On New Year’s Eve, 86 high schoolers spent the day at Carowinds—only they weren’t there for the rides; they were there for the lines.  

Summit, a four-day training experience for student leaders across South Carolina, invited SCBaptist churches to send students to share Jesus boldly and teach them about the urgency of the Great Commission. This year, the 86 mission-minded students represented 27 churches across the state. 

During the week, students stayed at Camp La Vida for several days of worship, breakout sessions, and trainings taught by leaders from SCBaptist, the North American Mission Board, and the International Mission Board.  

Practical Training

For Mikah Stidham, who attended Summit twice now, the experience is what taught her how to share the Gospel. “I had done mission trips before, but having the training sessions, diving into God’s Word every single day, and also the hands-on experience with going to Carowinds has been a huge part in encouraging me and sharing the Word,” she said. 

The four days build up to New Year’s Eve, where students are sent to Carowinds with the express goal of sharing the Gospel. This year, students had 333 Gospel sharing attempts, 150 partial Gospel shares, 117 full Gospel shares, and witnessed two salvations.  

One student, David Franey, said, “I’ve never really been good at talking to strangers, but I just love the opportunity to do this for the Lord and be able to go out of my comfort zone and on the field where people can go from death to life.” 

Stirring Up a Passion for Missions

Aside from the evangelistic outreach at Carowinds, Summit’s goal is to engage the next generation for missions. Brett Day, Resident Church Planter at North Rock Hill Church and speaker at Summit, said his goal was to educate and expose students to the mission of God. He wanted to help stir up a passion for missions and a “holy discontentment” in knowing there are still so many unreached and unengaged people groups across the world.  

“We want to turn students from ‘someone should do something’ to ‘maybe I should do something,’” Day said. He specifically highlighted Paul’s heart for preaching the Gospel where people had not heard the name of Jesus, encouraging students to consider if the Lord was calling them to the mission field. 

“There are no passive observers in the mission of God,” he said. He taught students that there are two categories: goers and senders. “My prayer is that some of them would be called to the nations, but the majority won’t feel the burden to go overseas. My prayer for them is that they would know how to be good senders,” Day said. He explained that good senders pray, encourage, and share the Gospel in their spheres of influence. Overall, he wanted students to leave Summit knowing that they do have a role in God’s mission.