July 22 – “Connecting”

Another great Sunday goes down in the books.  Yesterday we were graced with the presence of at least three quite interesting families.  The first one I met was a pastor from a place called Peachland, North Carolina.  Very encouraging guy.  Great deep South accent.  He even invited us to stay with him next time we are traveling through North Carolina.  I’ll have to keep that in mind if we ever become world travelers.  Then I met a guy who actually owns a home in Pirate’s Beach not far from the church.  Most recently, however, he has been living in Beijing, China.  I’m not sure how much of him we will see.  They are planning to move to the Katy area to be closer to his job.  The hour and ten minute commute is taking its toll on him.  The last family I met was very personable.  They took up one whole back pew.  Later on the Dad took me aside and quietly confessed that he was a home missionary in New York.  He said they were traveling in cognito, so I didn’t reveal his secret. 

They all had the chance to be a part of our youth camp service.  This year we did it a bit differently.  Instead of just having the students share testimonies about their experiences, we wove the sharing in as introductions to worship songs we learned at camp and introduced to the church.  It gave the younger ones a kind of “hook” to hang their thoughts on, and it seemed to really help.  It also helped the service feel more like a time of worship and less like a report.  Each one had something entirely different to say, and each one’s comments provided a perfect lead-in to the focused points I made and to the songs. 

Kelly Boyer kicked everything off by sharing about our camp prayer warriors and the job they were called to do.  It is always great to see how one who grew up at Seaside has matured and grown spiritually.  Then the youngest camper, Grace, shared how she made friends (and she was a master at it) through her involvement in the activities of her Bible study group.  It led perfectly into what it means to love and how God loved us and provides salvation for us.  Her sister Espey talked about the singing and worship experiences at camp and about how the camp pastor made his messages so easy to understand.  Great tie-in to what praise is and how we were created to be praisers.  Jason has been to camp before, so he talked about how being the one going back means you are not awed by the whole “I’m at camp” thing.  You can focus on Jesus.  Wow.  That was a sermon all by itself.  Finally, Demetrius shared about how he made a decision to read the Bible instead of the other books he brought with him.  His point was that you have to work hard to be a good Christian.  I liked his “real world connect” challenge.  He asked us to think of three superheroes we have had.  Of course Superman was right up in that top three for me.  Then he asked, “How many had one hero who was not real, like Superman or someone from mythology?”  Many hands went up.  His next question was “How many had one hero who was a human being – someone you know?”  Again, quite a few hands.  Finally, he asked, “How many had Jesus as one of your heroes?”  A few hands went up.  He explained that superheroes are those people we pattern our lives after, who we try to be like.  For a Christian, the only way to be a true disciple is make Jesus your number one Superhero.  Good stuff, there.  One would think these guys actually got something out of camp.  I guess we’ll go back again next year.  Anybody ready to sign up?

Psalms 102:15 says, “The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.”

Father, help those students keep growing in you.  And draw some more to us so they can have these same opportunities.  Of course that means we need some adults called out to work with them.  And the circle of ministry continues.  Amen.