No Waste at the Altar

Camp is incredible. The lives of so many students, including mine, have been changed. We have just gotten back from our week-long trip to Alexandria, Minnesota, for our summer Youth Camp, and what a week it was. It was filled with games, hit-or-miss camp food, and of course, worshipping Jesus with 1200+ students across 55 churches from all over the state.

It is always fun and exciting to arrive at camp. The feeling, as soon as you step out of the bus at camp, gives us the feeling that great things are going to happen this week. The first day is always about feeling everything out. We get our color groups and get situated in our rooms. But that's where the calm stops there till we leave. We are always doing something. It's one of the things that makes camp…camp. From there, we had some free time and then an amazing message by Johnathan Rivera.

God used him as a vessel for all of our students this week. His messages were God-led and connected with our students. Once we were done hearing the messages at night, we got a chance to meet with our students and just talk with them about what the Lord was putting on their minds and hearts and what they thought of that night's message. It is important that we hear what our students are thinking about the messages. I think for the students, it's a time that they all look forward to.

The week was spent in rec together with our color teams, hearing 2 messages a day, and some free time amongst other items on the schedule. It is amazing to see the hunger for the Lord that our students have. This is one of the most important times in our students' lives. There is a hunger and heart that they have for the Lord, and camp is a week where they can be praying and God will be answering what He has in store for them.

During Wednesday night service, pastor Johnathan Rivera led an altar call that was used to allow students to pray and listen to hear how God can be using them in the next steps of their lives. Wednesday gave a great analogy on what kind of Christian we want to be. The first is a lightbulb Christian, where we are confined to a certain place, like camp or conferences, where we become high in spirituality, or we can be a candlestick Christian. This allows us to show the kind of Christian we want to be and be able to share our light with others and be able to worship the same way we would at camp with the band and speakers when we don't have that on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings.

Overall, the Lord was working mightily not just in the hearts of our students but in the leaders as well. The transformations, healing, and connection that took place are inadmissible when observed and talked about. It's not where we worship that we can become closer to God, but it's how we worship. I can't wait to see God use what was started at camp for our students and continue to allow them to grow.