Tweets from Camp

A FEW GREAT EXAMPLES OF WHY CAMP IS A BIG DEAL AT NMC...

@GeoffCocanower Not sure how to describe the intensity of joy that exists in my heart tonight after hearing the stories of God's move in SHers...Booya!

@JeffreySimpson I just saw God. In the brokeness and honesty in a high school guy, God spoke to me.

@tanklehane Jr High Camp may have ended today but I believe a Revolution has started...a DIFFERENT Revolution unlike any seen before. It's go time!!

@tanklehane Jr hi students were sweating in worship, not b/c of the heat but b/c they came 2 worship him w/ everything they have.

Derry Prenkert via blog - "Just a quick post to say God showed up tonight. I know of two individuals who accepted Christ and began a relationship with Him tonight, and another student I believe God confirmed a call to pastoral ministry."

Derry Prenkert via blog - "We are on a TAWG journey this morning. We are looking at 6 biblical characters and how the DIFFERENT theme has played a role in their lives. These students have looked at how God viewed Gideon differently than Gideon viewed himself. The papers they are running through the shredders are different lies they are believing about themselves that do not match up with God's view. As I've walked students through this station I have found the sound of the paper shredder to be one of the more beautiful noises I've heard in a while."

@derryprenkert Maintenance guy from camp: "you don't allow cell phones w/ your groups do you? I can tell. Your kids are fully present and God's moving."

@derryprenkert Hanging at Beulah Beach Camp w/ 120 Junior High students /leaders. There is a significant history of Spiritual milestones for NMC students.

Preteen Camp 2009 Pictures

Lots more to come. Here's just a few to get started...

Preteen Camp Highlight

At Thursday night's Preteen Camp Celebration time, I challenged students, using 4 stories of very ordinary kids their own age, to move from an attitude of "Who Am I?" to one of "Here Am I God, use me!"

I told them that the Lord could do a work through their life that would exceed their wildest dreams if they would simply allow him to do so. The 4 stories were that of...

1. Austin Gutwein - At age 9, he started the ministry "Hoops of Hope" that has raised enough money to build both a school and hospital in Zambia.

2. Austin Hostetter - Former NMC student who started inviting a lost friend to church in 7th grade. That friend later received Christ and starts college this fall with aspirations of becoming a pastor.

3. The boy in the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14) - He simply offered up his 5 barley loaves and fish even though they weren't much and God used it in a miraculous way. He didn't care how much he had or that it wouldn't be enough. He simply was willing to give what he had and allow God to do the rest.

4. Jason Thompson - As a middle schooler, he was quiet, shy, stuttered and greatly feared public speaking. He would have been one of the last students his teachers would have predicted would speak publicly for a living. Not until he decided to fully trust the Lord with this fear as a college senior did God loosen his lips and give him the ability to speak effectively in front of groups of people. No one could have ever predicted that Jason Thompson would speak in front of literally thousands of students between 1998 - 2009. But they didn't know what God had in mind!

At the close of the Thursday night Celebration, I gave students the opportunity to stand and publicly state that they wanted to be used by God. Over 50 students stood and boldy proclaimed, "I want to be used by God." This was a powerful moment, a holy moment!

It was so powerful to see so many students move from a posture of "Who Am I?" to one of "Here I am God, use me!" For me, it was the highlight of the 2009 Preteen Camp!

on our way home from

on our way home from Preteen Camp. Great year!

Preteen Camp Update -Thursday Night

We had a GREAT afternoon of fun on the lake. One student said, "That was the most fun I had all summer!"

It's been incredibly rewarding to watch some of our core senior highers who are serving as camp counselors at Preteen Camp really dive in with students and give so much of themselves this week for the sake of 5th & 6th graders knowing how much God loves them!

Please pray for tonight's celebration. Tonight is about challenging students to "BRACE YOURSELF To Be Used By God." Pray that students would move from feeling like "Who Am I to be used by God?" to being willing to say by faith "Here I Am God, Use Me!"

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This is one of the 8 "Time Alone With God" experiences that students are rotating through this morning at Preteen Camp. This one is called 'Weights and Chains'. This station helps students ientifying anything that is weighing them down or that has them tangled up spiritually.

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Getting crazy worshipping God at PT Camp

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Preteen Camp Report: Wednesday Afternoon

Students are in their cabin groups right now working on their "Brace Yourself" skits that they will be performing tomorrow afternoon. These type of activities help to build community and new friendships all while having a ton of fun reforcing our camp theme.

We had a good opening Celebration time this afternoon as we introduced the camp theme along with the story of Job and the challenge to "Brace Yourself to Be Moved By God" while at camp this week.

Former NMC intern Matt Mendenhall is back leading worship for camp this year along with a couple of the students he brought with him from the church he is the youth pastor at in Clarkston, MI. It's always enjoyable to have a former intern or student return "home" & to see the dividends of our investment in their lives.

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I didn't take the guys 2 minutes to get the first of many games of "Gaga" underway. This game is legendary at Preteen Camp!

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Preteen Camp 2009 Starts Tomorrow!

Ways to Pray for Preteen Camp, August 5-7 @ Camp Crosley
142 students and leaders leave tomorrow morning for 3 days of an insane amount of fun and life-changing experiences at the 2009 Preteen Camp!

YOU can be apart of what God has planned for the 115 students that are headed to Preteen Camp this year by joining an army of prayer warriors!

(1) PRAY that students will move from a form of “Religion” to a personal “Relationship"with Jesus.

(2) PRAY for spiritual transformation & authentic life-change to take place

(3) PRAY that there would be a tangible, manifest presence of the Holy Spirit

(4) PRAY that students will leave camp being able to say, "“I have heard about you before but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”(Job 42:5)

(5) PRAY for those summer campers who's only yearly spiritual experience is at summer camp. Pray that what takes place at camp this year will only be the beginning rather than the end of a their spiritual experience.

(6) PRAY against the enemy’s distractions (sound issues, rebellion, family strife leading into camp, etc.)

(7) PRAY for lots of good, clean, edifying fun

(8) PRAY for good health and safety

(9) PRAY that students would become burdened for and passionate about reaching the lost.

(10) PRAY for students to make new “Christ honoring” friendships

(11) PRAY for our Speaker - Jason Thompson (me)

(12) PRAY for our Worship Leader - Matt Mendenhall

(13) PRAY for our Group Leaders as they help students make it personal and bring it home

(14) PRAY for our Camp Nurse - Tena Sheets

(15) PRAY for Rachael during these days as I'm gone. Pray that she will experience great peace as we are still obviously in the grieving process. She has some great friends that will be keeping her very busy for the next 3 days which is a huge blessing!

"What If..."

Here are a few more of the prayers written by students at the station at Junior High Camp that asked the question, "WHAT IF NMC Student Ministries took an entire year to seriously address the issues of KIDS IN NEED?"

These responses are incredibly moving and get me very excited for what God is going to do through our students in the next year!

This morning students are going through 5 different stations that are asking the question "What If?" This is a prayer written by a student at the station that asked the question, "WHAT IF NMC Student Ministries took an entire year to seriously address the issues of KIDS IN NEED?"

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Enjoying my time yesterday and today at Junior High Camp!

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Pictures from NMC Preteen Camp

Back from Preteen Camp

You can take a look at how things went at our Preteen Camp by clicking here. It was a great 3 days!

Just took our camp picture. Now we're ready for lunch and a fun afternoon of games.

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An "Outsiders" Perspective on Junior High Camp

Our Junior High Camp worship leader, Jason Lee, did a blog post regarding his experience with us at camp this year. You can read the entire post here.

Here's an excerpt from that post ...

"It seemed like from the very first chord of O Happy Day, the very first night, this camp was different. These students came ready to go after the God of the Universe. They came ready to sing… and they definitely came ready to dance!

In all my years of leading worship, the spontaneous “O” chorus that students came up with on their own during happy day marked me. It’s amazing… they just couldn’t hold in their exitement, so it turns out they just wanted to sing and jump more than the song was written for, so they made more up! AMAZING.

A student actually was so struck by God during worship that they gave their heart right there, to Christ… wow. Now that’s humbling. Seriously crazy what God does sometimes…"

Senior High Camp

I will be heading off to our Senior High Camp tomorrow morning also held at Beulah Beach near Sandusky, OH. I'll be returning with the group Tuesday evening. Things are off to a great start so I'm excited to join them! You can follow along with how things are going here.

Favorite Camp Pictures (Series)

One of our 8 "Seek Spots" during our Time Alone With God experience on Tuesday morning was one called "Dreams, Burdens, Desires." At this station students had the opportunity to lay these down before the Lord and to "cast their cares" upon him. Powerful visual picture and window into the hearts and minds of students.

Favorite Camp Pictures (Series)

Kalyn Lantz (front left) gave her life to Christ at NMC Junior High Summer Camp in 7th grade. This year she graduated from Wawasee High School and returned to camp not as a student but as a Junior High Camp counselor. Kalyn spent many summer camps being invested in; now she's the one doing the investing. Very cool!