gateway student ministries - winter camp 2007

so this last weekend was winter camp. i have to admit, it was a little more hectic getting this thing together than i thought it would be. it's a lot of work, but it was cool too. mad love to john for the work he did on these things in the past, and mad love to the other coaches that worked hard this year too.

winter camp will always be a love/hate for me. on the one hand, i will never forget hearing the voice of god CLEARLY last year at camp, an experience that will stand on the short list of times i feel that i have heard god speak explicitly to me in my life. that experience makes me love winter camp and the oaks. on the other hand, it will always be tainted by the memory of receiving a phone call about the death of my friend and her baby. i remember weeping by myself on a bench at the oaks. i remember feeling incapable of giving to our youth. but i will also always remember them getting behind me and ministering to me when i needed them.

highlights of camp:

• art/brian/raymond/don winning the graffitti contest for the second year in a row
• the gwg's (gateway girls) winning the informercial challenge
• levi becoming brian's new hip-hop apprentice
• la symph blowing up the spot
• the lord's supper at the end of the camp

lowlights:

• having to skip mud bowl cuz of the cold
• "the party" was nothing more than a bad karaoke room and some doritos
• foo fighter worship???? - never thought of "hero" as a worship song
• levi blowing chunks on the way down the mountain
• i really missed my family. i love them so much...

it's not secret that oikos has had a serious rough patch. but what i saw this weekend was a group of great students who were ready and willing to not only bring oikos back from the dead, but to commit to god anew. praise god for what he is doing with our students!

nothing brings me more joy in life than watching people commit themselves to the service of the true god. it makes ministry worth it.

the theme of the weekend was based on rev 3:20, where jesus speaks to us about how he knocks on the door of our heart. we spoke at length about how we need to choose to let him in. i think they heard it...

rev chapter 3 is the reason that i walk with god today. i realize that god called me (and you) to follow him completely, and not half-heartedly. i think they heard it...

we all know that the christian life is hard. but the payoff is immense. in ephesians chapter 1, the writer prays that we would be enlightened to understand the "hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". that hope is the dangling carrot in our lives, if you will. it is the reason that we continue, and the reason that we persevere. god has amazing things in store for us, his children, if we overcome.

if we open the door (and shut it behind him!), we will experience the greatness of life with christ. there is nothing more beautiful and there is nothing more rewarding.

we all need to rise to a new level of obedience to god. he demands it, and he deserves it. it is a fair price for freedom...

john 8:36 - so if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.