Cord of 3

Last Thursday I met with a couple of guys for a group I have named "Cord of 3." This is a discipleship group that is done with some of the summer staff. "Cord of 3" is taken from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, where we gain the principle of relying on one another for strength. In our meetings we are reading through the book, "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. There is also a time for review of our personal growth plans. A personal growth plan is a written set of goals to stretch us and cause us to grow. Some goals are spiritually focused and other goals are practical goals for life. We always finish our time praying for one another. This past week was a great time to connect with each other and encourage one another to press on with the goals we set. Thank You for those of you who prayed for this event.

Looking Ahead . . .
Parents' Night Out this Friday. This will be the last one of 2009. Would you Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the children for the Bible lesson?

Winter Camp is under 2 weeks away. Would you Pray for the preparation of this event? Would you Pray that God would draw the campers closer to Himself through Winter Camp?

The Curriculum is coming along. Would you continue to Pray that God will guide me as I put it together?

Acts

Yesterday I completed Phase 1 of the curriculum for next summer. If you remember, we are going to be telling stories from the book of Acts this summer. In Phase 1 of the curriculum I divided up the book of Acts into 40 days of stories. Now that Phase 1 is complete, I will begin Phase 2. In this Phase I will be going through the book of Acts and developing commentary notes for our directors, so that they will be more equipped to tell the stories. Would you PAUSE and PRAY that God will guide and give me wisdom as I put together these commentary notes?

Looking Ahead . . .

Tomorrow, Cord of 3 (a discipleship group with male staff) is meeting. Would you PAUSE and PRAY that are time together would be honoring to God, that we would hold one another accountable to the personal goals we set, and that God would guide us as we learn more about Him (We are reading the book “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer)?

Thank you for your prayers!

Peoria PNO

Last Friday we had a Parents Night Out at the Christian Center. We had a great night. There were about 30 kids that came and 10 staff that helped out. In the Bible lesson we told part of the story of Joseph, and focused on how God is always in control through the good and bad. The campers also got to participate in the "Glow Bowl" that the Christian Center has, some intense games of dodgeball, and "fire ball." All in all it was a fun night and a great opportunity to reconnect with campers and staff. Thank you for your prayers and for those of you who helped out. It was a true blessing.

Looking Ahead . . .

Winter Camp 2009 is just around the corner and there is a lot to be done. Would you pray that God will guide and direct the preparation of this event?Would you also pray that it would be a good time to refocus the campers on Christ? Finally, would you pray that God would bring the staff needed to minister at this event?

Camp 11/11

Last Wednesday we had a full day of camp for kids who didn't have school on Veterans day. We call this Camp 11/11 or Veterans Day Camp. We had just under 20 campers come and 6 staff members. It was a great day. It was so nice we even got to spend time outside. God truly blessed us with great weather and a great day to minister.

I had the opportunity to tell the Bible lesson for our day. As I approached the end of the story I didn't finish it and told the campers that I would conclude the story at the end of the day. While we were bowling one of the campers came up to me and begged me to tell him the end of the story. He couldn't wait to hear what had happened. I couldn't say no to his desire to know more and told him the rest of the story. It was awesome to see his passion to know the story.

I want to say thank you to all of you who prayed for this day. The Lord was at work and provided us with great opportunities to reconnect with the campers.

Looking Ahead . . .

Friday we have a Parents' Night Out at the Christian Center and we usually serve around 40 to 50 kids. Would you pray that God will soften the hearts of the kids to His Word. Pray that they would be challenged to live a life that glories God.

PLAYGROUND!

Tuesday was an exciting day for the Eureka Camp. After 6 years with no playground for older campers, we finally purchased one for them. This is a really nice system that we bought from Rainbow. It has swings, slide, rock wall, rope latter, and tire swing. It is now on site, ready to go and we look forward to putting it into action next summer.

Things to come . . .
Next Friday we are planning a Parents' Night Out for Eureka. Pray that it will be a good time of reconnection with the campers.

On November 11, we will be having a full day of camp at the Christian Center. Pray that God will guide our conversations with the campers.

Curriculum 2010

This week I am beginning the process of developing our curriculum for next year. In 2008 we focused on the Bible as a whole. We told stories from both the Old and New Testament, so that campers could get the big picture. This past summer we focused in on the Life of Christ. Starting from the beginning and working our way to His death, resurrection, and ascension. This year we will focus in on the beginning of the church as we tell stories from the book of Acts. The purpose of theses stories will be aimed at the spiritual growth of the campers. Will you pray that as I develop this curriculum that God will guide me and use it to encourage campers to grow spiritually in their walk with Christ.

Peoria PNO

Last Friday we had our first Peoria PNO. It went really well and was a lot of fun. We had about 40 kids that came to the event, along with 16 staff that helped out. One of the unique things about the Peoria PNO is a lot of the kids that come are not camp kids. The Christian Center is involved with the Peoria PNO, and thus brings in several kids from their connections. So it is a great opportunity to meet new kids and minister to them.
For the Peoria PNO's I have chosen a theme on Trusting God. I decided to use the story of Joseph to teach kids to trust in God. This past Friday we talked about Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery, his time spent at Potipher's house, and finished with Joseph telling the baker and the butler the meaning of their dreams. Would you pray that God will teach the kids to trust him in all situations as we study through Joseph's life?

Looking Ahead . . .
Next Monday we will be having a full day of camp. We call this our Fall Frenzy. Would you pray that God will bring more campers to this event, and that we will be intentional in our relationships witht he campers.