Lightseekers 2015 Wrap-up Continued

Wednesday continued: That night Chris' point was, "Jesus is SPEAKING TO YOU THROUGH PRAYER" with Philippians 4:6,7 as our evening's verse. He spoke about the burdens we carry in this life, particularly  the burden of our sin. Jesus wants us to give Him all these burdens in prayer so that He can carry them for us. He has already taken the burden of our sin and nailed it to the Cross. He offers a new life those who bring their sin to Him and give their hearts to Jesus. Chris asked those who wanted to do that to place their hand over their hearts to show that this was what they were deciding. A little later, he asked those who perhaps had made that decision previously before coming to camp to indicate if they wanted to reflect the Son by living for Jesus in the way they act by also putting their hand over their heart.We didn't just leave it there though; after a night game in which the campers "exposed the darkness", the campers met with their individual churches to meet with their leaders to discuss the decisions that were made that night. So many indicated that in fact, they had made decisions to follow Christ. (While I do not know the total number of children giving their hearts to follow Jesus, I do know that there were 19 from two churches who had indicated this. Praise God!)

Thursday: Our last full day of camp had the point that "Jesus is LORD." Colossians 1:17-18 was the verse for that day. Chris spoke about distractions that can keep us from following God and how if we try to mix following God with following what the world along with our friends want, it won't "taste" very good. We best reflect Jesus as Lord when we don't allow these worldly things to get in the way. Along with our usual day of fun, we had a special time after dinner of enjoying some inflatables (bounce house, giant slide, obstacle course). After this time, we went to chapel where we worshiped, Carol wrapped her story with a challenge to shine for Jesus and we then dedicated ourselves to reflecting our lights for Jesus.

Friday: Sadly, this was our time to pack our stuff and wrap up our week. Chris (via video) reminded us of all that we learned, point by point. We saw the campers really do get what it means to "Reflect the Son." Lives were changed forever by this week, many new children of God were born into His family. Our final offering total for the week was revealed and the kids gave over $800 for next year's scholarships. This is the end of Lightseekers Camp 2015, but God will continue to work in and through those whose lives were impacted by this week. We thank all the Design Team members, leaders, counselors, Missionary Kids and volunteers who worked so tirelessly to bring it together. Until next year...

Lightseekers 2015 Wrap-up

Since I was unable to update everyone while we were there, I am now going to give a synopsis of our week at Lightseekers Camp. As I already told you, our theme was "Reflecting the Son" and our speaker for the week was Chris Charon. Our week's theme was based on Matthew 5:16 -"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Every chapel, Chris addressed a different point or way we can let our reflected light shine.

Monday: This was our first day of camp and we had a lot of first time campers. We spent time becoming acquainted with our camp surroundings, having fun at the pool and crafts. We had our first chapel with worship led by Karla who also filled in as Dean for our beloved Nancy, who is ill and could not attend this year. Carol began another of her exciting Missionary stories. Monday's main point was, "Jesus is THE LIGHT." We looked at Scripture that taught us that Jesus is the Light of the world and our job as His followers is to reflect that light to those around us. 

Tuesday: This was our first full day of camp and we began with breakfast followed by chapel. Our main point for this day was, "Jesus is LOOKING AT THE HEART" with our verse from 1 Samuel 16:7. Chris talked about King David being chosen because of his heart for God, not because of outward appearances the way the world does. We began taking our special offering to raise money for camper scholarships. After chapel, we went to our Walk the Talk where the students, in smaller groups, learn life application and discuss what they have heard in chapel. This is followed by Unit Time where the one third of the campers do a special craft, another third plays in the pool and the final third is in the gym playing organized games (they rotate unit assignment the following day so that everyone participates in all three activities). After lunch the camper have a brief time of rest before heading to their free time where they can do the climbing wall/ropes course, pool, crafts, miniature golf, archery, hiking, play in the gym. After that comes dinner, more group fun and finally chapel with worship, skits done by some of the Missionary Kids, the continuation of the Missionary story and the message from Chris. After that, they headed off to cabin time and went to bed.

Wednesday: The day's schedule looks a lot like Tuesday, but morning's point was, "Jesus is OFFERING KIND WORDS" based on Colossians 4:6. Chris spoke about how our words can be like sandpaper (rough) or like cotton balls (gentle). Reflecting Jesus means to use kind and gentle words with others. More on the next post...

End of the Second Day

In my ten years with Lightseekers camp I have never been so frustrated with email and Internet as I am right now. It's hard when you want to share all the exciting things that God is doing, but you are thwarted in actually being able to do so. When you think about those who were trying to proclaim the Gospel during the First Century, our minor annoyances with technology are so small in comparison. As Chris shared tonight, what we know about Jesus is revealed in His Word, the Bible and He by His life on earth reveals the Father to us. We can only in a small way, get a glimpse of who Jesus is - how great and how glorious He is. This week, we are attempting to show and reflect this Jesus to all the campers. Words are sometimes inadequate, but they are what God has given to us to express His truth to others. As frustrating it can be to not get an email or text from our loved ones, how much worse is it when the people who claim to belong to Jesus, garble His message by living lives that do not reflect Him or His character. We can only do with the circumstances we have at hand. I guess I should remember that when the Internet goes away like it is now. Hopefully you all can read this.

Reflecting the Son -Day 2

Last night we learned about how Jesus is the light and in the same way that the moon reflects the light of the sun, we are to reflect the light of Jesus to others. Today's theme is "Looking at the Heart" and our theme verse is 1 Samuel 16:7. God doesn't look at the way things appear from the outside, instead He looks deep within and sees the real us. He seeks to mold us into people He can use for His glory. It is easy to mold clay that is flexible and willing to be molded, but rocks are much harder (in fact impossible for us to shape). We'll look more into this tonight.

In the meantime, worship has been just super-duper great and so has all the fun. The kids are having fun at this moment in their unit times. I can hear Miss Dana explain the pool games and there is another bunch playing games on the upper part of camp. Still another is doing crafts. Then it is off to lunch and a whole afternoon of freetime.

Reflecting the Son - Lightseekers 2015

We have arrived at Oak Glen Christian Conference Center and camp has officially begun. The pool was filled with kids, hot and sweaty from the ride up the mountain. Now all is setup and we are getting ready to eat dinner followed by our first chapel session. Our theme is "Reflecting the Son" and our speaker is Chris Charon. Be in prayer for these children this week that God would speak to their hearts and lives would be changed. More to come later...