The Final Summer Update

I apologize to those who have been keeping up with my summer. It occured to me that I didn't update for a month, so now I will hopefully be able to fill you in on what God did for the last month of camp.

When I last posted I told you that my family and Emily were in town. The second half of that week had very few campers because of the Fourth of July holiday, so I was able to take the rest of the week off. The week of July 8th was spent preparing for our final two weeks. In those two weeks, we had four amazing groups come through. One group of 30 middle schoolers finished painting three houses in one week! This, however, meant that I had to shave my head. You see, I bribed them into finishing all the houses. And they were proud of themselves. And they should be!

I attended an Impact share service at Sanlando UMC the week after their high schoolers came to our camp. This is one of the few chances we as a staff had to hear how much God really worked on students' hearts. The youth worship leaders, both of whom attended Impact, played 3 of the songs they learned at our camp. It was basically a dream come true.

Many people asked me if I was doing Impact again. I quickly answered yes. I've been to many camps in my life, and this is easily the best one I've ever been to. I mean, I could be biased because it's the only one I've worked at. But probably not. It probably really is the best camp ever. I learned so much about youth ministry, leading worship, and working with people in general. I can't wait until I go again next summer. I can't wait to see what God will do until then.

The... Next post...

This is the best thing I've ever done. That's really all that needs to be said. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Ok, maybe as I get older I can't do camps, but you know what I mean. I guess I don't really always know what I'm doing, and I still biff alot (biff = screw up), but I love what I'm doing. Youth are some of the most amazing people in the world. My heart has burned for every youth that has come through this camp to know that Jesus loves them. I hope He used me to show them that in some capacity. I hope He showed them at all, whether He used me or not. But what is amazing to me is that He keeps on using me despite myself. Despite who I am. He's too good to me. It was enough to save me from my sin, but now He wants to use me too. I can not be grateful enough.

Thank you, everyone who has been praying for me. My family and Emily are here this week, and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them this week. Our next two groups come in at the end of the month. I can't wait.

The First Week

Ok, so it was more like the first week and a half. We had a half week starting the 6th-9th, and then a full week this past week. Today I'm sitting in the office of one of the youth ministers I worked with this week. I think the best part of this experience is the fact that I can continue to build relationships with people after they have gone through camp. Aaron and I worked with the group from FUMC Winter Park this week. On their day off on Wednesday, we were invited to spend the day at the lake with them. Today I went to their church and ate barbecue chicken. I love that I feel like I'm really investing in peoples' lives. I feel like I'm connecting with people in a way I never have before. I don't deserve this opportunity. I can't believe God is choosing to use me in this way.

Worship has also been amazing. I have to talk about a few specific experiences. Please note first, however, that I don't take credit for any of it. On Thursday night, I needed one more song for worship, so I randomly chose the song "Holy is the Lord" by Chris Tomlin. It was only after I chose it that I realized that the message was about entering the Body of Christ in fellowship with other believers, and a line in the song says "together we sing." As we closed with that song, I looked up near the end and noticed that everyone in the room as standing next to each other, arm in arm. As we sang the final chorus, Aaron and I jumped off stage and joined them. It was an amazing experience. Also, on the same night, we did Overdrive worship later in the evening after their church group time. About 25 of the 60 or so kids came. I felt some students needed prayer, so I was led to open an opportunity to the students to pray with the staff. Several students found other staff members to pray and talk with, and they all ended up in a conversation about God. I eventually had worn my voice and fingers out, so I started up a CD and joined in. The whole week came together as the most amazing time of my life. I think I sang Marvelous Light at least... 7 times. They loved that song almost as much as I do. There is nothing better than these lines:

My dead heart now is beating
My deepest stains now clean
Your breath fills up my lungs
Now I'm FREE.

I still get chill bumps every time.

The Worries

So far I'm having a blast. Right now we're staying at St. John's, a Lutheran Church in Winter Park, FL, just north of Orlando. I'll be sleeping on an air mattress for the next 8 weeks. The food will be good, but simple. There will be little to no privacy. The work will be hard. Everything I want for myself is going to be thrown out the window.

Sounds pretty cool!

Honestly, I need to be made uncomfortable. Comfortable is pretty boring. I think I've been prepared up to this point to be successful in a situation where all my personal luxuries are no longer mine to claim. I'm going to make a concerted effort not to complain about anything in an effort to truly enjoy the amazing things that will happen this summer. I'm already having a blast.

I've started to get worried about my abilities to do both these jobs. I've been especially worried about leading worship, for some reason. Some of the other guys have been talking about how great the past worship leaders have been, and I'm worried about letting them down. I think I need to realize that I need to just be ME and rely on God to use me the way he made me. That's not really that easy for me, because I honestly don't really believe in myself all the time. I think if I stop trying to be GOOD, and just be ME, I'll surpass my own perception of myself. But either way, here's a list of things I've found out I'm bad at so far, just for some fun (and to keep me humble)!

1. Dry wall
2. NOT being awkward
2. Counting
3. Marco Polo
4. Chicken fighting
5. Telling stories
6. Trying to get Aaron to be literate (funny story actually... you can ask me about it if you'd like!

The Resort

Camp has officially begun for us staffers. Right now I'm sitting on a bed with Aaron Hoyle at our low-budget resort in Daytona Beach, where we'll be for staff training. Early this morning, I was awakened by Julie's father, who let me know that I had a flat tire. Luckily, he pumped it up enough for me to make it to a tire shop, where they took the nail out and patched it up for free. Snafu avoided. Snafu... remember that word. It means "hang-up" or "set-back." So we're ready. We're excited. Lets see what God does.

The Journey

Well we finally made it to Daytona Beach. After 1,050 miles of driving, hundreds of dollars in gas, and lots of days without showering, we made it. We're now at my good friend Julie's house hanging out with her and her twin Michelle. It's quite late and we are quite tired, but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it. Last night stayed at Furman University in Greenville, SC. My friend Katie, who I met in Ecuador in 2004, found us a place to stay for the night. She then accompanied us to Atlanta for a Braves game! After a few hours of directional confusion, we made it to the game in time to see my darling Braves get owned by the Phillies. It's ok though, I have now been to Turner Field. We drove straight from there to here... 6 and a half hours with one stop. God has already blessed us with good weather and a vehicle in good health, so I can't wait to see what He's going to do next!