Juniata

Philly again

After spending nearly the last two months in (very) rural New Hampshire, sitting here looking out the window of the Urban Imperative house in Philadelphia is quite a change of scenery. I got here Sunday night after a little providential detour in New Jersey. Toll roads are so unforgiving—one wrong turn and you pay. And then the chances of actually getting back to where you were are slim.

It was a little frustrating, but it gave me the opportunity to do two things I had never done before. Giving one of these to a gas station guy (whom I bought an unhelpful map from) and getting to drive across the Ben Franklin Bridge at night both helped me to see it as fully worthwhile.

That night I played basketball with several people from Grace Bible Church, and the next morning went to their men’s breakfast—always an encouraging time. Today one of the guys and I are meeting up for prayer and then taking a trip up to Westminster. I’ve been a little more attracted to RTS from my talks with its professors and because of its huge discount for BJU grads. But I don’t mind giving Westminster a second visit, if for no other reason than seeing the bookstore. And of course Masters would be great, but I don’t make it across the country very often, or at all, really

It’s great to be back here, even though I’m leaving tomorrow for Baltimore. Then home on Friday. It’s also kind of weird to leave what was my life for the last two months in New Hampshire. My prayer is for the counselor guys to continue to grow, investing the same energy they gave at camp into their churches, both in giving and receiving encouragement, rebuke, and instruction (Cf. Hebrews 3:13, 10:24).

Here are a couple pictures from camp—

This is a picture before the part of "meetings and greetings" when the program director would introduce the leadership staff. We (the dean of men and the deans of women) came in and announced the counselors of each cabin with a different theme each week. One of the girls had an idea that we should come in with kind of a Princess Bride theme.

The second one was taken towards the end of a game during teen week.

teen week and now

I decided to brave the dial-up-on-an-old-pc wilderness and write an entry in the counselor lounge. So I have a book (Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands) in my lap for the waits and hope to finish this entry in less than 3 sittings.

We’re just coming off a really good teen week here at camp and now are back to two more junior weeks (7-12 year olds). Perhaps the most visibly encouraging ministry last week came through the guest speaker, Trevor Brown (proclaimonline.com). The theme of the week (and theme song) was Purify My Heart.

It was a little bit of an easier week for me in that there were no long counseling opportunities, and the counselors made my job easy—they really seem to be pursuing peace and holiness among each other and in desiring to live God-ward lives.

Counselors shared that there were many good one-on-one ministry opportunities and encouraging responses from the campers. Some of them have really been through a lot and have put themselves through a lot.

In seeing so many teens breaking down at one evening service in particular, I found plenty of opportunities for me to fight skepticism. Even without the whole drawn-out, music-laden invitation system, sometimes I’m quick to assume that responses or decisions are merely emotion.

But after hearing several people share the truth that drove the emotion, I took some time in the prayer chapel to pray and ask God if it had been Him at work. I became increasing confident that it had been, which in turn led me to confess my general coldness toward and doubt of it.

On Thursday night, many teens shared the great things God had done in their hearts that week. My prayer for them is much the same as it is for the guy counselors I meet with—that they would be spiritually parented after leaving this spiritual orphanage. I want to hear in the coming months and years that they are being discipled, that they have people in their churches who are like Paul to them.

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:27-28)

Some other things I wanted to share—

--Praise God for two counselors who responded well to correction this past week.

--Praise God for reconciliation between two of us who had misunderstood each other.

--Please pray for three or four counselors who are sick.

--Please pray for me to handle wisely a situation at camp that I don’t know how to summarize.

--hmm…pray that my foot would heal without getting infected. I cut it a little deep this weekend and it’s driving me nuts. Super hard to keep clean at camp when everything seems wet and dirty all the time.

--Praise God for bringing my friend and dear brother in Christ Joel back from Africa (see his blog link on the side). I’m excited to go to his house this weekend to hang out with him, his sister Liz, and his parents. I was there almost every weekend two years ago when I counseled here, so it’s been weird to spend most of my weekends still at camp this summer.

Thanks for praying for me. I usually don’t have phone service but I try to check my e-mail every once in a while. The one I check the most is [email protected]. Love to hear from you and hear how you are doing.

This is the address here:
165 Camp Good News Rd.
Charlestown, NH
03603