Day 4 -Wise Up!

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." As much as we like to learn wise sayings or principles to guide us in life, wise living begins when we place our trust in Christ. His Spirit then lives inside us, guiding us, teaching us, and enabling to make wise choices in the face of a world hostile to godly wisdom. The campers are learning these truths through song, through teaching in chapel and in their Walk the Talk sessions. Today, we talked about what makes a good friend - a friend who is not leading you astray but one who encourages you as you make wise choices. Our speaker Jim Woolard has lots of stories that help show the importance of having this wisdom in our lives. We are looking forward to hearing the end of the story he told this morning; he left us another cliffhanger to go along with Carol's missionary story one.

Last night was the carnival. Throughout the years at Lightseekers Camp, we have had several different fun midweek activities: movie nights, talent shows, night games to name a few. But, as far as I know, this was the first time we planned a carnival with a bouncy house and an inflatable giant slide. They also played ring toss, shooting arrows through rings, milk bottle toss, ping pong ball games and much more. Each station awarded prizes to the campers and it was a fabulous, although exhausting time.

Tonight is our last night of camp and will be a night of decisions. Some kids will be deciding to ask Jesus to be their Savior while others will seek to walk more closely with Him. There might be tears of confession and squeals of delight as students experience God's love in a new or fresh way. Please pray for us this evening. It is for God's glory that we do Lightseekers Camp, not just because it's fun or that the kids get to be away from home. No, we work all year preparing so that children will encounter God, some for the first time, more deeply than ever. Pray that God would stir little hearts to respond to the invitations.

End of Day 3/ Start of Day 4

Well, the Internet was down again last night so I didn't get to post about the CARNIVAL we had with fun games, a bouncy house and a giant inflatable slide. The kids had a blast just running around being kids. Everyone had lots of very safe fun and when it was all over, the campers went back to their cabins and slept quite soundly.

Oh my, the bell just rang for breakfast. Today is our last full day so I will be posting more later...

Day 3 of Wise Up!

Throughout this week we are learning how to make wise choices - choices to do the right thing, to resist peer pressure which might lead us to hurt others or ourselves, to listen to and obey our leaders, parents and God. We can see, as our speaker Jim has shared during our chapel time, that unwise choices can lead to disaster. Last night, Jim shared from the book of Philemon about how the slave Onesimus had made bad choices that caused him to end up in prison where he met the apostle Paul. Paul introduced Onesimus to Jesus and taught him to look to Jesus to help him make wise choices.

Also in chapel, Carol has been sharing her cliffhanger missionary stories - this week she's sharing about John Patton and his adventures in bringing the Gospel to he New Hebrides islands. He faced cannibals and witchdoctors who sought to kill him for suggesting that their idols were false and that only the One True God had the power over life and death.

Of course you know that our chapel worship time is fantastic! Karla and her band (with members from four different churches) are doing a great job leading the kids in singing praise. Some new songs are mixed in with our old favorites (what would camp be without Pharoah, Pharoah, or the The Fruit Song?) Some of the Missionary Kids from TFB are leading the kids in hand motions to go along with the singing so if you see pictures with their bodies in weird poses, just realize that's part of a song.

Tonight we are going to have a special event which I will post about later.

Day 2 Redux

Sorry, internet was down all afternoon and evening. I will post after chapel this morning.

Wise Up! - Day 2

Our Theme Verse, Proverbs 1:5 talks about the importance of being wise. This morning we talked about making wise choices and resisting the pressure from others who might try to pressure us in to making wrong decisions. Other people try to mold us like clay to get us to follow them. Some are bullies who like to push others around. Other times, they will suggest that doing something bad is more fun than doing what is right or what pleases God. Following God's truth instead  is helpful because He alone knows what is best for our lives. He has given us His word, the Bible, to give us the way to go. Because of His guidance, we can say "no" to the voices that would tempt us away from following God.

Right now, all the campers are at free time having loads of fun! I have posted the first pictures for you to see. Follow the Flickr badge and see for yourself.

Post Lights Out -Day One

Your campers are all asleep now; the only sound I hear is the sound of crickets chirping, water running in the brook and the frogs croaking. I am outside braving the mosquitoes and the night air trying to maintain internet signal (we really got spoiled by our last camp). I've spent the last hour downloading emails so I can print them tomorrow and yes, we have been receiving them by the dozen. Your children are all having a great time. Our first chapel was a big hit. The kids just love to sing praise and worship songs. We also got a taste from our camp speaker, Jim Woolard. Ask your camper about making pancakes - Jim used making pancakes as an illustration of being wise. Tomorrow morning is our camp picture. The campers all received their camp t-shirts and we will post it as soon as it becomes available. Well, I had better get to bed myself; it wouldn't be wise to stay up much longer. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Wise Up! Lightseekers 2013

We we are here again at Oak Glen Christian Conference Center. Things are a little hectic around camp and so we are behind on e mail and blogging. Part of that is due to wifi being limited to a certain area of camp (remember from previous Lightseekers Camps Ann's  Cybercafe?) No pictures posted yet, but that's only because everyone is having too much fun to hand over their camera memory cards. Email is up and running so you can send your camper a message. I'll post tonight again after chapel.

Suit Up! - The Conclusion

Although the week is now over and everyone is now home, sleeping in their own beds, eating their mom's cooking and has washed off their bodies a week's worth of camp dirt, the lessons we have learned this past week aren't really over; they have just begun. For some, they just put the Armor of God on for the first time as the trusted Jesus to be their Savior - they have a brand new Helmet of Salvation, a Belt of Truth, a Breastplate of Righteousness, Shoes fitted for readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace, a Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit. For them and most of the others, they now get to learn to wear their armor daily in world where the devil will use the environments of school, home and the neighborhood to launch attacks. To forget to "SUIT UP!" leaves them vulnerable to Satan's fiery darts. So rather than saying that this is a conclusion, it is more accurate to describe it as a continuation to camp. Lightseekers will gather again next year, possibly at a new location (you can pray for us about that!), but with the same determination to help kids find Christ and grow strong in their faith. I will close with our theme verse for this year:  
"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." (Ephesians 6:10-11, NIV)

More pictures will get loaded into Flickr over the next few days, so keep looking and be patient for them.

See you next year!

Suit Up - Day 4 Part 2

Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has truly blessed us this evening in our chapel. Chris spoke about the Helmet of Salvation. What does salvation mean? We use that term a lot in church, but it means that God has rescued us from our sins and offers us forgiveness. Forgiveness is critical because everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23) and deserves to die, being separated from God for all eternity. But God has freed us from sin by Jesus' death on the cross. Chris explained that we have a choice to make with the gift of love that God has for us. When we surrender our lives to Him, we get eternal life! Many of the children responded tonight to that simple message and invitation that Chris gave. Many more stayed after to rededicate their lives to Jesus. As I walked around the chapel watching the kids praying with their counselors, I was reminded that this is why we do Lightseekers Camp. I will blog tomorrow as we close our week.

Suit Up Day 4

This morning began for me at 6:40am when one of my fellow Design Team members gently shook my bed to wake me. As I hurried to get ready, I thought about the day ahead of us, knowing that today would be a day of decision for many campers. I downloaded and printed a bunch of emails sent to the campers by their parents to pass out at breakfast. Before I knew it, it was time for chapel where Chris  talked about the Sword of the Spirit which of course, is the Word of God. This piece of the Armor is SOOOO IMPORTANT to us because it is necessary to counteract the devil's  lies. Jesus, when tempted in the wilderness, used the Word of God to respond to every one of Satan's temptations. He, of course, knew that the Word was true and right, not distorted like what came out of Satan's mouth. Chris talked about how after Jayden was born, people often said cruel and awful things about her and them. Chris and Jenn had decided to rely on the truth of God's Word instead. Tonight is our last evening chapel, so I will report later about it.

The kids are out having fun right now -free time has just started. I think I'm going to go take some pictures and try to post them. Here's the camp picture from yesterday, as promised.

Suit Up - Day 3

Today was such an exciting and jam-packed day. We began the morning with eggs and waffles (yum!), going right into chapel afterwards where Chris continued his teaching on the Armor of God and the story of Jayden. This morning's talk focused on the shoes (or boots) for feet fitted with readiness that comes with the Gospel of peace. He told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego -three young Jewish men who had been captured and hauled away to live in Babylon. One day, a law was passed that forced everyone to bow down to a huge statue of the king or be thrown in a fiery furnace. These three made their stand to obey God and refused to follow the king's rule. They made this stand because their feet were secure in the knowledge of God and His truth. So strong was their stand and determination to follow God, that although knew God had the power to save the from the flame, they were prepared to face death despite the king's warnings. Of course we know that God delivered the three completely from harm -even though they were cast into the fire, they were not burned nor did their clothes even smell of smoke. And although there were three who went into the fiery furnace, a fourth (who "looked like a son of a god") appeared with them. Chris also continued the story of his unborn daughter and how after he and Jenn had received the terrible news that Jayden might die, people from around the world began to lift them up in prayer, helping them to "stand firm" as well.

After chapel, we had our Walk The Talk breakout sessions which reinforced the the concepts of the Armor making us ready to move and being ready to trust. Then we went to our various unit activities held before lunch -either the pool, crafts or games on the field. After lunch, we took our camp picture (I'll post it tomorrow.) and had a fun-filled afternoon.

Tonight at chapel, Karla led an excellent time of musical worship and Miss Carol continued her missionary story about Ringu, the boy who lived in fear of evil spirits. Yet, as good as all this was, Chris's story about Jayden's birth and his lesson on the Shield of Faith were definitely the highlights of the day. He talked about the time that Jesus came walking on the water out to meet the disciples who were out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat. When Peter saw Jesus, he wanted to come out on the water to him. He climbed out and began to walk towards Jesus, but when he saw the waves, took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. Jesus rescued him but questioned why Peter had lost his faith and doubted. In the story of Jayden, there were lots of reasons for Chris and Jenn to doubt God. Even Jayden's birth was a very anxiety filled time with wonder if she would ever take her first breath. At the moment of her birth, Chris and Jenn, surrounded both inside and outside the hospital  by the prayers of friends and family, had to rely on their faith in God for Him to perform a miracle. GOD DID! Jayden was born and let out a cry which the doctors never expected to happen. They predicted that she would be in the the hospital, on oxygen for six months. It turned out that she was only there for three weeks before she went home with her parents, breathing without the aid of oxygen assistance. The doctors could only remark that there was Someone definitely watching over their child. God is watching over her, but he also watches over us, giving us the Shield of Faith to go  up against our Enemy's fiery darts. Chris closed with a video showing their journey and leaving us with Jeremiah 29:11. (I'll let  you look it up and read it yourself).
Well that wraps up Wednesday. We played our night adventure game tonight after chapel and I'm tired from chasing the campers around in the dark with a flashlight. I'll post more tomorrow.

Suit Up - Recap of Tuesday Night

I forgot to post last night before going to bed... Last night Chris (with help from his wife Jenn) continued speaking on the Armor of God, relating the story of his daughter Jayden.What we knew so far was that Chris and Jenn had discovered that their unborn daughter, just a few weeks before her scheduled birth, was diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism - a condition, that due to the size of her chest cavity, would give the baby only a 1% chance of survival. However, after some additional testing (and prayer by many on the family's behalf) the doctors were surprised to discover that Jayden DID have some lung tissue and the chance for survival had become 50/50. This Chris, explained, was his and Jenn's opportunity to stand firm in God's power (as our Ephesians 5:11,12 passage teaches.) All around us are forces of  evil that seek to do battle against us. In Chris's situation, the Enemy tried to get him to believe the lie that Jayden's condition or her potential death was the result of  his sin, that he was not standing right before God. The truth of God is that He has declared us RIGHTEOUS because of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus died for us, He has taken away our sin and so we wear the Breastplate of Righteousness which protects our heart from being discouraged by Satan's weapons. We have more to hear of Chris and Jenn's story, but I'll post as that unfolds in the messages.

More pics are up; yesterday, many tried the zipline in addition to the pool, archery and climbing the giant trees. There were many crazy games and crafts to go with all the learning about Jesus. I'll post again later.

Suit Up -Day 2

It's been such a busy day so far, I haven't had time to post before now (at this moment,all the campers are playing games on the field.)

This morning Chris spoke about the Belt of Truth (the first part of the armor of God). He talked about fear and what we do when we are afraid. He told us about Joshua, the man of God who had been with Moses and had seen God do really incredible things. But when Moses died, Joshua was the one who had to lead them into the Promised Land. Despite all the reasons he might have to be afraid (he didn't want to disappoint God, he was leading a people who didn't always follow God, and there were scary enemies in the Land), Joshua was told by God Himself to be strong and courageous. God promised to be with him wherever he went too. He (and we) would be successful if we take God at His word and trust Him.

In the armor of God, the belt holds all the pieces together, without it they all fall apart -it's the core! God told Joshua to trust in Him and His truth. Trusting in God and His promises holds our entire Christian walk together!

I'll post more later tonight.

Suit Up Day 1 -Be Strong in the Lord

Tonight, after freetime, dinner and games, we had our first chapel. As we sang the words to the song "Take Your Stand" we were reminded to "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." Why? "So that you can your stand against the devil's schemes." Chris Charon, our speaker continued this in his first message; we are in a fierce battle that's been going on since the Garden of Eden. Satan tries to get as many people away from God, but God Himself  is our hero-He has our back. Even though Satan tries to get us to disobey God, God is there helping us find the way of escape and enabling us to resist the devil. He has given us His armor to wear and protect us. Tomorrow is another day. Pictures are slowly being uploaded to the Flickr stream too.

Suit Up -Day 1

They made it! All your kids are here safe and sound. Now their bellies are full since we just left lunch and are headed into free time. We have an exciting week planned for them  so they will need every last bit of energy to survive.  Continue to pray for the campers as they hear our speaker Chris Charon talk to them for the first time. No new photos posted yet, but expect some tonight after chapel.

Lightseekers 2012 - Pondo 2.0

I can't believe a year has gone by already, but here we are (at least the design team and Missionary Kids) at Pondo (Ponderous Pines) for another year of Lightseekers Camp. A lot has changed in the past year, for one our beloved camp pastor, Bob Neill went home to be with the Lord a week ago. We miss him so much already, but we know that his vision for Lightseekers lives on each of us. There is a sadness because he is no longer with us, but we have great joy knowing that our campers will start arriving in less than 12 hours from now. Everything is ready, but despite our plans, God can move or work in a way that is beyond anything that we can imagine. Our theme this week is "Suit Up" - which is talking about putting on the armor of God. Of course, this is something that we as Christians need to do every day, however with all that has been going on, we especially need its protection against the devil's arsenal. Pray for us, pray for the campers that God would indeed exceed our greatest expectations.

Farewell to Lightseekers Camp 2011

The church buses, vans and cars have returned with their precious cargo of campers and all their luggage (hopefully it all made it home). The children have replayed the events of the week with you parents as they made their way from church to home; a week's worth of dirt on clothes and kids is being washed off. But as life returns to "normal" for the nearly 200 who spent the week at Lightseekers' Camp, there are those whose lives are very different because of their encounter with Jesus this week. Some campers trusted Him to be their Savior and have entered God's family. Others have decided to step up their commitment to Christ and shine their light to those around them. Dale Torry reminded us this morning that Satan will try to distract us from looking to Jesus; just like the wolf that licks the knife blade coated in frozen blood and left upright in the snow by the Eskimo hunter, we can be ensnared by our sinful desires. Pray for our campers that will be able to live for Jesus, serving Him and others as easily as it was when surrounded by their fellow Lightseekers. We will be back together again, God willing, in August 2012, but until then, keep looking to Jesus.

P.S. The remainder of the 1500+ photos (still about 300 to 400) will be up on Flickr over the next few days. The camp video can be seen on the Lightseekers Camp Facebook page.

Serve to Love

These pictures were from our unit competition held after dinner. The campers in each unit were challenged to depict their version of The Last Supper. I'll let your campers tell you which unit won.
Tonight we heard Carol finish the story of the Marshalls and Mpese Andre, how God was able to use them to build the church community in Songo, Congo despite the dangers of civil war and poisonous black mamba snakes.

Dale told us the story of the paralytic man who was brought to Jesus by his friends; they didn't let the large crowds deter them from having their friend see Jesus, they just opened up the roof and lowered their friend right in front of Him. They loved their friend by serving him, giving him the opportunity to meet Jesus and be healed. Dale then invited the campers to make decisions for Christ -1. To begin to follow Him by trusting Him as Savior, 2. To follow Jesus more closely, especially if they hadn't been living for and serving Him, 3.To be one who helps others look to Jesus and follow Him. Many children stayed behind to speak with their counselor as had many during the morning chapel when Jim spoke.

As you read this, please pray for the children who made decisions this week; there were many more who raised their hand indicating a decision, but were either too afraid or unsure of what would happen if they stayed. Transformed children's lives are why we do this camp. I post our final words tomorrow. Check out the Flickr link -there are over 1000 pics posted and I'm sure there's at least one of your child.

Love to Serve and Serve to Love

Today's word of the day was serve. Tuesday it was love and yesterday was shine. Putting them together with our camp theme -Look up to Jesus, we are to look to love (Jesus and others), look to shine (Matthew 5:16) our deeds, and look to serve. From what I've seen at this camp, the campers do love to serve. Right now, it's OTS (which stands for Opportunity to Serve)- this means they are setting the tables for dinner and will act as host/hostesses for their tables. All week the OTS kids have been offering to take my plate and bus the table with gladness. (Keep that in mind moms and dads). One of the reasons Lightseekers exists to help the children learn how to live like Jesus, in this case by serving one another. As Mary just reminded the OTS helpers, as we shine our good deeds before others, it points them to Jesus. It is our goal for them to serve others, not just at camp, but also at home, at school or in their neighborhood. Later, I will recap the evening...

Let it Shine

Tonight was immensely fun - worship as always, was filled with loud voices and vigorous hand/body motions, Carol continued her missionary story (Andre escaped the rebel soldiers we heard about last night), and Dale continued to tell us about the Botfly who seeks out a host to live in. He used this gross story to talk about the blind man healed by Jesus. Jesus spat in his eye to heal him -He could have just healed the man but Jesus used this strange method instead. The point was not how he was healed, but the first face he saw when he was no longer blind was Jesus'. The man then was able to shine for Jesus once he saw Him. That's the point of the day, we too can shine for Jesus, but we have to see Him for who He is first. After chapel, we played a nighttime game in which some people were in complete darkness while others shined a flashlight. It was hilarious to see the ones who were in the dark trying to sneak past the ones with the light to get to their "goals". They've all gone off to bed now, to get a good night's sleep as we face a new day.