Shout it out!
By Jason | July 1, 2009
What a powerful week last week at Camp Zenith we had with our high school group! I have heard so many positive comments and of things that have happened coming out of camp. One of the most powerful things that we witnessed at camp was the baptism of Kelsa B. who is one of the girls in our youth group.
Kelsa and I had been talking, studying, crying, and praying our way to her baptism on Thursday night all week. Kelsa came to me early in the week and started talking about her desire to be baptized. We continued to talk about it and on Wednesday she decided she wanted to do it that night. We called her mom and told her of her decision. Her mom was so excited for her and wanted to be there so bad. After much tears and discussion, Kelsa decided to wait one more night so that her mom could drive up to camp to witness this most important event in Kelsa’s life.
Our theme on Thursday was SHOUT. Basically, meaning that our response to what Jesus did for us on the cross; what God has done for us through grace; and for the forgiveness and redemption that we have received is to SHOUT out to God and worship and praise Him. This comes directly from Psalm 51. That Thursday evening we baptized Kelsa. I couldn’t think of anyone shouting out to God any louder that evening than Kelsa and the other teens that took on Christ as their Savior through baptism.
What a powerful statement of faith! What a huge SHOUT to God! Saying God, I know I am not perfect. I know that I have many sins. But I love you and I believe in you. And because of that I give my life to you through obeying you and putting on Christ in baptism!
We all have a lot that we can shout out to God about! God has done many great things for each of us. I challenge you to SHOUT out to Him today praising Him for all He has done in your life!
More about camp to come this week! Keep reading!
Topics: Family, Food for thought, Ministry, Parenting, Teens | No Comments »
Zenith: Wednesday…Sacrifice
By Jason | June 25, 2009
I’m on here before 2AM! Great day again today. As I begin I have to say I am excited because in the morning my first period class is a by. Meaning I get to sleep in a little later! I love sleeping in! And the girls have been sleeping later this week which means I can do the same!
Back to the important things. Wednesday was a really good day. There were some really great conversations that took place today. One of our girls, will be getting baptized on Thursday night. Her mom is making the trip up to be a part of this occasion. We are really excited for her! There were many other great conversations that took place. I have grown to really enjoy free time during the afternoon because we get to sit around and talk, pray, counsel, and discuss things.
I also have to brag on our interns! They are doing amazing things! Both of them are working so hard this week, caring, sharing, and loving our students. They have been having some great discussions with teens in our youth group and others. It’s great to see them connecting to our youth and sharing this experience with them. God has truly blessed us this summer with them.
Tonight Mitch talked about sacrifice. This is the sacrifice that we need to make. The things that we need to give up in order to follow Jesus. The overpowering response of the Zenith campers including our teens tells me that students in today’s world are way too busy. Our youth try to balance too many things, school, academics, multiple sports, jobs, clubs, organizations, and more extracurricular things, and before they know it they have no room for God. I don’t know how many times I have heard things like, I don’t want to let my parents down by quitting this, or dropping out of that. They feel a tremendous amount of pressure and all they really want to do is be kids. Instead they are feeling forced and trapped to do things that don’t allow them to be teens. They need down time, and they don’t get it. They have filled up their schedules so much that many times every other activity takes precident over church and church becomes the “if I have time to fit it in my schedule”. We have got to reevaluate our priorities!
As part of the lesson he used a powerful video clip of an atheist who was saying on his video blog, “How much do you have to hate someone not to tell them about your faith”. Basically, he was saying that if you are going to claim to be a Christian you need to act like it, and seize every opportunity to share your faith in Christ, this means making sacrifices. And he doesn’t see that very often.
Think about it this way….There is a person standing in the middle of the road and a car is coming. You have to really hate that person not to yell to them to get out of the way, and you have to really hate them that at the last minute you aren’t trying to tackle and push them out of the way of the moving car. Isn’t that what we do when we are trying to tell someone about Jesus. There is a moving car coming right at them (hell). And if we truly cared about others and not ourselves we would be doing everything in our power to tell everyone around us about Jesus so that they won’t get struck. Make sense? Afterwards, a young man came up to me crying so hard and told me that this story really hit home to him. All he could get out was, “all i needed to do was tell her about Jesus, all I needed to do was give her a Bible. Now I can’t. She is gone.” What do you say to that? The sad thing is, how many of us have stories like that, of missed opportunities? Missed chances because we are so focused on what is going on in our own church buildings that we forget to think outwardly. You see, I believe many people have gotten settled into a routine. We go to church and all is “great”, but we aren’t really doing anything other than working on ourselves and enjoying the luxeries of our church buildings. So focused on the color of our walls, who is wearing a tie or who is not, if we have song books or the words on a big screen, do we do small groups church or Sunday night worship, do we clap or not clap, did we sing my favorite song or did we sing too many new songs that I don’t know. Doesn’t all that sound silly when we are talking about saving souls.
These are the questions that our teens are asking. They want to know why are we so worried about what happens when we are inside our church building and we are not doing things outside of our church building.
Sorry….I think I finished my thoughts. Had some camper situations we had to deal with late and into the we hours. Thats enough post for now.
Peace.
Topics: Ministry, Teens | No Comments »
Zenith: Tuesday…SCRUB
By Jason | June 24, 2009
Tuesday was another great day! Days are usually good at Zenith. It’s really late so I am not going to spend much time writing at 2:45AM. I didn’t get a chance today to bl0g…sorry….I was out an about hanging out with, and counseling with, some of our teens. I think that takes priority. Anyways, back to the late night thing….Each night some of the staff gets together after the campers are safe in their dorm rooms and in bed, and enjoy some laughter and food together at the IHOP down the road. Now don’t worry, all counselors remain on campus, as well as a large majority of the staff, including all the nurses, dorm directors, etc., and we are just a couple minutes down the road. Its just a time for some of the ministers to get together process the day, support one another, and relax. We got off to a late start tonight because there was a funny (not really) little mishap. One of the counselors thought it would be hilarious if he threw a little confetti (shreaded paper he found in a trash bag on campus) out during the Summer Singers concert. Well, turned out a little confetti went a long ways! There was paper all over the auditorium, so in an effort to spare the janitorial staff their jobs and their sanity, the ministry staff, the prankster counselor, and a few of the campers, spent an hour or so vacuuming and sweeping between all the movie theatre style seats. It was ridiculous!
Back to the important things…the day….great day of classes, worship, and learning. We spent the day focusing on the srubbing and cleansing that takes place to get rid of the stains of our sins. This scrubbing takes place of course by the blood of Jesus. It was powerful. Tonight we also had youth group time. I love the time we have with our youth group. Everyone checked in and all seem to be doing really good. Everyone is smiling. I think most, if not all, are really happy with their camp groups, rooms, and experience. We spent our time in Youth Group time tonight sharing responses to the day and praying for one another. It is so awesome to witness our teens praying for one another, supporting one another, and encouraging one another. It’s exactly what I think of when I think of “church”. I have seen Jesus working in and through many of our teens. I have seen a senior girl counseling a younger girl, and praying together, crying together, and offering advice through experiences she had in her life. I saw others enouraging each other through some difficult emotional moments. I saw our young men step up in group time and lead some singing for us. I saw our Seniors and graduated Seniors step up and lead some response groups. I saw a few of our younger campers help us clean up in the auditorium instead of hanging out in their dorms with friends so that we could clean up the confetti mess more quickly. And I had some great conversations today during free time with a few of our teens. One who will most likely take on Christ in baptism on Wednesday! Praise God!
That’s it for tonight….Oh, one last thing….If you haven’t heard from your teen lately, it’s likely their cell phone has been taken up. Even with our no cell phone/eletronic device contract being signed by all the student and parents, the camp staff and/or I have taken up 10 cell phones and 3 iPods from Legacy teens; thats slightly over 1/4 of our students from Legacy attending camp. Do the math on that: 13 x $25 = $325. Thats more money towards youth missions than we raised with the Eat at Joe’s Pasta fundraiser! I guess there is one positive in people breaking the camp rules!
Here’s the even more crazy thing I was talking to one of our teens about cell phones during camp….and another young lady from Legacy walked up told me tonight that her mom made her give her cell phone up before we left on Sunday (Of which I was aware…kudos mom!). She said at that time she was really mad. But she said tonight, “don’t tell my mom this, but I am actually enjoying not getting all the text and phone calls. It’s kind of relaxing and enjoyable, definately less stressful”. I think she is on to something!
Peace…
Topics: Ministry, Parenting, Teens | 1 Comment »
Zenith: Monday….STAINED
By Jason | June 23, 2009
Well…it’s 2AM again and I find myself quickly blogging before I go to bed for 5 hours. What an amazing day. I was able to spend all morning until 12:45pm teaching. After that we enjoyed lunch and free time with many of our Legacy teens and other teens from all over the country! Between Cori and I, we managed to check in with all our teens and all are doing well. The intial shock of arriving at camp has settled down, and everyone appears to have a great attitude for the week. Our nightly entertainment for Monday was Christian comedian Tim Hawkins, and he was hilarious! Cori and I had some great conversations throughout the afternoon and evening with some in our group. God has already begun to do amazing things this week…and why wouldn’t He!
Our daily theme on Monday was STAINED. Basically, the fact that all of us are stained with sin and understanding who we are and why we need cleansing. It was a powerful day between classes, morning chapel, and our evening worship time. Tonight was especially powerful for a Monday evening. Each night an invitation is opened up for prayer, baptism, and counseling. Tonight we did something a little different. We hung paper on the walls and on the stage. Students and staff were able to come forward and confess their sins and struggles by writing them on the paper. Get this….I am pretty sure just about the entire camp participated, because we are all stained, or I should actually say, we were all stained until Christ (but that is for another night). After the time of confession on paper, we spent a time of prayer over all the struggles. It was powerful. Quite possibly one of the most powerful first full days and evenings at Camp Zenith.
Well….I am out for the night….I will try to blog sometime during the day tomorrow. It’s difficult though, I just find myself doing exactly what I need to be doing (spending time with our teens) instead of on my computer blogging during the day. So if I don’t post until late, I apologize ahead of time. The week is off to a great start. Everyone is doing awesome! And God is doing great things! Please continue to pray for our week at camp!
Topics: Ministry, Parenting, Teens | No Comments »
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