Summer Lovin'

When I first started as Summer Intern at Christian Student Fellowship, I had all sorts of ideas in my head about the possibilities we could pursue in serving God, the people we could meet, and the places we could go. After getting over my initial fantasies, I realized that I was actually sharing a tiny office, using an old safe as an office chair, and staring at Facebook all day. For the first couple of days, I wondered, “What in the world are we going to do for a whole summer?”

As it turns out, not having a clue about what we were doing became the main theme for the summer. Before even taking my sandals off to dip my toes in the waters of an internship at CSF, someone threw me overboard into Ona, WV, home of Howell’s Mill Christian Assembly. I had no clue what I was doing, where to go, or who the people were. Not to mention I had never been to a Christian camp before, much less been a member of faculty. However, you cannot grow inside your comfort zone, only when you step outside it. God truly blessed us with an awesome week at Howell’s Mill with the high school campers. I made some awesome friends, and I got to grow with them as Christians and see firsthand how God worked in their lives.

I really got to connect with the high school kids at Howell’s Mill in a unique way. Since it was safe to assume that most of these kids were very close to or already making their transitions into college, I knew that every single one of them would soon face the struggles and temptations associated with the college lifestyle. I, myself, have struggled specifically with alcohol in the past. The cool part about sharing my story about overcoming these problems was that it was a story from someone just like them. I’m not associated with a random organization that visits schools and warns students about drugs and alcohol. I’m not an ordained minister preaching about the path towards a sinful life. I was a friend, a brother in Christ, who was able to share a real experience with them. I had several campers come up to me and share their own personal stories about similar struggles, and I got to talk to them about how God helps us through life’s trials, no matter how difficult they may seem. It was a truly awesome experience.

A week off and back to camp – that’s pretty much how the first month rolled. From HMCA to Camp Christian to the Mid-Ohio Valley Youth Retreat, each camp looked more difficult and promised brand new challenges. I had never worked with kids as young as these, and I really had no idea how to handle it. Yet I had a peace as we ventured the frontiers of CSF at summer camp.  I feel that God brought me more comfort outside my comfort zone than He ever had inside.  Each camp experience was unbelievably amazing.

Camp Christian lowered the age group for us to junior high, but posed a staff that proved to be extremely fired up about God. Most of them had either grown up going to Camp Christian or had worked there for many years. This was good, because of course I had no idea the place even existed. We got to learn really cool icebreaker games and recreational activities (the best being British Bulldog which, if you’ve never played, you need to), exciting Christian campfire songs (I always wondered what those would be like), and of course found new brothers and sisters in Christ.  The most exciting part for me was when Alex, a kid I had made friends with over the week, came to know Christ and asked me to baptize him.  Once again, this was something I had never done before. However, I think I’ll put it down as the greatest experience of my life so far, second only to coming to know Christ myself.

Finally, we dealt with yet another new animal, the Mid-Ohio Valley Christian Youth Retreat. The kids were once again younger than the previous camp, and the difficulty of trying to run a weekend camp proved to be more challenging than a week-long camp due to the lack of time to connect with kids and do all the activities we wanted to do. Here, we had to take everything we learned at HMCA and Camp Christian and put it into practice ourselves.  My patience was tested on numerous occasions, and my exhaustion was amplified, but fourteen kids came to know Christ that weekend. Fourteen! This was not a large camp either, by any means. It was so exciting to see that many kids give their lives over to God.

Now camp is over, and we all get to relax a little bit. However, rest for the weary won’t come easily as we gear up to take the quickly approaching Fall 2011semester head on. I’m so excited to meet new students at “Are You Moved?” (this year will be my first) and to head up Murder Mystery in November. As most of you know, the Murder Mystery is what really got me involved at CSF in the first place, and it is by far one of my most favorite parts of the year. Please pray for us as we prepare to meet new people, make new connections, grow in Christ, and find out how we can do our best for God everyday.

A camper asked Matt to baptize him at Camp Christian

[written by Matt Law for the August 2011 Newsletter (pdf)]

Julie Goes to Camp

I grew up going to 4-H camp, so I’m familiar with the “camp scene”, but I had never been to a week-long, overnight church camp. I was a little nervous, but these camps turned out to be some of the best experiences of my life. They had all the fun and friendship of 4-H camp, except we got to talk about Jesus a lot! Often, volunteers say that they work to help others, but they are often the ones that learn and grow the most from their volunteer experiences.  This was definitely true for me this summer!

First, we traveled to Huntington, WV to work on staff during High School Week at Howell’s Mill Christian Assembly (HMCA).  We were very excited, and a little nervous, because it was our first camp of the summer and we had no idea what to expect.  Each of us was paired with another staff member with whom we led a family group throughout the week. 

family group(n.) — awesome group of teens who you spend most of your time with at camp, get to know really well as you talk about faith and life, learn to love A LOT, and miss terribly after you leave

I have never been more impressed than I was with my family group and my fellow group leader at HMCA! The teens had incredible trust with each other, they constantly encouraged each other, and it was clear they took loving God and loving others seriously.

During Wednesday night’s worship at HMCA, God started to move in the teens in noticeable ways: all of a sudden, teens were opening up about problems and tough situations in their lives, asking questions about faith, and in some cases, wanting to commit their lives to God. I remember one of the other staff members commenting that we had the coolest jobs in the world: leading kids to Christ! Awesome! What could be more important than that?

Next, we traveled to Camp Christian in Mill Run, PA to work with middle schoolers.  I’m sure each of you reading this was in middle school at some point and remember how awesome it was…Just kidding! It’s terrible. I’m pretty sure middle school is one of the most confusing times in a person’s life: you’re still a kid, you want to be an adult, your body is at its most awkward stage, and nobody wants to be different, so there’s an excruciating amount of bullying and peer pressure. While it may be more difficult to work with these kids, it just means they need that much more attention and love!  I certainly learned a lot about the importance of love and acceptance from my family group that week. Once again, I was blessed with the coolest family group and co-leader I could imagine.  I don’t know why God chose to lead so many amazing people into my life, but I’m glad he did!  

One of the best things I witnessed at Camp Christian was the transformation of one of the guys in my family group. He didn’t have the easiest family life and he had always felt uncertain about God’s existence.  This middle schooler started an infamous Swedish Fish food fight at the beginning of the week, but by Wednesday, he was leading some of the other campers in spontaneous prayer. How many adults are good at that?! I was incredibly impressed by this camper’s willingness to seek God, listen to Him, and put the Bible into action.  I was very blessed to witness his growth throughout camp and his baptism at the end of the week.

Finally, we traveled to Wetzel County, WV to help at the Mid-Ohio Valley Christian Youth Retreat. We’ve helped at this camp in the past, so we were a little familiar with the camp and the youth there.  It was great to develop relationships with the campers and encourage them in their faith! A large group of campers was baptized during camp, and it was great to see them dedicate their lives to Jesus.

I asked a few campers why camp was important to them. Here’s what they said:

"(Camp) is a place I've always felt I could go and be free. At camp everyone has a sense of purpose, unity, and love."

"I love worship the most because I am worshiping Jesus and I'm with all my closest friends I will ever have and they are doing the same. I love the games and meeting new people and opening up and just letting everything out that I have been struggling with, too. "Family" members who are not judgeful in any way. Camp is camp and I love it!!"

"I like camp because I learned a lot of new things and had fun with my friends and the staff was really nice. And I grew as a better person from it cause I found God."

It’s amazing how much love you can develop for people in just a week’s time.  There’s something truly extraordinary about camp, whether it’s the games, laughing, singing, worshiping, bible studies, sharing, or simply the fact that you spend 24 hours a day together; I’ve never experienced more excitement, openness, joy, goodness, or love than at camp.

 [written by Julie Adams for the August 2011 Newsletter (pdf)]