Summer Beach Project Provides Community in Both Spiritual and Career-based Journeys

Breanna Tillie

Balancing a strong faith commitment with working a full-time job can be difficult. The demands of work often clash with the need for spiritual practices, creating a struggle to prioritize one over the other. Finding time for prayer, meditation or religious obligations may prove to be a challenge amid the hustle and bustle of the workday. Additionally, navigating ethical dilemmas in the workplace that may conflict with religious beliefs adds another layer of complexity. 

Summer Beach Project 2024 through Campus Outreach will take place from May 18 to July 12 in Panama City Beach, FL. This program offers students the opportunity to work a full-time job and be active participants of their faith on both a personal and communal level. 

“I was in a house with 22 other girls,” said Sabrina Warner, a member of the Campus Outreach Impact team. “It was a lot at first, but over time you really get used to it. You meet a lot of new people, you make a lot of new friends and just have really good experiences. I actually really enjoyed it and I would love to go again.” 

Most days at Summer Beach Project include working a job during the day, and attending spiritual sessions or small group devotional meetings in the evenings.

“Part of the purpose of working the job is to offer a sort of ‘training’ for after college to show you that life still goes on,” said Warner. “Just because you’re working now doesn’t mean you have to change how dedicated you are to following Christ. Yes, you may work 40 hours a week at nine to five.

“However, you should still find time throughout your day to realize that Christ comes first,” continued Warner. “That was part of the reason that they had us working a job. That, and we still had bills to pay. It was a way of teaching us life lessons as well as helping us with our bills at home.” 

Attending the evening spiritual sessions at Summer Beach Project can positively impact the working experience.

“If we had down time at work, we would have good conversations about the sessions the next day,” said Warner. “The lessons about making Christ known, discipleship and learning how to plant spiritual seeds helped a lot. We were able to take that, bring it back to our jobs and better evangelize to people at work. It was intriguing seeing how our coworkers who weren’t a part of Summer Beach Project were still interested in what we were doing and what we were there for.”

No matter where someone is in their spiritual journey, anyone is able to attend the Summer Beach Project.

“I gave my life to Christ at Beach Project,” said Warner. “I spent a long time struggling. I knew who Jesus was and for the longest time I thought I was a Christian. But I was talking with my discipleship leader on the beach when I just broke down crying and gave it all to Jesus.”