Christ’s church.
In the current 8-week session, there are 93 adults enrolled – which is worthy of celebrating. However, what makes this even more incredible is that 12 of those adults are from The Summit! That’s 13% of the church planters being trained are from our church! This is unprecedented….and an incredible reflection of what God is doing in and through our church!
These 12 men and women will be taking the Gospel to places in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia – planting their lives in these places in order to establish Christ’s church. And if that weren’t enough, in the previous 8-week training session, there were 4 other Summit members – going to South Asia and Central Asia. Praise God!
The video below profiles just one of the families we recently sent out to the ends of the earth to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission and establish His church where there is none.