Lost Canyon 2012: 11

Day Twenty Seven

August 4th, 2012

It has been a wild ride...  The month has flown by.  Lots of laughs, smiles, hugs, meals, 

good and hard conversations, prayers, sodas, frolf sessions and above all... 

lots of folks hearing the Greatest News of all time:

"God loves us"
"We sin"
"God loves anyway"

It has been a privilege to serve and to include you, the readers of this blog, in the journey.  

I am still unpacking some of the things that God has spoken to me this month and I will gladly share those thoughts in the next few days, but for now, I wanted to simply share this...

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

That's it.  That's the truth and that's the Gospel.  

Thank you for your prayers, thank your for your encouragement, thank you for your support.

Be blessed to know that your partnership, while not physically here, helped change ETERNITY!

This is a picture of the 2012 Summer Staff (college students) who have volunteered for a month to serve kids up here at camp.  Pictured in this photo are 6 leaders from Northwest Phoenix.

Jaime, Joe, Eric,Michael, Teeka, Heather - thank you for serving!

 The start of the Ultimate Leader Challenge...

402 students and leaders forming a congo line to jump in the pool with all their clothes on! 

Sunset on night 5... the message of the Cross this night.  By sheer framing of the photo and no intentionality, there is a Cross in the upper right hand corner.  Pretty fun coincidence.

Our last YL club of the summer... taken as kids come streaming in from all around!

 This photo was taken this morning of the downtown San Diego group... in the circle are leaders and students who, this WEEK, have made a commitment to submit their lives to Jesus.  How awesome!

Lost Canyon 2012: 10

Day Nineteen

July 26th, 2012

If you've never experienced Young Life club at Young Life camp... there are few words that can actually capture what happens.  The energy, the atmosphere, the spiritual encounter that happens - all of it is too difficult to capture with audible language.

This is a holy time.  It is a place where teenagers, many who have never entered a church, get to explore intricate theological truths through a week at camp.  

They get to sing, laugh, dance, play, watch, engage and finally listen to the Gospel!  

I did the math and all together, I've helped lead over 315 hours worth of Young Life clubs at camp over my lifetime.  It is amazing to watch as we take all that energy and harness it to create a magical place for the Gospel to be shared.  

We start with high energy, jump around, go nuts popular (not secular) music.  This is designed to engage kids on their level, on their terms and do with such style that "GLEE" would be proud! 

Next, we stop and have some random characters (like people dressed as ANGRY BIRDS) come out and make them laugh.  We do funny things, do a little dance and play a game that makes them say "Seriously? Did that just happen?!?"  For example, we've had kids shave a 5' balloon with shaving cream on it and it exploded over the first 4 rows (picture Splash Zone at Seaworld)

Then we come back out and sing a few more songs.  This time, the songs are meant to have a lower tempo, a softer melody and are selected because their lyrics have deeper meaning.  We are beginning to really set the table for what is to come when we sing these songs.  These songs are meant to slow the feel of club and use up almost every ounce of energy level.

Finally, the songs and goofiness step aside and one privileged person walks on stage.  This is the mouthpiece who will reveal with language what every teenager has felt through the night.  Something is different.  This place is different.  This place is HOLY.  


The camp speaker gets to share the Truth of the Gospel.  In 7 days, he/she shares that God loves us... we sin... God loves us.  It's that simple.  It truly is.  God is good and I am so blessed to be apart of this crazy, Holy, wonderful mission called Young Life.

Here I am dressed as "RED COO" my character for one month at Lost Canyon 2012.

"Red Coo and Mellow Yellow" come down and rap every night before dancing and playing a game.

All 3 characters who come into club every night... Deadmau5 (in the middle) is a popular DJ and wears a helmet just like this one... and literally, every kid in the building ERUPTS when he comes out.

Lost Canyon 2012: 9

Day Eighteen

July 25th, 2012

Bringing it all together

We just finished pushing 384 people through 8 different events all over at Lost Canyon - this is our version of the AMAZING RACE!.  The events are designed to bring cabins together through crazy tasks.  For example, each team had to start by having the whole cabin eat icee pops as fast possible... Talk about BRAIN FREEZE!!! Then each cabin joins another and another until finally their one cabin has joined with 7 others to form a giant team.

With each event we do through the week there are several purposes behind them.  In this case, we want to build community in each cabin, then community among the entire camp and finally bring it all together in the end for one big event.  At the same time, it is a metaphor for the Body of Christ.  We might all be individual and have separate gifts, but we are meant to be "in this together!"  We want to subtly reveal some deep level theological things through the week.

On another note, keep praying for Andrew from SoCal.  His attitude has changed dramatically from the first time I met him.  He is laughing, excited, running to and from events and in it all it is clear that he his having the time of his life.  Let's now pray that God uses the next 3 days to reveal Himself to Andrew in indisputable ways.


Here are some pics from the last two days...

 Team Japan, running to the finish line for the Amazing Race...

 Ellie playing with her friend Hawk (2) sharing a good laugh yesterday afternoon!

 Every leader in camp on stage about to participate in the ULTIMATE LEADER CHALLENGE.  This is an event aimed at making the leaders heroes by playing games and having kids cheer them on!

 The U.L.C final round.  Two leaders suspended 4 feet off the ground holding nets and kids tossing tennis balls into their nets.  Yep, you read that right... It's awesome!

The U.L.C aftermath.  400+ people with popcorn... Believe it or not; only took 10 minutes to clean up!

Lost Canyon 2012: 8

Day Sixteen

July 23rd, 2012

Jesus Calling

As a gift, I was given this book, JESUS CALLING for Christmas this past year.  The timing for the book was right after a good friend passed away... I've read it off and on through the last 6 months to mixed reviews, but the last few weeks have been incredible.  It is written in a first person view (from scripture) of Jesus speaking to whoever is reading it.  

It's very cool!

Here are a few things that have stood out and what God has taught me through them:

"DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW! This is not a suggest, but a command. My grace is sufficient for you, but its sufficiency is for only one day at a time; trusting in Me brings you directly into My presence. Enjoy My presence continually by trusting in Me at all times."

This past year has been tough.  It's been hectic, challenging, fun, energizing, tiring, stressful, wonderful, joyous, depressing, grief stricken, blessed... It's been full.  Hearing and seeing these words was very filling for my soul.

"Come Away With Me for a while. You live among people who glorify busyness; they have made time a tyrant that controls their lives. Even those who know Me as Savior tend to march to the tempo of the world. I have called YOU to follow Me. This is a pathway largely unappreciated and often despised. As you walk close to Me, I can bless others through you."

If you can't see yourself in this, you are either lying or you can write down how you avoid this and teach me your secrets! Camp is hectic, but for me the transition into leading the Northwest Valley Young Life area was SOOOOOO BUSSSYYYYYY! Many things, demanding much time and leaving very little for me to bargain with on my own.  Thank God for this reminder!

"Find Freedom through seeking to please Me above all else. You can have only ONE Master. When you let others' expectations drive you, you scatter your energy to the winds. I am your Master and I do not drive you to be what you are not. Concentrate on staying close to Me at all times. It is possible to be inauthentic while you are focusing on My presence."

You can have ONLY ONE MASTER. I know that far too often I let my desire to please others and to earn others applause get in my way of actually paying attention to God moving in my life. I want to be a person who remains focused on Jesus and Jesus alone. 

Anything stand out to you as you read these quotes? Keep praying for us up here at camp... We are on day 2 of week 3. Pray for Andrew for SoCal. He is "too cool" for camp. But I can tell he wants to dive in. I pray God will find him, reach him, change him - this week. 

Lost Canyon 2012: 7

Day Fifteen

July 22nd, 2012

NEW LIFE

Yesterday, our week of teen moms ended.  Young Lives week was a whirlwind.  There were several highlights for me...

1.  New Lives.  Yesterday, there were many teens who stood up and declared that this week changed everything.  It was the week they came to know the TRUTH.  Jesus was theirs and their life would never be the same.  The reason, I say New LIVES is because what this declaration means is that every baby that calls that teen "mommy" also gets a totally new life.  Love it!

2.  Raising up Men.  We gather all the boys at camp at the beginning of every Young Lives week and discuss some points of concern for the week.  The coolest part is that every man who is married stands up front and shares some advice regarding marriage.  I have never had this happen before (and this is the 4th time I've done this) but 5 guys individually asked "This was great... can we do this again?  I want to bring my journal."

REALLY?  Ummm... Absolutely!   We spent 3 hours during the middle of the week answering questions from nearly 60 boys about marriage, sex, pornography, lust, following Christ, dating, love.  It was incredible!  It also led to several other conversations with leaders in my Young Life area back home about the same issues.  

3.  Ellie's friends.  My daughter, who is 2.5, has friends who live across the street.  These two girls are awesome and they play well... but we don't see them everyday.  Up here, she gets to play with 5 girls her age everyday and is really starting to understand FRIENDS, SHARING, LOVE from outside her family.  I am thankful for this.

Above all of this, I am hearing the Lord whisper to me... "I love you.  I want you.  I have GREAT things for you.  Lean in to me.  Lean in to your struggle and pain."  I will explain more about that in a later blog post...

Praise God.  Today.  Right now.  Praise God.  He loves you and wants you.