Now for training!

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:28‬

Today we train. Just as bonding is important, so is knowing what our job is at this camp. While we deeply desire every single student to love Jesus and be set free from sin (Gal. 5:1), our job is not to shove the Gospel down their throats. I mean, when is that ever our job? That's just not how Jesus does it. 

We have been challenged to build relationships with the students and support the local church. While our relationships are important, we will leave in a few days. The church, however, will be here for them through everything. These people pray for them through the good and bad and maintain the relationship in a very tangible way. Praise God for them! So we must build relationships and then through those relationships point them to the church. 

This reminds me of a girl I met last time I was here (Warning: I may have told you this story before). She was not a believer and proud of it. Her voice was beautiful and she sang everything with conviction...except the Christian worship songs. During those she stood still and stared blankly ahead of herself or talked with her friends. After the labyrinth (essentially a prayer walk with activities), she told me that she was not happy. She felt like we were forcing her to make a decision. I was able to explain our intention of giving them the opportunity to think about things we'd talked about during the week but had no expectations of how they "should" respond. Through this conversation God used me to reinforce the Gospel. The following spring I saw that this same girl who had so hardened her heart toward God was baptized to proclaim her faith in Christ to her community. 

Her relationship with the church brought her to this faith. My conversation with her was merely a step in the process if anything at all. But as the apostle Paul tells us, we must proclaim Christ to everyone in every way possible so that they can stand before Him holy and mature in Him (Col. 1:28). Thus, all I must do is proclaim Jesus in every aspect of my life. Easy, right? 

As we all know, this is not easy. In fact, this is one of the hardest things to do because I sin...a lot. But thanks be to God that He promises me strength no matter my strength level. He is faithful to proclaim Himself whatever I do. For that I am so deeply grateful!

Please join me in praying that our Lord would be glorified through every aspect of this camp. We want Him to be proclaimed, not our actions. He is the one who deserves all the glory. Also, as the kids will be coming soon, please pray that their hearts are softened to hear the Gospel, to hear of the great live of Jesus Christ (John 15:3).