Amp Summer Camp 2017
So I am writing this blog in order to reach three people; future summer camp participants, families of those students as well as future camp leaders such as myself. This week I spent 6 days with Resonate Church’s Amplify student ministry at a Christian camp on the American river in Coloma Ca called Rock n water. For info on them check their site out. https://www.rocknwater.com/. Amplify has gone to this location several times over the years and for good reason. This camp provides an amazingly fun, exciting, challenging yet safe experience for these students and leaders alike, to grow as friends and family, participate in incredible activities and encounter Christ together like nowhere else. This was my second trip to Rock n Water with Amp, and I am fully intending on making a third. I hope that in sharing this experience from my perspective, you can get an idea of how beneficial, impacting and worthwhile it is to attend these camps as a student, send your kids to them, and accompany them as counselors.
A note about camps first. The concept behind doing camps like this one is based on some very tried and true principals of Christian Character development. When we talk about character development for our students it is based on three things. First, gospel centered teaching. Allowing the consumption of scripture and teaching to renew and reform the minds of our kids to think more like that of Christ. Growing their connection to him through prayer, and seeking to truly know the one who has saved us and loved us so much. Second, leading them to do some deep self-evaluation, asking tough questions, and growing to know themselves in Christ. And third; mentorship. The impact that adults who are not obligated to the kids can have is immense. The leaders speak into their lives, ask tough questions and give real answers, but most of all, love the kids for who they are in a world that tells them something so different. Going to camps like this one are, in my opinion, the perfect environment for this process to begin or be punctuated. The total change in context paves the way for the spirit to lead these kids to some astounding spiritual and personal growth, as I have seen at this camp. If you are a student interested in camp, GO!. If you are a parent who is thinking of sending a kid to camp over some other summer activity, I can’t stress in any stronger terms than to say it will change your kids forever. And if you are an adult considering coming as a leader, get ready, because the experience will change you as much as it would any of our students. God works miracles at camps, simple as that.
We left on Monday in a convoy of one big bus, one 12 passenger van and a couple personal vehicles with a total of 71 people including about 10 leaders. It was an even mix between middle schoolers and high school students this year, and about even between boys and girls as well. The ride out there began in traffic and ended up taking the better part of 4 hours in total. But that was fine with me as the beginnings of the connection time for camp begins on that ride there. I got to sit with one of our sophomore girls for the ride on the bus and spent that time getting to know more of her story and what she feels God is doing in her life. She said that for the longest time she felt like she was close to God, but never fully knew him, or knew what it would look like for her to follow him fully. Recently she went on the Amp mission trip to Las Vegas. Through that experience she felt like she really met God there, and feels like she is ready to follow him fully. She is planning to finish high school and take some drastic steps to be a missionary over seas. She feels like God is with her, that she wants to know him more, and is ready to just begin saying yes to him and follow his will for her. And this is just in the bus!!! What a blessing it is to have been able to sit there and listen to this precious girl describe what God is doing in her spirit, moving her to do impossible things in His power. I am so proud of this girl and i cant wait to see what god can do with someone like her, and i am so humbled to even have been given the blessing of that comversation with such a gem. Just that conversation made so much of this trip worth it in itself.
We pulled into camp to be welcomed by the staff there. Folks who are always glad to see us, happy to help us and so faithful to serve. The camp itself is a very simple place. It is right on the American river. It can host multiple groups at the same time as it did this week, but ours was by far the largest one there. There is running water, and some very bare bones bathroom facilities, but for the most part it is roughing it. Our students all set up sleeping areas, one for girls and one for boys under the stars. We bring some tents for changing and some of the leaders bring tents to sleep in, but many of us camp outside with the kids. The dining hall is under a large canopie, as is the kitchen. We spend the entire week outdoors from start to finish. And oh, yes, we confiscated all electronic devices besides dumb watches and flashlights.
Each day has a similar itinerary. We start the day at 7:15 with a morning huddle where we go through the plan for the day and set the kids off for a morning bible study in the forest. This is a quiet and solitary time for the kids to do something they admit is rare for them; being quiet before God. Many leaders take that time to pair up with one kid each morning and lead them through a quiet time as many of them, especially those who are not churched, have not yet done. At the end of the week, many of our students said that they heard God speaking to their hearts during this time, leading them to understanding and communing with them in prayer.
From there we hear the glorious sound of the dinner bell ring through the camp and we are off to breakfast, where everyone is determined to load up on as many calories as we can because we know the day ahead will be super strenuous. It is so cool to see the kids sitting around talking to each other, laughing and just building connection, growing as a family. But yes, eating like starving wolves.
Then we split off into our excursion groups for the day. On the first full day however we actually stayed at camp where we did a hand full of team building activities with the kids. Large puzzles we need to figure out as a group, challenges and different things like that. My favorite is the lilly pad maze. It is a tarp with a number grid written on it. Each kid takes a turn trying to figure out the right sequence of numbers to step on in order to cross the tarp. Each wrong step earn the stepper a spray with a hose. As we eliminate bad steps, a path begins to reveal itself. To do this well it takes everyone putting their heads together, one or two kids stepping up as leaders to organize the effort and a good bit of encouragement for kids to remember the right steps. The other games are similar and everyone said that they learned something about leadership and teamwork that day for sure. The highlight of that day for many of the kids is the swim in the river around mid-day right before we stuff our faces again. The camp staff turns a raft over and stages sumo matches on the top. Kids get together and make matches while the rest of the crowd cheers them on. I of course cant resist the chance to do something like that as I was challenged by 4 of our high school upper class guys to a match. I managed to handily eject two of them quickly, the third with some effort but the fourth drug me off with himself. That was fine with me as I could hardly breathe by the end of it. Tough dudes. (Don’t tell them)
Days three through 5 were off sight adventure days. We had three big adventures; a rock climbing day which includes an awesome boulder creek hike. There is a canyoneering hike day and a river rafting day. Each one is lead by some top notch guides who do everything they could possibly do to be sure our kids are safe while they do some things that may be super scary for them and do pose a fair bit of danger as well. It is such a great lesson for the kids to be confronted with a situation that would normally be a definite no go for them, but to trust these guides to keep them safe because they believe that the guides know what they are doing. It is not hard to make the jump from that to the conclusion that God also knows what he is doing. And if I can trust a guide to tell me I can jump off a big rock and be OK, it makes more sense to trust an all knowing God who loves us more than we know to make some crazy leaps for as well.
I, however, pushed that limit a bit this week. Knowing the strenuous activity we would be undergoing on this trip, I actually spent some time training for it so that I could have fun and not just try to survive. I may have been to confident at a couple points. During day 2, on our creek hike we had to climb over and around hug boulders that often had cracks and voids around and beneath them. In one spot we were to take one step onto a fairly slick rock in order to get up on the next one. Well I planted one foot on that slippery rock and then proceeded to plant my face on it as my foot slipped off. I hit that rock, bounced off, hit another and began to fall into a cave under them only to manage to snag a tree branch on the way down stopping the fall. I felt ok at first suffering only an abrasion on my elbow. As the evening came and the next morning, I realized I did no escape as unscathed as I thought. My whole left side hurt, I had bruises all over and I think I bruised or cracked a rib as well. The best part is that moments before I tumbled I turned to one of our smallest and most nervous middle school girls and said to her “ill go ahead of you, because I can help you most for this” then I disappeared! Ha! The following day I had a similar tumble on our canyoneering day slipping on a mossy rock landing flat on my chest with a strong thud. Didn’t even have time to put a hand out. If that rib was not bruised before, is sure was after. It only hurt when I tried to breathe. HAAA! Still so worth it. On our rafting day we all load up in rubber rafts with one of their expert river folk, and head down the river into class two and three rapids together. We learn how to paddle, how to work together, how to read the river and best of all, how to properly pirate other groups boats in calmer areas of the river. They actually allow kids to leap off the boats and tackle other kids in other boats clear off into the river. These battles are the highlight of many of the kids trip. And yes, bruised rib or not, I took full liberty to dunk about 12 or 13 kids myself. How could I resist?
What was great about all three days was to see our students come together, encourage each other, trust each other, help each other and work together to do things that many of them had never done and none of which was easy for any of them. Through the struggle and adventure, they grew to love each other more and grow as a true family. And while they all ended the day tuckered out, they still woke up ready for more the next day. Amazing.
But the real heavy lifting was done in the evening after dinner. We gathered the kids around the camp fire each night for a time of worship and teaching, followed by small groups until about 11 at night. Tim and Annie Tay lead us in worship each evening. And yes, our teens sang! They worshiped Christ in the forest together, living their voices, their hands and theyr eyes toward God. There is seldome heard a more beautiful sound in the woods than 60 or so teenagers singing praises to their creator, believing more each night that he truly loves them.
After worship, we have a time of teaching. And these are no simple kid level teachings. We brought pastor Will Meddel who is the Hayward campus pastor for Resonate Church. He lead the group through a 5 night study of the life of Jacob the son of Isaac. He brought the kids to understand that Jacob was not a man who, by any human standard, deserved the blessing of God or to have the Christ come from his bloodline. Jacob was a cheater, a schemer, a sinner and a man set against the ways of God. Yet, God blessed the man. God used Jacob in spite of who he was to do his will. Our kids were confronted each night to consider who they are, what their sin is in their life, what their idols are and what the true forgiveness and Grace of Christ means to them. But the message they heard time after time is that it is God’s glory and pleasure to use people who should have no place in his presence to do impossible things in his name. What a joy it was to be able to sit and receive this teaching for myself as I watch the truth of the gospel of Christ wash over our students, some for the first time! What a joy it was to see the spirit move in mighty ways in our kids.
After each evening we would break off into our cabin time groups. But given that we had no cabins, we pretty much just walked off into the dark and found a private spot to talk about what we just heard from will. I did something in my group that the guys love to do and ended up producing some incredible fruit; hot seat. It is where each guy takes a turn in the hot seat. Myself and the other students can ask any question they want, and the guy in the seat only gets one pass. Each one took a 20 minute turn fielding some very heavy questions about sin in their life, difficult relationships they have, what discourages them, makes them feel insecure or hurt. They talked about lust in their lives, distance form God, conflicts with siblings…the list goes on. The level of openness and confession these guys displayed in our cabin group was something I have never seen in any of my adult groups. And I took my turn in the hot seat as well, no passes allowed. And even though it was late, they were tyred and we had more days ahead, each night they brought it for sure, opening up, shedding tears and praying for each other. And did I mention these are freshman guys?!?!? How crazy is that? They are wrestling with spiritual issues, facing their own sin and brokenness, seeking God and being willing to listen to him at an age when I was only concerned with the idols of the world and what I was going to eat next. Amazing.
But the most memorable moments were on the last two nights. Will lead the students to have a time of confession after his 4th talk. All the leaders hung around off in the edge of darkness beyond the camp fire prepared to receive the students, hear their confession and pray with them. One of my guys was the first to break out from the group and bravely approach me for prayer. Waling out with tears in his eyes and received with a huge hug, he spilled his guts about some sin he has been struggling with, feeling shame for, needing grace for and wanting to move on from with Christ at the lead. We prayed together. When he returned, it began a flow of students all going to their leaders one after another, breaking down in conviction and hope, spilling their guts to their trusted leaders and receiving prayer. I was so blessed to have each and every one of my cabin time guys plus a couple others come out for prayer. Radical! These guys confessed sin with me, opened up about idols in their life, desiring prayer and true connection with Christ. One guy in particular came to me in tears as others did, but said that he had not cried in nearly two years, but that he felt the spirit of God there that night and was moved to embrace it. I had another come up with tears of joy as well as sorrow, not even knowing what to confess or what to ask prayer for, simply that he wants to know who God is. WOW. What a true humbling privilege it is to have stood there and received these guys that night. To hear their hearts and lead them in prayer is something that never gets old. It is such an honor to do this with guys that I believe will all be better men than me in time, but will never be any less desperate for the Grace of God.
The following night was our reflection evening. Will did a short wrap of his messages for the week, and left the mic open for students to share what God was doing in their life this week. After a few minutes of silence, one student came forward and talked about how they never truly saw God as real, or the Gospel as their own until this week. They had followed their parent’s faith to now but never took it as their own. From that point, student after student came forward to share similar messages. One after another tearful, full of emotion, full of boldness and the spirit of Christ came forward to share the radical change God was working within them. I was so moved by each and every one, but one kid stood out to me especially. A young man who I have known since he was a nursing baby who is now in 7th grade cam up to the front and finally, after so many years, spoke the truth of the gospel as he had ever grasped it until that night. He has grown up in the church, had many teachers and mentors including myself, but never truly took this message as his own until the last night at this camp. I met him afterward with a hug and simply said “welcome, I’ve been waiting for you. Let’s do this”. There were so many more that spoke, it was so emotional and spirit filled. Truly overwhelming in so many ways. It is a rare and joyful thing sometimes to be given a peak into what true relationship and family can look like in the presence of the true God.
But I did not avoid getting hit with something myself. This summer has been a true challenge for me in many ways. I have found myself in several circumstances this summer that have truly tested something within myself that I would have thought was handled years ago; letting go control. Over the years I have been faced with one situation after another that have caused me to recognize a couple very deep seated things within myself. That is that I don’t truly trust God to protect my pride or run my life like I think he should. And time after time, I am forced to face this in different ways. This summer, again, has presented several circumstances that have pushed this to the front of my mind again. And through the summer I have been in prayer and in deep reconstruction within my own heart to uproot this again. But at this camp, through te teaching we heard and through the connection with Christ there, I am once again ready to stand up and say once more that I am willing to release control over yet another deeply protected and insulated area within my own life. God knows better than I do, he loves me more than I know, and His plans for me make the ones I have look foolish at best. But the real truth is that in all of this, I don’t deserve that blessing in the first place. Just like Jacob, I am a cheater, selfish and prideful. But knowing who I truly am, God has blessed me with a relationship with him and a place on his team anyway. Lets do this.
Our students have returned home different after this trip. I have returned different from this trip. And I am so thankful and humbled to have been blessed to be a part of the impossible things God has done this week with our Kids. Special thanks to Chase Mcvene for his leadership through this week, to Yvonne Chung for her dedicated efforts to build a culture of family in this group. Thanks to the other leaders who gave up their time, money, patience, comfort and sleep to be there for these students. Thanks to Will Medel for allowing us the privilege of sitting under his teaching for the week. And a huge thanks to Rock N Water Christina camp for hosting this crazy group of city kids for the week. Thanks to you for reading as well. Blessings.
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Ryan Weber
8-22-17