HSU Insider

One-Thousand Students Taught to Listen

• By Janlyn Echols Thaxton
• Posted June 19, 2009 5:11 PM
• 1 Comment

On the soft green lawn in front of Hunter Hall on the Hardin-Simmons campus, students in Blake Jackson's group play a game they call Ninja Tag. They hold hands and make their circle as big as possible and then drop hands. Whoever loses their balance and falls has to get in the middle.

Over 1000 youth leaders from across Texas gathered at Hardin-Simmons University this week, prepared to learn and share leadership skills during five days of crazy competitions, buzz groups, and discipleship training.

Jackson is the leader of what is called the "Green School Team." Groups are divided up by ages and given a t-shirt to coordinate with the group's color. All of the shirts read "Property of Super Summer."

Affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Super Summer began in 1974 as a training opportunity for Christian young people who are interested in enhancing their spiritual growth and learning how to better share Christ with others.

The motto of Super Summer is "Send us your best and we'll send them back better!" For this reason, you'll see among Super Summer students some of the most dedicated, young men and women from across Texas and surrounding states.

The 2009 theme, "Called" is found in Hebrew 11:8, "Don't stay until the Lord calls you to go. Go until the Lord calls you to stay."

Hayden Murphy of Kingdom Prep Academy in Lubbock admits to being a little shy and sees Super Summer as a tool for helping him become more outgoing, "I love this experience. It gives me a good base for leadership and the ability to step up and teach younger kids about Jesus."

Jackson, who is also from Lubbock says, "All of the campers in my group are high school juniors about to be seniors. Pointing to several members of his group, "We have kids from Brownwood, Early, and Crandall. We even have students here from New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma."

To come to Super Summer, students must be nominated by their home churches as being especially motivated youth leaders. A typical day includes quiet time, family groups, a pep rally, Texas Olympics, wild and crazy games, more family groups, and a roof-raising Rainbow Celebration in the evening (rainbow referring to the specific color each school group wears).

Jackson says he has learned from the experience that to grow in God, you have to learn to listen. "We need to listen to what others say, instead of talking all the time," says Jackson. "Most importantly, I have learned that I should listen to God. All of us are always talking to God in our prayers, but we need to stop and listen and let Him talk to us."

Jackson says, "The game of Ninja Tag is just something our Green Team made up. We had just been talking in our circle about not losing the fire we have from this camp. Don't let this be just another camp high. Let this be something we carry with us throughout this next school year."

Photos: Blake Jackson (Lubbock), Hayden Murphy (Lubbock), Blair Burke (San Angelo); Super Summer campers play Ninja Tag