Youth Camp 2012

Praise report: God is moving and our youth are maturing!

We had an "in-house" camp this year: 

Wednesday - Saturday 5-8 Dec 2012, we gathered our Youth, had a guest worship band and Meagan and I had the privilege of sharing from the Word. We plowed through the entire book of 1 Peter these nights and were all convicted of much and excited about what God is asking us to do as Believers. 

Not only did we focus on spiritual growth and challenge, but we wanted our youth to bond and share life with each other. So, each night after worship, we did something special:

Wednesday, we went to McDonalds for ice-cream sundaes. 

Thursday, we rented the movie, "Joyful Noise" and had popcorn and soda! 

Friday, we had a grill-out and ate with the leadership of our church. Then each leadership couple took 3-4 of our youth back home with them for a spend-the-night party! 

Saturday morning, we all met at the church and headed to our local roller-coaster theme park (Ratanga Junction) for a day of being shaken and bonded like never before. 

I'm happy to report that God is still totally faithful. He's answering prayers, giving us favor with our youth, and I finally feel like we're beginning to be a family of Believers. Our church is seeing more unity and love than ever before. We still have a long way to go, but the glimpses of fruit that have arisen this Nov/Dec are buds of great hope and joy! All praise to the Lord for His movement. 

Recap in photo: (in no particular order)

Friday night BBQ/Braai : eating together as family

Boys at theme park

Boys on theme park log-ride

Post-log-ride drying out!

Meagan leading a group prayer to end Camp messages.

$1.25 sundaes at McDonalds. What a treat for our youth!

Camp Worship with guest band!

Melanie teaching 1 Peter

All brought blankets for the Movie Night! Popcorn and soda all around.

Thanks to donors from Shades Mountain - specifically the University Ministries - who helped fund Camp for our Youth this year. While we were unable to travel off-campus and truly "camp," God allowed us to have just enough funds to minister to our Youth and provide a memorable, challenging, unity-filled week. God bless all who so generously give to this mission.