The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.
– from Psalm 126 (ESV)
I just got back from Junior High camp. It was simply an amazing week and it surpassed by far all my expectations. God showed up every single night and there were many saved, many lives changed. In addition, there was a sweet spirit over that camp, and many kids who have never felt accepted for who they are got to live four full days in a place where no one judged them for how they look, how good they are in sports, or what they have. That is a taste of heaven.
The student worship band I work with led worship all week, and they simply blew me away. Lord, why do I get to do this? It’s just grace – I don’t deserve it at all.
I can’t write cogently at the moment, but would like to recount some favorite moments of camp, randomly:
The student worship band that I work with. They worshipped freely, and played and sang their hearts out. It will be very hard to say goodbye to these five precious ones in August. God orchestrated our sets in a way that I find amazing – the right song at the right time and that without any communication on the sets to speak of with our camp speaker. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
The messages and seeing God moving in the hearts of these kids. Everyone who heard that I was going to a Junior High camp extended their condolences. They just don’t understand: Junior highers rock! They can grasp what God is telling them, they can respond, and they did, in wonderful ways, this week. Chris Mayfield, our speaker, is gifted in ways that still amaze me even after seven years of working with him.
My two beautiful daughters, Molly and Bethany, who came to camp. They both had a great time!
My small group – wow! There were many hurts in this small group – these kids are hurting because of homes that are broken, parents that are broken, and the effects of sin. We live in a broken world. But they pulled together and began becoming the Body to eachother, reaching out to each other with healing words and touches.
Rec! My small group also got clobbered in all three games the first day, but they never, ever gave up and had a great second day, going 2-0-1. I was so excited I was dancing on the rec fields.
Did I mention that I can’t dance? But I did anyway, a lot, this week. There was a lot of dancing at camp this week – not “couples” dancing, just dancing for joy. At rec, before the services, during the meals (we had a karaoke machine). I wish that when I was a timid seventh grader I could have been in a place where I was not intimidated to experience the joy of dancing.
My daughter Bethany on the karaoke mic during lunch singing an a-capella version of the theme to the musical Hair.
Our final worship service for the Victory Camp staff at 11:00pm on the last night. It has become a tradition to offer them a simple worship service at the end of the week; they all work so hard to serve our kids and they are often very tired by this time of the year. This service was some of the best worship I’ve ever heard. Ahhhh… this band! God, thank You, thank You, thank You for these five. Kevin, Megan, Joey, Kelsey, Brad – you bless me so much. I love each one of you, and I’m going to miss you like crazy next year. And Randy, thanks for running the powerpoint so I could just worship in the crowd.
Doing the dangling duo with Joey. It’s a ropes-course exercise where two climbers have to help eachother up to the top of a series of suspended beams. It was perhaps the hardest thing I’ve had to do physically for decades. We made it. Joey (who I outweigh by a good 50, 60 pounds) had to lift me up to each new level. Amazing. It occurred to me that the Christian life is much like this. We are saved and the Lord has us in His hands just as the camp staffers had ahold of our tension ropes. We are completely safe, but life is still often very hard, and without brothers to help pull us up when we’re slipping we are in deep trouble.
Nurse Jill!
Talking and praying with Randy and the band.
Waffle House at 1:00am on the last night!
“Gotta get one jump ahead of the breadline”
Did I mention Nurse Jill? My beautiful bride, who served all week. So glad you could come babe.
Our YMCA-style “victory tunnel” that we formed with our upraised arms and that all the kids who got saved that week got to run through (twice) on the third night. That was awesome!
My walks with God. I took many of them this week, just walking around Victory Camp talking with the Lord. These were not always easy; I am learning uncomfortable things about the way my mind works, about how desperately I need to be renewed in my mind. I fought battles this week that no one saw. And I believe there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on this week. Many of our leaders were praying hard in their own times with God. I believe that the sweet spirit that was in this camp was from the Lord as He spread His protective wings over this camp. Blessed be His name, forever!
Pizza on the grounds of the ropes course late, late at night, just hearing the stories and victories from the (amazing, incredible, Godly) young leaders we had with us. Everyone said the same: God had answered their prayers and then some, and we were all ashamed that we were surprised at this!
It’s 7:00am in the morning of the second day. I’m in my pajamas, standing on the stage, holding my toiletries bag. I have the notion of praying over the worship. I have just come from the, um, nurse’s quarters, which is a little room off the worship center. The cabin I am theoretically assigned to (full of junior high boys and some very hardy and competent highschool and college counselors) is across the camp. Randy walks in and asks “What are you doing here?”
Have I mentioned Nurse Jill yet? 🙂
Getting to pray with a young man named Ryan who made Jesus his Lord on the first night. There were 20+ kids who entered into this relationship this week, and from reading decision cards I observed a great deal of maturity and spiritual understanding. These did not seem to be emotional decisions.
For those of you whose eyeglasses are fogging up from the comment before last, don’t worry – we kept it platonic 🙂
Working hard, staying energetic, sweating, lifting sound equipment, running, playing and keeping up with the teenagers. I’m always amazed at how much stamina I am granted at camp.
The food. It’s always good at Victory Camp.
Getting to counsel a young man named Elliot who was feeling distant from God. THEN bumping into him an hour later to discover that he had just had the privilege of praying with one of his friends as that friend accepted Christ that night.
Did I mention my small group? Matt, Emily, Chelsea, the other Chelsea, Melanie, Garrett, Desiree, Brendan, Riley, and Amy. You guys played hard, served eachother, stayed on topic, listened, talked, and just really blessed me.
“Go flat!”
Talking with Dodge, Joey, and Brad late last night.
The seven young leaders, highschoolers and college students, who surrendered to full time ministry last night.
Kelsey in a fairy costume, singing “Born to be Wild” on the karaoke. You just haven’t lived until you’ve seen that.
Knees to the Earth
Holy Roar
Be My Escape
Rain Down
Into Your Presence
Psalm 126
Here With Me
Megan, who sang her heart out, and has stepped out beyond her fear, and who probably doesn’t know how much that blesses me.
Kevin, who stepped up in leadership and sang till he was hoarse and played expertly. And who kept us laughing till our sides hurt.
Brad, who played until his fingers were aching, and led, and harmonized, and added so much to this band. He probably doesn’t realize how much.
Joey, who played until his arms were about to fall off, and who hoisted me to the top of the aforementioned dangling duo, and who worshipped like crazy.
Kelsey, who shined brightly as always, and encouraged and rejoiced and proved to me even more why she is the glue that holds this band together.
Chris, who’s swan-song as a camp speaker could not have been better. Love you, bro!
Randy and Jeremy, who led and organized and served in the background, always with their amazing good humor, sharp wit, and devotion to ministry.
And all the amazing highschool and college students and interns and student office workers who came and poured their lives out for these kids. They are, quite simply, just amazing. I’m always blown away by these people.
And, of course, Jesus Christ, the King of kings, who rained down His love and grace on this camp and who deserves all the glory and praise. Without Him this week, I wouldn’t be writing this post. All my favorite moments listed above would not have been favorites unless He had been there. I can’t adequately thank Him for all that He has done. I just don’t know how – words don’t suffice. All I can do is just thank Him for His amazing grace.
He has done great things!
Some Pictures:
Below is a picture of the worship band at the service for the victory camp staffers. This was near midnight last night, after a week of (maybe) 5 hours of sleep a night. They were exhausted but they just laid it all out on the line. Oh wow . . .
And here I am with the 249N band, left to right: me, Joey, Mego. Bottom: Kevo, Kelso, Brad.
