Best Week Ever!

As a kid there was one week of the year that was better than all the rest. This week wasn’t Christmas, it wasn’t Spring Break, it wasn’t my birthday. The week that I looked forward to was summer camp! The very first summer camp I went to I was in sixth grade and Pastor Paul brought me and one other kid to a camp where he was guest speaking. I remember that camp as the most totally awesome camp in the entire world! I remember donuts, new friends, epic sunscreen fights, an awesome parkour course, and great messages from the Bible. After talking to Paul all these years later he remembers it a little differently. Paul remembers chicken wire walls in the cabin, week old stale donuts, a couple logs on the ground labeled “Parkour course”, and a really long drive. 

Now I’m convinced that Paul’s facts about summer camp were correct. So why did he make the drive to eat stale donuts in a chicken wire hut with two crazy 6th grade boys who never stopped talking and would stay up until 4am every night? Because those epic sunscreen fights were followed by devotions. Because after the parkour course we would sit under teaching as a speaker spoke from the Word of God. Because during those 4am nights we learned that our youth pastor loved us and that love was an outpouring from God’s love in his own life. 

Summer camp as an adult for me is still one of my favorite weeks of the year. Not because of the stale donuts (I would rather be at home eating a home cooked meal). Not because I get to stay up until 4am (I go to bed at 9pm every night). This is my favorite time of the year because I get to show the love of God to a bunch of kids. My hope is that one day these same kids will look forward to summer camp because they are filled so full with God’s love that they just need to share it with the two crazy 6th grade boys who won’t stop talking. 

Summer camp doesn’t happen without a lot of help! As a student I just went to summer camp and existed. As the youth pastor running summer camp I now realize there is a lot of work that goes into summer camp. I need people filled with the love of God who are just waiting to pour that into others. Here are the ways that you can pour into Refuge Youth Ministry at Grace:

• Pray- We need prayer for the students, leaders, speakers, and band.
• Fundraise- The Golf tournament is June 3rd, we need help with running it to help send students to camp.
• Donate- to make summer camp happen we need to raise right around $27,000.
• Come to summer camp- We need counselors who are ready to pour into the lives of these students. However, if staying in a cabin with 10 Junior Highers isn’t for you I have a role that I am calling Camp Grandparents, come ask me about it!
• Become a Refuge staff member and start pouring into the lives of student now, every Wednesday from 5:30-8:30
  

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If you think that you may want to help in any way please come talk to me!
​-Pastor Josh