Work

The idea of working on a team reminds me of high school basketball.  I don’t know if any of you can relate but on our team if one of us messed up then the whole team had to pay, usually in sprints.  So if one person didn’t bring their practice jersey the whole team ran, if one person didn’t make the sprint in a certain amount of time the whole team ran, or if someone was not hustling through out practice the whole team was penalized.  I can tell you one thing- I never wanted to be that person, my team was scary.  And I never wanted to be the reason my team ran more sprints, so I tried my best to work hard.  I think this was a great lesson for us, it taught us that we were a team and we needed to work as a team at all times and if one person on the team falls then the whole team must pay the penalty. 

Let me first say that your time on Summer Staff will be a blast and you will make life long memories.   But remember You will be working at summer staff- just wanted to make sure you were aware.  We are called to work as a team but even more we are called to represent the body of Christ.  When the arm of a body is not working then the body is not working to its full potential.  You will be pushed and you will have to work when you are tired but remember the weaker you are the more you must rely on Christ (2Cor. 12:10).  Remember the ones who put more into this will get more out of this experience- you are coming so that you can serve the Lord, please ask him to prepare your heart and your mind for this experience.  You are the reason that camp can function and run as it does so thank you for coming on board but let this be a reminder- you have a great responsibility so lets handle our jobs as jobs for the Lord. 

Authority

One of my all time favorite movies is Hot Rod. I don’t know what it is about it, but I can watch that movie at any time and just laugh all the way through it.

There is a scene in Hot Rod where a new girl has just joined “the gang.” Two of the guys in the gang (Dave and Rico) are talking about the new addition (while filling up a pool to practice a stunt). Dave is trying to convince Rico to open his mind up by telling him an old Proverb. Rico responds by spraying Dave in the face in a hose and telling him “Don’t you ever tell me how to live my life.”

Sometimes I felt like in college (or the two times I was on Summer Staff) that quickly became my mantra. “Don’t you ever tell me how to live my life.” Submitting to authority often feels like a complicated subject to a college student. You guys are, for many of you for the first time, on your own. You have very few people who “tell you how to live your life.” People don’t tell you when and where to be and what you can and cannot do. You function as independent people.

In my experience, this is one of the biggest challenges of being on Summer Staff. All of a sudden 45 adults who are not used to functioning “under authority” are put in a situation where they must. Often people have problems with authority. The complicated part is that a lot of people don’t figure out that they have a problem with authority until they’re put under authority. You will be forced to deal with this in some way during our 15 days together.

On a battlefield, the only way to function is to follow a chain of command. This time at Rockbridge will very much be a battle. We are fighting for the very souls of middle school students. The enemy will want to do everything he can to pick that apart. One of the tools he’ll quickly use is the issue of authority.

Similar to a battlefield, people in authority will not always have the time to explain to you why they expect you to do something/follow a certain rule. You will not always agree with their decisions. Submitting to authority is a difficult but crucial lesson that we all must learn in life.

Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

“Obey them so that their work will be a joy.” You will have quite a few people above you – Summer Staff Coordinators, interns, the program team, full time camp staff, etc. By agreeing to come on our Summer Staff, you are agreeing to submit yourself to the authority above you during your time at camp. How are you going to respond when someone tells you to do something? How are you going to respond to tighter regulations on the way you live than you are use to having? The way you respond to authority will set the tone for the time at Rockbridge.

Spend some time over the next few weeks praying and preparing your heart for this. You alone control your attitude towards authority. The way you respond to authority will make a huge impact on our entire time together.

Living in close quarters...

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  Proverbs 27:17 We hope that these words would frame your time on summer staff.  As we work, serve and spend time together lets take advantage of being with each other.  Each one of us brings something different to the table and by living in community we can learn and grow from each relationship.  1Peter 1:7 talks about being refined by fire, my prayer for our time together is that we would form relationships that both refine and sharpen our walk with the Lord.  For some of you August might be the only Christian community you are a part of this summer and for some of you it might be very familiar.  Wherever you come from your time in August with be a time of great community.  Jesus talks a lot about being with others.  Lets follow his lead when it comes to community, He spent much of his time with His community of disciples and when He sent them out, he sent them out in twos.  We are not meant to walk with the Lord alone.   We hope that you come into this place with an open mind and a serving attitude-keep in mind, you will be sharing space and living in close quarters with others.  A couple of words of advice:  expect to have a blast together, celebrate the opportunity to serve alongside likeminded people with the same purpose, put others before yourself, let this be an example of walking with the Lord for a lifetime.  Our prayer would be that when you leave Rockbridge at the end of the session that you would put a high value on community.  Search for people to have a blast with but more importantly refine and sharpen you as you serve the Lord together.

Growth in Christ

What do you hope to get out of Summer Staff?

Do you find that to be a funny question? Is there a part inside of you that gets a little uncomfortable at that question? Is there an idealist inside of you that says, “It doesn’t matter what I get out of it! I’m here to serve.”?

I tend to think that those thoughts are selfish. We don’t get into this to gain things for ourselves. We get into this to empty ourselves out and serve, right?

Well, yes and no. It’s very true. This month is not about you. Hear that. These weeks in August are not about you. This assignment is about serving Jesus and setting the table for hundreds of middle school students to hear about Him.

I have often been told “God is more interested in what He is doing in you than what He is through you.” Do you believe that? Do you believe that God is more interested in the work going on inside of you than the work you are doing.

The tiny postcard that Paul wrote Philemon in the New Testament reinforces this. Paul tells Philemon “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that ________”

How would you fill in the blank? What would you answer this with?

“So that many kids will meet Christ”

“So that the Gospel will expand”

“So that the world could be a better place”

Paul’s answer is surprising. He says, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

So that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. The sharing of the Gospel results in a fuller and greater understanding of Christ.

We want you to grow in Christ this August. We hope that you leave a different person than you came. We hope that this time stretches you and teaches you in a way you never have been.

What do you hope to get out of your time on Summer Staff? Chime in. How we be preparing to help you grow in Christ?

What's your purpose on SS?

I’m sure we have all toiled with many questions and thoughts as we think about our time together.  What will this time be like?  Will I get along with the other people working?  What will my job be?  What will the room we stay in be like?  And then we have the questions that pertain to our spiritual life:  How am I going to grow?  What am I going to get out of this experience?  And these are just a few.  

While these questions are valuable, I wouldn’t want you to miss your primary purpose this summer:  To serve God and proclaim the Gospel. 

 By serving God and proclaiming the gospel you will gain many things from this experience and grow in crazy ways but please don’t miss out on your first priority while at camp.  No mater where you find yourself working this summer, remember you are there to proclaim the gospel.  It is easy for us to see the camp speaker or even the leaders bringing kids proclaiming the gospel but as we work together as the body we too share in this work. Just like the body has different parts that work together, we all have different functions on summer staff but as we work together we work for one purpose:  for kids to know that they have a God that loves them deeply and would stop at nothing to restore a relationship with His creation.    As it says in 1 Cor. 12:6 “There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”  We have a high calling this summer but I want to encourage you that God has gone before us as a summer staff and camp team and all we have to do is listen to his voice and follow his lead.  I feel like too often I complicate things and let things distract or get in the way of fulfilling my primary purpose.  

Is my life reflecting the gospel?  Am I living an intentional life for Jesus?  I would encourage you to ask yourself these questions as we prepare for our time together.  Remember we are not just preparing for an assignment but instead a lifetime with the Lord.

Praying God Sized Prayers

Summer Staff Friends!

This is the first of a weekly Wednesday blog update from Nicki and me (we need to come up with a good name for these…I’m open to suggestions). We’ll be writing and slowly expanding on the letter that we sent out to each one of you. The hope is to be able to give you a foundation on which to serve on SS in August.

One of the things I’ve been learning the most about this year is prayer. Praying has always been something that I’ve struggled with. Despite growing up in a family where prayer was regular, I never really have grasped how to pray. I often feel like the disciples in Luke 11, who almost desperately cry out “Lord, teach us to pray!”

I feel like I often pray for things that I can accomplish. Small things. I pray that a particular kid who I know well and am pretty sure is going to come to club will come to club. Then I get excited when he comes to club! But I struggle to pray God sized prayers. What happens if they don’t come true? What does that mean about God? What does that mean about my ability to pray?

I learned a lot about prayer this year from a surprising source. A group of 9^th grade boys.

I know. It seems crazy to me too.

These 9^th grade boys would meet with their leader Michael in my basement every Wednesday morning. I would help give them rides to school. They’d conclude each time together with prayer. Their prayer times would always go about 3 times as long as I expected them to. They would pray for ridiculous things. They spent a few months praying for a friend who transferred schools. Imagine my surprise (and they’re excitement) when this friend transferred back. And then came to club. And then signed up for camp! 

I was challenged to pray big things. Ridiculous things. God sized things.

I want to challenge you with the same thing. Young Life affirms, “Anything we accomplish will be accomplished by prayer.” We need to be a people of prayer this summer. We need to spend the next months praying for the 2 weeks of middle school kids that will role through camp. Those 9^th grade boys all came through WyldLife camp at Rockbridge last August. Someone was praying for them.

We also want to surround you with a prayer team. We’ll want you to think about 5 people that would pray for you. We’ll, at some point, want you to share with us their names and email addresses so that we can share prayer requests with them.

Lets begin now to pray. Lets all commit to diligently pray. Lets pray for:

• For an open heart to serve.
• For each other and our WC friends.
• For lasting friendships and a life changing experience.
• For the hundreds of campers and leaders that we will encounter.

James 5:16 tells us that “The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.” Lets believe that together. Lets pray God sized prayers. Lets be ready to celebrate when they come true!

What about you? Where do you fall into this? Comment below. Lets get a conversation going! Am I the only one who struggles with praying big prayers? What types of things are you praying for this assignment?

Much love,

Steve

Meet Steve

Hey guys! Steve here. I am getting really excited for our time together in August. I'd like to take this chance to tell you a little bit about myself.

I grew up in Suffolk, VA (Virginia Born and Bred!). I have two brothers (one older, one younger). I went to Norfolk Christian High School and graduated in 2002. I was not involved in YL in high school. When I graduated high school I went to Virginia Tech for college (Go Hokies!)

Originally I wanted to study Computer Science at VT. But I quickly learned that I hated math. I changed my major abruptly to study movies. I led YL in college at Christiansburg High School and graduated in 2006. When I graduated, I stayed in the area and went on YL staff in Giles County. After two years of being on staff in Giles County, I took the Area Director job in Rockbridge County, VA. Yes, Rockbridge the camp is in the county I do YL in!

I married my wife Theresa 2.5 years ago.  Here is a picture at our wedding. Yes that is an arc of fire being spit over our heads as we left. Theresa actually works full time at Rockbridge in the office. We met 7 summers ago at Rockbridge when she was on SS and I was the video intern.

 














We have a giant Great Dane named Mogadore. She loves to get into trouble. Here is a picture of her:

Things I love: Pizza, coffee, popcorn, Lexington, the Yankees, Virginia Tech and the Redskins.

Really looking forward to being together.

Steve

Meet Nicki

Hello, Nicki here.  I will keep this short, so here is a little bit about me in a nutshell.  I am on staff in Norfolk, VA.  I graduated from JMU in 2008...(go dukes!!!!) where I led Young Life for 2.5 years.  I eventually ended up back in Norfolk in May 2009 and jumped right into leading under my former YL leader.  I have been on staff here for 3 years and love doing ministry in my hometown.  I am married to Brandon who is a Georgia boy through and through and we have an awesome crazy dog named Syd.  Can't wait to meet all of you guys!

Hello and welcome to the August 2k12 Rockbridge Summer Staff Blog (what a mouthful).  We are so excited about this summer and our time together.  We will use this blog to post info, share stories, and connect before and after August...so keep checking back!  We hope you all are enjoying your summers and preparing for an awesome August! Until next time...