Zo-a:: Livin' in Fast Forward: Weeks 1-4 of the Camp Season

It’s amazing how being at camp seems to make time fly. As the great philosopher Kenny Chesney put it, it feels as if we are “livin’ in fast forward”. The last four weeks for me have been a whirlwind of time, people, the next task on the list, and just enough sleep to get by.

Week one found me in the thriving desert town of Midland, Texas. The leadership teams of all of the teams gathered together at out camp headquarters to gather supplies for the camp season, count our inventory, and make any repairs from previous seasons so that we would be ready to go when staffers came in and we had our rehearsal week, staff training. That week has been one of my favorite times of the year every year because it represents a reunification of old friendships and a solidifying of direction for each of the teams as the reality of camp begins to set in.

Week two found us burning up the road to Dallas to pick up six fifteen-passenger vans and complete the drive up to Bartlesville, Oklahoma in time to meet all of our staff teams. It is here that we trained the staffers in the policies of our camp, how to run and care for a small group, and begin knowing each other on each of the respective teams for the summer (there are three, by the way. One that travels to the Northeast, Southeast, and West coast).

This year staff training held mixed feelings for me. It was great because I was able to do some new things in my role of assistant camp director such as teach a couple sessions on Camp Emergency Policies and Procedures and the philosophy behind our color team competitions during the summer, but on the flip side it was tough at times because I was on a different team this year, so I had to say goodbye at the end of the week to some people whom I have not had to say goodbye to at staff training for the last four years, and I knew that there were some people who were travelling with my old team that I would not get to see at all.

In the pains of change come new opportunities however, and those began to bear fruit starting in week three with our first camp in Oklahoma. One hundred twenty students, eleven staffers, seven leadership staff, and three faculty and their accompanying families, and we had the West Coast team all together at last. The camp went well despite the first-week rusty gears of our leadership team being removed a year from our last camp. There were a couple times when we had to do some additional staff meetings to cover additional things we had just plain forgot about because we were out of practice, but by God’s grace we were able to complete camp and send students home with changed lives and, hopefully, a clear understanding of the Gospel and how it penetrates all aspects of life and creation.

That brings us to this week in Phoenix, Arizona. It is Wednesday, which means witnessing is today, and that students who have been receiving intellectual lectures for the last three days will go and see today that 1) there are people out there who are absolutely lost in the depravity of their sins, and 2) they do not have all the answers to the questions that people have. Wednesdays are extremely sweet at camp because it is the day students put feet to their faith in a way that many of them have never done before, and they feel very tangibly what it means to be used as an instrument for Christ’s wielding when they go out and, with fumbling words, make known the Gospel of their Savior. It is the apex of the week, and as I write this in the morning I anticipate the stories of this afternoon that remind me every week why I continue to come back to this camp.

If you would continue to pray for me and my team I would greatly appreciate it. My team traveled over twenty hours from Oklahoma to Phoenix this past weekend, and the journey was fraught with setbacks, which have only continued throughout the week here. Our truck broke down an hour and a half outside of Bartlesville on the way here, we have had issues with our dorm situation here, and the sound in our room has been doing some things that no one has been able to explain. I don’t seek to write all of these issues off to spiritual attacks as opposed to simple incompetence in some areas, but either way I do think that Satan will be seeking to exploit our weaknesses as we attempt to continue to be involved in spreading the Gospel.

So please pray for us – that we would be longsuffering with the students and with each other, that staffers would receive rest on the weekend to help them be ready for the next camp, and that our leadership team would be unified and would continue to seek to serve each other as personalities continue to come out and initial politeness begins to fade.

Also, during the week of staff training I received news that a good friend of mine from back home had been hit by a car while riding his bicycle and was in ICU and to my knowledge is still there. Please pray first for his family of seven – that they would be comforted and provided for in their time of need. He works for Campus Crusade for Christ and lives off of raised support, so pray that people would come alongside them to provide for their hospital expenses. Second pray for me, that I would continue to be able to focus on being here while my community at home hurts, and that I would be reminded of the fragility of life and allow that to inspire and motivate me to spread the same message to those around me.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and friendships! I miss each of you, and have been encouraged by how many of you have said you are keeping up with me and praying for me via this blog. I hope to be more consistent with it in the future and give you some insight into the specific personalities and stories of each camp as the summer progresses. Thanks, and God bless!

The entire Worldview Staff and Leadership Teams for 2013. I am the farthest on the left in the black shirt if you cannot tell!