Hello Cole Mill Campus!
My name is Nicole Keegan and as many of you know, I am the Cole Mill Administrative Assistant and Summit Kids Director. I’ve been working at the Summit since February 2009 as an intern for Summit Kids and started this new position at Cole Mill a little over a month ago, on August 15th.
Here are a few fun facts about me:
I come from a family of 7 children—6 girls and 1 boy. I am the third oldest and my brother is the youngest—the only boy and a family full of women. I LOVED growing up in a big family and we are still very close, though most of us are out of the house now. I also have an Ethiopian sister—a girl who has lived with our family for almost 4 years now while she is going to college and eventually to Med School.
I am truly blessed to have come to know Christ early in my life—age 5. I have obviously grown in my understanding of the Gospel and my personal relationship with Jesus since then but the older I get, the more thankful I am for parents who know and love God and raised me in the knowledge of my Savior.
I attended and recently graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill (May 2009). GO HEELS! I attended Summit throughout college and was also very involved in Campus Crusade for Christ as well.
I lived and served in Ethiopia 2 summers ago for 6 weeks and absolutely fell in love with the people and country. I lived with an Ethiopian family and worked at a small Christian orphanage of 23 kids, 7 of whom are HIV positive. I often think of and pray for the people I met during my time there and would love to return someday!
I have truly loved working at the Summit so far…especially with Cole Mill. I have felt so welcomed and have truly appreciated every kind gesture to make me feel at home. One of our greatest strengths at Cole Mill is that we have such a warm, friendly, family-feel and I am grateful to be able to serve in this environment.
Now that I’m on staff with the Summit, I am really excited to work hard to take our Kids ministry to the next level! We have so many young families in our area that don’t know Jesus and aren’t experiencing the love of Christ…and I can’t wait to see our Kids ministry grow as we reach out to our community. I want to make certain the Summit Kids area at Cole Mill is a safe, clean, fun, gospel-centered environment for every child and family that comes through our doors. The Summit Kids staff believes that we can best love the families, parents, and kids we encounter at our church services throughout the weekend by serving wholeheartedly and with excellence. This means that I, myself, not only work diligently and faithfully, but that I equip the leaders & teachers at Cole Mill to do the same. Most importantly, I want every child to leave their classroom knowing that they are known and loved not only by us but by their Creator.
As we grow as a campus, it is my privilege to continuously recruit new leaders for Summit Kids in order to keep it a safe environment for the kids. Here are our permanent needs right now:
-Cuddlers/Crawlers (6 weeks-12mos or walking): 2 leaders 9AM, 1 leader 10:45AM
-Walkers (1’s): 1 leader 9AM
-Walkers/Runners (1’s & 2’s combined): 1 leader 10:45AM
-3 year olds: 1-2 leaders 9AM
-Preschool combined: 1-2 leaders 10:45AM
-Elementary worship: 1-2 leaders both services
-Preschool worship: 1-2 leaders both services
-G.R.A.C.E.: 1-2 leaders to start this program 10:45AM
Let me know if you are interested in helping out at all with any of these needs! While volunteering is a sacrifice of your time and energy, we really believe (as a Summit Kids staff) that you will be blessed by your interaction with these children as you share with them the good news of Jesus Christ. If you’ve never done it before or are unsure if you are able, I encourage you to think and pray about it! We’d love to have you shadow one Sunday and get an idea of what it looks like to serve in Summit Kids!
Also…coming up with Summit Kids at Cole Mill: Parent Commissioning on Sunday, October 18th. There will be a small reception and celebration of all families participating following the 10:45am service. It will be a time where we will be commissioning you as parents as you publicly commit to pray for your child, love your child, and guide your child toward a personal relationship with Christ. In the same way that the church commits to praying for missionaries when they are sent out, we want to commit to praying for your family as you guide your child towards Christ. The Summit want to help parents recognize that children are an amazing gift from God, facilitate the parent’s verbal commitment to raise their child in a Christian environment, challenge parents to be examples in service and worship for their children, and assist parents in laying a firm foundation of learning about our great God! (If you’re interested in participating at Cole Mill, contact SCarver@SummitRDU.com to register!)
Thanks for allowing me to serve at Cole Mill. I love my job and very grateful for this opportunity to get to know all of you!!
-Nicole (nkeegan@summitrdu.com)