It's hard to believe that the last full day of Wintertainment is almost over. It has been a great week and it has been wonderful to see students grow in their relationships with each other and with the Lord. Many students have commented about how much they enjoy Dave's stories. He is a great story-teller and usually starts the session off with a story that illustrates his main point or Bible verse. This morning Dave talked about how his grandmother would always want him to come sit on her lap and talk with her, even when he was a 170-lb. teenager. He then talked about how God does that with us-- He is always there for us, wanting us to climb into His lap and spend time talking with Him. Dave read from Exodus 33 where Moses meets with God, and he challenged the students to designate a sacred place where they can go to meet God. Whether it's a corner of their bedroom or a certain place outside, help encourage your student to set aside a special place where they can just be with the Lord.
The students are enjoying free time right now before the last session at 9 p.m. Many of them have crammed as many activities as they can into this last day! Tomorrow morning, we will wake up, eat breakfast, and then load the vans so that we can leave camp at 9 a.m. Plan for us to arrive at the church around 4 p.m. tomorrow, and we can let you know as we travel if that will be any different.
Our hope for you, as parents, is that this blog will help enable you to have some good conversations with your students about what they learned this week. Thank you for your prayers for us this week and for sharing your students with us. We have truly enjoyed spending time with all of them and deepening our relationships with them. We feel blessed to have the privilege of leading these students closer to Christ, not just this week, but also in the weeks to come. With the New Year almost here, we are excited to see what God will do in 2012!
Josh & Jennifer
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wintertainment Day 3
Another great day here at Camp Forest Springs. We woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it was beautiful! Everyone was excited to ski on some "real" snow and we had some wipeouts on the ski hill today, but thankfully no injuries. Our team played a great game in the second round of the Animal Ball tournament this afternoon, but lost in overtime. A few of the guys participated in the Biathlon race, which involved snowshoeing through the woods and shooting a paintball gun.
In tonight's session, Dave focused on loving our enemies as Matthew 5 commands us to do. God calls us to a new way of life - loving our enemies ("enemies" = anyone whom we would not call our "friend"), a completely opposite mindset of what the world tells us to do. Will we love our neighbors? Will we forgive those who have hurt us? It is our human nature to want to repay evil for evil, but God calls us to repay evil with good. One of the songs we have been singing this week is called "Upside Down", an upbeat songs with motions that the students seem to enjoy & it ties into this lesson completely.... the song is about turning the other cheek when someone hurts you, becoming the least in order to become great, coming down in order to go up.... essentially living upside down, hence the title of the song.
Tomorrow is our last full day here. Please continue to pray that the students would be receptive to the messages from God's Word tomorrow and that everyone would continue to stay healthy. We plan to leave here on Saturday around 9 a.m., which would put us back in La Grange around 4/4:30 p.m. that afternoon. We can keep you updated as we travel on Saturday with a more specific time. Thank you for your continued prayers!
Jennifer
In tonight's session, Dave focused on loving our enemies as Matthew 5 commands us to do. God calls us to a new way of life - loving our enemies ("enemies" = anyone whom we would not call our "friend"), a completely opposite mindset of what the world tells us to do. Will we love our neighbors? Will we forgive those who have hurt us? It is our human nature to want to repay evil for evil, but God calls us to repay evil with good. One of the songs we have been singing this week is called "Upside Down", an upbeat songs with motions that the students seem to enjoy & it ties into this lesson completely.... the song is about turning the other cheek when someone hurts you, becoming the least in order to become great, coming down in order to go up.... essentially living upside down, hence the title of the song.
Tomorrow is our last full day here. Please continue to pray that the students would be receptive to the messages from God's Word tomorrow and that everyone would continue to stay healthy. We plan to leave here on Saturday around 9 a.m., which would put us back in La Grange around 4/4:30 p.m. that afternoon. We can keep you updated as we travel on Saturday with a more specific time. Thank you for your continued prayers!
Jennifer
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wintertainment Day 2
Our first full day at camp was filled with great food, fun games, and engaging sessions.
Our speaker for the week, Dave Creek, has been focusing on Jeremiah 6:16 which says, "This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." He challenged and asked the students in the morning session if they would be willing to do whatever they need to do to bring themselves into the presence of God. He talked about the many distractions that can keep us from having time with the Lord daily. So his big question was, "what would we be willing to do and or give up in order to spend time with the Father?"
In the evening session Dave about the battle that rages every day in our lives - the battle between death and life. John 10:10 says "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Dave said that every day, even sometimes more frequently, we stand at a crossroads. Will we choose to follow Christ and life or will we choose to give into temptation and sin and death? Ultimately, we have been made in the image of God and can have the power with the Lord and His Spirit to have victory over temptation and sin. We stand at a crossroads all the time. Will we choose death or life?
We have all enjoyed the many fun activities here at camp as well. This morning several of the students played an outdoor game called Razzleblast, a mix between football and soccer. After lunch, the majority of our group participated in an Animal Ball tournament. I will not even try to explain this game to you. We will have to explain it when we get back on Saturday. Regardless, Animal Ball is a TON of fun! We won our first game and will play again tomorrow. The rest of our free time was spent skiing, snowboarding, tubing, hiking, and playing board and card games together.
Above all we have all had a blast growing and deepening our relationships with each other and with our Lord. Please pray with us that God would continue to work in each of our hearts and souls. We desire Wintertainment 2011 to be a place where life altering relationships and decisions were made all for the glory of our Lord and Savior. To God be the glory!
Thanks for your continued support and prayer!
Josh
Our speaker for the week, Dave Creek, has been focusing on Jeremiah 6:16 which says, "This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." He challenged and asked the students in the morning session if they would be willing to do whatever they need to do to bring themselves into the presence of God. He talked about the many distractions that can keep us from having time with the Lord daily. So his big question was, "what would we be willing to do and or give up in order to spend time with the Father?"
In the evening session Dave about the battle that rages every day in our lives - the battle between death and life. John 10:10 says "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Dave said that every day, even sometimes more frequently, we stand at a crossroads. Will we choose to follow Christ and life or will we choose to give into temptation and sin and death? Ultimately, we have been made in the image of God and can have the power with the Lord and His Spirit to have victory over temptation and sin. We stand at a crossroads all the time. Will we choose death or life?
We have all enjoyed the many fun activities here at camp as well. This morning several of the students played an outdoor game called Razzleblast, a mix between football and soccer. After lunch, the majority of our group participated in an Animal Ball tournament. I will not even try to explain this game to you. We will have to explain it when we get back on Saturday. Regardless, Animal Ball is a TON of fun! We won our first game and will play again tomorrow. The rest of our free time was spent skiing, snowboarding, tubing, hiking, and playing board and card games together.
Above all we have all had a blast growing and deepening our relationships with each other and with our Lord. Please pray with us that God would continue to work in each of our hearts and souls. We desire Wintertainment 2011 to be a place where life altering relationships and decisions were made all for the glory of our Lord and Savior. To God be the glory!
Thanks for your continued support and prayer!
Josh
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Wintertainment 2011
Greetings from Camp Forest Springs!
We arrived safe and sound at camp around 4:30 pm. The students registered, made their way to their cabins and enjoyed our first meal here. They are enjoying some free time now before our first session at 9 pm. Please be in prayer for our opening session that the Lord through the Holy Spirit would work in the lives of every student here this week. There are around 230 students here this week, from Nebraska to Missouri to Southern Illinois to Chicago. The speaker for the week is Dave Creek. He is a student pastor in Minnesota. Please pray that he would bring the Word of God to the students with power and conviction this week. Our prayer is that Wintertainment 2011 would be a week that our students do not quickly forget. Thanks for your prayers. I will update again soon.
Pastor Josh
We arrived safe and sound at camp around 4:30 pm. The students registered, made their way to their cabins and enjoyed our first meal here. They are enjoying some free time now before our first session at 9 pm. Please be in prayer for our opening session that the Lord through the Holy Spirit would work in the lives of every student here this week. There are around 230 students here this week, from Nebraska to Missouri to Southern Illinois to Chicago. The speaker for the week is Dave Creek. He is a student pastor in Minnesota. Please pray that he would bring the Word of God to the students with power and conviction this week. Our prayer is that Wintertainment 2011 would be a week that our students do not quickly forget. Thanks for your prayers. I will update again soon.
Pastor Josh
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