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