I was supposed to be speaking this Sunday in Elevation. We were going to have a guest speaker from Iraq and I was just going to speak for about 10 minutes before him and 5 minutes after to keep us in the Crossing series, but he couldn’t get his visa approved. So I was supposed to speak the whole time and have to prepare from Hume Lake. On Tuesday morning I sat down with my laptop to work and saw the view below and really thought about everything going on at the conference and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. So I threw in the towel and emailed P-Diddy (Pastor Dave) and asked if he could just do both services. He was totally willing and I could enjoy the rest of the trip.

We went on a crazy Suzuki Samurai off-road tour one afternoon and this is the group after the dust-filled adventure was completed.

Then on the way home I had the best experience ever. I have always loved this meadow that is at the very beginning of Hume Lake Road just off Hwy 180. It is majestic and honestly reminds me of God. I have always wanted to frolic in the meadow and this time I had my chance. Peter Pizzuto took pictures of me out there. All the other pics were taken by him as well. Here they are. Bask in the majesty.

Some of us drove home on Saturday night because we had church responsibilities. I actually preached both services on Sunday. I like doing the Celebration service. It’s about twice as big as our Elevation service, but that’s not why I like it. It’s has less energy and enthusiasm as our Elevation service, but that’s not why I like it. I like it because the people love talking about it after the service. I was talking to these three adorable older ladies after the service who just wanted to chat. It was funny and kinda fun. They loved that I teased our Sr Pastor in my sermon about being a germa-phobe.

Then we had Hume Lake sign-ups and had hundreds of people outside the gym. We had a big “cookout” as my southern friends would call it. We raised about $1,500 for the Kenya trip with the BBQ as us SoCal people call it. Awesome.

I left the house at about 6:30am and got home at 2:45pm and I was on my feet the whole time after being on the Men’s Retreat. Needless to say, I am exhausted. It’s good to be with my family.

P.S. We leave for Maui next Saturday. I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Positives of Camping Ministry:
Away from distractions and some temptations
Focus on God in nature
Time for relational ministry
Awesome camp staff who love students and care for the youth pastors
Quality time for worship
Fun

Negatives of Camping Ministry:
So much focus on “hooking up” by kids
Annoying 19-year-old camp lead counselors that think they know more about youth ministry than the youth pastors (and sometimes act like they know your kids better too)
Kids get so tired that they are almost too moldable
Rec and program leaders create a mob mentality through cheers and competitions
Speakers and worship leaders push for an emotional response instead of allowing the Spirit to work in His time
Too much focus on decisions and not long-term commitment
Decisions don’t last down the hill

I think many of these negatives can be placed on youth ministries as well. I think the biggest thing in here is the push and shove for an emotional “altar-call” response. People need an opportunity to make decisions, but sometimes these camp altar calls are all about feeding the ego of the speaker and aren’t really even about the kid as much as the mass of kids coming forward.

If any of my friends from Alpine, Ponderosa Pines, Forest Home, or Hume Lake read this I am sorry if this feels like an attack. As I process this, it is less an attack on camping ministry in general as it is a challenge to certain speakers, worship leaders, and camp programmers – including myself.

As for the whole camp as manipulation or brainwashing thing, I feel pretty proud of what we were able to accomplish up there. We didn’t do the whole “come forward and cry because I have emotionally charged you up to respond to Jesus” thing. I gave kids an opportunity to pray about believing in Jesus and wanting forgiveness for the sin in their lives. This was just quietly and privately in their minds and hearts – not out loud, no standing up, no coming forward. Then I immediately dismissed them in a discipline of silence to their cabin time where they were to talk with their leader about any decisions they made. A few leaders came up to me at the end of camp today and thanked me for not doing the whole emotional thing. They really appreciated it. I think that sometimes the altar call is more for the speaker than for the student. It feels good to see a bunch of people come forward. But the scary part is that you start to think that it’s because of you somehow – instead of from the Holy Spirit.

So yes, I do think that camp can be brainwashing and manipulation, but I also think it doesn’t have to be. More thoughts to come…

I might have my first day in a few weeks without a blog post tomorrow while I am up there. Maybe I can get to a computer. But if not, I will see you all on Sunday afternoon.

I spent the morning working on talks for a camp I’m speaking at this weekend. It’s a smaller camp called Alpine up near Lake Arrowhead. I love doing camps for Junior Highers. They are the best. They are usually totally into it and enjoy getting to know you as the speaker. Just praying that God will use the time. Camps always feel like it takes a lot of time to give to people you might never meet again. I’m glad that Bea and Grace are coming with me.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about how camps are potential brainwashing. I will probably post on that more after the weekend. I’m not saying that all camps just brainwash kids, but it’s a concern I have. Get them tired, lots of hype, mob crowd influence, and then ask for a commitment…that’s what I mean. More to come.