Roxbury Camp Meeting (August 4-14)

This past week I was at Roxbury for the big camp meeting. While there I helped do a variety of things. My schedule was arranged so that I could help with the children’s and the youth’s activities but I mainly helped with the junior high youth and it was a blast! In my time with the junior high I worked alongside Dwight Myers, Jason Wenger, Neil Heisey, and Curtis Yeager.

            The theme for the week was Heroes. Neil was the main speaker throughout the week and he challenged the teens to be a hero in their everyday lives. We talked about a number of people in the Bible and how God used them to be a hero. A theme that was consistently brought up through the week was that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  I was talking to a boy from my church, Caesar, and I was just asking him what he learned from the week, he said he learned that God can use anyone and that he didn’t have to be extraordinary to be used by God. Caesar said that prior to coming to Roxbury he had thought God wouldn’t use him because he’s not good enough. This is what the week was about…changing lives for Christ. The truth is that these youth have so much potential for the kingdom of Christ. They are full of passion and excitement that Satan has no place in reckoning with!

            This week was somewhat of a challenge for me. It was my last week as the intern and I was spent! Midway through the week I was feeling run down, exhausted, and almost like I was checking out, then I went to the Lord in prayer, something I should have been doing more of this week!! I know that it’s not without the strength he gave me that I made it through the week not to mention the summer! He truly is my supply, everything I need; nothing else can take His place in my life!

            It was a pleasure working along with the team of other leaders this week! While the week was a lot of fun I know that there were lives changed for Christ and that is our purpose!

New Guilford Brethren in Christ (July 26-31)

            This past week I was at New Guilford helping primarily with their Vacation Bible School. I was placed with the pre-school age group and I loved every minute of it! VBS was in the evenings from 6:30-8:45; so what did I do with the rest of my day? Well, I got to the church around 12:30-1:00 in the afternoon each day and had a variety of responsibilities to complete before Sunday. These tasks included compiling a children’s bulletin, which consists of activities that go along with the sermon for the younger kids to do during that service, putting together a binder of all the worship music in the file cabinet, being prepared to teach youth Sunday School, and then some odds and ends things that Shelly, the Office Manager, had me help her with.

            This was a great week! A common theme of these blogs is that I start out the week hesitant and apprehensive but as the week carries its course I can see Gods hand firmly upon the week! I did start off this week with some unknowns, I have been to New Guilford before and have some friends that go to the church but I had never met Lawton Jacobs, Connie Marshall, or Shelly Barvinchack and these were the three main people I interacted with throughout the week. However, I felt welcomed immediately! I felt at home with these people and I’m so grateful for their friendliness and for their welcoming spirits.

            I think the thing that stuck out the most to me this week was realizing that if it wasn’t for my God and the strength he gives me each day, I wouldn’t have made it through this summer. With the end in sight, my last week coming up on Thursday as I head to Roxbury, it would be easy to slack off, to give up and call it a summer; however, my position as the intern will not be over until Roxbury ends and all the people have gone home. I know that it’s not without God leading me and with me every step of this journey that I made it though this summer!! All the glory to Him!

            Sunday morning before Lawton began his sermon I was given the privilege to share with the congregation a little bit of what my summer has been like. So I shared the churches and camps I had previously been at and left them with Isaiah 41:9-10 which reads, “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’: I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” I may not have known it at the beginning of the summer where all God was going to lead me and in what ways he would challenge me but I’m so thankful that I have a God who is big enough to take my fears and my burdens and replace it with strength.

            I want to thank you, New Guilford, for being such wonderful people to serve with! Thank you for welcoming me and allowing me the privilege and joy to serve with you during VBS!! May God bless you.