Leadership Experience for 5th – 7th Graders
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s a kid flying down a zip line!! Look mom, no hands!! Harnesses, helmets, ropes and heights. We provide the safety, you provide the courage. When faced with difficulties, peer pressure and possible danger do you back down or do you have the courage to face those fears? As adults we may still be struggling with that question. Wouldn’t it be great if someone had come into our lives to help us figure that out when we were kids?
Several years ago God gave me a desire to provide a training camp for kids that would help them develop their leadership potential. But it wasn’t enough to develop the skills, He wanted me to help kids see how they could use those skills to influence people and guide them to a relationship with Jesus.
Leadership is fun, exciting, challenging and sometimes frustrating but it’s always worth it when you have had a hand in leading someone to Jesus. It is my heart to empower kids to use their God-given gifts and talents, couple them with skills that can be learned and then send them out to impact the kingdom of God.
This past summer, with the help of Valley Forge student intern Rebecca Chambers, that desire became a reality. Rebecca and I worked together to take the concept and bring it to reality. We started looking for a location that offered both low and high ropes courses as well as games/initiatives and challenge courses that would emphasize team work and leadership skills. Cedar Ridge Adventures in Williamsport Maryland offered all of the elements that we were looking for in an adventure camp. After 8 months of planning and collaborating we have scheduled our first camp for April 8-10, 2016 and are accepting applications from students currently in 5th – 7th grade.
I may not know fully what God has in store for this camp but I do know that He will speak into the lives of kids and provide them with the power and courage they need to complete the work which He has started until all come to the knowledge of His saving grace. Keep the camp staff and those that will be attending in your prayers as we anticipate God doing great things in staff and campers alike.
If you’d like more information on the camp take a look through the iRock Adventures Handbook and check out our page containing even more Resources and Forms
Summer of 2015 our ministry had two amazing additions to the team. We were joined by Caleb and Tanner, both from Harrisonburg Virginia. Within two weeks following high school graduation, Tanner joined us with his guitar, bike, and a suitcase in tow. As we adjusted to an additional person in the house we were reminded of the energy a teenager brings. Peace and quiet were no more although having the house filled with guitar music and conversations navigating life’s emotional and social challenges provided insight to the issues our young people are facing every day. Caleb joined us a week later. Perhaps a bit more reserved he also found his guitar to be a source of comfort and reflection as he too navigated thoughts of the future as he ended his junior year of college and joined us. Two different personalities yet they balanced each other.
As we talked further, I discovered the enormous task God had given them. Their church is located in Utah County, the cultural hub of the Mormon religion. It is where Brigham Young University is, it’s where the Missionary Training Center is– where the Latter Day Saints church trains and sends out its 56,000 missionaries worldwide– and this is where Mormon couples come from all over the country to raise their families in a Mormon environment that underpins what they believe & what they are teaching their families.
Our ministry would love to come alongside of them and show that same message of Jesus and His love through the use of MEGA Sports Camp but we need your involvement and commitment to reaching the children in Utah. We are looking for 15-20 people, ages 10+, to serve alongside the local church to coordinate and operate sports camp while building relationships with the kids.
Now that the majority of people are facing colder weather, what better time to share the warmth of God’s love. God has been doing some remarkable things and sometimes it’s difficult to catch my breath, so let me take a few minutes to recap the summer for you.
I watched youth groups draw closer together and I saw relationships built between team members and the people they met on location. Perhaps some of the most touching moments I was allowed to watch were the relationships that were growing between father and son. As I watched them pray together and share the day’s events or as I watched them work and play side by side, I couldn’t help but think of the relationship that Father God wants with each of us. He wants to be part of our everyday lives. He wants to hear about our challenges, concerns, heartaches and needs as much as he wants to hear about our successes, joys and dreams. When we allow Father God to truly be our father, then we will see our lives become FULL!
Team members weren’t the only ones to feel the presence and power of God over the summer. One of the most powerful moments for me was the day we took camp to the river side and baptized 14 children in water. Each person chose who they wanted to perform the baptism. Some chose their pastor or a parent but for me seeing some of the kids choose a teen team member to baptize them, now that was special. As the entire camp stood on the bank and watched, 13 children and 1 adult made their way into the water where they were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. What a sweet spirit next to that river. What must it have been like or felt like when John baptized Jesus in a river as the people stood on the bank and watched?
