Tag: camp

MZBC Camp 2010

Our church’s camp went extremely well this year!  It was a long week: filled with plenty of action and adventure.  As a whole, we did things such as go-carting, canoeing, swimming, paintball, and a night activity.  Many made good decisions for God, and several were saved.

Sure, I am still catching up on sleep (I think, on average, I went to sleep at 2am, and woke up at 6:00am), and it is a lot of hard work and preparation; but it is all very rewarding.  We had a prayer list of things that we wanted to see God answer at camp, and He answered all of them specifically.  I pray that every decision would be kept for God’s glory.

I could probably go on for a while on everything, but that would all get kind of redundant.  Instead, I’ll just leave everyone with a few pictures:

This was taken before we left with those who rode the bus to camp...about 1/2 of those that actually were from our church.

"When the priests blew the…Vuvuzelas?"

Monday officially starts the first day of Mt. Zion Baptist Camp.  A LOT of planning goes into every detail of this last week of June.  Today, we had our big camp work day to set up and prepare for everyone to come at 10:00 Monday morning.  This year, about 50 workers and 120+ campers plan on being here.  The thing is: we do everything.  Dozens of people from our church put hours upon hours into preparing the stage, purchasing and planning for meals, keeping the campground clean, and all of the logistics involved.  In the end, though, it is very rewarding.

Our speakers this year are Pastor Aaron Samples for the teens and Pastor Chad Delhotal for the juniors.  The theme for this year is “The Jericho Project: Mission Impossible.”  Our spiritual focus is on hidden sin and victory against all odds.  For the program, the theme is all about espionage.  The campers are divided into four teams, and each given an ID badge and handle.  The main competition for those teams is who can knock down their wall by various things like accomplishing secret missions, doing well in Bible quizzing, and being victorious in field competitions throughout the day.  Whoever gets the most points for the day gets to have their wall (about 30 painted cardboard boxes) knocked down.

However, in the Bible’s account of the victory at Jericho, we know how it was accomplished.  By marching around the city 13 times over seven days, then as the finale, the priests blowing their ram horns and the people shouting with all of their might.  So, in the year of the 2010, also the year of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, what do we use as improvisation for the hard-to-find ram horn?  Nothing but the infamous vuvuzela!  If you don’t know what that is, just Google it!  Let’s just say it is a fad that every spectator at the games love, but everyone watching them absolutely hate!  Yes, whichever team wins the day’s competition gets to blow their vuvuzelas and shout, so the walls of Jericho come tumbling down…

The funniest part about all of this is that they were purchased before the whole World Cup thing.  One of our church members had the idea of buying these big, cheap, plastic horns; and we went ahead and got them; unknowing of the phenomenon they would be in just a few weeks.  So, as most of you will be sitting at home sometime next week at about 7:00pm EST, be assured that the walls of Jericho will be tumbling down in Hannover, PA to the sound of vuvuzelas and a bunch of screaming teenagers.

Our Summer at Mt. Zion

Yes, things are going very well here at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.  It is good to serve at a likeminded, strong church.  Earlier in the summer we had youthcamp in Hanover, PA (Yes, the home of Hanover pretzels…that is almost all we eat out here with Dustin, pretzels and french fries, oh, also kettle-cooked potato chips and popcorn!)  But camp went very well…I must admit I was dreading it a bit, just because I don’t like to break out of my shell, but once I did (You don’t have much of a chance at teen camp!), it was the best thing for me since being here.  I really got to know the teen girls more, and Jenny Starr also…Pastor Chris Starr’s wife.  God is good.

Mt. Zion '09

Then we went right into preparation for Vacation Bible School.  It was another great week!  We had a high attendance day of 227!  We also have teenagers come for a time of preaching, craft, snacks, and activities.  And here at Mt. Zion they really go all out with decorating for VBS!  I was wishing Lindsey (my little sister with Downe’s Syndrome) was here!  She would have loved it!  I had the privilege to lead Cassandra Carter to the Lord, a teen girl of about fourteen.  Praise the Lord for the souls saved and decisions made for God!

Then, bouncing right off of the VBS contacts, the deacons approved the idea of beginning a bus ministry in the nearby town of Red Lion.  And you know who that responsibility fell to!  The Fairhaven grads!  What a thrill and blessing, though!  So, we followed up on each of the bus contacts we had from the week of VBS, where we found many had their own church, etc., but a few families showed interest in the bus ride to Sunday School.  We took the bus out last Sunday, and would you believe it poured rain!  Dustin was up knocking on a door, and it started hailing!  Well, neither of the two families who were interested actually came the first week, but we will be at it again tomorrow.  Probably doing a few bus visits, some follow-up visits, and maybe a lot of canvassing!  It is a bit difficult starting from the ground up, but if we will possibly be church-planting one day, this is great training!!!

Tomorrow is the Red Lion Street Fair too, so please keep us in your prayers that the church booth and the Reformers Unanimous Booth will be used of God to reach the community with the Light of the Gospel!