New Life Youth Camp

My Friend at St. Jude, Part 3

2011-03-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, my “Friend at St. Jude” passed away. Since it is fairly well known now, I can share his name: Cory Jones.

It’s been quite awhile since I wrote about him, but here are the other blog posts.

It was very hard going to his funeral. It was very hard watching him approach death. But he seemed very brave through it all. He fought on.

I was very impressed with how his family worked so hard to help him through his sickness, too.

I wanted to share another, more recent memory of Cory with you today.
Last fall at a home football game, I was sitting and talking to Cory. He talked to me about trying to be a role model for his little brother. He was very concerned. I remember the way he talked about his own lack of a father figure at important times in his life. At one point, I looked over and saw him crying. I don’t often see 20-year old men crying at high school football games. There’s too much social risk! It made a big impression.

I’ve been talking about fatherlessness a lot. I haven’t been praying enough. Once again, I’d like to commit to doing a better job on that.

And, I’d like to ask you to join me in praying. Then, look for ways that you can be involved in teaming up with God to be an answer to those prayers.

Young boys need you. Young girls need you. They need your time and your prayers more than anything. Please look for ways to get involved. If you find some good ones, please feel free to leave suggestions here.

Christmas Party

2010-12-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

I wish you could be there to experience one of the Christmas parties with MYC middle - or high school students. I started to say “see”, but if you couldn’t hear it, you’d be missing out on a big part of the party.

It’s LOUD!

Most of the time, we try to keep things fairly organized and reasonably calm. But, that’s just not very practical during one of our Christmas parties.

We play Dirty Santa.

Have you ever played that?

We encourage our kids to steal each other’s Christmas presents!

And, so, it gets LOUD.

But the real noise comes when somebody opens a pair of socks, or something else that the group thinks is funny.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that we have a whole lot of fun. And all these “at-risk” kids sit around for about an hour, stealing, sharing, laughing, and making some really good memories.

Aren’t they supposed to be fighting? Disrespectful? Angry?

Hmm. . .maybe this long term relationship thing, this praying thing, this loving thing – maybe it really works. . .

Simara's Story

2010-09-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

I remember when Simara was in the 2nd grade. I believe that was the first year we had her in our after school Club. Over the course of the year, as we got to know her and her younger brother, we learned several things that concerned us.

Her mom was away. I don’t know if it was jail or rehab at the time (she’s been in both), but she was away. Dad – well, as with most of our kids, who knows where dad was or is? That meant that Simara and her little brother were living with grandma. Only that was a messed up situation, too.

So, in 2nd grade, Simara got herself and her little brother up, got them ready for school, and got them on the bus. All, apparently, while grandma slept.

But here’s the thing: you would never know that anything was wrong with Simara. She smiled, played, joked – she was well behaved. . .

We’ve been working with her ever since. She’s been coming to Camp and Club. One of our staff members has a relationship with her family. She’s been attending church with that same staff member. This year, she has signed up for our 3 year, intensive discipleship program called the Timothy Project.

She is continuing to smile, continuing to do well.

When I tell her story, I don’t share her name. Those who get to know her, and then find out later who I’m talking about, are always extremely surprised.

We know that there are and will be consequences that she will have to live through. We pray that God will continue to do mighty things in her life, and that He will use us to help accomplish His will in her life. Please pray for her, and while you’re at it, tell God how wonderful He is. He is taking a rough set of circumstances and creating a beautiful girl.

Brenthaven CP Church

2010-06-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church Youth Group will be blogging this week about their experiences at New Life Youth Camp. Please read and comment liberally! The link is below!

www.youthrocksmissiontrip2010.blogspot.com

Jade

2010-04-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

We have a guest blogger today, one who plans to start her own blog soon. Wendi Rigsby, a co-worker at MYC, wrote this one. I'll let you know where you can find her new blog when we get it up and going.

We were getting ready to go home after club one day and I noticed that two of our students were wearing the exact same outfit. They had on a green and blue striped polo-type shirt and baggy khaki shorts. I think they even both had on black Vans tennis shoes. There were a couple of differences in the kids, however. One of them was clean, had a nice hair cut, a nice back pack, and he was smiling. The other kid was not so clean, had hole-ridden clothes, had a torn backpack, matted hair, and she was not smiling. She was not smiling because the other kids were pointing and laughing. They had noticed that she was wearing the same clothes as the little boy beside her. They called her boy names and said really mean things to her. I wish I could say this was the first time this had happened, but I can’t.

For the sake of the story, I’m going to call this little girl Jade. Every time Jade came to us, she was in boy’s clothes. These were not just clothes that looked like they could be boy’s, but clothes that came from the boy’s section. After a while of hearing what the other kids were saying about her, I pulled her aside and just asked her a few questions. I found out that most of her clothes were hand-me-downs from male relatives. Also, by the tone of the conversation, I gathered she wasn’t very happy about it. I started praying for Jade and about what I could do about her situation.

After praying about it, I knew I had to do something to help. I talked to Mark to see if the Mission could do anything, and he went and talked to some people in the Mission stores. A few days later, Jade and I went over to the store to get her some new girl-clothes. She seemed hesitant at first but went along. Ms. Carolyn in the store helped us to find some things that were in Jade’s size. The first shirt she pulled out was a very pretty babydoll-type shirt with a flower print. I asked Jade if she would like to have that shirt, and she shrugged her shoulders and looked at the floor. When I asked her what was wrong, she shuffled her feet for a few seconds, and then finally said “My dad won’t let me wear girl clothes.” I thought surely she meant he didn’t want her to wear things that were immodest or she couldn’t play in. So I asked, “You mean he doesn’t want you to wear nice girl clothes?” She replied, “No, I can’t wear any girl clothes at all.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. In my line of work, I see some strange things, but this one was new. I was still determined to find her some new things that didn’t look so boyish. We managed to find her several shirts that weren’t very girly but were made for girls. The last shirt that we pulled out was a Hannah Montana T-Shirt. Now, the whole time we had been going through these clothes, she had been polite but still a bit reserved. When we pulled out that t-shirt, she really got excited. She smiled for the first time the whole day (I haven’t seen her smile that much in general) and was almost bouncing. This may be the first time this little girl has ever been able to get excited over a new piece of clothing.
We found her a few shirts and some pants and jeans. Then we moved on to shoes. We asked her what size shoe she wore and she said, “Whatever size my cousin outgrows.”

It took a few minutes, but we figured out her size and found her a new pair of tennis shoes. They were brown with a pink stripe. She was excited because they didn’t have laces and they didn’t have holes. She put them on and ran up and down an aisle to try them out. She really liked the shoes, but then Ms. Carolyn pulled out these leather flip flops. They had cork bottoms and silver accents. Her eyes lit up. I asked if she thought she might like them, even though the answer was written on her face.

We walked back in to the Youth Center, and she had a large garbage bag full of new clothes hugged tight to her chest. When we got back, it was time for gym. She asked if she could go change her shoes. I assumed that she was going to put on her new tennis shoes so she would be more comfortable running around in the gym. I should have known better. She spent the next half hour sliding around the gym in those leather flip flops. She didn’t take them off the rest of the day.
That afternoon when we lined up to go home, she once again had that bag of clothes clutched tightly. Another little girl in line noticed her shoes and said, “Oh! Your shoes are so cute!” I’m thinking this is probably another first for Jade. I doubt she had ever been complimented on any piece of clothing before. Her whole face lit up. She smiled bigger than I’ve ever seen her smile. I will continue to pray for her and her father. I pray that he will allow her to keep and wear the things that we got for her that day in the store. She is a wonderful little girl, and that afternoon was a blessing to me and a reminder of why I am here, doing what I do.

Shay

2010-03-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

I don’t want to use her real name for fear I might embarrass her, but I have to tell you her story. We’ll call her Shay – because I can’t come up with a better name right now.

Shay wanted to go on our upcoming Paintball trip (we had planned on going to spend the night in a cave, but nobody seemed to be able to come up with the $45). So, Friday night, she told me she had half the money.

I thought, “She’s very well behaved, she obviously wants to go on the trip badly – even if she can’t come up with the other half by the Tuesday deadline, I’m going to work out a way for her to go.”

But she had another couple of surprises for me.

When she brought me the money, she pulled out a $5, a $1, a couple of coins, and three rolls of pennies. By that point, I was even more determined that she would go – but here’s the kicker!

She said, “I’ve been saving up for awhile for this.”

Most of the kids at my church wouldn’t have given a second thought to coming up with $45 for a caving trip, let alone $15 for paintball. I teared up a little when I tried to tell Cammie about Shay.

Now, to the potentially sad ending: As with many of our kids, her life is very unstable. She is “definitely” moving to Ripley as soon as the school year is over – to live with either her mom or an aunt.

I don’t want her to move. We have a very good relationship – I’m attached. I’m praying that God will keep her here. Cammie wants to adopt. “Definitely” moving does not mean what it sounds like it means – not with MYC kids. But God knows what He’s doing. If she does move, I’ll be praying for her safety and that God will continually pull her closer to Him – even in Ripley.

We badly need your prayers here at MYC. We try, but we get tired; we get depressed; we get run down. Pray for us, pray for Shay, and pray for all these kids who are facing challenges I can’t even begin to comprehend.

Shark Fighters

2010-03-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, my pastor referred to a newspaper article about a shark attack. The article told the story of a boy who was fishing in the ocean in Florida. While he was fishing, a shark clamped onto his leg, “nearly severing the leg.” Instead of running away screaming, however, his brother and a friend who had been fishing with him started hitting the shark on the nose. Somebody else, apparently a stranger to the three boys, “jumped in and kind of looked like he had (the shark) in a head lock and was punching it on the head to get him to let loose.” Witnesses believe that the shark would have dragged the boy away if it had not been for the three heroes who fought the shark.

My pastor went on to ask us if we wanted to be in a church like that. Didn’t we want to go to a church where we could depend on our church family to jump in and help us defeat the sharks in our lives? Thankfully, I feel like my church is that kind of church, but it got me thinking about working at the Union Mission.

If you’d like to get around some people who are willing to jump in the “water” and fight some “sharks,” come on down to the Union Mission. Here, I get to work with almost 30 staff members and many other volunteers who work everyday to hit the sharks of poverty, hopelessness, hunger, and others right on the nose. When we see someone being attacked by these dangerous sharks, we try to jump right in and help them.

Are you a shark fighter? Would you like to jump in and help us? Please think and pray about jumping in with us and helping us fight these sharks. We need your help. You can help through your prayers or your finances, but please consider helping with your time. Victims of shark attacks need real, loving people to come alongside of them and lovingly help them back to health. Are you willing?

I’ve got to be honest: I don’t see a lot of that anywhere else. In fact, I’ve been in churches where I believe I’ve seen the opposite. If God is calling you to be involved in this fight against these sharks, please consider volunteering your time, supporting the Mission through your prayers, and supporting it with your finances.

Computer Class

2010-01-25T12:17:00.000-08:00

I’m not the best guy in the world to be teaching kids how to put together a computer, but I try every once in awhile through the Mission’s Enrichment program.

Last week, an MYC student told me that ever since he had attended that three-week class a few years ago, he has planned on working on computers.

That felt good.

But I hope you get the point I’m trying to make. Honestly, I wasn’t very good at teaching that skill. But still, I may have been involved in changing the direction of a student’s life!

What do you like to do? Can you teach a child to do it? You don’t have to be an expert – they’ll just enjoy time with you.

Please call Debbie Loftin today at 445-0854 to talk about what you’d like to do with a group of kids. You can choose the group size, the gender, and the age you’d like to work with, and we’ll provide the kids and some adult supervision.

See ya’ next time!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Jesus really did come as a baby.

Angels really did sing.

Shepherds really did worship.

Wise Men really did come from “afar.”

But most people didn’t notice.

Many people in Bethlehem slept through the night, not even aware of what was going on.

The shepherds who got to see the angels were on one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Nobody was real worried about what they had to say.

Herod had not even been aware of this new baby until the “Wise Men” came – which many scholars think was probably two years later!

When Jesus arrived in Egypt, there was no fanfare for a “newborn king”.

As Jesus grew up, most of his family did not even believe He was who He said He was.

The disciples were completely hopeless after He died.

We wouldn’t have Christmas if it wasn’t for Easter. We wouldn’t know about Him if He hadn’t come back to life. The New Testament would not have been written. The disciples would have gone back to their jobs, trying to figure out exactly what they had seen and heard, but probably unwilling to do much about it. After all, Jesus had told them He was God – how can God die?

But, Jesus did die. And, because He came back to life, we can have life. Because He paid the price for our sin, we no longer have to fear death or judgment. And because of that, we get pretty excited about celebrating a birth we would have ignored.

I hope you and your family can find a way, during this busy holiday season, to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I hope you have a great time. Merry Christmas!

Bad Hair Day?

2009-11-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

Last week, I talked about another member of Timothy Project that I named “Deanna.” This week, my subject is a girl I’m calling “Sherry.”

Last week, we talked about being accepted by God through the sacrifice of Jesus – salvation.

This week, the subject is not quite so critical, but to “Sherry” it’s very important. “Sherry” has what I would call “frizzy” hair. But, don’t tell her that. It bothers her very badly. Cammie, my wife, has seen Sherry cry because someone said something along those lines. Cammie has spent quite a while trying to help Sherry get her hair clean, get it brushed out, and get it styled. But, it has been a huge challenge, and at some point, they’ve had to quit and eat breakfast, go to church, whatever happens to be next on the schedule.

But, it was obvious that Sherry was hurting. And Cammie doesn’t deal well with having to watch other people’s pain. So, we contacted two wonderful women in the community and asked for their help. These women have made an appointment at a hairdresser in town to have the problem dealt with professionally, and plan to help Sherry work through this. Sherry never could have afforded to do this. Cammie and I don’t really have the ability to do it either. I am so thankful for these women.

I’m also thankful for the opportunity that many of you have helped provide. If we didn’t have a Retreat Center, and if we weren’t able to use it for things like Timothy Project, we might never have known about Sherry’s problem. Now, because we can be involved in helping her through this, we will probably also be able to be involved in much more important ways.

Thank you to all of you who are helping us minister to these kids. Thank you for allowing even a “bad hair day” to be an opportunity for ministry. Thanks and praise to God for all He has provided, and for all He is doing. Please pray that He will be glorified in this, and that He will be much more a part of Sherry’s life because of this experience.

I'm accepted!

2009-11-11T15:19:00.000-08:00

As a member of Timothy Project, “Deanna” (I don’t use real names) had written out a testimony that told me she was not a Christian yet. She acknowledged God’s work in her life but just didn’t seem to be ready to accept Jesus yet.

When I asked her some questions, she told me she was just waiting to see if she “would be accepted.” I told her that one of the things that Jesus was saying when He died on the cross for our sins was that we are accepted. Now. All we have to do is accept the gift He’s giving.

Do you ever wonder if you’re accepted? Sometimes I sure don’t feel accepted. Isn’t it great to know that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we have the opportunity to be accepted by a righteous, holy God? All we have to do is accept the Gift. Have you accepted that Gift? I’d love to talk to you about your relationship with God – especially if you have questions or concerns.

By the way, Deanna did accept that Gift. Last week, on Tuesday night at the Mission Youth Center, Deanna was saved from eternal separation from God and started the greatest adventure ever – a relationship with God!

Text Messages

2009-09-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

Please don’t correct my spelling or try to fix my grammar in the next couple of sentences. I am just sharing a couple of text messages I got recently from a former MYC student who now lives in Chicago. If you’d like, I can provide a translation for you, but I think you’ll be able to figure it out.

“Hey what book in the bible talk bout jesus dyin on tha cross iz it matthew luke or john”

“Iz it ok to haue a Jehovah friend wil it take u into their religion or what I don’t understand”

I’m always honored when I get questions like this, or when I get questions about other choices one of our kids is making. And, about the time that wears off, I’m saddened. I went to my dad with questions like that. Or, in one or two cases, I went to the youth pastor at my church. I do consider myself a youth pastor, but I really wish these kids had a parent they trusted with questions like this. (Some of them do, I need to admit. Many of them, however, do not.)

So how would you answer these questions? I briefly answered that she needed to be careful, but she could be friends with a Jehovah’s Witness, and then asked her to call me. She still hasn’t. I guess I need to do some follow-up.

Have a good day, and please pray for us.

PS – Mission March is October 17th, and then we’ll dedicate the new Retreat Center at Camp on October 18th at 2:00 PM.

Week 5 and 6

2009-08-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I’m going to tell you about the last two weeks of Camp in this post, and I said I would tell about my daughter’s twin, and a girl who had lice.

Here’s a picture of my daughter’s twin.
She was a girl who came to our Lauderdale County Camp. The camper was a couple of years younger than Leigh Ann, and looks almost exactly like Leigh Ann a couple of years ago. It was a little strange, because Leigh Ann was not there most of the Lauderdale County Camp. She was being taken to the VBS at Mary’s Chapel Baptist Church in Ripley – a church which is very involved in Camp. We weren’t able to get this picture until Friday, during the closing ceremony. Anyway, we’ve had fun teasing both girls about it a little.

The week before that, we had our Second Chance Camp. I was very excited about that week, because it meant we didn’t have to have a waiting list to get in to Camp this year. About 40 kids who would have been left at home this summer got to come for 2½ days of fun and love.

One girl, I’ll call her “Bri,” was in Cammie’s group. On the first day, Cammie noticed a pretty bad case of lice. She didn’t know what to do, because we didn’t want to keep the girl from coming to Camp – but we also didn’t want other kids to end up with lice. We finally decided to take her to the Camp nurse to get a second opinion and find out if there was anything we could do at Camp to help her.

As Cammie, the nurse, and Bri walked toward the Retreat Center, they asked Bri who they should write a note to at her house. The answer is what broke everyone’s heart, and is very typical of things we see and hear at Camp. She said, “I guess you should send it to my Granny, because my Dad is just a worthless bum who sits on the couch all day.”

Daughters are not supposed to refer to their dads that way. Dads are not supposed to live that way. Other family members should not teach daughters to think that way about their dads. Do you understand the damage done by all that is going on in that house? How do you begin to address that in 2½ days of a Second Chance Camp? No, let’s be really honest, how do you begin to address that in a week of Camp, several years of after-school Club, and trips to church? The answer is, sadly, that we really can’t make a dent in the damage done. Only God has that power.

So, when we’re at Camp, Club, or taking kids to church, we try our best to help kids get to know the only One who can heal them. Please pray with us for them. Please pray for Bri, her Dad, and her Granny. Please pray for the other kids who deal with the same kinds of issues in their homes. And, please pray for us as we work in some seemingly hopeless situations – that we will have hope, peace, love, and even joy.

Week 3 and 4

2009-08-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

I think I’ve mostly recovered from six weeks of ministry at Camp. Though they were wonderful, they were also exhausting, and it’s been hard to put the effort into the blog that I should have.

Week 3

Week 3 is the week we have 5th and 6th grade kids at Camp. This year, we also had two of our high school students move into the Retreat Center to help as counselor/jr counselor, and then help with clean-up each evening. In other words, these two MYC students got to do a mission trip.

The week started off roughly for my family because one of the kids got a very bad case of lice. We don’t know when or how – and to be honest, I can’t understand how only one of the kids got it – but Cammie was able to work through that in a couple of days. Of course, those were some very long days – haircuts, shampoos, laundry, Camp, and more. Then, Maria was stepped on by a horse on Thursday, which was the day before her birthday! AND this happened to be one of the hottest weeks of Camp I can remember. We had one day where the heat index was between 110 and 113!

We did see some ministry happening that week, too, though. The main things I got to see were happening with the two MYC High School Students. I wish each one of you could have heard and seen the meetings we had in the evenings to discuss what was on their minds. God was doing neat things in their lives and at Camp.

Week 4 – Teen Camp.

After three weeks of Camp, we invited 13 teens from MYC to join us in the Retreat Center for 3 nights and 4 days. James Galewski lead a challenge course each day for them. Mr. Jerry spent a couple of hours teaching them about horses and letting them ride. Mike Sentel and Mike Boals came out to Camp to do some fun archery stuff with us. Their was Bible time, swim time, board game time, and more, and we finished up with a trip on Thursday to the Buffalo River to canoe for the day.

We had some rough days during teen Camp as we tried to help some of the kids learn to love their neighbors. Sometimes, people can do things that are not very nice. Have you noticed? Wendi, especially, had a rough time trying to get girls to treat each other nicely. Wish I had a wonderful, sweet, happy ending for you on this one. Maybe if you check back in a couple of years.

Well, I’ll try to tell you a little about the last two weeks of Camp in a post soon. I have a couple of good stories to tell—one about a different girl with lice (this one’s going to break your heart), and one about my daughter’s twin. See you then!

Week 2, 2009

2009-06-23T15:34:00.000-07:00
This week, I want to share part of a thank you letter I sent to Clint Bicknell, a youth pastor from Miamisburg, Ohio, who brought his youth group to Camp last week as a Mission Trip.

I shared a couple of things I noticed about his youth group, and then said:

“But, as I told you before, my favorite part of having your group here was the love that all of you showed for our kids. I saw your group cry and hurt for and with these kids. I saw them get excited over small victories. I heard them discussing how they were able to make a child smile – just by complimenting a hair-do or helping them catch a fish – and I saw real love as they processed the memory and looked forward to doing it again the next day.

“It made me feel wonderful – and sad at the same time – to see how much your kids didn’t want to leave my kids. And, now, even after the trip, I’m enjoying seeing the Mission Trip all over again on Facebook as your youth (and adults) post over 300 pictures of the trip! It’s obvious that their excitement is real. I can only hope and pray that they will be able to take those lessons and that excitement back home and see how God blesses service all throughout the year.”

He also sent me a thank you letter, which said, in part:

“I got to see one of our youth find a new appreciation for their parents and what they have at home.

“Another made the statement that this week has made them check their own heart as we taught the kids about doing the right thing in our actions and words.

“I was moved to tears as one of our youth talked about finally realizing the importance of what we were doing as they got to be a part of a group of 3rd and 4th graders being lead through the sinner’s prayer and realizing that they played a part in changing someone’s eternity.”

So, I wanted to share some of this with you. God is still using Camp to change lives. I don’t think that’s something we can take any credit for; I think it’s just more evidence that God is a Father to the fatherless, and He is absolutely crazy about these kids. So, when people come here to serve these kids, God blesses them. I love being part of that, I love watching that happen to others, and I’m thankful that you are part of making that happen again this year!

Week 1, 2009

2009-06-22T15:29:00.000-07:00
Well, Tuesday went better than a first day has gone in a really long time. But, starting Tuesday afternoon, I was already having run-ins with a couple of 1st and 2nd grade kids.

I asked a Jr Counselor to shut down the basketball court so we could finish the day and get the kids ready to go home. When I looked up, two of the campers were running circles around him. He couldn’t get the balls back, and they continued to shoot. Then, when I approached them, they tried to just walk off and ignore me. I think I dealt with the situation, but that wasn’t the end of dealing with these campers.

Later, I had a counselor calling me asking for some “help.” Not that she couldn’t deal with the situation, but this young man needed some “manly” input. We took away some privileges, and continued working with him.

Finally, by Thursday, after he had been involved in making another camper cry, we had to let him know he couldn’t come back on Friday for the closing ceremony.

I tell you this for a couple of reasons. One, we’re not perfect. We can’t make everyone come out of Camp behaving perfectly. Two, to get you thinking: Did we fail? Does this mean that we don’t love this camper? I hope you can see that we only did what we did because we do love him. I really hope to be able to see him in Club, or in Camp next year, and to be able to follow up on what we had to do. But sometimes, somebody has to enforce what they say so that these kids will learn about consequences and boundaries before the law enforcement agencies have to come teach them.

Please pray with me that God will use Camp in his life, and in the lives of the many campers and workers that will be at Camp this summer.

Thanks!

God is so good!

2009-06-15T19:32:00.000-07:00
We moved into Camp yesterday. For those of you who don’t know, we live at Came during Camp. In the past, that’s only been about two weeks. In the past, some of it was quite miserable.

We’ve lived in a single-wide house trailer that was infested with lots of things we didn’t want. One year, the air conditioner froze up, and the water heater didn’t work. We didn’t find that out until AFTER we’d moved in. So, when we were trying to get ready for church that morning, we were quite miserable. And after we got the AC fixed, we never could get it cool in the trailer, because there was the danger of freezing it back up!

Over the last couple of years, we’ve had a loaner RV. It was wonderful compared to the trailer, but last year, we had problems with it, too. We ended up not being able to cook or shower in it.
So, why am I telling you this?

Because this year, we’re in the Retreat Center. Wow! We’re so comfortable! My kids want to know if we can just live at Camp!

Thank you for your part in helping make the Retreat Center happen. Thank God for all He has done and continues to do at Camp!

I’ll try to update the blog a couple of times this summer, if I get some time.

Happy Summer!

Timothy Project Graduation

2009-05-08T07:31:00.000-07:00
I meant to write something else for this post, but I had to change my mind. Last Saturday night, we had the graduation dinner for the Timothy Project. In case you can’t remember, the Timothy Project is the 3-year discipleship retreat ministry we’ve started at Camp.
In the years I’ve been working for the Mission, we’ve had two parents show up at our end-of-the-year parties. I can name the two. In 7 years of parties, I’ve seen two parents come and eat a free meal with their kids to celebrate the end of a MYC year.
Last Saturday night, when we had the dinner, we were honoring five girls for completing the “rigorous requirements of the Timothy Project Curriculum.” Do you know how many parents showed up? Four! Now wait, I need to explain one more thing. Those five girls represent four families. Two of them are sisters.
That means we had 100% involvement from the parents! I can’t tell you how exciting that is for us!
Mark Loftin stood up at the end of the dinner and said that during his stay in Chicago, at a similar ministry, they could only get about 10% parental involvement. He didn’t mention the almost 0% we’ve had here.
So, the obvious question is “Why?” Why did they choose to come support their girls in this, but we can’t get parents involved in other things? I don’t know. But, I do know that this is one blessing God has already given us through the Timothy Project.
Please pray for these five girls, the continued effectiveness of the course, and for all those kids in our ministry who may have never seen their parents at an end-of-the-year party, a ballgame, or even a parent-teacher meeting. They desperately need someone praying for them.

My Friend at St. Jude, Part 2

2009-04-13T08:48:00.000-07:00
Hey everybody! We got an e-mail from "My friend at St. Jude" the other day. The kids at MYC have started e-mailing him, and this was a recent reply. I thought you might like an update on the blog entry about him, and I think it's cool that he and the MYC kids are staying in touch. He gave his permission for me to post the following e-mail. Enjoy.

Hey everyone, it's me again. I am still on my road to recovery. I had an appointment with my doctor today. All my blood work, organ function, medicine levels, and vitals are good. I talked to a chaplain at the hospital today and was informed that the hospital will start having services on Tuesday's in the chapel. I am excited. Target House, where I am living, has a mass every week but it is in Spanish so I have been lost. I am very glad to hear from everyone. I hope everything works out best for you all. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a wonderful place. The hospital wouldn't exist if there weren't caring people in this world. The hospital spends $1.6 million a day to run and treat patients, and most of this money is donated to the hospital by companies, indivuals, colleges, ect.. Caring is important. If you can help someone in need, doing so would be the right thing to do. It means a lot to whom you choose to help. Words can't explain. If you ever get the chance to tour the hospital, I would say go for it. It is beautiful. Please keep me in your prayers, and hopefully I will see you soon.

Work Retreat

2009-04-06T14:27:00.000-07:00
Do you ever wonder if the kids at MYC and New Life Youth Camp have opportunities to “give back?”

This past weekend, we had a Work Retreat. I’ve had many before, but never with the resources that I have now. A simple change like adding showers has made the Work Retreat something exponentially better! Now we can spend the night Friday night, work all day Saturday, and go to church together Sunday morning. Before the Retreat Center, I had to pick them up Saturday morning and have them home by Saturday evening most of the time. (Although there was that time we spent the night in a van parked in the barn – man it was hot and horrible!)
Anyway, I wanted to tell you what 4 boys, 3 men, 1 woman, and 3 girls got done on Friday and Saturday.

The girls cleaned Mrs. Wendi’s van, washed the windows in the meeting area of the Retreat Center, ran the kitchen, and took some time to help one of the girls do a make- up for a Timothy Project Retreat (Jan 22 blog) she missed. It was such a blessing to not have to mess with food or dishes!

The boys sprayed the algae in the pond; cleaned up a trash pile of building materials in front of the Retreat Center; cleaned up Archery, Ropes, the Mary’s Chapel trail, the zipline area at the pond, and the hedgerow behind the barn of all the ice storm damage; moved a stack of leftover cypress, and then totally reorganized the wood storage area on top of the canteen of all of the cypress, plywood, 4x4s, insulation, and whatever else was up there; moved a diesel tank and volleyball poles; filled in a large hole by the cross; put eye bolts in our new canoe trailer to make it easier to strap down the canoes; and then mowed, trimmed, and did some weedeating all around Camp. And, of course, they helped clean up the Retreat Center when it was time to go home.

And here’s the kicker – these kids enjoyed almost all of it. They worked hard. And, when the work was done, we had time to hang out with them. We played video games, watched some basketball, had a campfire, and went to church with them. I love it. Thank you for your part in making the Retreat Center, Camp, and my job possible. Please keep praying for us! Please keep praying for these kids! Thank you!

Canoes

2009-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00
I don’t keep a diary. Do you? What kind? Do you write everything, or do you just write about specific things? (I’d love for you to comment, or send an e-mail reply to any of my posts. If you give me permission, I’ll post the e-mail for you. I’d love for this to be much more interactive.) If I did keep a diary, and if I wrote in it on February 26th, it would look something like what follows.

This morning, I got a phone call at 6:30 to tell me Ray (my wife’s step-dad) couldn’t go with me to Bloomington to pick up the canoes. He’s sick, so it looked like I would have to make the drive there and back by myself. I started praying that God would supply somebody to go with me, but I couldn’t think of anybody that would have time off on a Thursday, at such extremely short notice, to spend the day driving to Indiana with me.

A few minutes later, they called back to ask if Cammie’s mom could come take care of our kids when they got home from school so that Cammie could make the drive with me! Talk about an answer to prayer! That meant that I could have company on the drive, and that I could have lots of time with Cammie – my favorite person!

The drive up went very well. It seemed to fly by, and Cammie and I each got turns to sleep. She read a little from the book, “The Shack,” to me while I drove. When we got to Camp Hunt, the addiction recovery program for Wheeler Mission Ministries, they fed us, helped us hook up the canoe trailer, helped us find the kayak and paddles we wanted, worked on the truck’s electrical hook-up, and sent us on our way – all with a wonderful attitude of servanthood and grace. Those guys are great!

We got a very nice canoe trailer with a huge mesh basket for storing paddles, lifejackets, coolers, and other things; 4 aluminum canoes that don’t look like they’ve been used very much; a kayak; 1 kayak paddle; and 8 canoe paddles, all for a grand total of $2,000! That is an amazing deal! And our supper was free! :-)

The trip home went well, but we were still worn out. We left Dyersburg about 8:00 in the morning on the 26th and got back into Dyersburg around 3:00 Friday morning – we only stopped for gas, bathrooms, or food. I am so excited to get a chance to use these canoes and the trailer this summer for Camp. We’ll be able to save money on canoe trips and maybe make more trips than we could have in the past. And I’ll be able to think back to that kid that yelled “paddle!” all the way down the river – in a boat of our own – while we make more memories with more kids.

Camp Schedule 09

2009-03-13T13:24:00.000-07:00
Hey! I’m glad you’ve stopped by. If it’s been awhile since you’ve visited, please take some time to look around. I’d love for you to read, and I’d really love for you to let me know what you think about what I’ve written. You also ought to check out http://www.dyersburgmyc.blogspot.com/. Mark Loftin, the Director of the after-school clubs, keeps that blog. It’ll help keep you up to date on what’s going on with the other programs besides Camp programs.

Well, I’d like to make all of you aware of the Camp Calendar for this summer. I need plenty of help this year. We’re adding one more Camp this year, for kids who would have been on the waiting list. We’re calling it 2nd Chance Camp.

Please consider being a nurse, a counselor, helping serve lunch or snack, or helping with music at Chapel. You could also help teach crafts, or help kids get their fish off of their hooks. If you’d rather, you could teach archery, or help with laundry. Or, if you’d like to be extra helpful, you could drive a van to and from Camp each day.

If you’d like to volunteer, please call me or e-mail me at mycclub@juno.com!

May 16 is Counselor Training – tentatively 10am-2pm, and I’ll serve lunch. All other Camp helpers will be welcome but not required to attend this training.
June 9-12 is 1-2 grade Camp. All we do on Friday is a closing ceremony and lunch.
June 15-19 is 3-4 grade Camp. All we do on Friday is a closing ceremony and lunch.
June 22-26 is 5-6 grade Camp. Friday is the day for our elective trips. In the next blog post, I’ll tell you about our new canoes.
June 29- July 2 is 7-12 grade Camp - we primarily staff this one from MYC Staff
July 8-10 is our 2nd Chance Camp - we will have 1-6 grade kids who are on the waiting list.
July 14-17 will be our Lauderdale County Camp, which will also be 1-6 grade, but will be kids from Ripley, Gates, and Halls.

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know if you’d like to get an e-mail every time I post a blog. I don’t want to be bugging anybody.

A Friend of Mine at St. Jude

2009-02-16T05:43:00.000-08:00
Last week, I got the chance to go visit a friend of mine at St. Jude. He’s a 19- or 20-year- old cancer survivor who used to come to Camp and attend the MYC After-School Club. It was really good seeing him. He had just received a stem cell transplant, and I’m hoping and praying for the best.

He looked good. He seemed happy. The St. Jude staff seems to be going out of their way to spoil him. He also got some things from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which he seems to be enjoying.

I remember the day they told me that he had cancer. I went through a short period of denial. I mean, how can a 17 year old, healthy, active, fun kid have cancer – especially one that I knew and loved!? Now, I’m not trying to offend anybody. I know that many of you have had cancer hit much closer to home than that. I’m just being honest. It really caught me off guard. It scared me.

I also remember working at Camp with this student – mowing, cleaning, and getting ready for summer camp. I remember playing with him in the gym, working with him in the homework room, and teaching him memory verses and Bible lessons.

One of my favorite memories of him is one that some of the kids and I talk about every time we go canoeing. He was sharing a canoe with one of the high-school girls. They would paddle along quietly, enjoying themselves and maybe talking to the rest of us for awhile, and then, out of nowhere, you’d hear this “PADDLE!!” being yelled at the top of his lungs. The next thing you’d hear was her laughing, and then the rest of us joining in. Then, after everything had gotten quiet again, he’d yell it again. I’m not sure how funny that sounds in print, but in real life, it was hilarious! Wish you could have been there!

Well, I better get. I hope you’ll support the Mission, and I’d also love to find out that you support St. Jude and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I hope we’ve all played an important role in this young man’s life.

Football and Hope

2009-02-09T19:35:00.000-08:00
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b6c7b995da9705f7695b
Please watch this video. It's about working with at risk kids. It is very powerful, and it might make you cry!

Food Bank

2009-02-09T14:26:00.000-08:00
I’m so thankful for neat organizations like the Midsouth Food Bank। I can “buy” Pringles, paper supplies, cleaning supplies, name brand cereals, drinks, candy, and more for $0.14 per pound. It means that our budget can stretch to cover so many more needs.

If you take Styrofoam cups for example, you can get an idea how much it saves us। Between Camp and MYC, we go through thousands of cups a year. At Wal-Mart or Kroger, these would cost say $1 for 16 cups, or something (I probably would not be a good contestant on The Price is Right, but please give me a break.) But, if I go to the Food Bank, I can buy hundreds of them for less than $1. It takes a bunch of Styrofoam cups to make a pound.

It takes a drive to Memphis to take advantage of these savings, but I believe it’s more than worth it।

I thought it might be helpful to let you see one way the Mission attempts to be a good steward with the donations you and others make।

I’d love to hear from you। You can get involved in the Camp community by clicking on the “Comment” button below, and letting everybody “hear” what you have to say.

See you next time!

Super Bowl

2009-02-03T12:21:00.000-08:00
Did you watch the Super Bowl? Who did you cheer for?

I was pulling for Arizona and Warner. Too bad. I just wish the referees had been able to stay out of the way. I felt like they missed a few calls that will allow this game to be a controversy for a long time to come. Oh well!

All that to get to the point. The Retreat Center is a wonderful venue for watching the Super Bowl. We have a great meeting room with fantastic audio and video. It sits right off the kitchen – very important when you’re watching the Super Bowl – and has plenty of room for tables and chairs – even some rocking chairs.

On the down side, out of the nine kids we had signed up to attend the viewing party, only one showed up. We had 21 show up Saturday night for a fun night of games and rowdiness, and we had a great time. But then it was a little bit of a downer to only have one show up to watch the game with us. Well, at least we had plenty of food!

Hopefully, next year will pick up a little.

Have a great day!

My Best Volunteer Ever

2009-01-31T20:51:00.000-08:00
One of my favorite parts of being involved with New Life Youth Camp is the quality, the diversity, and the commitment of the volunteers that make it happen every year. I get to see many different people from different walks of life using their unique talents, gifts, and personalities to honor God by serving less fortunate kids. It’s rewarding, refreshing, and encouraging to see it happen each summer.

Over the years, I’ve met many wonderful volunteers – people who traveled from Michigan to help with Camp; people who have given up two weeks of their summer every summer since before I got here; people who have given money, time, and lots of sweat so they could love kids at New Life Youth Camp. But, I have to admit, I have one favorite.

This volunteer has been at Camp every summer I have. This volunteer has been a counselor, a childcare leader, a Bible teacher, and an assistant director. She has done laundry, cleaned bathrooms, and helped with nametags and other office work. She has also lived in a roach-infested trailer that had frogs, snake skins, and mice; and it also had holes in the floor through which you could see the ground – just so I could be a better, more available Camp Director.
Last year, she put up with living in an RV without air conditioning part of the summer, using incomplete bathrooms part of the summer, cooking in the barn part of the summer, and was absolutely thrilled to be at Camp the entire summer.

I hope I’m doing a good job of communicating what a special volunteer she is. I’m sure you all know by now, and it’s nothing against all of the other wonderful volunteers we’ve gotten to work with over the years, but Cammie, my wife, has to be my best volunteer ever. Since we have started February, the month of Valentine’s, I wanted to take one blog and honor her.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Cammie!

Blessings

2009-01-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

I always want to be careful when I talk about how God has blessed Camp. I don’t want to be like that king in the Old Testament who brought a curse on himself by showing off all the things God had given him. I don’t want it to seem like we think we’ve earned God’s blessing, or that He has blessed us for our sake. And I sure don’t want anybody thinking that we have accomplished any of these things by ourselves. (In fact, to be honest, I don’t want to be part of anything that I could accomplish by myself. I want to be part of things that God has to be involved in – things that if He didn’t show up, it wouldn’t get done.)
But, I do think you’ll be interested, and I do want to share some of the neat things that God is doing and has done at Camp.
1. There is a kickball field being “built”. We found the one large, flat area at Camp and tilled it up to try to smooth it out some. We hope to have someone work on making it a little more flood proof, and then we’ll plant some grass to make a decent size athletic field. Maybe, if everything goes right, we can use it at Camp this summer.
2. Burger King donated their used, indoor playground. If we can figure out how to put it back together, we’ll have a good start on a playground for the Camp kids.
3. Our tent camping area is looking better and better, and we have a wonderful new fire pit up there. Now, if you’re like me, you’re thinking – “Fire pit, what’s so wonderful about a fire pit?” All I can say is that you’ll have to see it to understand. It’s very nice.
4. The Mission recently purchased a new John Deere 3520 tractor with a 6’ finishing mower, a nice, big canopy, and a front loader. We also got two smaller riding mowers so that we can have an entire crew helping with the mowing when we go on work retreats with MYC kids, or when they come to help me when school’s out. The kids work hard, and they absolutely love helping to mow.
5. Finally, and I’ve already alluded to this before, we have a nice, new, 5000 sq. ft. Retreat Center. It has 4 bedrooms that will sleep nine each, a large meeting area, laundry, storage, my office, a nurse’s office, a kitchen, and some very large bathrooms. We need the bathroom space for changing areas and bathrooms for summer camp. I can’t wait to use the Retreat Center at summer camp, but I already get to use it with smaller groups most weekends. It’s available for your group, too, and the prices are very reasonable.
If you’d like to come see any of this, please e-mail or call me. Also, many pictures are posted on http://www.dyersburgmission.com/.
Next week, I’d like to talk about my best volunteer ever, in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Timothy Project

2009-01-22T12:42:00.000-08:00
So, I said I would describe a little bit about what the Timothy Project is. Well, I don’t know about you, but this would be a lot easier for me if I could be sitting and talking to you instead of trying to describe it all in print.

The Timothy Project is my attempt to meet a real need (discipleship) by using a new tool that God has given us (the new Retreat Center).

We plan to do monthly retreats with a small group of interested, mature, committed teens from our After School Club Program. Kids will be allowed to sign up from our MYC Club. If they meet the approval of their group leader, display maturity, and are willing to commit to some pretty intensive learning, they will begin the process with me.

It is designed to be a three year process, with about 8 retreats per year. The retreats give us more time to focus on relationship, dig into the curriculum, and have plenty of time for fun.

Because the students come from MYC, I already have a relationship with them, and I can see them more than just once a month on a retreat. As I’m sure you know, relationship really is key in discipleship. The curriculum is probably secondary, but I do believe it’s necessary.

So, what is the curriculum?

Well, I basically tried to divide the Christian life into 8 categories. (Don’t try this at home! :-) ) Maybe this would be a good chance for you to get involved in this discussion. What do you think about these 8 areas? Do they cover the ground they need to cover? Please understand that we dig in to each topic deeply – with more scripture, several learning styles, and hopefully some discussion.
1. Saved by Grace – Ephesians 2:8-10
2. Devotional Life – Bible reading, prayer, memorization, etc.
3. Made in God’s Image – Discovering your unique blend of personality, gifts, and talents, and how God wants you to use them
4. Challenges – sexual purity, materialism, etc.
5. Stewardship
6. Marriage and Family
7. Telling and Teaching - Teaching the kids to do evangelism and to disciple others
8. Servanthood – usually accomplished more through action than through a long curriculum

Each category will include one retreat for each year, and we’ll look at the same topic from different angles each time. For instance, we shared the plan of salvation the first time we did Saved by Grace. Next time, we’ll talk about walking in grace instead of trying to revert to legalism, and then the third time, we’ll talk about the fact that we are made to do good works (which means we’ve worked our way through Ephesians 2:8-10 over the course of the three retreats.)

Well, what questions did I not answer? What else do I need to tell you about the Timothy Project?

Next week, I have some great news about new stuff at Camp. See ya then!

In the beginning

2008-12-29T20:43:00.000-08:00
Well, this is the first blog I've ever done. I hope that as I learn to do this, and as you learn more about what's going on at Camp, we can both be encouraged by and involved in what God wants to do at New Life Youth Camp.
Maybe some of you don't know much about New Life Youth Camp. You can learn more at http://www.dyersburgmission.com/YouthMinistries/CampInformation.dsp. Also, follow the links to see some more pictures while you're there.
Also, feel free to post your comments here or e-mail me at mycclub@juno.com
Tonight, December 29th, I am hosting a group of about 5 girls for a retreat. One of them needed to make up some work from a past Timothy Project retreat (I'll try to explain the Timothy Project in my next blog), but she got the work done quickly, so we invited a few more people to come out. One of my female coworkers has most of the responsibility of watching the girls, so I'm free to update you on what's going on at Camp.
I look forward to telling you more and getting you more involved!
Please, when you read this, please let me know what you think.