Along with my family and 4 other youth leaders, we took at 15 passenger van to Cedar Lake Camp, just south of Chicago, as we were recently blessed with the opportunity to lead the youth portion of a Gospel Camp through the Chicago Chinese Christian Mission (CCCM) organization. Around 18 youth came from various backgrounds, churches and various nearby states.
While there were many blessings and challenges, one of the greatest challenges was to form a bunch of teenage strangers into a group of friends and create an environment where we could let down our “personal space” walls and be honest about who we are and where we stand in our relationships with God as we listen to His Word. Especially for youth with a Christian background, it can be easy to get “Jesus” answers rather than what’s on their heart. Yet truth be told, not all of the youth opened up to us as much as we would wish, but many did and with joy.
Actually, my views on games at camps has shifted over the years. I used to lead very silly games simply for the sake of “getting the youth’s attention” but now I see the activities really as a way to build friendship and help lower the personal walls that the youth have. In some ways, the activities are like a meal that help lower our guard and allow more honest dialogue. So while we did not do anything crazy, it was both fun and helped build into the relationships.
One of the greatest breakthroughs came through the sincere love from the youth leaders that came with us. They were not there to babysit the youth or simply keep the youth “running around” for the weekend or to be silly. Nope. They did an amazing job through prayerfully and actively serving, loving, listening, leading and engaging the youth. They helped lead worship, engage at the meal table, sit outside with and share their testimonies of God’s work in their lives to these youth.
We had 4 sessions, which included a “10 minute” big question and then a 40 minute interactive Bible study, looking at the life of Jesus in relationship to the topics of honesty, sin, faith and purpose. I was grateful for the youth’s honesty when I asked them if they knew where they would go when they died. Some said they were confident that they were saved by Jesus, some said they didn’t care, others said they tried to avoid thinking about death and judgment and others shared how they were actually afraid. And I’m especially thankful to God for my children who honestly answered as well.
Another highlight was the evening campfire time, where each of the leaders shared their testimony, even with tears, but through this the youth could see the power of God at work in their lives as examples of what I had been teaching on. Though totally beat at the end of the camp, I praise God for this privilege and opportunity and will maybe get to lead it again next year.
I praise God though for His work, the truth and power of His Word and that we were able to leave as friends and not strangers.
Turners at WFI 