Day 4 King of Kings

Campers are into the swing now.  Bodies getting used to lots of walking and weight loss by sweating. All SHBC teams were on the waterfront for their first activity.  The feature attraction is The Blob – a 70+ ft bladder rising 8 ft. off the water.  A “blobee” sits near one end, waiting for a launch from a “blober” who drops off of a platform 15 ft. above the water.  It’s physics in action, including “what goes up must come down”.  If things go right, it’s an easy slip into the liquid cool, feet first.  If it doesn’t go so well, other appendages or large surface area objects strike first.  The activity produces lots of great video of “that’s going to leave a mark” moments.  The waterfront also offers water slides, zip lines, floating discs and a “shoving/rasslin” dock.

 After lunch, the middle school team dived into a search and rescue activity with team based rope skills and strategery.  From there, they strapped on harnesses and climbed the steep trail to the 3,000 ft. zip line (3KZ) launch tower.  No lightning this year and campers actually we able to hitch their trollies to the cable for the one minute free flight journey to the bottom.  Billed as the 3^rd longest zip line in the country and the longest in Texas, the 3KZ allows 4 riders each flight (except when 1 rope is out of commission as is currently the case).

Upperclassmen headed to arrow tag where they felled their opponents with foam filled arrowheads.  The team game was followed by every man for himself but not before a rather lengthy search for a non-missing arrow (who was counting?).  Their second pm activity was the Sherpa walk which was made more interesting than usual when the seniors were blindfolded and led by the juniors – a teachable moment.  Juniors learned to lead while seniors learned how to take direction after being in the driver’s seat for a year.  The Sherpa path is a bit sketchy in the full sight mode so the blindfold option was an intense challenge.

Underclassmen spent the first pm rec in the millhouse with team racing in the rope elements. After a brief break they headed up the dusty trail to the arrow tag field for an epic battle.

The evening event began with carnival games in the courtyard above the waterfront.  Student teams were offered various challenges to earn coins which could be traded for stuffed animals and eventually used to buy preferred seating in the throne room for the service.  Games  ranged from impressions to the chance to sell you contract mascot for money (which several teams did). Our middle school group was the top earner and had front row seating, until it was explained that the last would be first and they became the back row.  All that time collecting coins and stuffed animals and nothing to show but the back row.  Filling the throne with material goods that had no eternal value.

In the debrief, students shared some things that they are trying to let share the throne with God. Some recounted challenges in their own lives which made it difficult to understand and serve God.  As groups. they committed to letting God rule their throne and placed a large cross on the throne in the worship pavilion in recognition of their commitment.

Day 3 Mistaken Identity

Breakfast was a little quieter today.  Between lots of “one foot in front of the other” yesterday and waking up 3 hours before the normal summer rise and shine, students were not quite as lively this morning.  After multiple servings of cereal (cookco for CocoPuffs the favorite), eggs, biscuits and gravy, students waddled to the pavilion for the morning challenge.  Our camp pastor recounted “pretty boy” king Saul’s demise in I Samuel 31 and the fulfillment of God’s prophesy because of the failure of His people to follow their true leader and making bad choices.  10 for 10 was focused on Psalm 146 with the question: “Who or what is the next big thing your are putting your hope in”.

Seems our middle school group failed to keep a leash on their contract mascot and penance consisted of a rendition of the chicken dance in front of the crowd followed by a group circle walk (cinnamon roll?) to their morning activity.  They found the activity was double booked so they returned to camp for Frisbee and the coffee shop.  Juniors and seniors descended to the river edge and experienced a team building exercise on the dam.  Fortunately everyone scaled the face (up and down) and no one had to be left at the river for the next camp.  Unfortunately there were some critters in the water that were looking for donors and selected our group to latch on to.  So it was off to the showers to send those unwelcome friends packing.  The middle school team headed back to the mountain for the Sherpa walk where they tip toed along a narrow path cut into the rack face held only by their nimble feet and lobster claws.  The slip-n-slide section showed that the counselors have still “got it”.

After lunch, the middle school team plodded to the TAG field for take no prisoners archery warfare.  These guys are warriors.  Upper classmen launched down the target zip lines where, fortunately, the points don’t count.  9-10 graders were back to the water in kayaks, where we found that some were balance-challenged when they aren’t on terra firma.

The late rec activity was a camp wide Kingdom Games which pitted each team against the others to determine who was the best. The games were a series of skill activities,  many of which required much longer to complete for the larger teams.  Our junior-senior team was one of the largest but they were good sports in the face of this apparent oversight by the games creators.  The last event was capture the flag chaos.  Each team’s goal was to grab a flag from the other 18 teams to complete a full set.  The wild card was a rule that any person can tag another and both have to go to the center of the field to trade flags. Once traded, they are now on a different team than they started.  When it was suspended, most teams had completely different members who didn’t know the team’s signature cheer and were out of place.  The teams lost their original identity, history, and expression. Our camp pastor walked the students through the analogy to the children of Israel as they opted for a king to be on par with the competing people groups and in the process lost their identify as God’s chosen people.  He also related that we also lose our identify with Christ when we entangle ourselves in the relationships and kingdoms of this world. 

In the breakout sessions with the leaders, students were challenged to discuss what their identify is and the characteristics they associate with the identify.  Students readily recognized that our identify is often based on the world’s measuring sticks which change over time but that God’s expectations never change and form a dependable guide for our lives.

Following a time of praise and worship, the new LED strobes sprang into action for a time of aerobic gyration until the last ounce of energy was drained from … the sponsors – kids were still going strong.

With that, hump day was in the can and we realized how quickly the week was passing.  Tomorrow we carpe diem

Day 2 Decision Decisions

Tuesday was an early start.  Students met their leaders at 8 and headed to a picnic breakfast to discuss their contract.  Each team developed a set of rules for the group that everyone agreed to abide by for the week (and beyond?).  The contract was written on a memorable item mascot supplied by the leaders which ranged from a For Rent Sign to a water bottle and a toy bat.  Students must have the contract item in their possession at all times.  If it is left anywhere, severe penalties will ensue.  Some group gave the contract its own number so when they count off to see if everyone is present, the contract is accounted for.

During morning “chaos”, the students were challenged to think about how they make decisions.  They started 10 for 10 session in which they have to be 10 feet from anyone else and spend 10 minutes meditating on a question and scripture.  It’s eerily quite across the camp during these sessions.  Tuesday’s 10 for 10 text was Proverbs 3:5-6 and James 1:5-6.

Next students headed to their first activity.  Upper classmen trekked up river to the “water barrel” where they had to use their noggins and manly muscles to fill up a holy barrel.  After multiple epic fails, they hit on a winning strategy and filled the barrel in record time (albeit with a lot of additional ballast).  Underclassmen were on the rock climbing wall for the morning activity and posted some impressive climbs.  Middle schoolers were in the water at “anaconda” fighting snakes (or something like that). 

After a chicken  burger lunch (not Chick Fil A), teams headed out into the baking sun (no rain in this neck of the woods).  The high school team hit the rock climbing wall and got to experience new auto-belay equipment which freed up the leaders to spend more time with the students but created a lot of rolling around on the observation deck because they kept expecting the rope to stop.  Several climbers bested their climb height from last year and the old guy is still keeping up with the yutes on the rock.  For their second afternoon rec, the high school team headed to Mine Shaft were they had a bible study about Isreal’s poor choices regarding their desire for a king, in spite of God’s warning about the pain it would bring.  Students were reminded that decisions have consequence and they need to look for the warning signs provided by friends, parents and others that care about them.  For the activity, they had to come up with creative ways to extract team members from a mineshaft conveniently built above ground and with no walls.  They made decisions about a strategy and halfway through the exercise were thrown a services of rule changes which required multiple strategy revisions and creative teamwork.

Grades 9-10 were at “shipwreck” for the first rec after lunch.  Another teamwork strategy activity, this one required everyone to move in sync and very carefully to balance the dry docked pontoon boat.  They bailed on the long hike to Windmill and opted for water ball in the river (good choices).

The middle school team tackled the rock wall but the downhill version (rappelling).  Looks like a piece of cake until you slide across that rock face and put you faith in a piece of rope the thickness of your thumb.  Some students chose the non-rope version which involved hiking back down the hill to watch the brave souls slide down the rock on a rope.  They followed this adventure up with an obstacle course at the Millhouse.  Students worked in teams to navigate the abyss (airbag) via ropes, nets, monkey bars, and peg boards.

And then it was dinner.  A finer feast of pork soft tacos has not been enjoyed by these campers and sponsors.  Perhaps it had something to do with 10 miles of walking up and down the rocky terrain and full bore Texas sun.  After we polished off multiple rounds of loaded tacos, we headed for the pavilion for some praise songs and the challenge by the camp pastor to locate the evening service where the band was set up.  The first two teams to arrive were promised cookies and free concert (aren’t they all free?).  Teams were given the choice of trial and error and plain guessing about where to look or they could participate in group games which contained clues to the location.  The 9-10 grade group found the worship service site in about 20 minutes and set a modern day (2015) record for this feat.  Their keen eyes spotted the band driving up the hill to the  lookout near the large steel cross.  High schoolers were next of the SHBC teams to arrive after a false start down the trail to the location of last year’s special service (who thought of that?).  The middle school team eventually made it as well.  After an awesome praise time, our camp pastor asked the students to reflect on important decisions they are facing while they walked the gravel trail back to camp in silence.  Each team met with their leaders to discuss the decisions they were had coming up and how they would go about making these.  Students shared how the short time at camp so far had helped them focus on making right choices and not repeating the mistakes of the past.

After the share time, shower heads roared to life to send that road dust and trail dirt back to the river.  Not a lot of complaints about lights out tonight.  

SHBC Youth Camp 2015 Day 1 Head ‘Em Up, Move ‘Em Out

SHBC Youth Camp 2015

Camp Eagle

Rock Springs, TX

Day 1 Head ‘Em Up, Move ‘Em Out

The SHBC youth group headed out for high adventure mid-afternoon on Monday.  Our journey wound through the choked highways of the city before reaching the open skies and scenic vistas of the hill country on I-10 West toward Kerrville.  Exiting the motorway we commenced southwesterly and headed into the wilderness. We left the trail and civilization (cell phone coverage) about 20 miles from our exit and relied on our keen navigation skills (and residual GPS signal) to find the one lane track leading to camp.  A mere 8 dusty miles later, Camp Eagle came into view at the first water crossing. 

Discharged from the dust covered coach, campers unloaded and met their camp counselors before settling into the cabins.  The seasoned veterans nabbed the bottom bunks while the young legs were left to climb the bed frame to the top.  Once outside, the groups participated in get acquainted activities with the sponsors before heading to a kickoff worship session in the pavilion.

Camp theme for the week is :”Who Sits on Your Throne?”.  The students will work follow the  children of Israel in the book of Joshua as they remember God’s work and are challenged with putting God first after their exodus (2014 camp).  They played games in the Field of Remembrance before the first buffet and a small group debrief with their camp leaders.  After that, it was ultimate Frisbee and junk food feasts before showers (for some) and lights out.

New Website!

We have created a new Student Ministry website at shbcstudents.org

For this reason we have canceled our "Smores" account which we have been using for our weekly updates.

Starting next week, February 23rd, we will use this blog for our weekly update.

Youth Camp 2014 Friday

Day 6 – Homeward Bound

Breakfast on the run today - chicken on a biscuit and you’d better find some liquids. The final praise and worship featured new songs the students learned this week from The Hardcastles.  The message was from Joshua 4 describing the memorial the Israelites were commanded to prepare using stones from the Jordan River.  The stones were to be a reminder to future generations of God’s deliverance from the bondage in Egypt. Students were reminded to mark events of God’s provision in their life and to reflect on these to strengthen their faith.

After a quick wrap up with counselors they finished stuffing all those dirty and clerty clothes into their sleeping bag or pillow, sweep up the Nerds under the bed, and hop on the bus.  Students struggled to stay awake long enough to get cell reception as they reentered civilization.  Arriving at the church, the group had an eerie zombie resemblance as they awoke from the first REM sleep of the week. 

An eventful week that changed those who made the journey – Keep the memory fresh.

Youth Camp 2014 Thursday

Day 5 Thursday – The Conquest

Rain was the order of the day to start but eventually cleared to the east.  Students meditated on Joshua 1:1-9 in their 10 x 10 with the encouragement to be strong and courageous.  They were reminded that if they are aligned with God, He will provide the victory.  Through the day they studied Joshua chapters 3 and 4 and discussed how God allowed the Israelites to conquer the land with particular emphasis on the conquest of Jericho.  Students saw how waiting on God and being obedient to Him are the keys to victory over Satan and the problems they face.  Students focused on personal challenges and shared how God was working on them personally and on the group. 

The Junior/Senior group headed out on the Sherpa trail which is a narrow path along the cliff wall relying on lobster claws to keep them secured to the wall.  Several conducted anchor tests to make sure the equipment was in proper working order.  Quite a few places were slick from the rain and a challenge to keep your footing.  Everyone successfully traversed the trail the exited for a group picture at the cliff’s edge.

After lunch, they spent time on the waterfront launching from the blob and racing in the water slide.  At this point, it was discovered that the group left their contract mascot in one of the rooms and they had to leap frog to their next element, the target zip.  They finished the day with arrow tag.  After a series of close games, the sponsors and camp counselors were pitted against the students (15 on 4) resulting in a resounding victory for the sponsors – just kidding. The students put a beat-down on the sponsors taking no casualties while dispensing of the sponsors.

9^th and 10^th elements for the day included Bassball, (baseball on the water) and arrow golf.  They were scheduled for the 3,000 ft. zip but after hiking 1.5 miles to the base of the tower, lightning in the area prevented them from a launch and they had to descend back down the trail.  A major disappointment but the group kept a good attitude and soldiered on.  The middle school group started with target zip and finished with rock climbing.  Since the blog writer is a sponsor for the junior/senior group, not a lot of first hand information was available for other group activities.

All groups gathered for a mini sermon on the games field centered on the battle at Jericho.  When the first trumpets sounded, they circled the sand volleyball courts.  At the second trumpet blast, student crashed Jericho (the pavilion) for the celebratory hamburgers.  Following the praise and worship time, SHBC students gathered for a message from Jeff about Christ’s love and sacrifice for us and observance of the Lord’s Supper.  The rain threatened but once again, God held back the waters and the student spent time sharing burdens for themselves and the group. 

Heading back to the pavilion, the music volume turned up and the sponsors stood back while the students expended what remaining energy they had left.  They were also notified that the junior and senior group won the memory contest on Tuesday.  The prize was ice cream for very camper ( a lot like youth soccer) .  Praise and worship lasted until the wee hours as the students enjoyed their last night at camp.