I think this was my tenth year taking our church youth group to camp for the week. What made this especially cool for me was that my son Nate was able to go with me as he's starting sixth grade. Our policy has been that we have kids wait until they've completed sixth grade to go, but since I was going, we made an exception. On one hand it was cool for me as a Dad to see Nate function so independently at camp, and tough on the other hand to see him not need me as much.
We had the Phil Wing band from Axis in Dayton back this year to lead worship, Noel was the speaker for high school, and we had Chris there to do junior high. We continue to change things up each year, with the camp maturing as the leaders mature (I use the word 'mature' very loosely). The theme this year was Mash Up and we looked at what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus and how God transforms us We focused on the ideas of spiritual disciplines, being people who pursue justice and mercy in our world, and people who live in a way that people want to know what's going on in your life and why you live the way you do.
As you can see from this picture, Noel would often sit around and teach us individually. Mostly Ken Buck and Shinn, really. See how interested he looks in the picture? His thought bubble would read, "iPhone with 3G... MMMMM."
This was Micheal, our new youth pastor's first year leading camp and he did a great job. The only minor gaff was during our youth group time when Michael was reviewing some of the ground rules. While talking about appropriate dress for girls, what he meant to say was this: "Girls, men are very visual creatures so please dress appropriately and don't make it more difficult for them." Instead, what came out was this: "Girls, men are very visual creatures, so please dress appropriately and don't make it hard." Oops.
The weather was great during the week. It was the first year I would have actually needed a sweatshirt and the first year I didn't bring one. Nate is much wiser than I apparently. I needed far less gold bond powder this year without the heat, which was a plus. Either I'm getting older, or the week is getting longer. I was whooped early in the week. I got up at 6 and ran while i was there, getting pretty lost on a 5 mile route the first time around. I think I had more energy in the days I ran than the days I didn't. I actually lost a few pounds always being on the go and eating pretty healthy - oatmeal for breakfast and salads twice a day.
We had our standard set of activities during the day like giant inflatable things, canoeing and evening bowling and gym time.
We had the infamous battle of helms deep, complete with water noodles, flour bombs and water balloons. I decided I should probably either ref the event next year or submit to getting gang-beaten by every high-testosterone high school student. I delivered more than my share of beatings in the most christlike way possible. After all, the sixth grade girls had it coming.
The game that captivated our guys, especially Nate, was Wall Ball. It came about as we were all standing around with a racquetball trying to figure out what to do. We improvised and came up with this game that basically a combination of handball, walleyball and dodgeball. The guys would play this game 3 hours a day. I dig this picture of Nate climbing up the wall below on the left.
We had the giant slip and slide as well, even bigger than ever. It was close to 100 yards long if it was a foot. No major injuries this year, except for Tiffany's Pink Eye (which comes from touching poo and then touching your eye). Tiffany claimed it was a scratched cornea, but I'm not sure.
We had a great group this year. They got along well and had fun together. One of the hallmarks of our group is that the older and younger kids hang together. The older kids treat the younger kids so well, it really amazes me.
We had a ton of leaders this year. Two of our high school kids, Rodney and Katie, have been helping out with junior high as leaders, and doing it at the level of adults. Tiffany, Megan, Stephanie, Jim and Chris came along to help as well. Michael and Kasey really do the lions share of the work. Michael is on staff at church and Kasey gets to do all his administrative work 'cause she loves him.
If you didn't know, Michael and Kasey are getting married in August. Kasey's Mom was one of my leaders back when I first started doing junior high and Kasey was in 6th grade. It's a cool full circle to see one of my kids become a leader, and have her fianccee/husband become our youth pastor.
One of my favorite parts of camp is hanging with the other leaders. This EYF (Evangelical Youth Fellowship) is this odd mix of different churches of all kinds of denominations that just keeps growing and growing. We're a group of people that love Jesus and love kids and set any differences aside (except Ken Buck's love of Obama more than Jesus). These are people who i've gotten to know and stay in touch with through blogs and get togethers over the years. It was fun catching up with Jay and Jess during the week, who we miss deeply.
Probably the greatest part of camp for me was seeing some of the guys who've been coming for 7 years, really start to ask themselves some hard questions about themselves and what it means to follow Jesus. Noel's messages set the stage for some great, tough conversations. As a follow-up, Michael, the high school/college guys and I are starting a five week small group tonight to take a hard look at discipleship. Should be cool.
You can see the rest of the pictures here.
1 comment:
my fast from the internet during that week was surprisingly easy. usually need to at least check email once a day...but i survived.
hope your bruised rib feels better so you can laugh out loud again. :)
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