Drained

These past three camps have been insane! We did three camps in a two week time span and no longer know what day it is or what 8 hours of sleep is. It has been physically and spiritually draining on our staff as we have hosted camps with over 350 people each camp.

But all this not to discourage, but encourage. We sat together yesterday at lunch and Roger, our camp director and Global's founder, encouraged us. "You are all spiritually drained and tired... welcome to ministry." It hit me that ministering is not about me. It is about what we are pouring into others and what God is doing through us. Often I think I lose sight of the good that is being done in ministering to others. I think of me and my feelings rather than the work that God needs me to do.

1 Corinthians 15:58, "...be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." That has been an encouragement to me because the work being done is not in vain. God has a plan in this because when I am drained He begins to fill.

Pray for strength!

The Eagle Has Landed

Hey Y'all!

So we have one camp under our belts and just started camp two yesterday. And let's mention that camp two is our largest camp of the summer with close to 400 people! And one church brought over 300 of those campers! It is crazy awesome!

The coolest thing about the group with 300 is 60 of them are the football team. Yes, one player got on fire for God last year. His life was not right with God and parents and youth leaders were all praying for him to turn to God. One year later, he brought his ENTIRE football team to camp, coach and all!

It shows that all we really need is one person to be obedient to God. That single act of choosing to live for Christ wholeheartedly brought 60 people to camp this year. You are never too small to be active for Christ.

And it was the power of prayer that made all the difference! Without people like you praying for students, things would not happen!

Prayer: I have a student on my team that is acting like he is too cool for this. And another one who feel asleep during worship this morning. Pray that God breaks them! Let this time at camp be a life changing step for them!

Much love and blessings!

Flash Back

This morning during worship a group of guys came up to the front. Not a big deal at all. But for some reason the picture of them standing there with arms around one another really touched me. Weird right? OR at least that's what I thought until I stepped into memory lane.

In the 7th grade I came to Global Youth Camps. Then our youth group consistented of some great leaders. I did not know if I could be like them or where to even begin. One of the nights I remember going down to the alter to pray. God, make me feel what you feel and see what you see, I prayed. I just wanted to be close to God and see how I could lead just like others were.

Then, I raised my head to see Josh Lohse, Tyler Wallace, Len Bradshaw, and Lance Buchanan on their faces at the alter, crying. But I did not see them as these macho guys, but as leaders who were crying out to God for help because they were at the end. So seeing those guys up in front of the stage today gave me hope that there are teenagers leading one another just as I was lead by my guys.

Today, pray for leadership at this camp. Pray that God raises up the leaders He needs and that they will surrender to Him.

Challenge: Well, today we read 1 Samuel 16 in worship. It blew my mind to think that God chose David, even when Samuel saw no real attributes to this little kid. Read through 1 Samuel 16 and absorb the reality that God choses us to lead.

Much Love and Blessings!

NIGHT 1!

CAMPERS ARE HERE!!! AND IT IS AWESOME!!!

Prayer: God to take away their masks as they come to camp. Tonight Roger challenged them to leave all their deadly sin instead of carrying it around and thinking they have it 'tamed'. Pray that they release it all this week and never take it back!

Challenge: 1 Samuel 15. READ IT! Would you take the best for yourself too or give it all up to God.

Short and sweet because curfew just passed! Much love and please PRAY!

Twas the Night Before Camp

Do you ever get those jitters? The ones experienced on Christmas Eve when you were a kid. You couldn't sleep but knew that the excitement would not happen until you woke up the next day. That is EXACTLY how I feel right now. My eyes are so heavy, but my heart is filled with excitement as my brain races through lists of things to accomplish before one o'clock tomorrow.

I find it hard to believe that this time tomorrow about 150 people will be here ready for God to show up. It amazes me how anticipated this event is and how great things will come from it.

As we wrapped up our drama practice tonight, the staff took about twenty minutes to pray around the room for the campers and what they will do this week. As I looked around the room I saw fellow staffers on their knees, prostrating before God, and praying over chairs. It is a humbling experience to look around a room to find people praying for someone other than themselves. Often I ask God to grant me peace, release me from problems, or even to show His great love to me in an epic way. Granted not all these things are bad, but consider what would occur if just one of those prayers was turned to someone else? How would that alter my relationship with God and others?

Prayer: 1. Our first camp starts tomorrow! Pray for camper's and youth pastor's safety as they travel here!

2. Staff 1 starts their first camp on the road tomorrow. Pray for a safe and quick setup!

3. Pray that camper's hearts be SOFTENED!

Challenge: Pray for someone other than yourself for the next week and see how it changes you.

Alright the eyes are getting heavier and the excitement is beginning to lullaby me to sleep! Much love and excitement as we head into June 13th!!!!

Patience

Campers are gone! It really helped me get excited for camp to shadow teams and see campers again. Like I said earlier, I get so wrapped up in my comfort that I forget why I am here. That girl who came up to me seemed in good spirits yesterday as she left. Thank you for praying for her.

The leaders of team 3 had been praying all week for one camper's salvation. Discouragement began to grow in them as they saw no fruits. Then on Thursday night's service, in the middle of Rodger's sermon, the camper stood up to be saved. The prayers from his leaders and you all are doing great things in the lives of teenagers!

Today, however, has been a growing day as we clean and prepare to start our camp. Having 40 people working all together is very effective, but, as always, each person has a certain way to do things. So my big lesson today is patience.

1 Corinthians 13: 1 says "Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not proud or boastful."

It is easy to tell people we love them, but do we show them kindness? Do we stop what we want to do and work with them on doing it their way? Do we carry our achievements with pride or humility? Thinking about this verse today continues to humble me because I do not demonstrate a full definition of love.

Pray: 1. For Staff 1 as they travel to Laguna Beach, FL tomorrow. They need health!

2. Patience for both staffs as we pack and learn to work together. Our pride does not need to get in the way of campers.

3. CAMPERS COME ON MONDAY!!

Challenge: Memorize 1 Corinthians 13:1 and begin to apply it!

Learning to love and sending blessings to you all!

Danielle

Be strong!

So this past weekend, I got to meet our staff. What an amazing group! These staffers have such energy that there is no way a camper will sit still!

Which they should not be sitting still because the theme is WARRIOR!! We bring the campers in day one and introduce them to this kingdom where we need to gather more metal for food. Throughout this experience we hope to give the students a chance to break free from their comfort zone in order to further strengthen their leadership qualities. Therefore, we think that running around all week in British accents and work to earn scruples hoping to break them from the normality.

This week we have gotten to see a few campers as we shadow the teams. One girl particularly stood out to me. Rather she stood up to me. She recognized me from camp last year and began to share that she wanted to grow in her faith through leadership, but felt uncertain her ability to take those next steps. This would push her out of her comfort zone tremendously because she would need to speak up and be bold! Please be in prayer that this week she gains the courage to step forward and lead.

Staff 1’s camp is going great and continues until Friday. Please pray for these campers because this week I have heard that they are spiritually dead. Bring them forward in your prayers because they have two more nights of worship before they go back to normalcy.

Pretty uneventful week for our staff as we go through orientation. Pray for stamina and focus as we fill in blanks, learn dramas, and perfect games.

Spark notes:

Prayer: Camper to gain confidence to lead

Campers this week gain a spiritual life.

Our staff focuses and maintains energy as we finish orientation.

Challenge: Read Joshua 1 and take the challenge from verse 9. As I read through this the other day in quiet time, it opened up my heart to realize that God has commanded me to move forward. And I can be strong in him because "the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Well, almost lights out! Much love and God Bless!!

Welcome!

Welcome sponsors, friends, and family!

I am so excited that this is happening! Ok, more specifically, I am excited that camps officially starts today, my laundry is almost done meaning I can start PACKING, and that in just 5 days I will be driving up to Chatsworth, GA for CAMP!

Now, if you have never been to camp before, I am terribly sorry because you are missing out. There is something so incredibly exhilarating and life altering about running around with a bunch of teenagers doing crazy games, performing a ridiculous skit with a funny accent (more stories on that to come), and getting on average 5 hours of sleep a night! This is not sarcasm, this is real! Because being removed from distractions while surrounded by other believers as you are guided through a book of the bible provides an amount of energy unknown to this world. What an incredible way to grow close to God when we are out of physical strength, but he intervenes with his strength!

So this year, we as a camp will focus on 1 Samuel. When I first heard this I thought, "Ok. David is in here and I will probably focus on him." But as I began reading through it, I found myself focused on Samuel.

"So God, who was fed up with [the Israelites], decreed their death. But the boy Samuel was very much alive, growing up blessed by God and popular with the people." 1 Samuel 2:26
How did he become so favored by God and people? I wondered. Where did this life Samuel have come from? What made Samuel different and what can I do to be like him? Continuing to read, I could not find what set him apart. Nothing tangible made him favored. Nothing he repeatedly prayed made him favored. He was just him. Plan and simple. Samuel prayed and listened to God. He understood that there was a bigger picture. Yes, Samuel the priest did great holy works, but that was not his entire purpose and he recognized that. He allowed God to use his life however the Lord needed. All for the purpose of creating that bigger picture, allowing God to use his life for something more.
His favor came through surrender of his life. Surrender of life to God, completely. And this is how I enter summer knowing that I am a part of God's bigger picture. Yes, the works I can do on my own can be good, maybe even great, but without surrendering my life to God's bigger picture, nothing I do will last for the kingdom.
And now I leave you with this:

Challenge: Read 1 Samuel 3, 7:7-17. Take in Samuel for yourself and think about how simple/complicated his actions were. Then honestly ask, would you do the same?

Prayer: 1. Please pray for this first week of camp! Campers arrive today at 2 for the first staff and honestly it is quite nerve racking! Pray that peace and calm overcome the staff. 2. Pray for softening of hearts for the campers this week. They are about to experience some life-changing things that they shouldn't miss because of a hard-heart.

Love and Blessings to you all! And welcome to Global 2011!
Danielle