Now That Lightseekers' 2010 Is Over. . .

It was hard to leave Oak Glen this morning to return to the "real" world of our regular lives. We wished for one more worship song, one more encouraging word from Arol, the opportunity to be in close fellowship with other believers, hearing their testimonies and sharing our lives. This is perhaps a glimpse of what heaven will be like - praising God in the company of saints, never to leave the presence of God Himself or of one another. Our week was about being honest, honest with God, honest with ourselves and honest with other people in such a way that we are able to tell our story to those who don't know the Savior. Some people sincerely believe that being good, being religious or being part of a church will somehow make them right with God. But this is impossible, none of us are righteous enough to merit God's favor. Instead people are dead and can only be raised to new life by the Holy Spirit. It is this new life in Jesus that we and the campers proclaim. Many of them entered in to this life during the course of this week, pray for them as well as those who re-dedicated themselves to following Christ wholeheartedly. In the 359 days ahead of our next camp, there will be many challenges to living our faith, but with God's help, we "can do all things" through God who strengthens us. See you next year.

P.S. Look forward to more pictures being posted over the next several days. You can also visit some of the photo pages of our Lightseekers' Camp Facebook friends.

Wake Up! Day 4 -The Final Evening

Tonight was a truly amazing and wonderful night. From the moment the doors of the chapel opened at 7pm to let the children in to watch the camp picture show, the atmosphere was electric. One of the adults later commented on Facebook,"I heard the most amazing thing tonight! A house of children's voices rang so loud that it muted all amplified musical instruments with praise to the Lord. Amazing!!!" So true, but if Lightseekers' Camp was only about having children sing loudly or seeing themselves on the projector screen, we wouldn't be doing what God has called us to do. It is all about helping these kids find Jesus and develop a life-long relationship with Him.
In tonight's message, Arol explained how Jesus endured unjustly, the pain and humiliation of the cross so that we could be restored to the good life that God intended for us, but had been lost by sin. He then invited any campers to come forward which several did. Now we have some new brothers and sisters in the family of God. If anyone wonders why so many adults volunteer a week of their time to come to camp, this is the reason why. I'll post more tomorrow...

Wake Up! Day 4

It's hard to believe that we go home tomorrow; one kid said it seems like we just got here yesterday. This morning's speaker for chapel was Pastor Bob who asked the question, "Whose side are you on?" He talked about how when he was little, he was always the last one picked for the baseball team because he was so small. He told the story too of how the Israelites disobeyed God and worshiped the golden calf when Moses went to the mountain to get the Ten Commandments from God. When he came down and saw them doing this he asked them whose side they wanted to be on, were they going to follow the Lord? Pastor Bob then explained how we can be on Jesus' side by asking Him to rescue us from our sins and give us eternal life. He then becomes our Savior and Lord; we can then share the Good News of His love with others. Tonight we hear more from Miss Carol and Arol. In the meantime, the campers will try to squeeze every last moment of fun during free time.

Wake Up! Day 3 -The Talent Show

After a hiatus of several years, the Lightseekers' Camp Talent Show re-emerged with some amazing acts. I never knew we had such gifted musicians, singers, dancers and artists in our midst. We cheered, laughed and applauded all those who were brave enough to share their talents with us in an evening that lasted over two hours. We heard from our "youngest" campers Bart and Guenther (AKA Jim and Dave) who regaled us with tales of their experiences at camp. All in all, a fun time was had by everyone tonight. It's good to have so much fun. Tomorrow, we get back to hearing Arol and learning how to live out our faith.

Wake Up! Day 3

After a good night's sleep, the campers were raring to go this morning. Your emails have been pouring in and so we passed them out after breakfast. This morning's chapel gave us a chance to "Rise and Sing" and "Get Down" as Jesus "lifts me up" as we learn to trust Him "Everyday". Later, Arol spoke on "How to train your brain" as he shared from 1 Timothy 4:6-10. You can train your brain by: 1. Reading your Bible with your imagination and a pen, 2. Listening to the world around you, but 3. Checking what you hear with the Word of God. "In a world full of confusion, the Bible trains me to see both the truth and the lies all around me." These messages may come from people at school or at home or even from other Christians. However, falsehoods fizzle when they meet the truth of God and His Word. Jim shared the Gospel after Arol was done and several campers prayed to make Jesus their Savior and Lord right then.
Thank you for your prayers; God is working even now as the students are in their Walk the Talk sessions where they learn practical applications of their faith to life.
This afternoon will be very busy with all our activities plus preparing for tonight's Talent Show; it will be interesting to see what's in store for us then. Later...

Email Us

You can send email to your camper to: camp@lightseekers.net
Include their name and the church they are with so we can get it to them ASAP. If you haven't heard back, it's because they are too busy having fun to write. As for them calling home, you can read my response from last year as to why this isn't feasible.

End of Day 2

I'm sitting out in my little Cybercafe area, just outside the leadership room/dining hall with one eye open scanning for wildlife that might want to join me as I blog -it's best to be vigilant because you never know what critter might wander by. (Dave says I ought to rename Ann's Cybercafe to Ann's Rustic Cybercafe due to the less than technologically advanced computing conditions. For one reason, besides all the bugs and animals that might happen by, the internet is constantly dropping out and it takes forever to retrieve your emails or upload photos.)
The young two-legged critters called campers are all fast asleep, worn out from the afternoon's events -hiking, swimming, games in gym, crafts and even watercolor painting. Tonight's dinner of fried chicken, rice pilaf, corn, salad and watermelon was excellent as usual (for camp food, that is). Yet as good as dinner was, chapel was even better with worship by Miss Karla that reminds us that we serve a God who "never let's go" as well as telling us that those who are last now, will be first later and that we are the light of the world like a "city on hill that can't be hidden" (like our theme from this morning.) We always have such an outstanding time singing praises to our King, Jesus; no one who attends a Lightseekers' Camp ever comes away with the impression that lifting our voices to God isn't one of the best parts of camp. Also in chapel, Miss Carol shared more on her continuing missionary story about Romania -tonight we heard about the girl with the hole in her heart who needed a miracle that God provided, but we were all left hanging as to whether she received another after God answered their prayers the first time.
Speaking of answered prayers, today the campers gave over $300 in offering towards supporting our World Vision children -praise God!
Miss Mary spoke tonight about why we need salvation in Jesus using the Gospel colors. If you don't know what the colors are and what they represent, be sure to ask your camper when they get home. I'm sure they will be "ALWAYS READY!!!!" to give you an answer.

Wake Up! Day 2

And boy did we wake up early this morning! Our day began with our camp photo at 7:30am. After a wonderful breakfast, we went on to our morning chapel where Karla again led us in worshiping our great and wonderful God. Miss Janet reminded us about our World Vision children whom we support by our daily camp offering. It's touching to think we have been supporting these kids since they were the age of our Lightseekers' campers, however, now a few of them are teenagers, the ages of our CITs, grunts and missionary kids.
Arol also spoke and shared how we as followers of Jesus are the light of the world too. We are to live our good deeds before the people of the world who don't know Jesus in such a way that it points them to Him. We aren't dead, but alive in Christ.
More to come later...

Wake Up! Day 1

The camp is quiet now with only the sounds of the crickets chirping and the frogs in the pond croaking. The full moon peaks through the high altitude clouds, lighting up the whole sky. Yet less than three hours ago, your children were singing at the top of their lungs in praises to the One is without comparison. How they have so much energy to run around all afternoon and then worship God with such enthusiasm is something I'll never understand. One thing that we did learn in tonight's chapel from Arol was that we need to be Jesus to those around us, to show His love and to be "ready to explain" to others the hope we have in Him.
Our theme verse for this week, 1 Peter 3:15 expresses that exactly. Our goal this week is to explain that hope to the campers who do not yet know it and to equip those that already do, the means to share it with those around them.
Keep praying for us -tomorrow is a very long day that begins with our camp picture before breakfast. I'll post more tomorrow.

Up and Running in Ann's Cybercafe

For you who are new to the Lightseekers' blog, Ann's Cybercafe is what we affectionately have named the internet spot/porch just outside the Lightseekers' leadership room. Many of our previous readers know that I like to blog when the Design Team and Missionary Kids arrive to set up at Oak Glen the night before your campers come. To my dismay however, the camp's internet was down last night which meant no blogging or downloading camper email. The fact that I'm now posting means that all is well and I have received those early bird emails which will soon be printed out for your child to read. Soon I will be able to post some pics of the kids arriving in the buses, vans and cars. Although they aren't yet here, there is a flurry of activity going on as I listen to the worship band rehearse off in the distance and the rest of the Design Team are getting things like the craft room prepared. Of course, the most important preparation, that of preparing the campers' hearts to hear God's Word have been bathed in prayer and the Lord Jesus Himself, by His Holy Spirit is doing that work.
Please keep us in prayer though, God is going to do some amazing things this week.
Drop a comment here, send us an email or visit our Lightseekers Camp Facebook page.

Sooooo Excited!!!!!!

For you early birds who read this blog in anticipation of our wonderful camp, it begins in only six days. However, it's not too late parents to send your child to this year's Lightseekers - contact your Lightseekers participating church leader and let them know (or visit our website) , we have plenty of room at the facility for one more. We want every child to have the opportunity to hear Arol share how we can "Wake Up" in our Christian faith.

Parents and friends of this ministry, please pray that the campers' hearts would be prepared for hearing the Word and applying it to their lives. Much preparation and prayer has already taken place, however "unless the Lord builds the house . . ."
We know that nothing happens apart from God's Spirit working in and through us; we are excited at the possibilities of what will happen during this brief time. Next time I post, you'll be hearing from me AT CAMP!!!!