Camp Follow-Up

Hi parents!

It is 1AM and I’m just getting back to my dorm to pack up and get ready to head home tomorrow morning. Your kids are doing the same thing right now after a great late-night service and group time — the finale of a truly great week!

I wanted to share some highlights with you before we make it back into town tomorrow afternoon. We’ve been at LIFT camp at Cedarville University (www.lift4life.com) all week with the theme #LEGIT: Be Real, Be Now, Be You. Our speaker was EJ Swanson (www.ejswanson.org). He has a powerful story he shared on the opening night — and continued each of the following evenings to challenge students to love God, share their own story and invite friends to church. The music was led by HeartSong, Cedarville Universities own worship team (www.cedarville.edu/heartsong). They have done an amazing job helping us be prepared to hear from the Lord and finding freedom in our worship.

I’ve encouraged your student to spend time with you on Friday night — before they jump into their world. I asked them to escape with you for the evening to talk about camp. I can’t wait for you to hear their stories and share their decisions with you. If it is at all possible, grab dinner and talk about camp together — here’s a few things you could talk about and a few questions to get you started:

·      What struck you about EJ’s messages?

·      Which Bible story EJ taught was your favorite?

·      Who was your counselor? What did you learn from him/her?

·      Did you do any outreach projects?

·      Did you make any spiritual decisions this week?

·      What song was the most meaningful to you? Why?

·      What did you do during the free time?

·      On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was the food at camp?

·      Did you miss me?

Just so you know your student probably got an extra sock or two in their suitcase, too, because it is camp and that stuff just happens, don’t worry about finding the original owner, just burn it.

Well, the bus will pull out soon and we’re just about on our way home. Camp is silent for now… but we’re trusting God the decisions made here will last for a lifetime. Thanks for sending your student to Summer Camp at LIFT— it is such a worthy investment — you’ll see it in their exhausted eyes when they get off the bus. See you soon!

-Pastor Jeff