Week 2 – Getting it down

Thank you once again for your prayers. It’s very encouraging to know you guys are praying as different things happen during the week. This week actually went about as normally as a week can go. All of the God-directed “happenings” from last week did not have any counterparts this week. It feels good to be beyond the “first week” jitters. Everything even went very well technically this week, including the running of a DVD that Brother Ron wanted played during his message that he handed to me 3 mins before the service. (He had some circumstances out of his control that prevented him from getting it to me any earlier.)  So hopefully now we’ll be able by God’s grace to focus on continuing to improve upon everything, rather than correcting problems. 🙂

Campers come in all sizes, and I had one of the XL size in my prayer cabin this week. He had never been to camp before and he had a blast. He was also a lot of fun to watch during the games such as tube tug 🙂 He responded during the services and made several good decisions. Overall the kids this week were very responsive to Brother Ron DeGarde’s messages. Several were saved, and on Friday night among other decisions, both a camper and his counselor were called to full-time Christian ministry.

I had two interesting counseling experiences this week that were a little out of the norm. First, on Thursday when all the guy junior campers are out in the woods playing capture the flag, I noticed from my perch in the sound booth, that a lone camper playing carpetball by himself in the JBC gameroom. I was about to go down and talk to him when the cleanup crew came in to straighten chairs and such and one of them started talking to him. I watched them talk for a while, and then they stopped playing carpetball and the cleanup crew guy got out a Bible and sat down with the camper. I wasn’t able to hear them from where I was in the booth, but I started praying. I found out later in the week that the cleanup crew guy had been able to lead that camper to the Lord. So it was neat to kind of be a part of / witness that.

The other interesting counseling experience took place with another staff member. He had responded angrily to a situation that developed and the Lord enabled me to confront him about it and remind him of some Scripture and biblical principles. He responded very well, and sought forgiveness from those he offended. It was a good reminder to both of us that it’s not just the campers who need counseling, but we all need it from time to time.

Well, tonight is the first of four required Sunday evening services on the campsite. A staff member (whose identity is usually kept a secret) will speak to us and then we’ll have some really good food. If this year is like previous years, I believe it will be BLT’s and some really good cookies. Tonight’s service will also be special because it will be the first time anyone (that I’m aware of) will use the new Wilds Songbooks. They just came in this week, from what I understand, and they’re not even being sold in the bookstore yet. I had the opportunity to peruse one Friday afternoon and it looks like a great update.

Next week the speaker at JBC will be Bob Roberts again, and the teen camp speaker will be Will Galkin. I’m looking forward to hopefully hearing both of them this week. This week is also the first week of CIT (Camper in Training), which is our camper leadership program. We have what’s often called “the Northland Crew” of Sam Horn, Les Ollila, and Marty Von speaking to them. (Yes, I realize they’re not all Northland people anymore, but they all have been, if they’re aren’t currently.)