What a great week!  Praise God!  Friday was spent cleaning up, taking last minute pictures and celebrating our new Brothers In Christ.  We had 18 boys who made professions of faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!  Jesus gets ALL the glory! 

Until next year!

In Christ,

Jason & Matt

Awesome day again today!  Capped it off with a HUGE sword ceremony, with 22 Kingdom Warriors receiving their sword, a letter from their counselor and a letter from their fathers.  Pretty emotional, very impactful.

Awesome and impactful day on Wednesday!  The King’s Kingdom was advanced, as many boys trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  We had a great time celebrating our new brothers in Christ!

 Quite a fun filled day Tuesday.  Enjoy the show!

Warrior Week 2008 in full effect! 

We were very excited to be meeting up at a new place (Chase Oaks Church’s new facility in Plano) and departing to a new camp location (Forest Glen Springs in Rosebud, TX)!  We made good time getting there and after a few 20-point turns in Greyhound charter buses, we dropped our gear and got moved in to the cabins.  After a quick debrief and some lunch, we broke out and did our “skills training”, which consisted of high ropes course, .22 rifles, canoeing and archery.  During our large group time, we discussed the theme for the week – FAITH.  We discussed the fact that faith, in and of itself, is nothing – faith must have an object (faith IN somthing/someone).  We also discussed faith verses feelings.  We concluded that if we were going to have faith in something/someone, wouldn’t it make sense to put our faith in something/someone that was: Perfect.  Holy.  Never failing.  All powerful, and so on.  Then the only being that fits all of those categories and then some, is the Lord God Almighty.

We swam, had dinner, did some praise & worship, silly songs – then broke up into competition teams.  We then headed out to the field for our annual game of SLIME PIT KICKBALL!!  Our ingredients this year were:  First Base = Ranch Style Beans; Second Base = Lime Jello; Third Base = Tomato Paste; Home Plate = Flour and Water.  We had a game of Ultimate Frisbee going on for two of the teams as well.  Awesome time!

After we got the guys hosed off, the counselors got them put to bed and read “The Legend Of The White Wolf” as the chapter book bedtime story.  A full day of big fun.  A full day coming Tuesday as well!

Thank you Lord for getting us here safely and for the great weather and camp location.  We are certainly blessed!

Back home!  It is bittersweet for us today…we had such a great time with your boys this past week!  Words really cannot express the joy that we feel about having been a part of what God is doing in their lives.  You should all be very proud of them and what they have accomplished this week…most of all having tons of fun!!

Before we got started in our teaching, we recognized the boys who had trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior on Thursday (there were 6 boys who came forward); then we recognized the boys who had trusted Christ at any point during the week (not pictured – Levi B. and Steven S.(who trusted Christ Friday morning after all of this!!) our wide angle lens wasn’t wide enough!!!).  A total of 17 boys who have chosen to follow Jesus and accept the free gift of salvation through Him!  WOW.  Praise God.  We prayed for them that the Lord would continue to reveal Himself to them in new and exciting ways and that He would bind up the evil one while He grows these boys.  Please join us in praying for these boys!  They have taken a step of faith to become followers of Jesus Christ and as a body we need to encourage them to continue to seek Him in all things.  Again, we have been so blessed to have been used in their lives in this way…it has been a very emotional past few days for all of us counselors!

Friday morning we touched on Philippians 4:13 (Amplified Bible version) and talked about the infusing/empowering of the Holy Spirit.   It was a great opportunity to encourage these boys – both new and older followers of Christ – that in Christ, they have been Transformed – the old has gone and the new has come; they now have The Power in them (through the indwelling Holy Spirit) and they have been called to Serve…to be Conduit Men by relying on His power as it is perfected in our weaknesses (“I can’t _______, Jesus, but You can through me!).

We closed our morning time by going outside and doing the ol’ Mentos in Diet Coke experiment (many props to FBCN’s Jeff Jones for this illustration).  Dropping a Mento wrapped in foil into the Diet Coke first to represent that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us (as Paul has said many times in his letters, this is a mystery, but he has made it known to us – Christ in you, the hope of glory) and indwells us 24/7/365.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.  This is a “one and done” action.  However, Paul also says that we should “be filled” with the Spirit, indicating an ongoing action as well.  This is a “both/and” proposition, not an “either/or”.  As we abide in Him as it says in John 15:5, He will abide in us and we will bear much fruit.  He also promises the disciples (and this is true for us today as well…) in Matthew 10:19-20 “but when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.  For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”  When I put the unwrapped Mentos into the Diet Coke I explained that it was like the Jesus empowering us in the moment as we call on Him and depend on Him for whatever it is in the moment.  This is a hard one for us to wrap our heads around, even as adults, but God is bigger than that.  We pray that He will reveal this truth to these boys – and us as counselors – more and more with each passing day.

We ran the boys through the pool one last time prior to lunch, had Papa John’s pizza for lunch, finished packing & cleaning up, took group pictures and loaded the bus.

When we look back at all that has happend during the week, it is hard to believe that it was only ONE WEEK!  It was pretty chock full!!  Your boys were great and we cannot wait to see them again next year!  Please try and reserve July 21st – 25th, 2008 on your calendars, as that is the week we are shooting for.  The Girls Getaway already has that date reserved at Jan Kay Ranch and we will be shooting for those dates as well!!

Many, many thanks go to our volunteer staff of counselors and junior counselors as well as our medic, Richard “Radar” Sherard.  We absolutely could not have done this without your Herculean efforts!  We love you guys and are so thankful for your sacrifices during the week.  We’d also like to thank the parents & guardians of these Warrior Week campers.  Obviously, we couldn’t have done this without you either!!  It has been an honor and a priviledge to serve your families and your boys this past week in this way.  Thank you to all who prayed for us this week – we cherish your prayers and feel as though God answered our prayers infinity-fold!

Until next year…

In His Strength,

Jason & Matt

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wow…great day.  We had about 30 boys who showed up for the “Polar Bear Aqua Training” at 6:00AM…woof.  Nothing like a good early morning chicken fight to get your blood pumping!!!

We focused on John 15:5 as our memory verse today and talked about the difference between Conduits and Cul-de-Sac’s – and the fact that we were built to be conduits…or as Jesus calls us, “branches”.  As an attached branch/conduit we transfer Christ’s ______ (fill in the blank) to those around us (fruit of the Spirit).  That is our purpose…we have been transformed into CONDUIT MAN!! 

During the day, we asked for our counselors to follow up with all of our boys to see if they had any questions concerning the Gospel presentation from the night before.  There were quite a few who were still wrestling with a number of different questions.  By the end of the evening, the Lord had drawn about 3 more boys to Himself that we are now Brothers in Christ with!!!  Praise God!

Our team competition last night was our skit competition…what a riot!!!  We have some natural comedians in our midst!  Since they were all so good, we had to break them down into winners of categories…like the Oscar’s – Best Comedy (Scorchers), Best Musical (Senseis), Best Technical Production (Crimson Truth), Best Horror Flick (Shadow Hawks), Best Soakery (Grizzlies).

Also last night, we had our second annual “Calling Out” of our 6th grade boys.  As men, we need to be called to something greater than ourselves and encouraged that we “have what it takes” to be Dangerous…for Good.  I believe that it was very impactful and pretty emotional for all involved.

Tomorrow will be bittersweet…looking forward to being home, but sad to leave!

In Him,

Jason & Matt