Elizabeth Hunnicutt, EDGE Project’s Worship Director, is joining the team for the first time this summer, “I’m excited to use my worship leading and musical gifts as well as pastoral giftings with the students. I also love making new friends, so this will be fun to do with both the students and the locals.”
Although she has never attended EDGE as a student, she has become familiar with the program through a friend, Cari Jenkins, EDGE’s Director, “Cari is a dear friend of mine and she invited me to come be part of this year’s team. I have been intrigued by EDGE since the first time I heard about it. It’s a beautiful combination of being introduced to another culture, growing spiritually, and getting to express yourself artistically. I love the mission and the focus on building relationship–it puts people first and I love that.”
While the combination of church and artistic expression are not common in many circles, Elizabeth has had a pleasantly different experience, “My church has always desired to do this and has succeeded in some ways, but I desire to learn how to do this better. I believe that the arts are a powerful part of communicating the beauty of God and the power of the Gospel. EDGE is a time, where collectively, the students are dreaming, creating, and expressing themselves before God and others. This glorifies God and shows us His beauty.”
The beauty of EDGE Project is that it is so multidimensional and the experiences gathered are on so many levels: creatively, spiritually, culturally, socially, physically. In Elizabeth’s words, “Why is Edge important? EDGE is important for many reasons. First of all, it is helping students grow spiritually and learn to hear the voice of God. Many of them are in a time of life where they are looking for guidance. This is a beautiful set-apart time where they can have new experiences and hear God’s voice in new ways. Simultaneously, the students are also learning how to share their faith relationally and cross-culturally. They are making friends and sharing the love of God with them. And they are also receiving as they learn about the beauty of another culture.”
