Our First Group

For those of you who have never been to SOUL, participants arriving is kind of a big deal. When the group got to Up River last Saturday, the entire staff ran out to greet them and to haul their bags into their rooms for the week.

After everyone got settled in, we played some get-to-know-you games and had a short devotion. Even though we have a small group this week, and most of them know each other, the get-to-know-you games were a lot of fun. For the sake of not ruining any surprises for any participants coming to Yadkin County or Goldsboro I'm not going to tell what the games were, just know that they were pretty great.

Sunday morning we split up and a group went to Piney Woods and another one stayed at Up River. Both of the churches were kind enough to host a luncheon for us afterwards, so we got to spend time getting to know some of the people in the community. And, of course, the homemade food was absolutely amazing.

That afternoon we played some more games - group-building games this time. Then it was time to go over our drills for Monday. Monday was football day.

As we prepped for drills, some of the participants volunteered to lead stations, and others volunteered to lead devotions and to be group leaders. I was supposed to be helping with the Defense station.

Later that night we had our first worship session with out speaker Zack Lane. Up River Friends lead worship with their praise band, then the staff did a skit, finally Zack started speaking. I forgot my journal Sunday night, so I don’t want to paraphrase or misquote anything, so I won’t say much about the session Sunday night. After the session we split up into “family groups”. Family groups are small groups that are meant to keep the conversation going after the session, and let people fully soak it in.

Since Sports Camp was starting early in the morning, we sent the kids to bed at about 10:30. Once they were in their rooms we had our staff meeting and devotion. Instead of a regular devotion, the staff this year has decided that we should have more of a bible study. As our first book, we picked the book of James to go through. Finally we got to bed, I think I speak for everyone when I say we were all a bit excited, but also nervous/curious about what camp was going to bring the next day.

The Fourth of July

Hello again everyone!

I wasn't planning on waking up until 7:40 this morning, but for some reason I woke up at 6. So I figured that maybe it was God giving me time to update everyone on what we've been up to. The coming week is going to be kind of crazy, so I'm hoping I can pull off posting about three times with lots of pictures.

Let me start where I left you. One the morning of the 4th the staff got up and started working. We got through all of the sports camp drills, and finished some painting. In order for the participants/volunteers who come to help with camp to be able to teach the kids the drills, we have to be able to teach them. So we went through a rotation working on drills.

Megan and Samie, working on wiffleball.

Elliot demonstrating how to throw a soccer ball.

Every year we head up to Somerton Friends for their Fourth of July cookout. In order to be there in a reasonable time, we left Up River about 3:30. At Somerton we played some corn-hole  hung out with the kids, and after dinner there was a cake walk fundraiser.

After the cookout, we went into Suffolk looking for a firework celebration. We ended up at a park that I cannot remember the name of, but it was the same place we ended up last year. Except that this year we got seat that were much farther in. I don't know how long their celebration went, but it was going strong when we got there about 8 o'clock. There was a live band, concession booths all over, and plenty of kids running around with bubble guns.

That's all the time I have for now. But, just an update, our participants came in last night, and we all played some get to know you games and such. Our devotion last night was about having your heart in the right place for service. I ask that you please pray for our group as we continue through this week. It is going to be busy and it's going to be fun, but without the Lord none of it would be possible.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

Those first couple of days

Whew!

Now that I have a moment to catch a breath, let me tell you about what has been happening for the past couple of days.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. Monday morning Heather and I got up and went for a jog on the longest dead end road either of us has ever experienced in our lives. Although it was absurdly long, we also went on Tuesday morning. While we were out I managed to get this shot.

The rest of Monday and Tuesday we spent the majority of our time working on things for next week.

I'm not going to tell you too much about decorations and devotions and things yet, just in case anyone reading this is planning to come to SOUL, I don't want to ruin any surprises. But later this summer, when we're in Goldsboro, I will be able to reveal everything to you guys. For now, just know that we are working very hard to make sure that everything will run smoothly.

Tuesday afternoon we took a break and headed out to Chesapeake, VA to go to Walmart and see a movie. While we were at Walmart we picked up a lot of items that will be needed next week as well as some food. On the way there, *surprise*, we got lost. That means, that we went to a movie that was later than we had planned, which also means that our dinner plans changed. Originally we has planned to make a family style dinner at Up River (which is what we did Monday:

                           

                           

Since we were late getting out of the movie, we decided that it would be better to stop and pick up some food, so we all decided on Chic-fil-A. Now, remember that we are driving around in the Yearly Meeting van. Which says Quaker on the side, so we get a lot of weird looks as we are driving around. When we all climbed out of the van and had gotten in line, a man came up and started asking me what we were doing, and if we had a "fake van". - He was joking. So I told him about SOUL, and the camp and service projects that we are doing, and that we have worship every night. Then out of no where, as our last staff member has ordered, this man (no, I don't know his name) jumps in front of Heather and pays for all of our food. It was amazing. It's times like that when you can really see God working around you. Not only were we shocked, he completely blew the minds of the cashier and a couple other employees working at the front. As it turns out, the man was a Quaker himself, from a meeting in Virginia.

This morning I was working on worship decorations for a good couple of hours. I won't tell you what we are doing yet. but I will tell you that it is really cool. For dinner this afternoon, we visited with Piney Woods Friends as they held their weekly Bible study and carry-in meal.

We are going to be pushing hard throughout this week and praying that we have the energy  and the patience to keep up with all that is asked of us.

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.

Mischief with the Staffers: Part 1

As anyone who's worked on a summer staff knows, there are often pranks and male/female rivalries that occur. What has happened in years past on SOUL is that the boys team up and the girls team up, and a series of (rather harmless) pranks will ensue.

The conflict has begun! Here is a little bit of background information. Over our last training weekend, Saturday afternoon everyone split up to take showers. The boys went with Matthew (AL staff) to shower at his house, and the girls stopped by Quaker Lake to use the showers there. On the way back from showers, the van with the girls stopped, and we all got Icees at a gas station. Then we continued on our way back to the annex of the Yearly Meeting Office. From there everything was great, we kept on with training, ate dinner and were sitting down to worship and hear our message from Sarah.

There was a short break between dinner and the message, during which Heather walked away from the table and left her Icee behind. Blake (AL staff) took this opportunity to slip a little bit of honey mustard from Cook Out into her straw. Unsuspectingly, Heather came back to the table a few minutes later and took a drink from her Icee. Well, I guess I should say she tried to take a drink. She ended up with a mouthful of mustard (which she doesn't like, and wasn't expecting) and ran back to the bathroom as fast as possible to spit it out. It took a little while for Blake to officially be declared the culprit. Once he was, the girls backed up Heather and told Blake he should be on the look out because we were going to get him back.


Later that night, we (the girls) pushed the boys out of the annex, where we were staying the night, of course trailing with threats of the pranks to come. Maybe they heard me and Meghan (AL staff) talking earlier about different pranks we may be able to pull off that night. Eventually we decided that it was late enough already, and our sleep was more valuable than anything else we could do.

That Sunday morning when we were all getting ready, Emma (AL staff) went outside to get her Sunday clothes. When she came back in she told us there were sticky notes ALL OVER Heather's car. Megan, Taylor (AL staff), Meghan, Emma and I all went outside to take in the "damage". This is what we found:

-> Note the winking face on the hood. <-

I think this is Blake's side. He felt pretty bad about the mustard prank he pulled earlier.

At this point I think they were just getting tired/lazy. (That's Megan up in the corner by the way)

Of course, the first thing anyone of us could think of was, how are we going to react to this? The guys would expect for us to be all upset or angry or something like that. Instead, we decided that, since none of them were there yet, we should just take off all of the sticky notes and pretend that it had never happened.

So that's exactly what we did.

When the boys came in for breakfast before church, nothing was said. I think they were confused. It was really late when they put on those sticky notes, so I'm hoping they thought it was all a dream. All day we kept up the facade. At lunch Elliot (NC staff) even ventured to ask one of the girls if there had been anything on Heather's car that morning. We never did acknowledge their little prank. In fact, this may be the first thing anyone has said about it in a place where they could see, I don't know.

This is a part of SOUL that I don't think a lot of people get to see, but I think it's worth sharing. I hope it lets you in a little bit more on why the staff loves it so much.

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?

Getting to Know the Staff: Part 1

One of the first things that we do as a staff, is to take a short personality quiz. I always think it's interesting to figure out where I fall in these things. But I really think it helps us on staff to understand one another more, and to recognize ways to strengthen relationships. There will be posts later where I tell you more about the other members of the staff, but I may refer to their animal personality types and I don't want that to be confusing.

If you want to take the quiz I have included it below, or you can skip to the bottom and simply read about each personality type. Keep in mind that one category cannot possibly cover all aspects of an individual's personality, and that the characteristics in each category may not fit everyone who falls into that category.

Instructions:

Choose the item in each line that is most like you, and put a 4 in the blank next to it. Pick the item that is next and put a 3 in that blank, and a 2 and a 1.

1)   ___ Likes Authority     ___ Enthusiastic                ___ Sensitive Feelings          ___ Likes Instruction
2)   ___ Takes Charge        ___ Takes Risks                  ___ Loyal                                   ___ Accurate
3)   ___ Determined           ___ Visionary                     ___ Calm                                    ___ Consistent
4)   ___ Enterprising           ___ Verbal                           ___ Enjoys Routine               ___ Predictable
5)   ___ Competitive           ___ Promoter                    ___ Dislikes Change               ___ Practical
6)   ___ Problem Solver     ___ Enjoys Popularity    ___ Gives in to Others           ___ Factual
7)   ___ Productive              ___ Fun-loving                 ___ Avoids Confrontation   ___ Responsible
8)   ___ Bold                           ___ Likes Variety             ___ Sensitive                             ___ Prefers Perfection
9)   ___ Decision Maker     ___ Spontaneous           ___ Nurturing                           ___ Detail Oriented
10) ___ Persistent               ___ Inspirational             ___ Peace Maker                     ___ Analytical

Now add up the totals for each column.

    a) _____                           b) _____                              c) _____                                   d) _____

Results:

a) Lion

Positives: Determined, Independent, Productive, Strong-willed, Visionary, Optimistic, Active, Practical, Courageous, Decisive, Self-Confident, Efficient, Leader

Negatives: Unempathetic, Pushy, Insensitive, Inconsiderate, Severe, Hostile, Sarcastic, Tough, Unforgiving, Opinionated, Prejudiced, Harsh, Arrogant

b) Monkey

Positives: Outgoing, Ambitious, Charismatic, Warm, Stimulating, Responsive, Talkative, Enthusiastic, Carefree, Compassionate, Dramatic, Generous, Friendly

Negatives: Weak-willed, Manipulative, Restless, Disorganized, Unproductive, Excitable, Undependable, Undisciplined, Obnoxious, Loud, Reactive, Exaggerates, Fearful, Egotistical

c) Golden Retriever

Positives: Calm, Supportive, Easygoing, Likeable, Respectful, Diplomatic, Efficient, Willing, Organized, Conservative, Practical, Dependable, Reluctant Leader, Agreeable, Dry Humor

Negatives: Unbothered, Conforming, Blase, Indolent, Unsure, Spectator, Selfish, Ingratiating, Stingy, Stubborn, Dependent, Self-Proactive, Indecisive, Awkward, Fearful

d) Beaver

Positives: Industrious, Gifted, Perfectionist, Persistent, Conscientious, Loyal, Serious, Aesthetic, Idealistic, Exacting, Sensitive, Self-Criticizing, Orderly, Self-Disciplined

Negatives: Moody, Critical, Negative, Rigid, Indecisive, Legalistic, Self-Centered, Stuffy, Touchy, Vengeful, Picky, Persecution Prone, Unsociable, Moralistic, Theoretical

I will conclude this part of "Getting to Know the Staff" by saying, I am a beaver (the only one on staff). So maybe that will let you understand my personality a bit more. As the summer progresses I will try to make sure that you have met everyone else.