SUMMER CAMP 2005
Well though I haven’t blogged in a while it still must be known that God is continually sanctifying me in amazing ways. This last week was such a blessed time as I spent June 10th-June 14th in Point Loma San Diego. Every year, the student ministry of East Valley Bible Church goes to camp in Point Loma and each time we go God just seems to getter sweeter and more precious to me.
Every year God seems to amaze me even more in the ways he chooses to answer prayer and do radical things at camp. I had twelve 7th and 8th grade boys up with me at camp and I was so awed by how God allowed me to serve these young men and learn from them as well. Let me just recall some of the highlights:
1. The first big moment of camp actually started on the bus ride to Point Loma. I ended up talking to the bus driver Adel, and as a result, God opened up a door for me to share the gospel with him for about 40 minutes. The highlight for me was when one of my Jr. High guys came up to me afterward and said how encouraged he was to see me sharing the gospel.
2. Tom Shrader did a magnificent job teaching on Jonah, and OneTurn80 did a phenomenal job at ushering us into worship through music. Also, I have to say that Justin Marshal did an amazing job at all of his dance moves. Wow, that guy can groove!!
3. Our group had some amazing small group times and at the first small group time I had the guys shut their eyes and raise their hand if they weren’t sure if they would go to heaven if they died. This was very cool because the guys seemed to be very open and honest in regards to their spiritual condition (3 guys claimed to be non-believers and a few more were struggling with assurance issues.
4. Our group ended up meeting for about an hour before each session (7 total times) plus we met after each night session as well. These were some of the best times of conversation, devotionals, and study time. During this time, I had some of the guys lead the group in like a 3-5 minute devotional, I also had time allotted for these guys and myself to have quiet time with God, and I also had the guys start memorizing Philippians 4:4-9. During the times that the boys did the devotionals I was astounded by the way that my guys divided the word of truth. Though all of their devotionals were very insightful, I was particularly amazed at the devotional of Brett Larsen. He must have spent a couple hours just working on his study. He told me that he was going to do a homiletical study on his passage from Proverbs . . . yeah, I need a dictionary too. Then Brett Bouchy did a great job on a passage about loving from Matthew 5:43-48. I was also encouraged by the devotional from Nathan Wilburn on Romans 8:28 and from Jed Maughan on Psalm 46:10-11. All the guys that did the devotionals did a great job!!
5. The games were very fun, and my team the grasshoppers actually placed 5th out of 20 teams. The free time games were also fun. Our group mostly played ultimate Frisbee since this is one of my favorite games of all time . . . one of the highlights of Frisbee was seeing Adam Garelick score a touchdown against all the other big highschool guys that we were playing with. It was a blast!!
6. Having one on one times with the guys was also very insightful and blessed. I found out much about the guys. Firstly, 4 out of my 12 guys are from broken homes, 3 of my guys don’t claim to be saved, and all of the guys have some really cool personalities. It is so cool to see how their personalities come out and I love them all very much! Though out of the three there were no conversions as of yet, I am so excited that they know where they are at with God, and I felt so overjoyed to continually share the gospel with them. God just kept bringing different stories and passages of Scripture to my mind so that I could share the gospel in a clear manner for them . . . praise His marvelous name!!!
7. Probably one of the proudest moments of camp was when I left the small group with a topic of discussion (worship songs they were encouraged by) to discuss in small group while I looked for a guy that was still making his way back from the night meeting. I left the guys for about 5 minutes, and when Jed and I came back, the conversation was still going very strong. Way to go guys!!
8. At the last night everyone had a chance to hear testimonies from a few of the 800 or so people who had gone to camp, and this was also a very exciting time. To see both senior high guys and little jr. high girls cry as they shared what God was doing in their hearts was just a huge testimony of the way God works in the hearts of all people.
9. More than anything else, I feel that God was refreshing, restoring, reviving, and rejuvenating my own heart. I was so happy that I had this amazing communion with God and I now feel fat with grace and truth. God was so faithful to fill my cup, and I now can’t wait to go share his name in Mexico for the next six weeks.
Truly this was an amazing time and I was so encouraged to see what all God did.
Praise His name, Brent
To all my guys and their parents, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your lives!!! I am so blessed to know you all and I will miss you exceedingly while I am in Mexico.
Every year God seems to amaze me even more in the ways he chooses to answer prayer and do radical things at camp. I had twelve 7th and 8th grade boys up with me at camp and I was so awed by how God allowed me to serve these young men and learn from them as well. Let me just recall some of the highlights:
1. The first big moment of camp actually started on the bus ride to Point Loma. I ended up talking to the bus driver Adel, and as a result, God opened up a door for me to share the gospel with him for about 40 minutes. The highlight for me was when one of my Jr. High guys came up to me afterward and said how encouraged he was to see me sharing the gospel.
2. Tom Shrader did a magnificent job teaching on Jonah, and OneTurn80 did a phenomenal job at ushering us into worship through music. Also, I have to say that Justin Marshal did an amazing job at all of his dance moves. Wow, that guy can groove!!
3. Our group had some amazing small group times and at the first small group time I had the guys shut their eyes and raise their hand if they weren’t sure if they would go to heaven if they died. This was very cool because the guys seemed to be very open and honest in regards to their spiritual condition (3 guys claimed to be non-believers and a few more were struggling with assurance issues.
4. Our group ended up meeting for about an hour before each session (7 total times) plus we met after each night session as well. These were some of the best times of conversation, devotionals, and study time. During this time, I had some of the guys lead the group in like a 3-5 minute devotional, I also had time allotted for these guys and myself to have quiet time with God, and I also had the guys start memorizing Philippians 4:4-9. During the times that the boys did the devotionals I was astounded by the way that my guys divided the word of truth. Though all of their devotionals were very insightful, I was particularly amazed at the devotional of Brett Larsen. He must have spent a couple hours just working on his study. He told me that he was going to do a homiletical study on his passage from Proverbs . . . yeah, I need a dictionary too. Then Brett Bouchy did a great job on a passage about loving from Matthew 5:43-48. I was also encouraged by the devotional from Nathan Wilburn on Romans 8:28 and from Jed Maughan on Psalm 46:10-11. All the guys that did the devotionals did a great job!!
5. The games were very fun, and my team the grasshoppers actually placed 5th out of 20 teams. The free time games were also fun. Our group mostly played ultimate Frisbee since this is one of my favorite games of all time . . . one of the highlights of Frisbee was seeing Adam Garelick score a touchdown against all the other big highschool guys that we were playing with. It was a blast!!
6. Having one on one times with the guys was also very insightful and blessed. I found out much about the guys. Firstly, 4 out of my 12 guys are from broken homes, 3 of my guys don’t claim to be saved, and all of the guys have some really cool personalities. It is so cool to see how their personalities come out and I love them all very much! Though out of the three there were no conversions as of yet, I am so excited that they know where they are at with God, and I felt so overjoyed to continually share the gospel with them. God just kept bringing different stories and passages of Scripture to my mind so that I could share the gospel in a clear manner for them . . . praise His marvelous name!!!
7. Probably one of the proudest moments of camp was when I left the small group with a topic of discussion (worship songs they were encouraged by) to discuss in small group while I looked for a guy that was still making his way back from the night meeting. I left the guys for about 5 minutes, and when Jed and I came back, the conversation was still going very strong. Way to go guys!!
8. At the last night everyone had a chance to hear testimonies from a few of the 800 or so people who had gone to camp, and this was also a very exciting time. To see both senior high guys and little jr. high girls cry as they shared what God was doing in their hearts was just a huge testimony of the way God works in the hearts of all people.
9. More than anything else, I feel that God was refreshing, restoring, reviving, and rejuvenating my own heart. I was so happy that I had this amazing communion with God and I now feel fat with grace and truth. God was so faithful to fill my cup, and I now can’t wait to go share his name in Mexico for the next six weeks.
Truly this was an amazing time and I was so encouraged to see what all God did.
Praise His name, Brent
To all my guys and their parents, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your lives!!! I am so blessed to know you all and I will miss you exceedingly while I am in Mexico.
posted by Brent Klontz at 11:01 PM
2 Comments:
That is just so auwsome, Brent. A lot of the things there were cool like you mentioned. I was personally saved by God while we were there. It trully is auwsome at what God can do.
In Christ,
A member of your group.
Brent, you rock man. I am always encouraged by your love for our Lord, and your service for His kingdom.
Aren't junior highers the best?
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