All the students are back in school this month (and many parents are
relieved). Summer has been great, yet we
are excited about a new schedule and focus for fall. In the summer there are lots of great
relationship building times: home visits, BBQs, late-morning events with the
youth, outreaches in the park and camps.
This fall we will have some more discipleship times with the adults and
start-up our tutoring ministry again (after a short break for summer) and start
the second year of our internship program.
Please be in prayer for these
ministries – that they would be even more effective and fruitful in sharing the
love and grace of Jesus and building up the Christians in our church and community. This month we would like to share a little
bit about summer camps:
Camp is always a huge part of summer.
It is where we get to know the children and youth better, where they
grow closer to one another and where many of them meet Jesus or have a mountain
top experience that they can then bring back with them to share with friends
and family at home. The energy and
momentum gained in the weeks following camp is contagious to the whole church,
even those that did not go to camp.
It is powerful to watch the hardened facades melt away as the week
progresses at camp. Walls come tumbling
down and relationships are forged. This
year several of our youth made a decision to make Jesus their Lord &
Savior. Our older students were able to
minister to the younger ones. (See the last and the next post for pictures from this year's summer camps.)
It is powerful seeing how unique outreaches brought different
individuals into our lives. We met one family through our weekly park
outreach. Two other families we met
through our tutoring ministry. Another
we met through a special event we held in the community. One of the youth was invited first to youth
group as somebody that didn’t even believe in God, but was willing to check Him
out. And then we get to take all these
unique individuals to camp!
One young girl, Andy, and her family, were invited to church by a
cousin whom we met at a park outreach and has been attending for a couple
years. On her first visit to our church
Andy’s mother gave her life to Jesus. A
few months passed and it was time for camp…which ended up being the time and
place for Andy to connect with her loving Father. If you ask Andy what her highlight of the
week was she will excitedly say, “When I dedicated my life to Jesus!”. She had no idea what life could really feel
like or be like…her eyes have been opened and she is not turning back.
Our children and youth have such a powerful time at camp, which then
gets parents asking more questions. We
had a family camp last month and for the first time many of the fathers came
out to see what this camp experience was all about. We had a powerful time as an entire church
worshipping God, going deep in the Word, fellowshipping and just having a great,
fun and relaxing time.
We are praying that these men
become spiritual leaders in their homes and commit to being a part of the
church. We are also praying (and
please join us in this!) for these
families to really press into their calling and purpose in Jesus. While they lead outreaches and share with
their family and friends that we would see more salvations. And that next summer we would be able to
bring even more children, youth and families to a life changing experience.
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