Fried Ham, Fried Ham... and we're mixing the purple stew...

Ah Camp. Just the name conjures up memories of silly campfire songs, long days and short nights, plastic lanyards and probably the best week of your entire summer.

Beechwood Hills is a camp operated by a denomination called the Church of Christ. I’m going to preface this whole post with a disclaimer, for those of all different denominational persuasions. There are basic beliefs of Christianity that you must believe in order to consider yourself as such (such as believing Jesus is the Son of God, he died and came to life on the third day, and so on). Everything else peripheral is matter of opinion and how you draw close to God. What works for one does not work for another (if it did, we’d all be the same and that’d be a very very very boring world.)

I first heard about camp back in March when one of my dear friends sent me an email – she was directing a week at camp, and would I please come be part of it? I hadn’t been to Beechwood Hills in 12 years… since she and I had been to camp as kids. I had some fond memories of our time there, and so when we met in April and I heard more about what the week was going to look like – I jumped on board.

The theme for the week was “Higher Ground”. You can take that in many directions, but it was based off the Sermon on the Mount – and we looked at how we could focus our life to reflect more of Christ’s love. You could also take it as moving beyond the little ‘opinion’ issues and loving each other instead of pointing out differences.

My friends had an awesome approach to camp, and really allowed me as a Bible Teacher (or ‘discussion facilitator’ as I preferred to called it) to be flexible with the lessons and really connect with the girls where I could the best. I had thirty girls once a day – teenaged girls. Anyone who’s ever worked in youth ministry or had a teenager of their own knows the challenge I was up against. We spent a lot of time talking about an outward focus towards our community versus the inward focus our culture promotes. We also spent a day exploring spiritual gifts and the way we connect to God individually.

There were also the obligatory campfire songs and camp pranks. I ate the most excellent camp food ever, and spent my early mornings with a group of lovely ladies and great conversations before the campers got up.

God showed up in a way I’m not sure had ever been seen before. One camper was baptized, and one staff member re-dedicated his life to Christ and was re-baptized. I had several of my girls chat with me about issues regarding their lives, their priorities and their relationships to Christ. It’s very humbling to have kids look up to you and respect your opinion.

At the end of the week, I asked all my girls to write down either what they had learned about Higher Ground or what they were going to change in their life. Some of their answers blew me away. One said she was going to change her views on her possessions, knowing that her only true treasure was Jesus. Another said she was going to be a better Christian example for her family, and ask them to church. And still another asked for prayers as she explored new ways to connect with God each day. This ain’t your typical bible class!

We also did an amazing activity called a Faith Walk. Summing it up, it was a blindfolded obstacle course that the kids went through while holding a rope. The staff was walking along side them if they needed help. It’s a great exercise, and one that each student came away with their own object lesson out of. Some appreciated the fact that the staff were right along side them. Others recognized that it was like life – We can’t see what’s out ahead of us, we have to have faith that God will be there for us.

Well, back to the staff meeting. This should be interesting – there’s some ninja moves, and someone’s whirling a chair about…

The Summer of Breakthroughs

This post has been floating around my computer, notebooks and head for a few weeks - just hasn't made its way to the actual internets yet. Bear with me, I have to blog this before I can move on to camp.

It's been quite a summer. God's been moving in lots of ways, and it's been so exciting to see what's happened.

First off, the deep has been meeting in a park all month. What an awesome experience to to get out into the community. Our very first Sunday out there, a man heard our music and stumbled over. I mean that quite literally, as he was drunk at 9am. The music was great, he said - and stuck around while the band warmed up, then into the service. For a church about community, this was a huge test to see how people would react. I saw nothing but pure love from everyone that morning. This gentleman was brought right into the circle of people, and we prayed over him, hugged him, cared for him. Not one person turned away, acted rudely, ignored him. At one point he broke down crying, saying he couldn't understand why we cared so much for someone so worthless and drunk as he was.

He's been back every week since... sober. That, my friends, is a breakthrough. It tells me that the deep is really committed to the cry of our community. It shows that we have the heart of Christ. We're making an impact on Muskegon.

We've also been offered some amazing space to work in - if we can come up with the funds for it. It's in an awesome community, a block from a school and just a few blocks from Heritage Landing. Visit our website, and check out the video called "Project Deep Space" to see the awesome opportunities we have - and how you can be involved.

A more personal breakthrough happened this summer too. I had a very unfortunate experience in high school with some church leadership. It wasn't anything intentional, just a misjudgment and mistake on their part - but for many years, I couldn't even think of this person without feeling the hurt in my heart. I struggled with letting the experience go, and although I could see how God's transformed me through it - I refused to move on past it. The last six months have been very impacting for me, and when I ran into this person at a church conference last month after not seeing them for a very long time - there was no grudge, no hurt. I could truly talk to them with love. It was my own stubbornness that refused to let me move past something that happened almost eight years ago. Thank God for what he's done in my heart.

I just got back from a week at camp - and I'm still processing through that experience. I expect to post something soon though - God moved in a great way that week!