youth camp: round 2

after a few scheduling issues, shelly and i made it to the 2nd of the 4 camps that we're leading worship for this summer. this one was different than any other than we've ever done though. we were a part of this same camp last year, so we knew a lot of the youth. we knew their issues. we knew what they made pledges to do at the camp last year.

on the last night of camp, this group has the tradition of sitting in a circle, passing a candle around, and sharing what they learned or enjoyed most about camp. i sat midway through the group of 60 and listened to 30 students before me talk about how they just were glad that they got to come because they felt closer to God this week than they had in the past year...

wow...that's great right? isn't that what we as leaders on the trip want? well yes, and no. I asked the kids to compare their lives during camp to their lives at home and the contrast is stark. tv & video games vs. the bible.....sleeping til noon vs. worshiping God early in the morning....hanging with the wrong crowd vs. encouraging fellowship...

is it any wonder that when we leave the tv off and read the bible, or put down the video game controllers and pray...or instead of just watching movies, we encourage each other with the Word of God that God uses that to draw us closer to himself?

I guess I wasn't as surprised at the results of the camp as most of the students were...

"We put down the Bible and pick up the play station, And we can’t defend our faith ’cause we don’t even know it, We say we love his word but pick a funny way to show it."
-OC Supertones
Return of the Revolution

fca on three

this past week, shelly and I (with a little help from our friends), got to spend a week at the anual FCA leadership camp at Campbell University. Attending the camp were high school and middle school students from the southeast. They came fired up, and left even more a blaze.

I have a problem with being too critical. Most of the time I come up with a reason about what problems these kids have, or what they need to fix about their faith, etc. You know, the typical "i'm mature in my faith, and you students have a lot to learn...from me..."

One story stands out - a student requested a song all week long that I don't particularly like. I told him that if he could find the verse that it was from we would play that song. To make a long story short, the next day the kid brought me a Bible, opened it to the OT passage and read me the verse. I asked him to explain it to me ... and he did! He explained how david was praising God because the ark of the covenent was finally brought back, and how no matter what he was going to praise God. See, that was this kid's story. He was so excited that God had saved him that he was bent on praising no matter who watched and made fun of him, or told him he looked foolish...

oh to have that kind of mature faith...

more later -