Accelerate Summer Camp 2015!!!!!!
This past week (Wednesday through Sunday) for me included unexpected small-group leading, late-night dancing around a bonfire, 6 am prayer times, and a hectic water-fight that entailed water balloons, flour bombs, and leaders on motorbikes spraying Fanta with water-guns. And to think I 'just happened' into this!
This is how it 'just happened': Hope, my house-mate, asked if I would be willing to help out at Jubilee's Summer Camp which is for youth in Grades 8-12. I said sure, and then heard nothing until a week before when I decided I better confirm what was up. Yes, I was still signed up for general help... I didn't find out until I arrived that I was co-leading a dorm of six Grade 12 girls with Janice and Nokwazi... and Janice and Nokwazi weren't arriving until sometime Friday evening! Yet I am glad that God brought me into this leadership position in such a 'sneaky' way, because I would probably have never signed myself up for it and yet I was so blessed through it! The girls are incredible, and we had such good small-group times in the mornings.
The speakers were also very good, and God exceeded the expectations we had as leaders that He would meet with us. As we sang in the marquee (our meeting tent), I was humbled as I watched all the youth singing, worshipping and praying silently, with leaders, and with each other. It struck me how God delights to meet with us. When we seek His face, He delights to reveal Himself and empower us to live for Him.
It wasn't all easy, though. The devil will oppose strongly wherever God's presence is strongly manifested. The first day we battled in prayer over a camper who was experiencing demon possession. Later that day on the way to the rock pools, a camper also slipped when crossing a stream, seriously twisting his ankle and sustaining a concussion which left him unconscious for 30 seconds and incoherent for the next hour. Then... it rained that night and drowned the sound board system so that we had to use only acoustic worship for the second day.
Yet God showed Himself strong in the very areas of opposition: the experience with the first camper led to discussion and prayer with the girls in my small group. As for the camper who was hurt, God was good in that the camp nurse and her husband, a physiotherapist, were walking right behind him when it happened, and there were some strong guys there as well to pull him out of the stream where he lay unconscious. In the end, this actually led to an increase in faith as we prayed over him and God healed his ankle so that he went from using crutches because of the pain to walking normally for the rest of the camp and even dancing in the sessions as we sang! Thank you, Jesus! ...And the acoustic worship turned out great too :)
Camp wasn't all 'serious', though. How can it be with around 100 teenagers?! Wally-awards were nominated for people who had the worst wallies (Wally: something silly or embarrassing that someone has done)... like the dude who manoeuvred the soccer ball skillfully through his opponent's defense only to run into a tree and fall over! Then there was the epic water fight where we divided into four teams equipped with water balloons and flour bombs. If you got hit, you had to jump in the pool before you could re-enter the combat. The leaders participated by jazzing things up with extra flour and tackling moves, and two leaders rode through the 'battle-field' on a motorbike spraying kids with Fanta-filled waterguns. What a glorious mess!
For me, camp lived up to its name: ACCELERATE. The goal was not to focus on a great camp experience but to point into the year ahead, accelerating the youth into the year with a deeper relationship with Christ. I know that my faith was increased as I saw God act and enjoyed His presence. Camp also 'accelerated' me into the community here through shared experiences and I look forward to what will come next :)
This past week (Wednesday through Sunday) for me included unexpected small-group leading, late-night dancing around a bonfire, 6 am prayer times, and a hectic water-fight that entailed water balloons, flour bombs, and leaders on motorbikes spraying Fanta with water-guns. And to think I 'just happened' into this!
This is how it 'just happened': Hope, my house-mate, asked if I would be willing to help out at Jubilee's Summer Camp which is for youth in Grades 8-12. I said sure, and then heard nothing until a week before when I decided I better confirm what was up. Yes, I was still signed up for general help... I didn't find out until I arrived that I was co-leading a dorm of six Grade 12 girls with Janice and Nokwazi... and Janice and Nokwazi weren't arriving until sometime Friday evening! Yet I am glad that God brought me into this leadership position in such a 'sneaky' way, because I would probably have never signed myself up for it and yet I was so blessed through it! The girls are incredible, and we had such good small-group times in the mornings.
The speakers were also very good, and God exceeded the expectations we had as leaders that He would meet with us. As we sang in the marquee (our meeting tent), I was humbled as I watched all the youth singing, worshipping and praying silently, with leaders, and with each other. It struck me how God delights to meet with us. When we seek His face, He delights to reveal Himself and empower us to live for Him.
It wasn't all easy, though. The devil will oppose strongly wherever God's presence is strongly manifested. The first day we battled in prayer over a camper who was experiencing demon possession. Later that day on the way to the rock pools, a camper also slipped when crossing a stream, seriously twisting his ankle and sustaining a concussion which left him unconscious for 30 seconds and incoherent for the next hour. Then... it rained that night and drowned the sound board system so that we had to use only acoustic worship for the second day.
Yet God showed Himself strong in the very areas of opposition: the experience with the first camper led to discussion and prayer with the girls in my small group. As for the camper who was hurt, God was good in that the camp nurse and her husband, a physiotherapist, were walking right behind him when it happened, and there were some strong guys there as well to pull him out of the stream where he lay unconscious. In the end, this actually led to an increase in faith as we prayed over him and God healed his ankle so that he went from using crutches because of the pain to walking normally for the rest of the camp and even dancing in the sessions as we sang! Thank you, Jesus! ...And the acoustic worship turned out great too :)
Camp wasn't all 'serious', though. How can it be with around 100 teenagers?! Wally-awards were nominated for people who had the worst wallies (Wally: something silly or embarrassing that someone has done)... like the dude who manoeuvred the soccer ball skillfully through his opponent's defense only to run into a tree and fall over! Then there was the epic water fight where we divided into four teams equipped with water balloons and flour bombs. If you got hit, you had to jump in the pool before you could re-enter the combat. The leaders participated by jazzing things up with extra flour and tackling moves, and two leaders rode through the 'battle-field' on a motorbike spraying kids with Fanta-filled waterguns. What a glorious mess!
For me, camp lived up to its name: ACCELERATE. The goal was not to focus on a great camp experience but to point into the year ahead, accelerating the youth into the year with a deeper relationship with Christ. I know that my faith was increased as I saw God act and enjoyed His presence. Camp also 'accelerated' me into the community here through shared experiences and I look forward to what will come next :)
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