In just under four days my wife Jillian and I will be starting a brand new adventure together. As many of you now know, we will be serving on staff at Fuge Camps for the majority of the summer. The goal is to share the gospel with teens all across the south east part of the United States in hopes that they would experience the life change that only Jesus can provide. Buuut, the means in which we accomplish that goal can look a little hilarious at times.
Some elements scheduled into a random day of camp can include competing in a series of messy games involving baby food, chocolate pudding, and glitter. Followed by a yelling and jumping match -in a seemingly animalistic way- in order to show your “Team Spirit” and achieve the chance to win… None other than the Holy Grail, the infamous amazement, the prize above all prizes… A RUBBER CHICKEN! That’s right people, a rubber chicken. Believe it or not middle and highschoolers LOVE competing for the chance to win a rubber chicken.
Also something that is noteworthy is the fact that a majority of my team is made up of nineteen and twenty year olds freshly finishing their first and second years of college. Why is this noteworthy? Well, we are a traveling team that will go from Nashville TN, to Arkadelphia AR, to Mount Vernon GA, to Lebanon TN, to Wilson NC and then back to Nashville. Totaling two thousand seven hundred nineteen miles traveled in total. All while carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of production equipment, camp supplies, and bible study material in two, twenty six foot long box trucks driven by those same exact college students. Why Lifeway trusts this mission to a bunch of twenty something college students is still far beyond my realm of comprehension.
Yet when I take a step back and examine how hilarious this all is and ask myself “how is this all possible?” The answer is undeniably clear. We serve the creator of the universe. The one that spoke everything we see and know into existence. If we are fully devoted to carrying on his mission HE CAN make a way. No matter what. Hands down, full stop.
This will be my fourth summer serving in the camp setting and I can speak from experience that God can use anything, and I seriously mean anything, to bring people into a relationship with him. We just have to be willing to get out of our own way and serve for his purpose. If you’re like me, you've probably made plenty of excuses as to why you can’t go share the gospel with your neighbors. Excuses I use are “it wouldn't make sense for me to go over there and just start sharing. I don't even know their names.” “they might reject me and then our relationship will always be broken.” One of my favorites to use, “I'm too tired, or I am too busy.” In all of those excuses I am getting in the way of the mission that God is trying to accomplish. But I have experienced God do amazing things at times in my life with my obedience; why do I continue to get in the way now? I think for me it’s my moments of lack of faith. I need to rely on the Lord to strengthen me and give me a bigger faith. What is it for you? I’d encourage you to think about the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? What's stopping you from doing it again? Maybe we need to rely on the Lord to help us remove that excuse or barrier from our lives to carry on his mission.
I want to leave you with a real story of how God revealed his power to me -through serving on staff at Fuge- that constantly reminds me that God can use anything for his glory; I just need to have bigger faith and get out of the way. My first summer on staff there was a girl that came to camp and for privacy sake we will call her Linda. Linda was a sophomore in highschool that did not go to church and claimed to be an atheist. She reluctantly came after a friend from her school invited her. The first day or two of camp she was completely shut off from participating in anything and honestly seemed like she hated being there. But after a couple days she seemed to transform into an open, joyful, excited person. On one of the last nights Linda and her youth pastor came up to our staff as she was in tears, but these weren’t sorrowful tears, they were hopeful ones. She proceeded to tell us her story and how when she was a young child she was placed for adoption. She was then adopted by a family that claimed to be christians. However, this family then repeatedly abused her and raped her. Who could blame her for saying she was an atheist if the only thing that she new about “god” was abuse and rape? While almost the entire room was in tears she said “but now I know that my savior is Jesus, and I gave my life to him tonight.” Her experience at camp, participating in those messy games I mentioned before, sitting through bible study led by early twenty somethings, and hearing from God’s word each night showed her that Christ and Christians are not what she thought they were. She realized she was in need of a savior and came to know him; from atheist to an eternity spent in heaven in one week. If God can do that, he can do anything!
If you would, please join Jillian and I in praying for the countless teenagers that will be exposed to God’s word and his love for them this summer. We covet your prayers as we go and also ask that you would pray for strength and constant obedience for us.
Thank you church family,
We will see you soon!
Bryant Hart