Sports Camp - Yadkin County

The staff arrived at Forbush Friends on Saturday the 13th. That left us about half a week to get ready for our  shorter camp taking place in Yadkin County. The SOUL week in Yadkin was really more of a weekend. The participants arrived on Thursday, which is earlier than normal. On Friday we did all of our get-to-know-you and group building games. Then we spent the afternoon going over stations for the Sports Rally on Saturday.

Because the weekend was shorter than our normal weeks, instead of a camp that was four days long, we had a one day Sports Rally that Saturday. That meant that on Friday we prepped for a the whole afternoon, to get ready for Saturday
, from  9am to 3pm. That's a long day to be out in the sun running around. But we did it.

Saturday morning came and everyone got up bright and early to head out to the community park and set up. We got to the park about 8:00, registration starting at 8:30. It being out first year at this location, we weren't expecting too many kids to come out. But total we had almost 30 come for camp. Not including the participants running the stations.

The group of participants that we had at Forbush was very different than the group that we had at Up River. Mostly because our Up River group was a group of high school-ers and the group we had at Forbush was middle schoolers. I'm going to be completely honest and tell you that we were a little worried that the participants wouldn't be able to handle leading the stations if we had any older kids come to camp. But, in the end that wasn't a problem. All of our campers were, for the most part, younger than our participants. As you can see, some of the pictures are of kids painting sun catchers. That, ironically enough, is because a large storm came looming over us about lunch time. Once the lightning started, it was time to pull out the rainy day supplies and do other activities.

At the end of the day we all headed back to Forbush to shower and re-energize before our amazing speaker came back that night. Nick Poindexter was our speaker on Friday night as well as Saturday night. I don't want to give away too much of our theme (just wait, since next week is our last week I can let you in on absolutely everything). BUT! Nick did an amazing job of connecting the words to the middle schoolers. Since I was sitting in the back I got to see how into it they were, reacting to his stories, reflecting on themselves. It was amazing. He even pulled from 2 Kings (which is in the Old Testament) and connected it to Jesus and the rest of our theme. I love when people make it clear how the whole Bible is one long story.

Sports Camp Begins! .. and potato adventures

Last Monday was our first day of Sports Camp. Since it was held at the Perquimans County Rec Center and not Up River Friends, we had to get up pretty early in order to eat breakfast, have morning devotion, and make it to the Rec Center with time to set up. Set up includes getting the registration table up and running as well as putting up the tent in the middle of the field, and filling coolers. On a hot day we probably go through about 6 coolers of water and/or Gatorade.

Then the kids arrive! As the children arrive for sports camp, we play with them on the playground, and we get to know everyone's names and help them get to know each other.

Camp starts with a silly song and some stretches. Then group leaders are lead out and groups are called based on age. Camp is offered up through high school age, but typically the kids are elementary and middle school age. The highschoolers that come usually have a lot of fun, even though they may not want to admit it.

As I said before, Monday was football day, so each station had different drills relating to the sport. One was agility; there was a defense station, and an offense station. A devotion with the kids is also a station. That way we get to spend time with them and talk about Jesus, not just rush it at the end. Camp lasts until about 12, then parents begin coming back to pick up the kids. Sometimes on the first day the kids are ready to go, but usually they want to stay and hang out and play games with everyone some more.

After camp, and after everything had been cleaned up, the staff and the volunteers (who we call participants) leave to go eat lunch at Up River.

Most afternoons we, as a group, do at least one service project. Monday afternoon all of us loaded up into vans and headed out to pick up potatoes at a local farm. This Potato Ministry is something that was started in the area not long ago. Local farmers have decided that either they will grow potatoes especially for the cause or they will let volunteers comb their fields after they have harvested their potatoes. Either way, volunteers go out into the fields and glean potatoes, which are then donated to local charities and other ministries.

At the end of the hour we had in the fields, our participants, and the staff, had gathered 601 pounds of potatoes. How awesome is that?!

Later that night we had our second worship session with Zack as our speakers. The title of his message was "1st Ministry and 2nd Ministry." First ministry is loving God. Second ministry is loving people. What he was talking about is something that is extremely important on SOUL, and the staff had been trying to make sure that we are fullay able to take care of ourselves (with Time Alone with God and a bible study every night) so that we can pour into others. In order to successfully complete second ministry, or outreach, the relationship that we have with our Father must be constant, it must be stable. It is nearly impossible for someone to share the love of Jesus if they don't know him or if their relationship is weak. In order to love others effectively, the love of Christ must be so full in us that it flows out of us onto others.

Something that I have written in my notes that night which I think is thought provoking, "If I don't choose to act and to walk in faith, then God will do nothing. It is my job to act on faith." When I say that I am not saying that God cannot act without us. He is the creator, the destroyer, the beginning and the end. He does not need us to do anything. However, because he loves us, God has given us the chance to follow him, he won't force us to do so.

I'm going to leave you with that.

Have a wonderful day.

Morgan

The Beginning

And so it begins.

This morning the NC SOUL 2013 team left from the Yearly Meeting Annex at about 5 am. Yes, you read that right, 5. In. The. Morning. All so we could make it to Belvidere in time to attend the worship services in the area.

We made it!

I spent this morning with Heather, Megan, Tanna, and Charles at Piney Woods.

I haven't talked about Tanna or Charles yet, but they are assistant staff for us while we are staying at Up River. Tanna has been a participant for a couple years, and Charles goes to the church that Heather and Megan attend. He's going to be leading music for us this week.

Joe Kirby is the new pastor at Piney Woods, and his message this morning was about the differences between a contract and a covenant. One of the main differences that came up was that in a contract, if the terms are violated then it becomes void. However, in a covenant, it does not matter what happens. In a covenant those involved have become parts of one another, and there is no reason that this agreement should be broken. In a covenant one is not able to be selfish, instead they must look out for the best interests of their partner. That sounds intense right? Well, that's because it is. And that is the kind of relationship that God wants with us. He isn't going to abide by rules that we can set for him. A simple contract is not going to work. I'm going to leave this train of thought up to you. I hope that you take some time to think about what the difference is for yourself.



Going on through the day: we got to go out and have a wonderful lunch with some church members. Then grocery shopping happened. Getting through the line at Food Lion with food for 9 people for a week can be a task.

After getting back and unloading all of the groceries and luggage out of the trailer, we took some time to get settled and relax. That meant getting out air mattresses, it also meant that several people napped, but Paige went for her run. (so inspiring)

At 6 we came back together and started to work on lining up the things that we will need to accomplish this week before the participants arrive on Saturday. Megan and I were focusing on worship things, while other groups worked on sports camp.

The devo that the staff had tonight was about recognizing what we are actually worshipping in our lives. Is it God? Or is it something else that we have given a God-like status? This is not something that is always easily answered, but is always convicting.

In order to keep you all up to date with everything that we are doing, these posts will probably be shorter and slightly less comprehensive than some of my previous ones. The work that we are doing is fast paced, and honestly I don't need to spend too much time working on this blog when I could be sleeping or otherwise recuperating. However, it is important to me that SOUL become less of a mystery to so many, so my plan is to post something new every night.  If you have questions, comments, or anything of the sort, please feel free to leave a comment.

Good night everyone! See you tomorrow morning bright and early.

Am I Foolish Enough?

The last weekend in May, both the NC and AL SOUL staffs got together for our last bit of training together. While we were there we went over how to work well together (given our personality differences), how to work well with the kids, what a good game looks like, even how to make sure the kids are getting along and growing alongside one another. Personally, I love training because we all get to hang out and goof off a bit. Don't get me wrong, the whole staff can settle down and get serious when we need to, but otherwise we just have a good time.

While we were there, Sarah Vestal came to speak to us. What she shared really hit home for me. The message that she shared with us was about foolishness. Let me start by saying, there is a difference between foolishness for the world, and foolishness for God. If you are foolish for the world, bad things happen. If you are foolish for God, amazing things can happen.

The first example we looked at was that of Zacchaeus. If you aren't familiar with the story, you can find it in Luke 19:1-10. It's about a tax collector, of rather short stature, who wanted so badly to see Jesus that he climbed a tree along the road just to get a glimpse of him. Let's take a second and break that down. Imagine a man, professionally dressed (in the profession of tax collecting, so that would be a suit and tie?) climbing a tree. And only climbing the tree to catch a glimpse of a man who many deemed a lunatic and a heretic. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would do something like that. I would be more concerned with messing up my clothes, or looking foolish in front of all of those people (who already didn't like him, by the way).

But guess what came out of Zacchaeus's foolishness? - salvation, a life changing experience of meeting our Lord in person and inviting him into his house. When Jesus called Zacchaeus out of that tree he wasn't worried about what the crowds standing there thought. He was elated because the savior of the world expressed an interest in him personally. That moment changed his life! After talking to the Lord he was no longer the same person. He stopped overtaxing the people, and even gave money back to them. Something Sarah pointed out, that I had never thought about before, is that Zacchaeus probably took his kids and his grandkids back to that tree, telling them, "This is where I met Jesus!" It's so easy to forget that the people in these stories were real people, and that their lives continued after we leave them.

Sarah presented us with a question, "Are you willing to sacrifice your reputation for Jesus?"

Being totally honest, I would say that most of the time I am probably not. Which is an answer that I don't like, and that I don't really want to share, but I think it should be said. I don't want to give anyone the idea that I am above anyone else, or that I have everything figured out. I am still growing in my relationship with God just like we all are trying to. In fact, I can think of several people, who I look to as having more figured out than myself. Some of them are on SOUL this summer.  But what matters is that I, and you, keep pushing ourselves to get closer to our creator.

SOUL, being kind-of like a summer camp, definitely allows opportunity for the staff to be foolish for Jesus. We are interacting with kids all day, playing games, eating meals, having a good time. But it is a lot harder to be foolish for Christ in front of your peers. In front of people who you respect and want to respect you. Look at Noah, building an ark when there was not even rain, and King David, dancing naked in the street in front of his people. Great things happen when we are foolish for God. Because when we are foolish for Him, that is when we truly let him have full control of our lives.

Are you foolish enough?

Keep Calm and Carry On

Over the past couple of weeks some of the NC staff has visited meetings in Goldsboro, and in Yadkin County. These visits took place while my school year was winding up. Meaning final projects, papers, and exams were under way. As anyone in school can tell you, exams are often the hardest time of the year. As such, it is always stressful. These visits were a welcome distraction, and a wonderful chance to hang out with some of the staff. Not only did I get a chance to meet and/or deepen my relationships with some of the people that we will be working with this summer. I also got a chance to worship with them, in their own churches.

Both of the messages that I heard were amazing, and each was extremely relevant to this summer, but also to my life in general. I'm going to start with the message given at Branon Friends. The title of the message was "A New View" and the objective of the message was to examine many of the ways in which Saul's life was changed after he was converted (and later became known as Paul). First of all, the mission of Saul's life changed. He was no longer a man persecuting Christians, instead he was sharing his faith with anyone and everyone who would listen. Another point being that the lens of persecution has been turned, Saul is now the one persecuted rather than the one persecuting. Thirdly, Saul became a member of the family of God. The people who knew him were probably afraid at first, given his history among the Christian people. Over time though, that changed, Saul became a great leader among them. Lastly, the Holy Spirit came to live in Saul's heart.

Over all, Saul was a changed man. It was visible in the way he lived his life. Applying that to myself, I sometimes wonder, when people look at me who are they seeing? Do they see me? Or do they see Christ? The change that comes can be drastic, it should be drastic. The entire way that we view the world around us should be changed when the burden of the sin of this world is taken from us.

That leads me into the message I heard at New Hope. This one was titled "Keep Calm and Carry On", and I'll admit that when I read that in the bulletin I wondered if it was a reference to the poster that has become so popular lately, or just a coincidence. As it turns out, it was a reference, not only to that poster, but to the set that it belongs to.

As some background, keep in mind that these posters were issued by the British government in 1939 to keep morale up during the war between Great Britain and Germany. They also offer great lessons for Christians today as well.

Starting with the blue poster on the right, it was pointed out that three things that I should have the church should have, are courage, cheerfulness, and resolution. Without these there is no chance that the Christian faith will spread in the manner God intended. I took notes during the service, but the exact scripture references for each of these traits I did not catch. Let's remember that while Jesus was alive, he and the disciples were radical. They turned the lives of the people they encountered upside down. The same thing happens today. Even though in the US Christianity is the dominant religion, when someone truly becomes a disciple, a follower of Christ, their life is turned upside down.

Moving on to the green poster in the middle, remember that Christianity has been in peril for centuries. In order for us to be able to defend it, we must know where it comes from, which means that we must know the Word. Inside and out, we must take in everything that God has given to us.

And finally, the one that has become popular again recently. It's become a meme, and is often used and misused, with words being replaced and such.  - I am able to carry on because the Lord has given me his power. He has given me peace, a peace that I cannot find anywhere else. Just as Moses told the Israelites: "The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still." (Exodus 14:14) 

I know that the Lord has a plan for me, and that He will lead me if I am willing to follow him. All I need to do is keep calm, and carry on.

Morgan