Janelle and I board a train this Thursday evening headed to Kansas City and ultimately Polo, Mo to speak at two teen weeks. I am amazed -
Amazed I'm in the family of God, redeemed, forgiven, justified...
Amazed I get to spend time bragging on Jesus to teens...almost three years of my life have been spent speaking at youth camps over the last 29 years...
Camp is an amazing thing.
The crucial ingredient is good, committed counselors. The best speaker with apathetic counselors is horrendous; an okay speaker with great counselors will work well.
Good food, good discipline, and good acoustics are key ingredients.
Notice I've not listed "programming" yet?
Doesn't matter what programming you have...if you don't have a good (meaning Bible-based) speaker, good counselors, and the other things listed doesn't matter what kind of programming you have...
I also think camp can be a dangerous thing; if everyone is pushing for "decisions" rather than asking the Spirit of God to work in His way and His timing. I am not against altar calls; I am against "easy" altar calls. Why?
I read the Bible. And I notice that Jesus always made it easier to say "no" than "yes."
Again...I am not diametrically opposed to "invitations," as long as the invitee is the Spirit and not someone doing "business as usual".
All too often, especially in camp situations, students are exhausted, emotionally drained, and a well-meaning but careless speaker can provoke "decisions" born of peer pressure, tiredness, and emotion rather than birthed by conviction and drawing of the Spirit of God.
So I ask prayer that I'd be bold in preaching, clear in communication, discerning in one-on-one counsel...and that the Wind of the Spirit would be pleased to change us during the coming two weeks of camp ministry. (the photo is Camp Polo two years ago)
Do you agree, disagree, or not understand my observations of camp ministry? I ask you to make the time to "comment" so we can, together, learn from each other.
5 comments:
I agree. Of course, camp always scared me--I never made a good camper.
I was a counselor for a few summers and I totally agree with what you are saying. And I have found some absolutely awesome ministry takes place back in the cabin in a small-group setting versus an alter call where it's easy to get caught up in the emotion and lose the focus of Jesus. A good speaker that preaches Truth will give the kids something to think about, something that will last beyond their week at camp. I will be praying for you!
I hear ya Jack and I absolutely agree! I have been praying for days in preparation for this week to come. I long for God to show up and work in a real and powerful way and that we will see genuine change in the hearts of the kids! May this not be just another week of camp but a week of camp where students give it all over to Jesus or just open their hearts to what He may want to say to them! It's gonna be great. Our God loves those kids more than us and I know He wants to speak to them (and me) this week! I have never been more excited about camp and the chance we have to minister there! See ya Sunday night!
I didn't make it in the group picture that year but my girls are in there. Heidi, Kendra, Shea, Steff, Jennifer, Sam, and Ally. I was in the Camp Office ministering to another girl who was really homesick. When we came out they had already taken it....bummer! :)
I agree as well. As a teenager (and as an adult), I dreaded the moments where we'd all be asked to stand up if we had made some sort of spiritual commitment. The peer pressure was tremendous and I certainly never had the time to reflect on whether I'd actually MADE that commitment in the 2 minutes they gave you to decide whether to stand up or not.
Actually, something like that happened at church the other week. It doesn't happen often in my church - that was the first time I'd seen it, actually. But I high-tailed it to the bathroom because those situations are way too contrived for me and I can't handle them.
I understand the concept of being open and honest about spiritual commitments with others in the church, but I'd rather that that openness and honesty come from my heart and have it be as a result of the work God has actually done in me. That usually takes quite a while in my life because I'm so stubborn. Very, very rarely has God ever produced a work in me within a 2 minute time frame.
However - it was an altar at camp that got me to talk to my counselor about becoming a Christian. It wasn't until I was older though, that I realized that I'd probably been a Christian for about a year prior to that night. I had believed all the necessary stuff and had been praying to God about it for quite some time. I was just too young (or uninformed) to realize that God heard my heart and didn't care whether I had all the words to "the prayer" right.
~Randi
Post a Comment