DALLAS—This summer marked the highest enrollment for Super Summer in a decade, with 3,089 students attending the leadership- and evangelism-based camp during five sessions held at Texas Baptist universities.
Sixteen new churches attended Super Summer, and individual groups also saw a rise in attendance. Jeff Gilliam, youth minister at PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo and Super Summer Bible study leader, said he took a much larger group to Super Summer this year than in the past.
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Students are greeted by leaders of the schools to which they are assigned as they register for Super Summer on the East Texas Baptist University campus.
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“This past summer, we took 60 kids from our church to Super Summer,” Gilliam said. “That is way above average.”
Leighton Flowers, director of Super Summer and youth evangelism with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff, said enrollment was higher this year because youth ministries took advantage of the fifth Super Summer session that opened at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor a year ago. He also believes new churches attended because of the solid student training continually offered through the program.
“People know us as being a quality ministry,” Flowers said. “It’s not just from our wonderful staff, but from having the best volunteers from around the state. We keep pushing the quality to be better at Super Summer.
“We are bringing in top communicators and bands—ones that students enjoy and connect with. It’s something only God can pull together, and I think it is why it is so exciting.”
Flowers also believes the rise in enrollment can be attributed to the affordable price of Super Summer, offering local, quality training to any youth ministry.
“With the economy the way it is, our camp, because it is sponsored by the BGCT and cooperative dollars, is more affordable for smaller churches. And the campuses help assist with the finances also,” he said.
“It’s kind of like the staycations that people are talking about. You can do something close and high quality.”
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John Fletcher from First Baptist Church in Garland gives directions as students register for Super Summer at East Texas Baptist University.
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Super Summer is known by youth ministers as a cost-effective leadership training opportunity, charging $225 per student while the average youth camp costs $400 per student, Gilliam said.
“I believe Super Summer is designed to take students to the next level for their spiritual development, and I think churches value leadership development,” Gilliam said. “The quality of leadership is consistent. It doesn’t matter what year you go to Super Summer, you will get quality training and speakers.”
Flowers thinks the high quality of Super Summer also comes from the caliber of students who attend. Only leadership-ready students are allowed to attend the week of training.
“It isn’t your normal youth camp,” Flowers said. “Send everyone to youth camp, but only your best to Super Summer. There is a different attitude at Super Summer. When you remove the students who don’t know Christ, you bring a group that is focused on growing and ready to learn how to impact their world. The methodology of Super Sum-mer is training those who are already believers, teaching them how to share their faith.”
To train students to share their faith continually, Super Summer used a theme of “All Called—Don’t stay until the Lord calls you to go. Go until the Lord calls you to stay.”
“I think a big thing about our theme this summer was every person who is a believer and a follower of Christ is called to share him,” said Lindsey Brown, Super Summer West coordinator. “In order to share him, you don’t have to be a pastor or a children’s minister.”
Super Summer goes beyond training students in local evangelism, equipping them to share the love of Christ around the globe. This summer, 103 students served with Super Summer Global on a two-week mission endeavor to Japan. Because of the continued interest in Super Summer Global, the group has planned two trips focused on Japan and North Africa for summer 2010.
While involved with Super Summer Global, Flowers believes students learn how to live intentionally wherever they are, as well as gaining a heart to share Christ with all they encounter back home in Texas.
Flowers sees this as a way for students to take part in Texas Hope 2010, an endeavor by the Baptist General Convention of Texas to share the hope of Christ with all Texans by Easter 2010, once they are home.
“By sending students internationally, they realize that they can share Christ with someone of a different culture,” Flowers said. “Then they can come back to Texas and be able to share Christ with a kid different than them in one of their classes. It helps them know that sharing Christ here is doable.”
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