Welcome

Summer of Service is a weeklong conference for students who want to make a real difference in their world. SOS is not your typical youth conference! We don’t ask students to come and sit, sing and listen. At SOS we experience powerful worship, we hear great messages, AND THEN we take it to the streets, serving the people of Cincinnati to show God's love in practical ways. The goal of SOS is to give students an opportunity to grow closer to God while developing a heart to serve those around them.

Our mantra is "small things done with great love will change the world." Over the course of the week students can expect to go on outreaches every day extending kindness and generosity to the people of Cincinnati. Instead of just telling people about God’s love, we get creative in showing His love in practical ways.

As a result of this week, we believe your paradigms of “evangelism” or “outreach” will experience a new freedom or possibly be totally blown up (that’s a good thing!). Students from across the U.S. who have attended SOS go home with a new sense of missional living that inspires them to act, and a new set of skills and experiences that empowers them to impact others.

Imagine. One week. One week to change your life. To change other people’s lives. To join hundreds of other middle and high school students to impact the city of Cincinnati in revolutionary ways. Can’t wait to serve with YOU this summer.

OVERVIEW

Fame: [feym] noun, verb, famed, fam·ing -- widespread reputation, esp. of a favorable character; renown; public eminence: to seek fame as an opera singer.

Dictionary.com has it right ---- to “SEEK” fame as an opera singer or whatever. It’s so typical of our humanness to strive for attention that still won’t cure our soul disease. People go to extremes to be ‘noticed’, ‘discovered’, or to catch the infamous ’15 minutes of fame’ --- or even create a video that has a chance to go viral. It’s all so self-serving, an individual’s true inner desire to be loved, even worshipped.

Jesus is the most famous individual in the history of all mankind. Billions count themselves as his followers and billions more are familiar with him and his life on earth. Yet, Jesus never sought fame. In fact, there were times when he ran from the attention. His love for mankind expressed in the compassionate serving of others generated the fame concerning him.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him--from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. Matthew 4:23-25 (NKJV)

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a fame went out concerning him through all the region round about. Luke 4:14 (ASV)

Individuals and crowds were affected by his presence, love and power that the only natural response to this ‘Jesus-experience’ was to tell anyone who had yet to meet this Son of Man.

SOS 2011 is about this otherworldly love of Jesus that creates seed-throwers and fire-starters out of all who encounter him. See you this summer as we experience Christ and spread his fame to Cincinnati.

We're not keeping this to ourselves, we're passing it along to the next generation— GOD's fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done. Psalm 78:4 (MSG