What's so amazing about Student Leadership Training?

Keegan Gumbs, a Junior at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and member of Triangle fraternity, shares his story from Student Leadership Training (SLT), a month long, summer camp experience.

"My initial thoughts when I heard people’s wonderful/amazing/incredible experiences at SLT was that they were just saying those things to get me to go. I was sure that they learned more about God and spent some time in good discussion about his Word, but I had reservations about how awesome SLT could really be. Despite my worries that it wasn’t worth it for me to go, I decided to attend the camp.

When I first got to Cedar Campus, the first few days were somewhat awkward, simply because I was engaging in serious discussion with people I didn’t even know. The staff were very friendly and all the other students were as well so it wasn't hard to open up in both serious and casual conversation as the weeks went on. One of the things I enjoyed most while at SLT was that fact that there were quite a few international students there. It was great to hear about their country, their heritage, and how their home country differed from the United States. It was encouraging to know that across borders and waters God was working in people’s lives, especially when many of the students came from Muslim or Hindu majority countries. Hearing that they were struggling with many of my own failures was also encouraging because it let me know I wasn’t alone in the struggle to obey God.

Along with the international students, I also became very good friends with other students living here in the US. Everyday we had 4 hours of free time it which we had a chance to sleep, participate in the daily sport (we actually learned cricket from some of the international students), swimming, sailing, hiking, sitting with friends, or spending time with God in his work or prayer. During these times it was great to hang out with people in which you could openly talk in depth about God or not talk about God and still have healthy conversation. It was great to see what God was doing in other people's lives and encourage them in prayer if they were struggling with a certain aspect of their life. Being in a fraternity, it was also great meet with other Greeks that attended SLT and share experiences or techniques in reaching out brothers or sisters in our Greek organization.

At SLT you have a special group called family groups which you and a few other students, there were 6 others in my group, met with a staff worker and break down what you learned through the particular day’s teaching and share ways God had been speaking to you. The people in my family group were the people I became closest to because we were so open with one another, and it was a time you could truly vent excitement or sadness to people that really cared. I became more intimate with my family group of 4 weeks than I have with people I have known for years.

Ultimately the greatest thing I took from SLT didn’t hit me until I arrived home from Cedar Campus. It was that day, the days following, and even now that I realized that the time I had at SLT was the closest thing I have experienced to literally being in heaven. At SLT you’re doing everything essentially the same as any other day of the year with the exception that you are doing it in a community of Christians. It wasn't until after SLT that I realized how much I longed to be back there, how much I didn’t want to have to deal the world and just wanted to be back there and escape the world. I believe God’s only purpose of instilling that emotion in me was for me to realize that this place really isn't my home, that my life here on earth is temporary, and that I need to do my best to bring the kingdom of heaven to my fraternity and to my school and everyone I encounter.

That was the greatest thing I took away from SLT. The sense of urgency that I am not this world is not my home and that there are people out there that don’t realize that they are not from this world either. That is why I believe God sent me to SLT, to understand that material things are temporary, money is temporary, accolades are temporary, degrees are temporary, and the only thing that is not temporary and that I should care most about is God, myself, and the people of this world, Christian and non-Christian alike."