8-9th Grade Mission Camp Day 1

Day 1 at camp is all about settling in, finding your way around and seeing how the group is going to become a team. This year's camp is shaping up to be an exciting one with a great group of students. Just to give you a few highlights of the day, after getting on the road, eating at Wendy's and checking in we migrated to our dorms. It always seems to take forever to get checked in and then in a matter of minutes the everyone has their beds setup and bags unpacked. This year the guys are in a hall style dorm with bathrooms shared 1 bathroom for two rooms (1 shower: 4 people) but the girls hall style dorms are 1 bathroom to an entire wing of the dorm (4 showers: 40ish people). That should prove an interesting challenge. After getting all unpacked we had our camp orientation, dinner and our evening 'celebration' worship service. Our band is called 'The Museum' and they are really engaging the whole camp in worship through music. Clayton King is our camp Pastor speaking each morning and night on what it means to be a devoted follower of Christ. The whole camp is centered around Deuteronomy 6:5 which Jesus quotes in Matthew 22:36-37 as the greatest command. Clayton really drove home the idea tonight that a devoted follower of Christ isn't driven by feelings or emotions but rather by dedicated seeking of God's will through a healthy daily walk. He conjectured that passion isn't just this emotional high of being on fire for God and making a shallow commitment but rather being willing to endure pain and suffering in order to glorify God.

Please pray for our group as tomorrow we begin our daily mission work at the Children's Center for the Physically Disabled, a public school not far from the university here in Winston Salem. We will be playing with the kids and helping wherever needed. I know they plan for us to paint and do yard work. I hope our team really takes hold of the words in 1John3:16-18 as they serve tomorrow. Please check back for updates and leave comments.