Here’s an older post from Wayne Jackson at Christian Courier. It’s always useful to be reminded just how changes come about in the church. We think this article is very wise and always timely. We especially direct your attention to his conclusion.
-Bryant
For whatever reason, I failed to take my camera to camp this year. Fortunately, Kent Purser had his and has gratefully allowed us to publish some of his images from Indian Creek Youth Camp. A few other images I managed to gather are found [cref 23 in this earlier post].
Registration went about as smoothly as I have ever seen. Most of us arrived Saturday and we were registered early. The remainder came Sunday afternoon. In all 252 campers were with us for Clark’s Week. Campers were with us from areas nearby the camp to as far away as West Virginia.
Adult staff and counselors are essential to the success of camp. We were blessed with an incomparable staff of experienced adults who worked hard to bring our young people to a deeper understanding of God’s word.
Several gospel preachers were with us this week with contributed to the growth of our campers. We believe that a Christian camp ought advance the spiritual knowledge of the campers. You can have fun at many camps, we wanted to send our campers home with a better understanding of the Bible.
Part of that effort is our end of week Bible Bowl. Campers prepare for the Bible Bowl throughout the
week and then take a challenging exam on Thursday morning. This year, we took our studies from the book of Colossians.
The tests are given by age. This year, as in the past, our youngest campers scored highest with several teams scoring 100% on the youngest exam.
Within the team competition, the Bible Bowl exam is worth far more than any other component. The winning team this year, Team Andy, won because of their score on the Bible Bowl exam.
One of the most interesting groups to watch at camp are the youngest campers. For the boys, Old Hickory cabin houses our youngest group.
We thought you’d enjoy this picture of them in early morning while they were dressed neatly and cleanly. Images from later in the day are…well…less than clean.
We do not have a an image for the girls. But like the boys, they do look so good early in the morning. But, again like the boys, they tend to nasty up pretty quickly.
All of our campers were exceptional. They were attentive and they quickly obeyed directions from the counselors and team leaders.
Many of the campers made life long friendships. Many will talk with each other through the year and some will even visit. All look forward to seeing each other again July 12-17, 2009 at Indian Creek.
During the week, cabins prepare for skit night. One of the best received skits came from the Twin Oaks Boys Choir which put an odd spin on some classic music. Led by conductor Jeremy Pate, the boys performed a number of pieces of their own composition.
Without a doubt, the music was uplifting to the point of extreme humor. It was inspirational to the point of side-splitting laughter. It would do well on YouTube if anyone had a video camera. Good job Twin Oaks!
Camp always is tough, especially on the adults. But we are all committed to the welfare and proper upbringing of the children. Planning is already underway for 2008. Camper should be prepared to commit to camp by March at the latest. Adult staff should be ready to commit by November.
Thanks to all you have a part in ICYC. We especially thank Clarks Sims for his dedication in making this a great week.
If you were a staff member or camper, leave us your thoughts below!
-Bryant
[cref 3 In an earlier post] I mentioned that comments would be welcomed. That still stands. But I guess some of you are a little hesitant. Let me just say that you may post anonymous comments. You can register if you wish, but you do not have to.
I invision an active blog with plenty of participation so jump right in!
Bryant
Join us Sunday morning for:
Clash! The Spirit vs. The Flesh: A study of Galatians 5:16-24.
This lesson will help us see that there is an ongoing war in the heart of every Christian which must be won by the Spirit.
Sunday evening we will study:
“…we walk by faith and not by sight” from 1 Corinthians 5:6-10. It is so easy to look and consider only what we can see. The Christian must trust God and walk according to his plan even when we cannot understand.
We meet Sunday morning at 9 for Bible class and at 10 for Worship. We meet again at 6 for evening worship. Please join us!
Ammie Day was baptized into Christ this afternoon. What a great event to witness! I am thankful that God loved us enough to send Christ to die for us. What a blessing to see a new sister arise from the waters of baptism!
Thanks to Robert Cagle for filling in for me last night. Robert is the associate at Regency in Mobile and always does a great job when he speaks. He brought several young people with him which we always appreciate.
Robert was filling in because I was speaking at Margaret Street in Pensacola. Thanks to Jim Pitts and the elders there for the invitation to speak on Stewardship: Parents and Children. An excellent topic which I enjoyed very much.
Bryant
It was good to have three of our girls back home this week. Anna Lloyd and Anna Isenhower are home from college and Alex Hartman is visiting from her new home in Washington state.
They were all three at our youth cook-out Tuesday night and it was so good to see them together.
Meanwhile, Jonathon Ling is doing a fine job organizing our youth activities. It’s been a busy summer and with only about three weeks left until school resumes there is still much scheduled. Jonathon has worked so well with our teens and with our pre-teens. Thanks! We also deeply appreciate our parents who play such a big role with our youth. You certainly understand the importance of training your children well.
The next event on the youth calendar is tonight at 7 with our VBS. Sunday night we have an outing planned and in August we will be traveling to the Conquerors Youth Rally in Pensacola.
My deep appreciation to Nathan Kidwell and the Central church of Christ in Saraland, near Mobile, Alabama. They invited me to speak at their VBS tonight. It’s always good to be with Nathan and the people at Central. Their youth man, Tim Odell, filled in for me on Sunday night a week ago – thanks Tim!
This week I will also be speaking at the Margaret Street church near Pensacola, Florida. Robert Cagle from Regency will be here in our Summer Series. Robert is a dear friend and always does a fine job.
–Bryant
Phil Sanders from the Concord Road church has an enlightening post about the so-called “:emerging church” movement. This movement is no church at all, rather a mish-mash of philosophies synchronized into a a single movement. If you were in class Sunday, you know we spoke of the need to truly believe our neighbors and family are lost so that we will begin to labor for their souls. Phil’s post deals with some of the same thoughts.
Bryant
The earliest days of the life of Abraham are a bit foggy. He lived in the east, in a place called Ur. He lived with his wife, his father and brothers. The place where they lived was given over to pagan worship. Men worshipped numerous gods, each with responsibility for some aspect of their lives. But Abraham’s family was different. His father, Terah, was told by God to leave Ur and travel west. Now we know that thier travels would eventually end in the conquest, by their distant family, of the land of Canaan.
God called their family to a great leap of faith. They were to leave everything they knew and travel to a place not yet revealed to them (Genesis 11:31,32). And that is exactly what they did.
Perhaps God has given you a great leap of faith this week. Continue reading Monday Memo – Abraham