Reflections from Miss Karla

Wow...God is good! You know this is the highlight of my summer....leading your children in singing praises and thanks to our God. Of course enjoing the company of children and bringing my own little one really made me focus on what it is that I wanted the children to experience through song and scripture. I looked for songs that connected scripture to music so that when children are face with difficult choices God's word (which they can remember through song) can help them make a decision that pleases Him. We've sung songs that talk about putting on the armor of God to be ready to deflect the devil's weapons, John 3:16 reminds us of God's love, Tossed To and Fro tells us that we're no longer babies tossed to and fro by lies of the world, and "Whatever" (Col. 3:17) reminds us that whatever we do, do it in the name of the Lord. It's such a blessing to hear children singing scripture as they are walking to the pool, dinner hall or even the bathroom!!! God is good and we will continue to sing about it!!!

A Note to Parents

From the emails we've seen, a lot of you parents have been wondering why your child hasn't called you from camp. Let me explain. The camp we are at is a very wonderful facility, but cell phone reception is nearly non-existant in the main camp area (I had to hike up to an area where the staff live to get 2 bars at most). Second, the pay phones are very expensive and are often out of order. There have been times before we discouraged payphone use that when campers have had unsupervised phone access, prank calls to 911 have followed. Third, we have learned that frequent phone calls home often increase feelings of homesickness and separation anxiety; while your children may not be homesick themselves, a line forming in front of the pay phone can induce the ones that are to call and ask to go home. We know that you are missing your child too and sometimes they can hear that in your voice. All these reasons are why we encourage email back and forth. So if you want to hear back from your child, send them an email and request that they write you an email. More later from guest bloggers.

Day 3 Wise Up! The Hard Choices Finish The Art Project

The hard choices do what? Well, this was a phrase that Arol taught the children tonight in chapel and I must confess that I didn't quite understand what this had to do with Proverbs since I missed the first part of his message due to the fact I had gone to another part of the camp to find cell service in order to catch my Managerial Accounting class lecture. As he later explained though, God wants us to make the right choices as we follow Jesus, the Way, Truth and Life and yet things get in the way that keep us from doing that. The bad choices can cause us to struggle with what the world and Satan try to label us like you're a liar, you're a thief, you're mean, etc. The truth is that when we are saved by Jesus we are no longer these things, but God's very own child -the child that He is shaping into His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) or "Art Project" through leading as they make the difficult choices to obey their parents, to be truthful, to be kind, to follow Him no matter how inconvenient
More tomorrow

Day 3 - Wise Up!

We have reached the halfway point of camp and other than a few tired bodies, no one's the worse for wear. Right now I'm watching a bunch of kids spinning round and round on the camp playground while others are taking turns going down the slide. To my right, a group of campers is trying their hand at watercolor painting - what a bunch of artists!
Pastor Bob was our morning chapel speaker and he told us how Jesus can be our Life Saver if we allow Him to be. Miss Janet also told us about our three remaining World Vision kids -one from Indonesia, one from Rwanda and one from the Philippines. We also announced that we had collected over $400 in our mission offering for them. Praise God!
Tonight with Arol speaking, Carol continuing her missionary story about John Paton and Karla leading worship we will have even more fun.

Day 2 -Wise Up! Part 2

The campers have drifted off to sleep by now and Oak Glen Christian Conference Center is quiet except for the sound of crickets and our teenage "grunts" (they are our workers who help around camp as needed) playing board games in the Design Team headquarters. Soon I will go up to bed too, exhausted from a very full day but not before uploading pics and blogging. It was an extremely fun day, but also one in which Christ was proclaimed and lives were changed - two campers shared earlier this evening how they had asked Jesus to be their Savior this very day. We had another evening with Arol speaking from Proverbs about making wise choices, particularly in whom we choose as friends. Without going into all the fingers of his hand illustration, Arol challenged the campers to choose as our closests friends, those are fellow followers of Christ -friends who can pray for you and help you grow as a Christian. It's not that we should avoid people who don't follow Jesus -He hung out with people that others called "bad", but we need to not listen to those who would encourage us to make foolish choices that would lead us away from God.
Now I must choose to go to bed, it's late and tomorrow is another busy day. More then.

Day 2 -Wise Up!

We began anew bright and early this morning with the camp picture at 7:30 am, followed by an excellent breakfast of scrambled eggs, French toast with strawberries and whipped cream. Right after, we headed over to chapel where Miss Karla taught us some new praise songs. Afterwards Miss Janet introduced our first two World Vision kids we support including our new child, Dmitri from Romania. Then Miss Mary told us how we can be part of God's forever family when make the wise choice to ask Jesus to be our Savior. Later in our Walk The Talk times, the biblical concept of making wise choices in our lives (Proverbs 1:5) was re-enforced with practical teaching examples.
Right now, I'm listening to the happy shouts of children splashing in the pool. "Look at me, watch me," they shout to their leaders as they cannonball off the diving board under the ever-watchful eyes of the lifeguards.
Tonight we'll hear more from King Solomon's wisdom found in the book of Proverbs as Arol teaches us. He really wants them to "wise up" and has them bring their Bible, notebook and pen so they can remember these important words of life.

More later tonight. Check out the pics on the Flickr badge below.

They're Here!

Yes, they are. All the campers arrived safe and sound. They've had a chance to explore the camp, eat corn dogs for lunch and experience our first chapel. Chapel was an awesome time getting acquainted with one another and learning the camp rules. For all our first timers at Lightseekers, they had the opportunity to be led in worship by Miss Karla and her band. There were new songs to learn as well as old favorites for the Lightseeker veterans. They also met our speaker Arol. This week is going to be great. Right now the kids are vacating the pool as dinner starts in a half hour. I'll post more later. Some pics are up on the Flickr for you to check out.

Camp Day Zero

Tomorrow morning Lightseekers Camp for 2009 begins for approximately 200 campers and leaders. Some of us are already here at Oak Glen, preparing for an exciting week of adventure and spiritual challenge. When the campers arrive, they will only see some of the work that has gone in these past 11 months to put this camp together -the spiritual preparation though goes largely unseen. As Nancy our camp dean mentioned at dinner tonight, this camp has been bathed in prayer for weeks. God is going to do a work in the lives of these children, so join us in praying for them to listen attentitively as He speaks to them. More postings tomorrow.

8 Days Until Camp

Hey Lightseekers! Well I'm sitting here in Covina at Christ First Baptist with the Design Team and counselors as we prepare for this year's camp. I am soooooo excited and can't wait to see you all. Our theme this year is Wise Up! (Proverbs 1:5) and our speaker is Arol McFadden. Arol and his family will fly in from the Midwest specially to be with us for the week.I have known Arol for over 22 years (since he was Lightseeker age) and he is a tremendous speaker -our campers are in for a real treat!

In addition to great speaking, we will also have outstanding worship led by Karla. Karla and her band will have a extra special guest musician who is coming here all the way from Hawaii to help. I'll tell you more about her later.

As always, we will play great games and have the most excellent fun during rec time.

Sooo, if you haven't yet signed up for this years camp, let your church leader know.

See you in 8 days.

Suit Up Epilogue

It's now twelve hours since we closed our last chapel. Karla led our last worship session with all our favorite songs of the week. We raised oner $1300 for our 5 World Vision children. Carol closed out her cliffhanger missionary story and told us how God was able to provide for her friends' needs with mangos. (ask your kids about that one.) We also heard from our speaker Chris for the final word. All week long he has been speaking on the armor of God in

Ephesians 6:10-18
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."(New International Version) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

The campers have been challenged to put on the armor and to stand firm when facing our enemy, Satan. When we rely on God and His power, we can do amazing things as Chris was able to testify about.

We want this week's camp experience to be more than just a temporary "camp high" but hopefully we have equipped each camper to be effective spiritual warriors who are able to impact their neighborhood, their family and their schoolyard -ultimately even reaching out to the world. Otherwise, we just sang some great songs and had a lot of fun. This is why Lightseekers has existed for these 24 years. Considering that many of our younger leaders were once Lightseekers campers themselves, some of our campers do seem to "get it".

Until next year,bye for now. Be sure to check in for more pics added and info on next year's camp.

The Last Night

"If we could harness their energy, we could power a city...", so said one of the design team members in reference to the children's worship tonight. I don't know when I have seen such enthusiasm for praising God as was demonstrated tonight. No one wanted it to stop. The campers sat just minutes earlier listening to Chris talk about the Sword of the Spirit, the only piece of the armor used for offensive purposes against our enemy Satan. He then topped off his talk by reminding us that we are to pray always -our vital link to the Holy Spirit's power and especially to pray for others.

Now many of the leaders have started to pack away the remains of the week. We still have morning chapel to go, but we can honestly say that we have seen the presence of the Lord in this place this week, particularly tonight. I will blog at least one more time to wrap up our week of Suit Up.

Suit Up -Day Four

This morning we were reminded of why we do Lightseekers Camp. Thursday is traditionally the day that we provide the children with an opportunity to receive Christ as their Savior. Following worship songs, offering and the missionary story, Jim explained that Jesus came to rescue us and to give us the gift of eternal life. He told them that the gift is completely free but it does not become a gift until a person receives it for themself. At the end, he asked the campers to raise their hand if they wanted to receive that gift of eternal life and many of them raised their hands to indicate, yes. Then there were others that indicated that they wanted to rededicate their lives to Christ. Those who made decisions stayed to talk with their counselors afterward.

I asked one of the counselors what she thought of having the opportunity to help lead children to Christ. She was definitely touched by it and even more amazed that although she should be physically exhausted from the activity and lack of sleep, she had supernatural endurance from the Holy Spirit to be able to minister all day long. She knew that the prayers of her friends and family back home were effective this way. I reminded her of God's promise in Isaiah 40:31. This, my dear blog readers, is why the adults give of their time and energy, sometimes months ahead of camp to touch the lives of these children. It's all worth it!

But there is still more to come...

Day Three Redux

I started our last post talking about people going on a hike for free time. What I didn't tell you then was that a bunch of campers had gone off to do paint ball and were using the counselors (in protective gear and more than 30 feet away, mind you) as moving targets. Another group had fun with shaving cream near the pool. You have to see the photos once they are posted. Fortunately, all these activities were remedied by quick trips to the shower.

Our evening chapel was definitely the best so far. Our speaker, Chris, talked about the next two pieces of God's armor -the helmet of salvation and the shield of faith. He shared that faith means trust in God and told us how he and his wife had to trust God when faced with bad news from the doctor -they thought Jenn had cancer. In trusting God to take care of her, they were able to see God's healing power (there was no cancer found when the doctors operated). He talked about how God provided salvation for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. Chris also gave us an example of a father's love by showing a video of Team Hoyt (Google them to see the Youtube story). This a man who competes in Triathalons while pushing his son with Cerebal Palsy along too. Very Inspirational!

Ooh, I gotta go to a leadership meeting, I'll blog more tomorrow.

Day Three of Suit Up!

"We're leaving to go on our hike," the voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie just said. And so begins another afternoon of freetime here at camp. It's my chance to to blog and catch you parents up on the day's events. After sleeping soundly last night, we were awakened to go to counselor meeting then breakfast. This morning's chapel followed shortly thereafter.

Once our musical worship was over and the offering taken, Miss Janet shared the morning message. She talked about how God never lets go of us even in the most difficult times of our lives (and believe me, she really has experienced some tough days.)She shared with us about how she found and met Jesus; she also shared about what He gave her once she put her trust in Him. One of the verses she shared was:

"The Lord loves us very much. So we haven’t been completely destroyed. His loving concern never fails. His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are! I say to myself, The Lord is everything I will ever need. So I will put my hope in him." Lamentations 3:22-23

After that Miss Carol, began our cliffhanger missionary story which will continue tomorrow.

End Of Day Two (Part 2)

I wanted to post a rock climbing pic in the earlier post but blogspot wasn't cooperating.

End Of Day Two -Suit Up

It's very quiet right now -the only sound is the sound of crickets and the frogs in the nearby pond. All the campers (except for a few of the leaders and missionary students) are safe and sound in their cabins. It was a wonderful day in which God did many amazing things. The kids of course, had a blast rock climbing in addition to all the other activities mentioned previously. Tomorrow, some will try paint ball.
After free time, they cleaned up for dinner and went on to chapel at 7.

Tonight was the best night for worship so far (hopefully I can get Karla to blog and give your her impressions too). She introduced a song -Take A Stand that we have deemed our camp theme song and is based on Ephesians 6:10-11. Although how we got this song isn't nearly as fantastic as last year's theme song story, it is still an example of God working in unexpected ways.

Prior to camp, Karla had not found a song she liked for a theme song and instead planned some other new songs that she thought the kids would like. Karla had asked me to throw in a children's worship CD to play before chapel started. Since I don't have children of my own and don't work in children's ministry regularly -I volunteer in High School ministry, I just grabbed the only two children's sampler CDs I receive as part of my subscription to SongDiscovery. (Note: they send out ONLY 1 Children's sampler per year). The CDs were still in their wrapper when I got to camp because I hadn't time or desire to listen beforehand. I popped one in the player just before the first chapel but I really didn't care for the style of music -not upbeat enough for our high energy opening chapel. The second one started out better but I didn't pay attention to the lyrics last night because I was busy with last minute tech issues. As it was, I only played the first few tunes before the worship band started. This morning however, I got to the fifth song and recognized they were singing the words to our Bible passage for the week. I grabbed Karla and replayed the song for her. She said that all we needed was the music for the band to play. Well, the sampler contains the chord, leadsheets (with all the music on them) and the words. I had the computer, the printer to make the charts and she taught the band, so tonight we sang "Take A Stand".

Oh, I must not forget our speaker Chris (That's him with his wife Jenn). Tonight he spoke on putting on the armor and described three of the pieces -the belt of truth (which holds all the armor together and is used to counteract Satan's lies), the breastplate of righteousness (which guards our most vital parts and comes from being in right relationship with Christ) and the shoes of preparation in sharing the good news of peace. All of these , plus the ones we will learn about tomorrow night, enable us to stand against the the evil schemes of the Devil and his demons.

I'll continue to keep you posted on what we are learning. Right now I'm going to bed.

Put It On! (God's Armor)

It's Day 2 on our Lightseekers Camp Adventure. If you've following along via the blog and the flickr pics on the lower left, you know the kids are having a great time. This morning's chapel started out with worship led by Karla & Co.(they sang one of their favorites, The Fruit Song in addition to many others) and featured a talk by Mary who reminded us that our enemy is Satan. She also told the children that everyone must not only acknowledge that we are sinners and in need of a Savior, but we must receive Him into our lives. Miss Janet also shared about our remaining World Vision children and then we collected our offering for them.

After chapel, the kids had recreation time which is broken into 3 groups (we call them Units). One group played games in center camp, another did a special craft and the last group was at the pool. Tomorrow they rotate to a different activity so that each camper does all three recs by week's end.

After lunch (BBQ Chicken), we had our Walk The Talk teaching times which are also divided by Units. Today we talked about hiding God's Word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11 & 105). The best part is that each child received a brand new Bible of their own (which is why they were told NOT to bring Bibles to camp, BTW). Each Bible had been highlighted with the favorite verses of the Design Team. The students were then able to highlight their own fave verse inside as well.

Now everyone is off to free time. I will post more tonight after chapel, God and internet willing.

Our First Day

Greetings from Lightseekers Camp. We just finished our first day of camp and all the campers are off to bed. Definitely, today has been a very tiring day beginning with the bus rides here. We then had a very full afternoon swimming, playing minature golf, playing in the gym and doing crafts. Of course, we also were treated to a wonderful lunch and dinner by the Oak Glen staff (wet burritos for lunch, ham and great mac n' cheese for dinner).

Our chapel began with the ever fabulous worship music led by Miss Karla and the band. Karla usually chooses songs that are based on Scripture. This year she's introduced a new song based on Colossians 3:17 (ask your kids about the whatever song when they get home.)
Jim then had the kids play some crazy games (with food-ewwww!)followed by our missions spotlight on our World Vision children. We closed our evening with our speaker, Chris Charon who introduced our theme of the week, Suit Up, The Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). As the week progresses, I will post more on what we are learning.

We're Here (At Least the Design Team)

A new week of Lightseekers Camp is ready to begin. The Design Team, grunts and the student missionary helpers all arrived last night. After an early dinner at the local coffee shop, we set up the chapel for worship and the leadership "headquarters". Right now, we are about to meet for prayer before the children arrive. You can be praying for all the children too. Of course the leadership team would appreciate your prayers as well.

To see what God is doing, check into this blog later today - I typically give updates twice a day and I will be posting the first pictures later today.

Lightseekers Camp 2008 Is Coming!

Hey kids! As you may or may not know, Lightseekers Camp is only a little over a month away (July 28th -August 1). We are going back to Oak Glen Christian Conference Center, where we went last year.
This year our speaker is Chris Charon and our theme is "Suit Up!" (Armor of God).

Be sure to sign up as soon as possible. If you would like more info, visit our Lightseekers' website.

See ya there!