PYV West Camp 2017 - Day 3

At 5.30am today, while most were sleeping, a windstorm blew through Halls Gap with a mighty force. Those of us with a window open found it hard to get back to sleep after this! But on a positive note, it was a good way to ensure we could be ready for the Leader’s meeting at 7.00am.

I am very thankful for this great group of leaders who have given up more than just a weekend to be at West Camp. As I write this, I can see many of these leaders speaking one to one with a member of their study groups. It is conversations like these that have proven to be so vital in our spiritual growth in the past. We trust that it will continue to be so here.

I had no good reason to be concerned about the attendance at the Prayer Meeting this morning. It was a good crowd of campers and leaders who were led by our camp dad, Stuart McKerrow, to pray in the way that Jesus taught his disciples. You probably know it as the Lord’s Prayer. Today we had it introduced as the Model Prayer. I like this title. 

In our worship time today we were privileged to hear the testimony from one of our new leaders, Rob Periera from Geelong West church. Unlike many of the campers here, Rob did not grow up in a Christian home. In fact it wasn’t until he was in his thirties that someone shared the gospel of Jesus with him. What an impact that witness had. Rob was opened to who Jesus is and all that Jesus has done for him and is now a wonderfully changed man.

Do the teenagers in your congregation get to hear testimonies from adults in your church? Do hey get to hear the conversion stories that your people have? Please let the children and the teenagers hear such stories. It is a great encouragement to them in their own faith.

We opened the Bible to Romans 6 and read the whole chapter before I began to preach. Following the theme from Romans that the Gospel brings us freedom, today focused on Freedom from Sin. It is a mind blowing concept that we are declared to be free from sin even while we struggle and battle with it. I love what is written in Romans 6:11, “Count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” What a difference it makes in our approach to sin when we consider ourselves in this way.

The planned afternoon activities were moved indoors today as the weather is very cold and very wet. VERY! This meant that some of the games that involved running perhaps weren’t as long as they might have been, but on a positive note it also meant that when a helium balloon broke free of its weight it didn’t disappear into the clouds. My favourite game was “Hungry, Hungry Hippos”. Well done to everyone who had a go at this and could do it without hurting themselves. 

Our camp photo and costume dress-up is always an important event at our camps. This year at west camp people were challenged to dress up as something beginning with the same letter as your name. So Kellie was a kite; Rob was a rabbit; Daniel was a dentist; Sam was a sleeping bag (lame); and Toby was a Truckie. It was a good costume idea that gave plenty of room for people’s imaginations to go wild.

 

An outstanding roast dinner was served to the campers by the leaders – which meant there was a lot of washing up for the leaders to do too!! And it was worth it all.

Good one Jack.

Another round of workshops followed dinner with Toby leading a session on world religions, Sam and Lori presenting the gospel workshop again and I led a workshop to a small crew on pornography. That it was such a small group in this workshop might mean that it is not such a big issue for youth in this region. I’d like to think that anyway.

Normally we would light the campfire on the last night of camp. But it is still wet and still windy, so we’re staying indoors. And if you were here with me, you would be seeing groups of young people sitting around tables playing various games. You would see groups of two or three sitting and talking together. You would see leaders having conversations with campers about their faith. You would be greatly encouraged.

Tomorrow is our final day. We will leave here with the promise of freedom from condemnation. We will leave here with new and with deeper friendships.

Thanks for praying for us. 

PYV West Camp 2017

PYV West Camp 2017 - Day 2

Isn’t it good to enjoy a night of deep sleep at a camp? I know the answer is ‘yes’, but that wasn’t my experience last night. Can’t blame campers or leaders of kookaburras. I guess it was just one of those nights.

We began the day with the usual Leader’s Meeting. I really enjoy the chance to sit with the camp leaders at the start of the day, to pray together, to hear about what’s planned for the day, and any final announcements that need to be made. This is a good group of leaders, with a number of the team on their first or second camp. Please continue praying for them and do so with thankfulness. I am.

From there a group met together to pray before breakfast. Again, it is a delight to meet with a group of teenagers and leaders who want to pray for what’s happening at camp and beyond. Will there be as many at the prayer meeting tomorrow morning? We’ll find out.

Our devotions at this camp, like our group studies, are based on the COMA method of reading the Bible. This acronym stands for Context, Observation, Meaning, & Application. It is our hope that this wonderful group of people can learn a model of reading the Bible they can take away with them and apply it in their own Bible reading. If you have someone at camp, ask them about it when they get home. Why not take it on yourself? 

Some achievements should be celebrated

 The worship session this morning included a mix of songs both old and new, a review of the book “The Case for Faith” by Lee Strobel, and the first of our vox pop videos. It is a great way to start the session by reminding ourselves of what has happened the day before. The Bible was opened and we read from Romans 3:21-31 to remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus and the significance of that. “Propitiation” is a word that teenagers don’t use much now – in fact it’s a word you probably don’t use either – but today they learned what it means and why it is an important concept as we speak about the death of Jesus. 

The gospel brings freedom from God’s anger.

Because the weather for tomorrow is looking like it’s going to be wet and cold, we swapped our planned activities, which means that today we had people hiking up to Boronia Peak, or a short drive to MacKenzie Falls, or a stroll into Halls Gap for ice-cream and other good things. Being in the Grampians makes these kind of activities worth doing.

It is good to be out in the hills enjoying the glory of God’s great creation.

After a magnificent dinner tonight we had a first set of workshops. Tonight the options were

• ·         Pleasures we can’t have
• ·         Help! My friend is depressed.
• ·         Being a Christian in a hostile world.
• ·         What is the Gospel?

If you have someone at camp, please ask them about the workshops they have attended and what they learned there.  

To finish the day – and what a day it has been – there was a game of Capture the Flag across the campsite. Glowsticks and balloons are important parts of this game. When that was done we had supper and various kinds of card games happening inside. Who knew you could have a game happening on such a long table?

That's a lot of people in one game

PYV West Camp 2017 - Day 1

It was a warm drive up from Melbourne for those travelling west, and it was an equally warm drive for those travelling east to Halls Gap for the start of West Camp 2017. Even at the start of this blog post I want to thank those who drove campers here and then drove home again. We hope you had a peaceful and a safe journey home.

Our first activity was to divide into groups and play some simple games to get to know people within the group. One of these activities was to build something that would protect an egg which was thrown by one of the leaders. Not everyone was successful.

Dinner was fantastic. If this is a sign of the standard of meals for the rest of camp, we will be a bunch of very happy campers. We have always had good cooks serving us at West Camp, and we are grateful for those who give up their time to serve people in this way.

After dinner we had our first session together. The leadership team were introduced along with the pastoral and the first aid teams. What a blessing it is to have people on the camp who are there to look after the camper – Camp parents Stuart & Belle McKerrow – and other who are chaplains to our leaders – Brad Haughey and Lori Pereria.

The Bible was opened and Romans 1:1-17 was read, then it was time for our first talk. As I am the one preaching at this camp I’d like to tell you how amazing the talk was, and to give you examples of the way God used my message for his glory. While I hope He does use it for His glory, perhaps I’ll just summarise.

Preaching from the first five chapters of Romans led me to seeing Romans 3:23-24 as a key statement to this section.

“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” 

I pointed out from Romans 1:18-3:23 who has sinned and fallen short, and from Romans 3:24-5:21 how we are and can be justified. My main theme for this camp is “The Gospel is the basis for our freedom” The next talks will build on this theme.

Please keep praying for our camp. There are any people here at the camp who don’t know each other well yet. I hope that by the end of camp they will feel that they know each other very well.

Some key women in my life

Today is International Women's Day. As such it seems a good time to consider who have been some of the key women in my life and the impact they have made.

Like most people, I need to start with my mum. She is a woman who has often done more than a mother should do for her son. A fair chunk of my homework in primary school comes to mind. She cooked for us, and bought our clothes. She often had to clean my room if anyone was going to ever see the carpet, and if I could go back in time, I think I would do better on that front. She has been, all in all, a great and wonderful mum, and I love her dearly.

Importantly, she has also been a key influence on my understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. She was the one who helped us to pray at the dinner table (step up, Dad!), who taught in Sunday School and later with the teenage crew. When I was young, she was deeply involved in life within our church at Hawthorn and I learned what it meant to be committed to the church. (Dad did a good job with that too.)

But here's something else. I remember that the teenagers from our church would often meet at our place after church on Sunday night, and while Mum was cooking pikelets she would often be talking to some of the young women of the church. This was informal discipleship taking place.

I love my mum deeply.

My two grandmothers would also stand out in my mind. My maternal grandmother, Grandma, suffered a heart attack (I think) while I was young and came to stay with us for a while. It was kind of cool having that older generation in the house for a while. Sadly, a massive stroke changed her life and took away her ability to speak clearly. This meant she couldn't talk with us and the frustration on her face was easy to see. But I still remember her smile. And I remember her love. And I remember her serving Jesus faithfully.

My paternal grandmother, Nanna, was the longest living of my grandparents. My Pa died when I was 10, (I have some happy memories of him and his wheelbarrow) and this naturally meant life changed dramatically for Nanna. But she became a powerful witness in our church. This church moved from Hawthorn to Waverley in 1987, and I can still see my Nanna, no matter how frail she became, determined to make sure that she would welcome any visitor that came to our church. And it was a reasonably large church, so it would often mean there were a number of people to meet.

She didn't let her frailty stop her. She served Jesus faithfully.

There are other women who I could name, but it would make this too long. Two women need to be mentioned, and then a final name.


Carolyn Everett was our Sunday School leader when I was a child. One Sunday, while she was leading our Sunday School, she invited any of us who wanted to ask Jesus to be their special friend, (language which made perfect sense in the 70's) to come and kneel at the mercy seat. I did. Carolyn and her family were a huge part of my life as a boy, and as a teenager. Carolyn showed her love for Jesus in her love for the people, and especially for the children.

Muriel Davies was a quiet follower of Jesus. Her husband, Howard, was a huge influence on my understanding of ministry, of preaching, and of theology. While Howard and Muriel were our Corps Officers (ministers) a group of youth leaders would meet at their home once a week for a meal and a discussion. In opening her home to us, she modelled hospitality and a gentle witness. It may not have seemed much, but it stands in my mind.

Finally, and in many ways most importantly, is my beautiful and wonderful wife Anne. This year we celebrate 25 years of marriage. We don't have a house, but we have a home, and Anne is greatly responsible for this. We have had times in our life when we have been broke - truly. But Anne was able to take a few ingredients and make it something that was not only edible, but also tasty. She has been a great mum to our sons as they have grown into young men. She has served Jesus with me in many places. She has helped to move house too many times, and has done this cheerfully. (which continually amazes me.)

And in my darkest times, she is there. Smiling, giving space, encouraging, loving and all those good things. But most important, she is there.

I have been blessed to have great women involved in my life. I thank God for them all, too many of whom are unnamed in this blog.

Who has influenced you?