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Newsletter Articles
"Overwhelmed by God at Bible Camp"
Volume 1 Issue 3 September-October, 2004
When legendary preacher and
theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote his account of the great spiritual awakening
in colonial America, he called it The Surprising Work of God. It was an
entirely appropriate name for the book because Edwards knew that no amount of
human planning or programming could have resulted in the amazing harvest of
souls that were reaped during that time. Well, I wouldn’t want to compare my
summer to the Great Awakening, but I certainly can understand the principle of
being surprised by God’s amazing work.
I’ve spent 22 of my 34 summers at Bible
Camps and I’ve seen kids lives changed each year, so one might think that I
wouldn’t be surprised to see good things happen there. One would be wrong.
This summer was unique for me.
Of course this was the first time that I had
been the speaker at a camp. As such, I knew clearly that human ingenuity and
entertaining gimmicks were not going to pull me through, (or win any teens to
Christ) because I didn’t come with any . Thankfully, there was a great staff
on board who understood this too. So we prayed a lot and loved the campers and I
preached the scripture and hoped for the best. It turned out better than I
hoped.
God poured out his Spirit and by the
end of the ten days ten teens had made first time decisions to follow Christ. It
was an amazing experience.
My specific role was twofold: to preach the
Word and to answer any questions the campers brought up about God, the Bible and
life in general.
Every morning after breakfast we gathered for
a chapel session in which I addressed camper’s questions. They submitted them
either directly to me or into a question box. There were some very intelligent
questions, ranging in topics from biblical difficulties ("if sinners cannot
be in the presence of a holy God, how can Satan stand there in the book of
Job?") to cultural issues like evolution, the occult, and how different
religions relate to each other. We also spent a lot of time discussing various
theological topics.
I wasn’t sure that I would be able to
incorporate my love of open forums into camp, so to be able to interact with the
campers in this setting every day was wonderful. It was educational for me and I
think for the teens as well. It is always great to see the flicker of
understanding in a young person’s eyes as they grasp some biblical truth for
the first time.
In the evening I preached at the daily
worship service. Basically, I just walked through the story of the Bible. As
I've said before, most people spend their lives drifting from one meaningless
experience to another because they lack a grand adventure to be a part of. They
don't understand the big story: how this is a universe at war, how God's kingdom
and Satan's kingdom are dueling for the souls of men, and how each person is
either a slave to sin and Satan or part of the small band of rebels that is
working to reclaim this planet for its rightful King. I explained all that over
the ten days of camp.
Although I told it in story form and
illustrated the message using images teens could relate to (I explained how some
of the best action adventure movies of all time -like Star Wars, Lord
of the Rings and The Matrix- all stole their major themes from the
Bible), essentially, I just preached through the major doctrines of the
Christian faith. I covered such topics as creation, the fall, atonement, the
nature of salvation, and the return of Christ. (That sounds far too dry, so
don't tell anyone at camp that this is what I did!) God used his word powerfully
and, along with the campers that made first time decisions to follow Jesus, many
more gained new understanding, I believe, of God's plan for them and the
universe.
It may not have been on par with the great
spiritual revival of colonial America, but there was an awakening in
Northeastern Alberta this summer. I hope to continue to be used of God as He
does the same thing elsewhere.
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