Saturday, July 19, 2008

Camp

God blessed us with two excellent weeks of camp. A group of 14 came from West Cannon Baptist Church in Michigan. The theme was "The Rules for Life" based on the Ten Commandments. Pastor John Nixon's messages were excellent placing emphasis not only on the Ten Commandments, but also the practical implications of submitting to these commandments as God's authority and for our greater good. Many children and teens recognized areas of weakness and sought the Lord for help in specific areas. This past week, Bia repented of her sin and trusted Christ for salvation! Pray for her as she lives with her grandmother - a staunch Catholic. Many times she will not allow Bia to attend church. May Bia follow the Lord as a testimony of the grace of God.
You may know that we have a particular interest in camping ministry. These two weeks were good for me. I learned many things as program director, one of which is that I am only one person. It is really impossible to do it on your own, and to go that route is nothing short of absurd. God gave me a good group of counselors and musicians who took their role seriously. They were servants of the Lord and worked hard without complaints or issues. In fact, the look on the faces of the three girl counselors after they dealt with Bia was priceless. They were amazed with the power of God. They even offered Bia something in the canteen if she would rather not become a Christian. She refused it all and made herself clear with the desire to follow Jesus. The grace of God combined with the power of His Spirit is indescribable!
I am also extremely grateful for my wife! She has been a faithful help meet as well as mother and assistant to many of my needs at camp. She is ready and willing to give of herself and her ability an any role necessary. I am indebted to her and I thank God for 4 years of marriage as of this past Thursday.
Thank you all for praying as we have taken some follow up measures with the teens this year. They all jotted down a few things they learned during the week and placed them into an envelope and labeled it to their home address. I plan to mail those out in a few months as a reminder and encouragement to them! My prayer is that they will come to camp in January having had spiritual victory and maturity!
We currently do not have a camera, so if you would like to see some pictures and a running commentary of the two weeks, you can go to: http://stepbrazil08.blogspot.com/ This is West Cannon Baptist Church's group blog.