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