From Friday morning to Sunday night I was at the Grace Brethren Northwest District Youth Snow Camp 2009. Long name eh? I don’t think it is actually that long, but it is descriptive.
On with the story!
I wasn’t planning to go but they needed an extra driver, and I have a reputation for knowing a thing or two about driving in snowy conditions. Probably mostly the fact that unlike most Vancouver drivers, I am not scared to death of it.
I’ve actually done stuff with youth in the past, so this wasn’t the first time but certainly it was the first time in a long time. Back when I lived in Abbotsford, I went to a church called Immanuel Fellowship Baptist Church. They happened to be between youth pastors, so I would up teaching senior high sunday school. That was quite the experience – I didn’t really have much of a clue what I was doing, but we got through the year.
A year later I began to help a friend of mine, Randy Chapman, with a little dream of his – a 4×4 ministry to at-risk youth out in Chilliwack. His heart was only exceeded in size by his vision. I helped him put together a website for Summit Adventures, and found myself working with some really gritty kids and at the same time having a great time driving all over the bush. Did that for 5 years.
Then, back in 05 if I recall, I got involved briefly with Cedar Grove Baptist’s Jolt program under Mika Kostamo. I wish I could have stayed longer – I was only there for a few months until I realized I was seriously overcommitting myself and had to pull out.
All this to say, I really enjoy youth ministry, and I kind of forgot how much until this trip. Of course, it probably helps that we have a really good group of youth. They are all really genuine individuals, who get along, and don’t clique. I could go on all day about them, but considering this trip to snow camp was the first serious group thing they had done together, and really three of them had hardly been out before and three more were basically brand new, almost to church even, they knitted quickly and well and had a lot of fun together.
What blew me away was that despite hardly knowing each other, we came together as a team so well that in an environment where there were 70 kids and only 9 of us, they came out of the weekend in a lot of ways as leaders at the camp. I think in a lot of ways our group set a tone for the camp – making connections, starting a little rivalry, and certainly encouraging involvement in the worship and teaching times. Our boys started jumping around during worship, and a good chunk of the others began to follow their leads. It was almost sad that the trip had to be over so soon – I wonder what would have happened if we’d all been out there for another couple of days!
The speaker, Dave Bogue, was good. His messages I thought were spot on in terms of what kids need to hear. He elicited reaction and agreement from the youth and I believe a lot of them came away changed. I am excited to see what our youth do next. They all, every one declared they had a great time and want to come back again, and many of them are talking about the summer camp at the same location in June.
It was neat too, to get to know various youth leaders in the district. I look forward to seeing them again at district conference in April.
Tags: Dave Bogue, Snow Camp, youth
