Passing on the blessing.

I'm sure you all have heard of the Samaritans shoe box. It's a great way to brighten childrens smiles all around the world and get them the gospel for Christmas. Check out this story:

A girl who received an Operation Christmas Child shoe box while an orphan in Russia has the opportunity to deliver gifts to children in Ecuador. She tells her story on CNN:

Praying for rain.

North Carolina has been experiencing record draught. I heard we were the driest we'd ever been in 120 years! It hasn't rained in at least 6 weeks. I haven't mowed for 2 months. Our pond was 2ft down and the lake had stopped going over the spill way. The grass was brown and even the mountain laurels were shriveling up. I found myself casually praying for rain a couple of times, but I don't think I put much effort into it, nor did I expect much of an answer. I think we all pray like that sometimes. We get into a routine or obligation, and we pray without actually talking to our Father. Since He searches our hearts and minds, He knows when we're faking it. It's as if your child were telling you they were sorry and you knew they didn't really mean it.

Perhaps there's something just as stupid as a meaningless prayer. I would venture to say that a prayer without expectations is equally fruitless. Just the other day I heard an older gentleman saying,

"A man was praying for rain, but he didn't carry an umbrella"

We eventually got our rain, but I don't think it was because of my meaningless and faithless prayers. I was speaking out of obligation and I didn't start carrying an umbrella.

Like King David let's order our prayers to the Lord and eagerly watch for answers.

If we pray for rain let's carry an umbrella
If we pray for support let's run to the mailbox when the mail man comes.
If we pray for healing, let's do something we couldn't do before.
If we pray for wisdom, let's confidently make that decision.
If we pray for someones salvation, let's watch for the transformation.
If we pray, let's expect answers.

Free Pastor Bike!

As our attention has been focused towards China for the Olympics, let's take a moment to recognize a Chinese christian who would like our help. All you need to do is pray and sign the petition for his freedom. Here's the story:

Pastor Bike, as he is affectionately known, is considered to be one of the most outspoken evangelists in China. He is a bold believer willing to cross borders, hand out Christian literature and Bibles, share Christ with those under age 18 and lead thousands to Christ. All these actions are considered "illegal" in communist China.

On August 6, just two days before the Olympics began, Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan was arrested, along with his wife and a coworker.

In response to these arrests, The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association have launched a petition drive to free these three Christians and to let the Chinese government know that the world is aware that these Christians are being detained.

Together, our voice can make a difference. Please follow the link below to learn more, and please forward this email to your friends.

Free Pastor Bike

Check out this BBC video that mentions pastor bike and and others who have been stripped of human rights:

7th day.

"You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest..." Exodus 34:21

Perhaps this is one of the most forgotten (or ignored) commands we have from our Father. Both lay people and ministers alike can get caught in the trap of positive and negative pressures to work or keep busy ALL the time. It's not just American Christians either. From my 3 month experience in Honduras there was no rest. In fact, I would imagine international missionaries in 3rd world countries would have a more difficult struggle. The need seems greater and the laborers are so few. But how much more would they need that rest? Doesn't rest, in fact, stimulate us better to love and to do good deeds? In a round about way, I believe it does. I've heard it said that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to rest. That makes sense as it's harder to love and do good while tired. Wouldn't it be better to get regenerated to prevent burn out?

Rebekah and I struggled with this issue for several months before we came up with a concrete plan. I struggled with a couple of things. 1st, should we take a "complete" rest? You'll see that Jesus made several acceptations on His rest day:

1. He allowed the disciples to reap in order to feed themselves.
2. He, Himself taught in the synagogues.
3. He healed and seemingly promoted other acts of mercy on the sabbath.

I know that some people have made a conscious decision not to rest, but have considered the Biblical principal and believe to be going about it the right way. I fear for those who operate on 7 days without giving it much thought.

Rebekah and I were experiencing a burn out. Not so much me as an individual, but us as a family. Much of our time was on missional activities, but something didn't seem right. The traditional day of rest in the south is Sunday, and because of tradition that was our "rest" day. In reality, it wasn't a rest at all. We gathered for corporate worship, taught Sunday School, most likely went to eat somewhere with someone, would sometimes have a meeting and would finish the day leading a youth Bible study. Then it was back to the grind on Monday. It wasn't much rest, and I wasn't getting much quality time w/ my family either. Yes, I work from the house and I'm super blessed to see and work alongside my family allot. For that I'm grateful, but we were suffering from lack of quality time together.

We also struggled with whether we should rest on Sunday or Monday. We prayed, sought council and thought allot about this. For us, to get adequate rest on Sunday would mean ceasing from corporate worship and Sunday school. We wouldn't want to have any meetings that day either. That left Monday which mean everyone else would be working and would likely want/need us to work too. We were torn, but needed to make a decision. Right now, with our ministry it's possible (not necessarily easy) to rest on Monday. We didn't want pull out of traditional church yet, nor did we want to stop teaching and going to important meetings.

We made the call a couple of months ago and have benefited tremendously from our low key Monday w/ quality time as a family. A mentor of mine warned me that I would have to guard my rest day and he was right. Rebekah and I are both eager to say yes to any and everything that comes are way. We have a hard time saying no, but we've had to make a stand for the sake of the Lord's command, our family and our bodies rest. As a family our relationship has improved and as an individual my energy level going back to work on Tuesday has been well worth it.

Jesus is our soap!

"let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb 10:22.

We shared this verse with our kids at the group home a couple year ago and I'll never forget it. As I read this scripture the words "sprinkled clean and bodies washed with pure water" stood out. I couldn't help but think about the shower. You know, we get "sprinkled" on and we wash our bodies with pure water.

However, this verse isn't talking about getting clean on the outside, it's talking about our insides. That lead me to ask, "if soap cleans our outsides, what can clean our insides?". Nothing but the blood of Jesus! If "Dial" is soap for our exterior, Jesus is soap for our interior.

I challenged the kids and now I challenge you to think differently the next time you take a shower. As you physically wash your body with pure water, begin to thank Jesus for His mercy and confess your sins to the Father. Get clean physically and spiritually!

Community Life: Preppy Pizza night.

As a community we gather regularly to eat, pray, work, study God's word and share communion. Last night we gathered for a time of devotion and some work in the garden. Today, some of us shared lunch together at the Gospel Bird then checked out the energy expo. Traditionally, our gatherings are planned, purposelful, and contain allot of laughter. Tonight's gathering wasn't planned, but set up on the whim. Someone said pizza, another said party, another said let's dress up and yet another said preppy. So if you rolled into the Holler tonight you might be confused to see us all dressed up in collard shirts, sweaters, ties and fancy pants. It's most definitely out of character for our more comfortable every day attire. Check out the pics for a glimpse of the action.

The blogs I read.

A few weeks ago a good friend of mind admitted he was a news junky. He admitted that his "addiction" started during 9.11. He said that he appreciated this blog as it gave him a more "eternal" source of news. I then offered to email him ALL the blogs I read. I thought I'd share them with you guys just in case your interested in what God's doing in some other lives and ministries. In no particular order:

Seth Barns - Director or AIM (Adventures in Missions) "Radical living in a Comfortable world". With decades of experience walking with the Lord, doing international mission and living in American this guy has got a ton of raw and uncut wisdom to share. An excellent blend of foreign experiences to challenge our not so foreign lives. A great mix of topics that include: missions, parenting, discipling, prayer, community, radical living, simplicity, youth ministry, the Holy Spirit, the poor and many others.

Tom Davis's - President of Children's Hope Chest, "Notes from the field" is the story of one man living a faith that bleeds. It's the journey of Tom as he follows Christ's footsteps laid out in red letter print of the Bible. You'll read compelling articles, see challenging videos and be challenged to take on more of Jesus' heart for the hurting world.

Paul Myhill's - President of World Orphans, "Abandoned - Orphaned" is about Gods heart for the orphan and the underprivileged. You'll follow Paul as he travels the world ministering to the fatherless. You'll be challenged to live more missionally and think more Godly. It's a very truthful blog and often times convicting. Paul Myhill, a modern day radical missionary.

The Spahr's - On the Mexican mission field during their 1st year of marriage, then they find out he's got cancer. Here's their realistic and inspiring story of 1 couple fighting "the" disease and trusting in God's sovereignty.

The Millers - document their personal journey in adopting their newest daughter Abby. They'll share the ups and downs as well as the personal web cam visitations. It's an informative and personal insight in what it actually looks like to adopt international.

The Jonah Show - This is my 8 month old son's blog.

Hand of Hope - Sheri Young (the blog facilitator) posts orphan related articles, blogs and video related to the care of orphans. This is the start up ministry that Rebekah and I serve with. We're the missions representatives. It's from this ministry we spawned the idea to do orphan sponsorship in Russia through Children's Hope Chest.

Nate David Scott's - "If I were debt free". This is the story of a guy currently convicted of debt who's on a mission to be free from material bondage in order to better love others.

Chipped up cup.

Let me ask you a question. If you were going out to water your garden, and for some reason were going to use a cup, what kind of cup would you use? Would you grab your grandmas fancy china that's behind the glass? Or, would you grab that old chipped up cup? I think the answer is obvious. We'd all use the beat up cup to work in our gardens.

Last night as a group of us we're feeding the homeless of Asheville, Mayfield said something profound, "I'm a chipped up cup watering God's seeds". Hayfield's a homeless man who's an evangelist for the Lord. He can quote more Scripture than you and I combined and can really lay down a truthful word. Just like any of us, he struggles with the flesh and often times slips out of the spirit and into the flesh and falls. Just 2 weeks ago I saw his patience run thin and he got into a fist fight. The 1st time I met Mayfield, during the winter he had a cut on his head that was bleeding. He actually asked us to buy him some neosporin for it. As I was talking with him this time, I noticed a large scar on his forehead. This guy has seen a hard life. When he told me he was a chipped up cup, I believed him.

Mayfield taught me something that I'll likely never forget. God uses chipped up cups. Just like we wouldn't use the fancy cup behind the glass, God's not going to use the guy who's sitting the pew bench not willing to get up and get "beat up" for Jesus. God uses us in our brokenness or else we'd have something to brag about. This is beginning to help me forgive and cope with those great leaders who have fallen and maken mistakes: Adam, Noah, Jonah, David, Peter, Pierce (founder of world vision), and even more recently Todd Bently (face of the Lakeland revival).

I'd say if God can use a disobedient child, a drunken insester, an adulterer/murderer, a denier, an unfaithful father/husband and a divorcee he can also use me.

So I thank God for using me despite my own self. That's one aspect of the chipped cup. Some of the chips are sins in our life, but there are good chips that God creates in us for His glory. Let's take Jesus as our example and understand that it's ok to get beat up while serving our Lord. Often times He'll put us through trials that only make us better. Other times we'll suffer as a consequence of seeking His Kingdom.

In any case, a chipped up cup is a useful and delightful tool for our Lord.

Holler Activities: Massive book throwing.

Yesterdays Holler days included the usual work, recreation, fellowship and worship, but something special happened. Yes, I believe God was present and moved in many visible and invisible and beautiful ways. One of the most memorable was how Emma (7 yrs old) and Ariana (teenager) naturally hooked up to help each other clean out stalls. Emma looks up to teenagers and especially Ariana. It was cool to see the natural discipleship going on. Heather who just graduated college was likely setting an example for the teenagers and hopefully I was setting the example for her and the other teens. After the work we enjoyed fooling around w/ the tractor, walking around the lake, rolling in the tire and throwing really BIG books. This is where the day set its self apart in Holler recreation history as something special.

As we were carrying these crazy BIG books to the trash Stephen said, "I know another Hillbilly game we can play at the Holler". You see, we're into Hillbilly games here b/c their funny, inexpensive and usually give kids something unique to do. This time, Stephen had the idea of a book throwing contest. We started out throwing them like Olympic discus and then we moved on to the shot put. Soon the covers fell off and we discovered the Frisbee capabilities and had the distance, strength and accuracy competition. I couldn't believe how much fun we were having w/ a bunch of "unwanted" books. Here's some pics of yesterday book and tire rollin madness. Enjoy!

We concluded the evening with the usual dinner and service. I simple re-iterated what I've been sharing all week.

Bad cabbages.

I had a dream a couple of nights ago that stems from what's been on my mind lately (see the "take me to the other side" blog). Here's roughly how it went:

I was at Orphanage Emmanuel looking out over the "abajo" where we had farmed beans when I worked there. In the dream the garden was filled with cabbages. One of the kids was was standing beside me, and I looked down to him and said, "You know, they all look good from here, but if you get closer you'll realize many of them are actually rotten".

I've thought some about this dream and have discovered a few analogies:

1. Like the cabbages that looked great from a distance, there are many people who "look" and act great from afar, but upon closer examination they're really not.

2. Like the cabbages that looked good but weren't, there are many people who talk, look, act and even believe they're Christians, but aren't.

3. From what little gardening experience I have I know it's not possible that every single cabbage would be good in a field that large. In the same way Jesus said that the road is narrow that leads to life. It's not possible that everyone who says their a Christian actually is.

4. We can't judge the cabbage from a distance and we can't judge other people's Christianity w/o getting close to them.

Does Jesus like Cherry tomatoes?

One of the things we're doing with the Holler Garden is feeding Jesus. Jesus said what ever you do unto the the least of these you do unto me. That means every time we minister to the poor we minister to Jesus Himself!

I was packing up some of our best produce the other day to do just that. This time we were donating it to the Storehouse (local food distribution ministry) and couldn't help but wonder if Jesus would even like this stuff. Allot of of America's poor are overweight from too much junk food. From my experience that's because it's cheap, often times free through organizations and many of these people lack the education and/or discipline to eat right. So I wasn't sure if they would even like these fresh veggies. On top of that much of our produce were cherry tomatoes. To be honest, I don't even like tomatoes.

I immediately came under the conviction that I ought to ask Him. I'm not talking about prayer either. I should try and meet the people I'm giving the food to and straight up ask em. You know, address the humanity in them. Get to know the poor and have the poor get to know me. It's important to actually know them b/c Jesus is found somewhere in them. Perhaps it's equally important for them to know me b/c we don't want to hear the dreaded judgment from our Savior and Lord, "depart from me, I never knew you".

It turns out I was unable to volunteer at the storehouse the day we donated so I was unable to find out whether or not Jesus liked Cherry tomatoes. I then forgot about this whole ordeal, until today. We were at the Greenlife tailgate market selling our goods when Jen saw a couple of homeless men down the bank from where we were. We had plenty of cherry tomatoes so I excitedly took em down to the guys.

Sure enough, Jesus likes cherry tomatoes! They began eating them right then and there. When I told them I was glad they like em, they replied, "I can't see why anyone wouldn't like tomatoes."

We didn't do well financially today ($23), but feeding the hungry Jesus made it all worth while.

Take me to the other side!

My dear granny (99 yrs old) is now in a nursing home, so we try to visit her every week. What we didn't expect was to fall in love with all the other ladies there. On Monday we went with Granny to her Bible study and had a blast seeing 2 ladies kicked out of the study, others constantly interrupting and yet another accusing the teacher of taking away from God's word by describing the good Shepperd's staff as a cane. The nurse moved on to less "controversial" passages than Psalms 23 while we took in every bit of it.

As you can imagine ALL the old ladies and even men love Jonah. I imagine it's such a blessing for them to see, hear, touch and hold him. We love them and they love us. So we were dismayed when we saw Granny's roommate and friend, Mrs. Barnewell gone. In a slight despair we asked the nurse if she had passed away. To give you an overall sense of urgency in this place, Rebekah was talking to one elder lady. Here's how it went:

Rebekah: I'll bring in some fresh tomatoes from the garden next week.
Eldery Lady: That sounds good, I hope I'm still here.
Rebekah: What do you mean, be here. Where you going?
Eldery Lady: I got real sick last week and thought I was going to die.

This lady didn't knowing if she'll live till next week and it turns out Mrs Barnwell was diagnosed with cancer and moved to the local hospice. We went to visit Mrs Barnwell today, but couldn't see her because she was in sort of a coma. Her family said she was conscious until 2 days ago and then she came into her current state of "sleep". Interesting enough they got a few words out of her last night. One thing they asked her was if she'd seen daddy. Even more interesting, she replied that she had! It's since then she hasn't come out of this sleep. I couldn't help but speak my mind,

"Now that she's seen the other side she doesn't want to come back". Her daughter was comforted and said, "who can blame her. I wouldn't want to come back either". You see, she's visited paradise! She's visiting her husband and perhaps she's made it as far as Glory, who knows.

I ask two things. Do you want to go to the other side? Are you ready? Fellowship with our risen Lord or separation from Him forever! Mrs. Barnwell's ready. My Granny is most definitely ready. Are you?

For those of you on the fence, the Bible warns about middlemen. God would rather spit you out of His mouth than for you to be lukewarm, neither hot or cold. Unfortunately, I have to suspect that from statistics and experience there's a number of you who say your Christians, but your really lukewarm. Your like I was 4yrs ago in a state of despair and fully unaware! I had my "ticket" out of hell, but that would have only served to light the fire I was headed for. 98% of the people I talk to tell me their Christians. I find that hard to believe, especially since the road is narrow that leads to life and especially since many of those people I meet and know look just like the world. We're to know a tree by it's fruit. Are you fruitful? Faith without works is dead. I was dead not long ago. Then God rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. I'm now 4 yrs old, a bond servant to Jesus Christ. In slavery into this new way that has actually set me free! Not just free from hell, but from my wretched self, from sin and from God's righteous and just WRATH! I love Him and experience Him and want that for EVERYONE. Please, I beg. Don't be like I was straddling that fence. Wake up to the reality that you may not be either hot or cold, but rather lukewarm.

It seemed Mrs. Barnwell was straddling the fence between 2 worlds. She's now choosing the other side and doesn't want to come back. Who can blame her? Many of you still balance that middle ground. You might not be on the brink of physical death, but spiritually your rotting. You can't serve 2 masters. You can't love both God and this world. You must hate the one and love the other. Join me on a mission of repentance. Turning from evil and turning towards good. No compromise.

Who's your daddy?

While at Snowbird we got the chance to talk with Brody's (camp director) 3 yr old daughter. The conversation went something like this:

Us: Hey L, who's your daddy?
L: Brody
Us: What does he do here?
L: I don't know.
Us: Does he clean the toilets?
L: Kilby (that's her older sister)
Us: Does he mow the grass?
L: Yes (he doesn't)
Us: Does he teach skateboarding?
L: Yes (he most certainly doesn't)
Us: Who does your daddy tell people about (he's the speaker)?
L: Jesus
Us: Who's Jesus?
L: Daddy.

Every time I go to Snowbird, I go away with a profound spiritual lesson that I never forget. This time, it came through a beautiful 3 yr old girl.
Whether she knew exactly what she was talking about or not, Brody serves as an early impression of Jesus to her. Being a new Poppa I've come under the conviction that I will likely be the 1st Jesus Jonah will consciously know. For us daddy's, who are to be the spiritual leaders of our households, that leaves a tremendous responsibility to be like Christ ALL THE TIME! Not just in public, w/ friends, at work or at church. It's our families who will be around us the most, therefore the most influenced by us. Lord, I pray for strength from the Holy Spirit to be Christ to those closest to me.

Camp Snowbird

Yesterday, Rebekah and I visited one of our favorite places in the world, Camp Snowbird. I'll never forget the 1st impression I had of these guys. It was at a "fall round up" youth event, and they were the hired speakers/entertainers. They showed up in full character red neck! Beyond their authentic rotten teeth, long/greasy hair, tight jeans, cowboy boots, broken glasses, sleeveless shirts, poofed up hair and intense make up (on the ladies) they never broke character (accept to preach the gospel). I believe this spoke allot about them. Not only do they have a ton of fun, they stick to things. If they can stay in red neck character for 2 hours how much more can they endure in ministry for Christ's sake. Brody, the director, went 91 days w/o a shower b/c he was so busy ministering to campers and staff he didn't have the time. He was going on just a few hours of sleep each night. If you go to their campus you'll notice everything is in order, the people are friendly and everyone is doing something. Their typical summer schedule includes working all day from 7AM to 3AM with just a day of rest on the weekends.

It's not the camp itself, but the people who draw us there. 4 yrs ago when I 1st visited the camp to pick Brody's brain on starting a camp ministry. He spent 4 hrs with us! To this day, I can still remember several things he taught us that day. He's got to be one of the most compassionate, down to earth, practical and thoughtful teachers I have ever heard. His intense style will either scare you or pump you up for Jesus. He continues to be a mentor of mine and is on our board of directors. It's through Snowbird we made our 1st missions trip to Orphanage Emmanuel. Most of you know the rest of that story. We fell in love, went back for 3 months in 06/07, took a group of high schoolers in 08 and will continue to bless and be blessed by Emmanuel through all of eternity.

We served w/ 2 of Snowbirds staff while we were at Emmanuel during our 3 month stay. One of them, named Rachel got married yesterday (that's why we were there)! It's funny, Rebekah would tease her while we were in Honduras saying "you're going to marry Corey one day". Corey had also worked at Snowbird, but was serving the Lord in Peru, and they were not an item. I would tell Rebekah not to say that b/c I believed Rachel had a crush on Corey, but I knew she wanted her focus to be on Jesus. Despite that "prophesy" we were surprised, but please when they got engaged one year later. Their plans now include finishing the Appalachian trail (she lacks 40 days), finishing mission work in Puru and then "settling" down in Africa as team leaders for the IMB. What an exciting life! I only wish you knew Rachel. She's a live wire firecracker, smokin for the Lord! That should say allot about the man capable of marrying her as well.

I can't wait to see what Father's going to do through their unity.

Steven Curtis Chapman on CNN.

Steven and family were on Larry King live yesterday. Much of the program was dedicated their adopted daughter who died recently. If you missed it, you can view the entire show online at Youtube. Here's video 1 of 6:

the Holler Farm fulfills its purpose.

When we set out to do the Holler farm this year we had several purposes in mind:

1. Feed ourselves natural and organic food cultivated by our own hands.
2. Share that goodness and burden with the community.
3. Provide food for campers.
4. Farming will serve as part of the program for campers.
5. Minister to saints, the lost and the least by giving them fresh produce.
6. Sell the goods in order to raise money for the ministry.

I'm pleased to announce that all 6 of those purposes were fulfilled in just one weekend! Praise the Lord! It's so cool to see the veggies from the dirt to the consumer. Here's how the purposes we're fulfilled: We fed ourselves straight off of the land and shared with the direct community. Surprisingly, the campers absolutely loved the raw peppers and cucumbers to go along w/ their pizza. During camp, we worked with a widow who we blessed w/ fresh veggies picked that same morning. We set up an honesty farm stand on Terry's gap that brought in nearly $30 over the weekend. In addition to the freestand, we sold at Greenlife's tailgate market on Wednesday and sold some pumpkins to the Co-Op. All together the produce has brought in over $100 in just one week.

Stay tuned for ways you can participate and partake in the Holler farm.

A day on the bald.

Speaking of God's goodness found in nature, check out our pics from Monday's adventure at Balsom Bald in Pisgah forrest. We were blown away!

Click here for the pics. The mountain photos start on page two of the album. The 1st page includes pics of us and our friends playing with the new additions to the Holler chicken farm.

It's a beautiful range of bald mountain tops peaking around 5,800 ft. Our friends, Dan and Annie Collins, were in town visiting and invited us to go. Monday's are our days off so we jumped on the opportunity to take in some local beauty!

John Piper is bad!

You and I are too if you look at it this way:

Camp report.

Looking back on our first camp, I'm excited and content with what God's doing through the Holler. I say 1st camp, but technically, it wasn't. It's our 1st camp since we stepped out on faith in September to do this full time. We've actually held 4 camps previous to this one over the last 3 years.

A mentor of mine, Randall, once asked me "what's stopping me". He was talking about my idea for camp years ago. I took that challenge to heart and have tried to apply that concept in all aspects of my life and ministry, not just the Holler. Do you have a Kingdom building idea? I ask you, what's stopping you? Life is short and futile if it's not wholeheartedly lived for the Lord. With that said, we're trying to do our best with what we've been given. We may not have "official" tents, cabins, showers or toilets, but we do have land, the Bible, a servants heart etc... We can't let anything hold us back. Some circumstances may form the details of the ministry but we can't let it hold us back.

For the camp, I was planning to talk about 1 Kings 13 and what it means to be a Godly man (verses a worldly man), but God changed my plans a couple of days before. I figured if someone actually wants to be a Godly man they would 1st want God. I'm not convinced that our youth today actually want God, so there's no since preaching Godly man, if someone really doesn't even desire the Lord. We started with the basics of experiencing God and His character. Hopefully we all got a better idea of who God is. Since it was a small group (by the way, I love small groups) we had a lot of flexibility. I had them spend allot of time alone with the Father. We took a nature walk, talked around camp fire and talked over meals. The camp atmosphere felt like community and family, and that's exactly what I want for the camps coming through. They were local kids, so I'll actually see them again. We all played, studied, worked and served the Lord, TOGETHER!

I believe the youth and their pastor went away refreshed and excited about what we accomplished for the Kingdom of God. The mission project with Ms. Maily seemed to be every one's highlight. She was sweet as ever and everyone went out of their comfort zone to experience the joy of helping others in need.

I can't wait for the next one, planned for the middle of September.

1st camp!

It's been a crazy day today. This morning Camp Takoa showed up to rent the mountainboarding facilities. They left at 2 and a weekend camp came at 4! We're hosting our 1st camp since we stepped out of the boat on faith in September. Pray for us throughout the weekend. Today, it seemed like the Devil was out to frustrate me. 30 minutes before they arrived as I sat hopelessly unable to physically prepare for their arrival God used one of He dear daughters. She was calling to RSVP a baby shower my wife was hosting. I told her about the 1st camp and just mentioned that the day of preparation wasn't going smoothly. At that minute she rebuked the devil and pleaded to the Lord for Help. Perfect timing!

Tomorrow we'll play on campus in the morning and head out in the afternoon for some widow work and visitation. This weekends topic: Experiencing God. Pray that the leaders and youth alike will grow in recognizing God's voice.