PYV Summer Camp 2017 – Day Five. New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve 2017

Why do we do what we do? There are a number of answers to this, most of them equally good, but one towers above them all. We do camps to lead people to faith in Jesus. And we have seen this happen. Young men and women who have Christian knowledge and families have this week had this turn into a personal faith. Hallelujah!

Where yesterday’s talk was about getting romantic relationships right, today’s talk was about getting friendship relationships right. The book of proverbs was a good place for us to spend this time as there is much to say about friendships here. Some old writers also have some good things to say about friendship. Here’s a good one from Augustine:

In this world two things are essential: a healthy life and friendship.

The study groups were a good place to continue the discussion on friendship by first starting with a list of what friends do and what they don’t do. From there we looked through a number of passages from Proverbs on friendship and created another list. It was positive to see that there was a number of similarities in the lists. We hope that good friendships have been created on this camp, and look forward to seeing them develop over the next few years.

The afternoon included some activities in our groups before a great game of dodgeball with water balloons. It’s a warm afternoon so throwing water balloons at each other is a brilliant idea.

Over the days of camp there has been something else happening which I haven’t recorded in my blog yet, and that is the afternoon prayer meeting. This has been led by Jacob, one of our younger leaders, and has been attended by 20-30 people each afternoon. Some of you know how good it is to hear young people pray and here is where that happens.

Something else that has happened each day, or rather each night, is the Radio Show. Our hosts for the show this year were Kellie McLeod and Hayden Millsteed. They were funny and entertaining and involved the campers each evening. Ryan was also there making sure things worked. Tonight we don’t get to listen to them, but that’s because it’s New Year’s Eve.

Our costume theme this Summer Camp is “Under the Sea” and once again, there were some outstanding costumes. Some were obvious, some took a bit more thought to work out, and some were brilliant. I was going to include a few photos, but you’ll have to wait another day.  

After dinner and some outside time, we enjoyed a trivia night and then a movie. With the “Under the Sea” theme, there are a few films that would fit, and “Finding Nemo” is one of them. It’s so long since I have seen it that I had forgotten most of the storyline. Except the seagulls. It’s hard to forget the seagulls.

In past years we have had a bit of a dance party in the hour or two before midnight. Over recent years we have noticed that the number of people getting involved in this has been reducing. So, daring to do something different, we made a change. This year we began to sing worship songs at 11.45pm. Our final song finished with three seconds to go before midnight, so we were able to celebrate the beginning of the year together as usual.

Then we divided into our study groups to pray together. Some people like to drink to celebrate. Some like to dance. Some like to do other things too. We pray. We worship. We encourage each other.

Friends, if you have been praying for this camp, and if you have been praying that God would glorify himself by transforming the hearts and lives of young people, then your prayers have been answered.

Thank you.

PYV Summer Camp 2017 – Day Four

Our leader’s meetings continue to be an inspiration and an encouragement. This year we have had the chance to write a note acknowledging something that other leaders are doing. You might know this as a ‘warm fuzzy’. Today as I sat and heard a few notes being read out, I was pleased to be amongst this group of servant hearted people. These are young adults in our churches, and they are faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Encourage them when you see any of them.

It seems to be getting harder to get everyone to breakfast on time, as happens on long camps. But breakfast is still worth getting to. Everyday there is a cooked breakfast for our campers to start the day. Perhaps they’ll be inspired to start cooking their own breakfast when they get home. Or perhaps not.

Our session today included a message from the PYV Council. This doesn’t happen often, so it is a good way for campers to learn about the group of people who make the council and the work that this council does. Again, I am greatly encouraged by this group who give their time and energy to this work. Why do they do this? They answered the question this way, “Because I love Jesus, and PYV has had a massive impact on me. I want to help others to be impacted for Jesus.”

Brilliant.

Pete’s message today was the one we have all been waiting for – sex and dating. It was introduced by reading chapter 7 of Song of Songs, which is not a passage of scripture that often gets read publicly, I expect. We have already learned, or been reminded, that God is a God who understands relationship. Indeed, we’ve learned that God created humanity and community, so the fact that we desire a relationship of some kind should be no surprise.

Today we heard that in this world, God is often portrayed as being either ignorant of sex or of being anti-sex. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Instead we learned that God made sex to be good, special, and optional. We learned that God made sex for marriage, which is a stark contrast to the view that sex is for sport or for health, as some people think. (Not those on camp, of course. I hope.) Sex should be given, not taken. It should not be a selfish act, but a serving act.

Pete then spent some time dealing with what this means for teenagers who are a number of years away from marriage. Dating was defined as ‘pursuing a particular friendship with a view to marriage’, and we were encouraged to resist the lie that we need sex to be complete, or that we need to have someone to be someone.

There was much more that was said, and if you are a parent of someone who was at camp and want to know more about what your child heard, then I encourage you to listen to the recording of this talk when it is available. Hopefully, that won’t be long. You will be able to find it at www.pyv.org.au when it is ready.

One of our study groups

Our studies continued the theme and we spent the hour looking at a little of what the Bible has to say about relationships and romance. We started in Genesis and looked at a variety of passages from the Old and New Testaments. These can be summed up in the phrase from 1 Corinthians 6:14, “Flee sexual immorality.”

After lunch we broke into our activity groups. While the temperature dropped and the rain came and went, everyone ran around the campsite taking on different challenges. I was in charge of the balancing see-saw. Rawson has a large square see-saw and we wanted the whole team to be on it and balancing it for ten seconds. I learned that the quickest way to do this is to get everyone in the centre and move from there. I’m always learning something at PYV camps.

Tonight was, I think, another important event. All of our camps have a question box for people to ask the difficult questions that they have. Some are biblical, some practical, and some are fun. The questions we answered tonight were difficult, and personal. Not surprisingly, there were questions about relationships, pornography, same-sex attraction, and marriage. It was good to sit on a panel with wise people like Pete, Emily and Clinton. One of the great questions we had was “I think I just met my future wife. I’m a Christian and she’s a Christian. What should my next move be? P.S. I’m not 12. #pickyourvalentinePYV”

Answering questions is an important aspect of ministry in a youth context. We can’t answer all the questions, and some aren’t all that serious, but it is vital that youth know they have a place where they can ask their questions. Please make sure your church is such a place.

We ran late tonight because after the question panel, we had a presentation from the team who travelled to Malawi earlier this year. This great group of people had a great impact on the children they ministered to. Equally, those children had a great impact on this group. The sovereignty of God was evident in the things that happened while they were away. May God bless what has been done there, and what is still being done in Malawi. We hope to send another team in 2019.

There’s more that was done, and more to say, but if you’ve read this far you probably deserve a gold star. So I’ll stop here.

Day five, new year’s eve, awaits.

I don't know who's hand this is, but it must be powerful.

I'm not sure what's going on here.

It looks like Brad's trying to sell a car. It also looks like he doesn't have a buyer.

PYV Summer Camp 2017 – Day Three

I know it’s a summer camp, but I am enjoying the cool change that has rolled through the mountains. The rain is pleasant, although it has also meant some very large puddles. 

The day began, as usual, with the leaders meeting together. These meetings begin with a devotional message and over this camp these messages are dealing with different kinds of relationships. On Thursday we heard about family relationships. Today we were challenged on our relationship with our enemies. Acknowledging that we probably don’t have enemies in the normal use of the word, we were still given wisdom on some good ways to react to people who we struggle with.

Please note that this is not in any way a reflection on anything happening on camp.

The enthusiastic noise of a crowded dining room at breakfast is something that can’t be described by typing words on a laptop. (I expect some people have that skill, but they’re not the ones typing.) It is a great sound, particularly if you are having trouble waking up. This may have been me.

From here we made our way to our morning worship session. Today we enjoyed a short video from yesterday’s activities, we sang together, and we were encouraged by a testimony from Hayden. The value of a Christian family was referred to, and also the reality that while many might have that experience, the greater need is Jesus himself.

Pete’s talk for today is titled “The Relationship Revolution”. Here we were allowed to get a vision of one solitary life that changed everything. Pete took us to Mark 10:34-45 to confront us with the experience of the disciples – James and John – and the way they were seeking Jesus to provide whatever they wanted. It’s confronting because it’s like us. A couple of statements that caught my ear are:

Love is an attitude and an action that serves and gives for the good of others.

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous but a gift for the guilty.

These are encouraging and challenging statements. I hope that they will continue to be both of these things to our campers even when they get back home from camp.

Our study groups continued the theme and asked us to consider when we do the same as James and John. A confronting question for us all. Then, looking to Jesus, we were asked if we have accepted Jesus’ life as a ransom for ourselves. Again, a confronting and important question.

Just checking the cards

Lunch was followed by some free activity time. Some took the opportunity to visit the local swimming pool, while others stayed on site. There was another soccer game, some basketball, volleyball, board games, table tennis, and some painting. Everyone was busy with something.

Tonight was, I think, one of the key events of the camp – and the fact that it was raining didn’t get in the way at all. Tonight we separated the boys and girls into different rooms. Here the boys were able to hear wisdom from three of our leaders on issues of identity, relationships, marriage and singleness. There were a number of highlights from this discussion, but a stand out comment for me was this – your long-term friends are not your school friends, but rather your Christian friends. It is with these Christian friends that you have a deeper connection.

Just the boys

We hope that some of these young men are finding their best friends at camp this week, even if they don’t yet know that they will grow to be best friends.

It has been another good and full day at Summer Camp. Thanks for supporting us with your prayers.