Universal outreach

Britinni Carter spent 10 weeks working at Universal Studios in Florida, but it wasn't glamorous. She served fast food and worked a restaurant cash register.

Carter, 19, participated in Project Orlando, run by Southeast Missouri State University's Campus Outreach office.

Stewart Childress, Campus Outreach director at Southeast, said the summer internship program has existed for more than 20 years. In the past, students have traveled to Panama City, Fla., to mix work with intense Bible study.

"They don't go to Florida to hang out with Mickey Mouse and get a tan," he said. This year, for the first time, groups from several universities met in Orlando, Fla.

Panama City was getting too expensive, Childress said.

Britinni Carter worked in the cable access Channel 5 equipment room at Cape Girardeau City Hall, where she is an intern.FRED LYNCHflynch@semissourian.com

For Carter, Project Orlando was "intensive training on Christianity. We learned a lot about our faith and how we could show the love of God."

By day, Carter served food at Cafe 4, a restaurant on Marvel Island at Universal Studio's Orlando theme park. Her downtime was devoted to Bible study and evangelism, she said.

"Thank goodness we had real jobs," she said, laughing. "Our jobs tested us ... if people were being smart or yelling because a line was backed up, it wouldn't have been right or godly to yell back. We tried to love on them hard so they could see something different."

After work, she and 25 Southeast students participated in planned activities, from social events and rallies to Bible training.

Carter is Roman Catholic. Campus outreach is interdenominational.

"I'm learning so much," she said, "about my relationship with God and how he desires to have a relationship with me. Other people are also spiritually interesting. It's important to share your faith with other people."

Why bother leaving town to do it?

Childress said a new environment can act as a greenhouse for spiritual growth.

Universal Studios agreed to provide students jobs in food service, maintenance or ride operations. It was a way to help pay for the $1,250 cost of the trip, he said.

"We want them to learn to make money and learn to be excellent with their finances," he said. But the larger lesson, by far, was biblical.

What Carter saw on her job, she said, were people "filling their lives with relationships and substances and material things. That wasn't making them feel complete or whole."

Only the love of God can do that, she said. But it's a constant lesson.

"It doesn't mean we don't look at things, like a pair of jeans, and not want that," she said. "We just realize it's temporal. It's not going to be for eternity, especially if you're in college."

Campus Outreach has offices at many colleges, Childress said. The Orlando Project was a joint effort for 115 students from Southeast, Arkansas State University, Murray State University and the University of Memphis.

"We didn't come to Florida just to go hang out and have a good time," he said. "We came here to grow spiritually, to go back and live these things out as the semester starts."

Carter, 19, was born in Poplar Bluff, Mo., grew up in Dyersburg, Tenn., but now lives in Portageville, Mo. The sophomore is majoring in psychology and anthropology. For the last two summers, she's interned for the city of Cape Girardeau's public information office. Now that Project Orlando is done, she's interning again at city hall, busy with the start of classes and activities at her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega.

"Sororities aren't known to be the most Christ-like places. It's a bad reputation they've gotten. College students are going to do college things. There are definitely things I did last year that I'm not proud of," she said, without elaborating other than to say this year will be different. She wants to share what she learned during Project Orlando.

"Some people have a real aggressive approach to bringing Christ up, and I think that scares people off," she said. "But as long as you establish a relation with people, they're more open and apt to understand."

Childress said his goal is getting students from Project Orlando to see themselves as a team, no matter what. Keeping the momentum going is a challenge once school starts, he said.

Sunday nights are devoted to praise and worship services. Mondays often include a casual dinner gathering. At 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Campus Outreach hosts meetings in the top-floor ballroom of the University Center that are open to anyone.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127