After all these years I still love Summer Camp

NF Middle School Student Life Camp 2009

WOW! It is Wednesday and our students are with their family groups right now, giving me time to update you on what is going on at camp this year. It has been a blast so far. It is amazingly hot this week. Last year we had a nice cool week in June to do MS camp…NOT THIS YEAR. Heat index was 113 hear yesterday. You hear lots of “its Hawwwwt” as you walk around camp. As we arrived here Monday, almost 28 years of me going to camp or taking people to camp flashed through my mind. From Children’s camp in texas at a camp that wouldn’t allow “mixed bathing” (which is swimming in religious talk) to countless camps and retreats in east Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Missouri, and probably others I am forgetting…I walked through registration as I have done for almost 10 years now with Student life, I walked in blazing heat to the worship center where our students were anxiously and excitedly awaiting camp t-shirts and room assignments and time to move in for the week. I am drenched in sweat (I know shocker right?) and a little out of breath. The band is sound checking, the stage looks amazing, I am looking around a room that I have been in for several years now and have had the privilege of seeing God change lives. Students be broken in God’s holiness and surrender to Him. Revelations of God never letting go to students on hot humid nights at worship, students connecting with God’s heart, smiles, tears, laughter, and I realized at this moment.. I still enjoy youth camp. I love seeing students connect with each other and with the heart of God. To see students from across the country come as several groups but become one.

Have you had those times where you are listening to someone talk and something they say hits home? Like a revelation in a simple phrase? Something you may have heard a thousand times but this time something is different. That happened to me Monday afternoon. It was a video to get the students excited about what the week was going to bring. What to expect…then the phrase “expect the unexpected” flashed on the screen. Now you may as well have paused the video because I was done with it. Expect the unexpected. How many times do we miss the unexpected because we are stuck in a rut, so caught up in our schedules, our smartphones, our planners, that we miss the wonderful unexpected things that come our way. I want to expect the unexpected. God is laying many things on my heart as I respond to His Gospel. And I believe there will be many things unexpected in the life of Northface Student ministry and Summit Community Church as we live out the Gospel how God calls us to. This excites me. Scares me. It is big, bigger than I am…but not bigger than “I AM”. See what I did there =). I am not but I know I AM. He is where my hope lies. Hope that He will change lives of our students. Hope that lives outside this place are changed because of what He is doing in our lives. Hope that the least of these are ministered to, that widows, orphans, homeless are affected by the Gospel through our lives… ALL that with one little phrase “expect the unexpected”. Well…on with camp. So we get to worship Monday night and our camp pastor whose name is incredibly difficult Afshin Ziafat. His first name is pronounced (how he taught us) Afro Sheen without the “ro”. He was rescued by Christ out of a very prominent Islamic family, and his story is amazing. At the end of his talk Afshin offered a response time as is pretty common at events such as this. He told of the gift of Life. A Real life. He asked if there were any students who wanted that. Now in almost 30 years of going to camp…God doesn’t show up until Wednesday, right? Boom, not true. God landed in this place and the unexpected (sadly unexpected) happened. Students all of the room of 1400 people began to stand up. Our group is relatively small 25 and 6 of us are leaders. SIX of students stood up. Whoa! A friend of one of our students who is in the middle of her epic story began to come to Summit about 3 weeks ago and told me she just felt inspired to know more about God. She is here this week and she surrendered her life to Christ Monday night. The eternal Great Holy God called and she answered. 5 others with stories that will be told stood up and responded to the Holy Spirit of God. I still love camp. I am not 18 anymore. I have a wife and 10 month baby at home that I miss more than I could even express and I am counting the hours until I hold them on Friday…But I still love camp.. This is an encouraging thing for a 35 year old Youth Minister. Thank you for your prayers and support as we are here. Parents, thank you for trusting us with your child.

We go to high school camp in about a month. Who knows what that will bring. I will say this. There are about 5 students who are going with us who need a scholarship because they are having trouble coming up with the money. If you could help it would be greatly appreciated and most likely will affect a student for an eternity. Let me know if you can. Or just turn in your check at Summit Sunday in the offering with “camp scholarship “ in the memo.

Still loving Camp,

Brandon AKA BAM