high school camp

returned from high school camp LAST saturday...sorry this is late. it's been crazy and i wanted to keep things in order lol.

but yes. camp. we took a team of about 65 high school students and 15 leaders to glorieta, new mexico for a week at Centerfuge Camp. it was a very structured program for the kids and a lot of down time for us leaders, but it was good to get away and see some different scenery and also to have a chance to get to know many of the high school students.

here's a photo of the glorieta conference center where the camp was held - sooo different from odessa!


between all the churches that came, there were around 1000 students at camp, plus their leaders. we had an excellent speaker, Matt Carter, and worship leader, Aaron Ivey. they come from the same church in Austin and led us all in some phenominal worship sessions. they started with discussing the problem of sin - what it is and why it is a problem - and them talked about how God solved the problem of sin temporarily in the old testament, and permanantly in the new testament. we had 4 kids make first time salvation decisions and probably 8 or so others who recommitted their lives to Christ.

but the most powerful night came (of course) on the last night of camp. the whole focus for evening worship was on Confession. like - okay you've accepted Christ's forgiveness for your sins, but what happens when you keep on sinning? they encouraged kids during the alter call to confess their sins to their leaders (James 5:16) and to seek accountability. after the evening session we were supposed to break off with just our church group (as we did every night) and discuss the session and have some prayer time. as church group time was wrapping up, one student announced that he felt he needed to confess his sin to the entire group. his brave action opened the door for student after student to raise their hand and share with the whole group what their struggles were. probably 10 guys (SOLID christian kids) stood up and said they struggled with porn. 5 or so said they struggled with depression and several had attempted suicide. everything from shoplifting to eating disorders to drinking to anxiety, these kids have seen it all. and almost every single one was looking for support. like - hey i've got this issue. i'm struggling. please pray for me.

it blew my mind to watch them open up one by one - even some of the shyest, most quiet kids raised their hands toward the end wanting to share. we finally wrapped things up at 1:45 in the morning and headed to bed. the next morning at breakfast the kids were still talking about the night before. it rocked their worlds to hear some of the things their peers had said. it definitely brought them closer together in a really special way. i'm anxious to see what the rest of the summer holds for these kids and how the Lord is going to work through the things that happened at camp.

my new friend Kassie was one who rededicated her life to Christ last week and she is getting baptised tomorrow! Kassie came to camp knowing no one. i met her when we stopped for lunch on the way to camp. she was sitting by herself because she didn't know anyone. Kassie is 16. her family life is completely screwed up. she lives with her dad and her relationship with her mom is very lacking - pretty much all mom's fault. Kassie got into a lot of trouble the past few years just from having the wrong friends and trying to find herself in all the wrong places. but at camp last week, Kassie learned what it truly meant to live a life following Jesus. she made a great connection with another girl, Reagan, who was her randomly selected roommate and who has been through a lot of the same things that she has. Reagan also rededicated her life to Christ last week. it was so awesome to see God transform the lives of these girls who were so confused and lost, but now they're getting it!

what's even cooler is that Kassie's mom is hopefully going to come and see her be baptised at church tomorrow! how cool is God!?!?