I never seem to post blogs on time or with any consistency. That being said, i’ve been on the road for 3 weeks, and this is my first blog entry. So far, we have been to Appalachian Christian Camp (Unicoi, TN), White Mills Jr. High Week (KY), and Silvan Hills Christian Service Camp (PA). These weeks have been excellent. I’m not sure what I can say on this post to describe the dynamics of each camp, so i’ll just split it up.

Camp ACC

Appalacian Christian Camp was an incredible week. It was the type of camp that allowed me to grow as a councilor, and we were encouraged to share in worship with the students rather than lord over them as an authoritative figure. Thomas and I had the privilege of rooming with a group of guys, and I had the honor of being a part of a family group with Kit Dodson, Kasey Bailey, and Lydia Parker. The content, worship, and leadership of this week was wonderful. The only downside to the week was that it spoiled us for the rest of the summer. I feel like I could go on about this camp, but I don’t want to ramble. Jesus Christ was glorified at this camp, and the focus of the week was nothing less than the Lord God Himself. One specific part of the week that was particularly encouraging was the time spent with mentally handicapped adults. The camp invited a group of these wonderful people from a local home, and the campers spent the morning with them. They played games, danced, sang, and ate with this group. Unfortunately, I had to spend this time preparing for a later activity that day, but I walked into the gym during their games, and I was completely awestruck by the selfless love the campers portrayed. I believe that, in that particular moment, I watched a group of campers serving none other than Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful picture. So…ACC was amazing

White Mills Christian Camp

This was an interesting camp…in a good way. It was a middle school week so…I was stretched. I normally dread dealing with middle school students. It is such an awkward stage in life. I personally hated the first part of middle school. So, needless to say, I was somewhat apprehensive about the week. Of course, I survived, and the week turned out to be really fun. We got to hang out with about 120 middle school students, and we were split into groups where we would talk about the night sessions or do memory work. It was a fun week. The kids were crazy at some points, but what middle schooler isn’t? I guess I have come to the point where I want to just deal with what comes my way without despairing over my situation. Anyway, the week was pretty good. On the more personal side, I was given the opportunity to play guitar with the band for the whole week. The amazing folks from Impact Ministries at UNC Charlotte led worship for the night sessions during the week, and their guitarist was unable to make it. I was asked to play, and I spent much of my time learning new guitar parts for various songs. I had a great time playing, and it was a wonderful experience to help lead the students in worship. The kids were great during the musical worship, and it was a blessing to worship with them while playing with the band. I hope that God was glorified through the music we played.

Sylvan Hills Christian Service Camp

Sylvan Hills was one of the most laid back weeks of camp I have ever been a part of, and it was incredibly relaxing. It was a high school week (which made it easier), and the students were so easy to get along with. They were a diverse, yet close knit, group of people, and their brotherhood and fellowship exemplified the unity in the body of our Lord. It is always good when we spend time together in worshipful relaxation. This was the first week that we were asked to do the YIM workshops (if you don’t know what they are, they are basically lessons created by the amazing genius of Kit Dodson and Curtis Booher). I really enjoyed presenting them. They are full of great teaching about the Beattitudes and the Christian disciplines (plus they just have some sweet games to go with them). If you come to the NACC, you will be able to see the workshops in action. Anyway, the week was filled with worship, lessons, great food, fellowship, ultimate frisbee, and ping pong. It is wonderful to know that God can be glorified through time spent with one another. I am grateful for the ease and unity throughout the week.

So, that is is the story thus far…White Mills Sr. High week is up next. Therefore, we are in Louisville yet again (down the street from the biggest church I have ever seen in my entire life).

Please pray that we are attentive to the campers, that we are open to service of any kind, and that we are brought to the point of reliance on God so that we may see his power in our depravity. Pray that we will consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, that we will persevere in the trials, and that we will grow through our perseverance.

Thank you for your prayers and support. I hope that, as we are traveling, Jesus Christ is glorified through the relationships that we build and that we are closer to living his prayer that we may be one body - that the world may know through our brotherhood that God has sent Christ and that he has come to redeem us. All glory to Christ through our love and through the unity of the Church.

Love,

Johnny

P.s. - Thomas and I will keep you posted on our ping pong mania. We have become fanatics of the game, and our skill is quickly growing. Challengers are welcome!

Ah, Sunday. We meet again.

Well, last week was interesting. 120 middle schoolers, and we’re supposed to recruit? They didn’t really seem as interested in college as the highschoolers, which is understandable. Still, the camp team was able to make some great relationships. I will never forget my kids on Team #1 (SuperSonic!!), Mariah, Alyssa, Alexis, Julianne, Courtney, Jordan, Chad, Jake, Allen, Gerald, Josh, Austin, Zach, and Justin. We had three baptisms, a tornado warning, and a ridiculously muddy game of kickball. You can’t really get much better than that for one week. Though the worship band was a little different than what I’m used to (more upbeat, less acoustics), by the end of the week, I realized how much I needed this week of camp to remind me how fun God is. To my 27 girls in Builder’s B cabin, thanks for being so awesome and not being too crazy for me, Sarah, Lydia, and Laura to handle. I enjoyed every minute!

So now we’re off to the next camp. I’m listening to 9 to 5: The Musical Soundtrack (which def should have won a Tony, p.s.) and I’m ready to go!

Thanks for all ya’lls prayers!

Kylie

Whooo weee!  The first week of camp has sadly ended.  It was a blast and probably has spoiled me for the coming camps.  ACC is a great place to be and the people are fantastic.  The theme for the week was THREADS with a focus on contemplation, prayer, holiness, justice, and evanglism.  I learned just as much from the various workshops offered as the kids.  We had a prayer journey around campus one day and it was a special time for everyone.  An hour in a half in prayer together at different places around camp was intense, especially for the campers.  However, they surprised me and had only positive things to say about it.  We played lots of crazy games, one with a rosetta stone and 8 tasks to be completed before saving Ryan Bader who was locked on top of the zip line.  Unfortunately the game took too long and had to be called quits.  The legend of Bader still lives then as no one got to him  Another game also had lots of things to be completed in a certain amount of time for points.  One was climbing over this huge wall with your teams help.  This challenged me, the next morning my arms were very sore!  It was great though and family four or the Grasseating Plungers built friendships through it and the other various tasks.  We also played Quitage, the Harry Potter game, it was hilarious! Worship time was great, the band did an awesome job.  Johnny and Thomas took turns leading campfire and I was so proud of them.  I met many wonderful people with a love for Christ with various gifts and talents.  Altogether no complaints, it was an awesome time!

We spent the weekend in Jeffersonville, Kentucky.  Or rather we spent the night getting dinner and then doing laundry to the wee hours of the morning in the hotel’s one washer and dryer.  No fun, but everyone finished and the huge, plush bed called our names and I slept like a baby.  I am still one exhausted gal, but the next camp is going to be great and I am excited to see what awaits us.

Thanks to all who are keeping us in your prayers!  We definitely need them

-Lydia

What do you get when you mix a Humanities kid, a Worship Leadership kid, a Music Ed kid, a Theatre kid, 2000 water balloons and a flour fight? One freakin SWEET week of church camp.

This past week, I had the absolute pleasure to be a councilor for The Summit at Appalachian Christian Camp. It was funny. I came in expecting to teach kids how to grow closer to God and to be an example to them. I mean, sounds plausible, right?

Yeah, not so much.

I’m pretty sure that this last week of camp turned out to be more beneficial to me than for the campers. I had 5 girls in my cabin room (Room 1, what what!), all of whom I am going to miss terribly. The theme for the week was Threads. As we went through the week, we studied the different threads of Christianity with which we clothe ourselves. Starting on Monday, the themes were Contemplation, Prayer, Holiness, Social Justice, and Evangelism. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a week of camp that was so well-planned. The councelors and deans who put this week together did an amazing job of combining awesome games, service projects, great speakers, and moving worship. All in all, the Summit was just what I needed to kick off this summer.

Now, let’s get to last night.

Though the cafeteria food at the camp was really not that bad at all, as soon as Jonathan, Thomas, Lydia and I got to Jeffersontown, KY last night for our next camp, we wanted real food. We met up with Troy Petrie and went out to eat at this great little Cuban restaurant. The wait wasn’t that long, but by the time we finished eating, we realized that it was already 10PM. The guys still wanted coffee so they took Troy’s car while Lydia and I rode back to the hotel in our van. After realizing that there was only one set of laundry facilities, we decided to go back and forth doing loads of laundry.

Note to self: Trying to do a week’s worth of laundry for two girls takes WAY longer than expected.

When Lydia got done it was around midnight. Jonathan and I decided to try to go find a laundromat, but after waiting on the concierge to find us one (who eventually told us that there were none), we conceded to doing a load of only essentials, even if it took all night. Which it basically did.

At 2AM, Johnny woke me up from my sleeping position on my bag of dirty laundry. The load we had put in was done, but still not dry. I groggily handed him more quarters to finish drying his stuff, pulled out my damp clothes and “went to bay-ed.” He finished at about 3AM. I got to sleep at about 2:30 with all of my damp laundry hanging all over the girls’ hotel room.

Yay for sleep. Yay for washing machines at camp. And yay for our awesome guys who brought us cinnamon rolls this morning

So, here’s to the beginning of a new camp week. May we create as many memories and loads of filthy laundry as last week.

Till next weekend,

Kylie