Prepping for a camp

Now I am pretty sure there is no manual on how to prep for speaking at a camp.  I am not even sure if what I do is the best but here is how I have learned to best prep for speaking at a camp.

Study the Outline
Normally when you speak at a camp you will be given an outline, or some sort of document, that will help you understand the theme of the camp.  Study this!  If the camp wants you to preach on X,Y and Z then you better be familiar with X,Y and Z.  From my experience the camp will give you some direction on where they are heading and the theme they have.  The nice thing is the directions normally mean I get to use the freeway (I have lots of room to work) and normally don't have to take the country room (less room to move in).

Prepare Ahead
If the camp gives you the material 6 weeks out; start studying.  If the camp gives you the material 6 months out; start studying.  I have found that the longer I can just think about the text, direction and theme the better I am.  I am not a natural thinker so I need more time than your average person.  When I get an opportunity to think ahead I am much more creative, know my Bible texts better and have way better stories to tell! I have time to try the illustrations that I want to use and make sure the movie clips fit the direction of the message.

Map it out
Know where you are heading and make sure its clear!  I like to get a big piece of paper and write out the title of the night, the main text and my big idea down (see picture below).  Once those are clear I can start outlining my messages for the week.  When I am able to see it clearly written down I can process it better and make sure I am being crystal clear in what I'm teaching and how I'm asking students to respond to God.

Own It
If you don't own it how will anyone else?  If you don't know your material, by heart, how can you expect a student to remember it.  Now you may think this is harsh or too much to ask but I don't.  I always do my best to memorize my material, the flow of the night and how I will close the message.  My hope is that if a student ran into my 6 months later that I would know enough of the messages that I preach to still have a lasting conversation about them.

So this is what I'm doing right now; what are you doing so I can learn from you?

What Up?

This weekend I was preaching at a camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.  I have had a great time teaching at this camp for the last couple years and I am very thankful for the ministry of Pondo.

The theme of the camp was "What Up?" and all weekend we used different UP themes to help students grow in their faith.  I don't have the messages recorded to share with you but I do have some thoughts after being a student ministries pastor for almost a decade.

Ministry to Students Matters
This weekend I hung out with a bunch of student ministries pastors, adult leaders, camp leadership teams and a great worship team.  All of these people invested HOURS into making an amazing camp experience for this camp.  Students came to camp because their youth pastor believed in them.  Students found Jesus at camp because their leaders had been praying for them and God worked in their hearts.  If you are not working directly in student ministries you need to figure out how to have a finger in their because it matters.

Ministry to Students is Time Consuming
When you work with students on a full-time basis or as an adult leader it is time consuming.  This weekend I saw many adults staying up way past my bedtime.  I had conversations with leaders who had students that stayed up late (and most of them were because the kids just had massive amounts of energy).  Leaders helped carry bags, stack chairs, clean up cabins, and take kids snowboarding (suffering for Jesus).  For me; I took many nights sitting at my kitchen table writing messages with the intent to help students find Jesus.  I left my family for the weekend and took time to make the camp happen.

Ministry to Students is Worth It
Ministry to students matters, its time consuming but in the end it is all worth it.  On Saturday night there were many students that made a profession of Christ as Lord.  Students trusted Jesus with their entire heart.  Students took a step of faith, got out of their comfort zone and placed their trust in God.  As a former student pastor I can say that its all worth it!

I say that because this weekend I met up with some of the boys who were in the student ministry I lead and went snowboarding.  They are young men now and I had a great time with them as freshman boys, senior boys and now young men who are living for Jesus.

Wise Up! Rise Up!

Last weekend I was invited up to Pondo to speak at camp. The camp was full of middle school students and amazing adult leaders who love middle school students.  The theme of the camp was "Rise Up! Wise Up!" and for the weekend teaching we spent of our time in the book of Proverbs.  Now middle school students can be a difficult crowd of students to communicate to so you have to be very intentional at how you address them with the topic so they can have application for life change.

Here are some of my thoughts after the spending the weekend with students:

I MISS STUDENTS
Many of you know that I was recently asked to transition into a new role at my church.  I had lead in our student ministry department for the last seven years so I know the transition would be a huge change.  I was a little nervous that I may get to the camp and realize that it would have been better for someone else to be there teaching but the exact opposite happened.  I realized that I miss spending time with youth pastors.  I miss seeing students do stupid things.  I miss spending time with the community that happens in a ministry team that meets on a weekly basis to conquer the same goal.

MINISTRY WITH MY WIFE IS AMAZING
On Saturday Charity came down (she was staying at my mom's house) to hang out for the day. Since having children Charity and I haven't been able to do ministry, on the front lines, side by side like we once were able to and I miss that.  My wife is such an amazing, encouraging, uplifting woman that it just makes me want to spend more time with her.

GOD LOVES STUDENTS
Saturday night was decision night and I had been praying most for that night.  I was able to share about how Jesus calls us to follow Him and invited students to make that choice right there to follow Jesus.  About 30+ students stood up and said "I want to follow Jesus" that night.  Something happened that night that I never expected when the worship leader, David Gaulton, called all the adult leaders up to pray with students.  It took some time but after a while most of the students had left their chair to head to the front to pray with their adult leader; it was so rad seeing God move in the lives of students that weekend.

(Students praying with leaders)

Top 4 from Middle School Winter Camp

I know that there are "top X" lists all over the place but this one is going to be special to me.  See in October 2006 our church hired Chase Feindel to lead Ignite; our middle school ministry.  That year was a super tough year for me in ministry and it was nice to pass Ignite off to Chase, actually its realistic to say that I dumped it on him because I was done.  In 2007 Chase ran his first winter camp to Big Bear Lake and did really good with the poor planning and lame set-up that I had done.  I have to randomly include this picture of the coldest temp while were up there.

Well after leading a few more camps on his Chase has totally turned the wheel and done some amazing ministry.  This year was a treat for me to be invited to speak at our middle school winter camp up at Pine Summit in Big Bear Lake.  As I watched, engaged and spoke this weekend here are four things that really stuck out to me:

1) Our church has a great Middle School Pastor
Please notice that I did not say "good" middle school pastor.  Chase has grown into a great middle school pastor and I truly believe that he will continue to grow in his leadership.  I am starting with this because of how I see Chase lead students and his adult leader team.  There is a huge love for Chase in his ministry and I know that he desires to point these students to Christ; that is one thing that makes him great.

2) Adult Leaders who Lead
In our church we call our adults who help out leaders.  We do not have chaperones in our ministry.  Chase has a team of leaders who serve alongside him that are leaders.  Chase is actively training up new leaders and inviting leaders onto the team to lead students.  I loved watching this this weekend and just seeing leaders doing what God has called them to do.

3) God Sending Snow
I have been on so many winter camps that I cannot even count how many I have been on now.  This was my third winter camp this year (I lead one and spoke at another one prior to this) and it was so rad having God send snow!  It snowed about 18-24 inches while we were up there and it just made for a cool weekend.  Anytime you can take a bunch of kids from the desert and get them fresh snow its super cool.

4) Speaking to Our Church
It was so rad for me speaking to our middle school students and the leadership team.  See when I came out here over six years ago we had 8 students on my first night; there were many more than that this weekend.  I felt very strongly that I needed to communicate the message clearly to our students this weekend because I will have these students in my ministry in the coming year.  I felt like I had a chance to share with these students about what they can expect in their coming years at South Hills.

Ignite Winter Camp 2011 Saturday Overview

This morning I woke up at 3:40am when Leah started crying
I moved to the couch around 4:20am when Leah came into our bed
I woke up around 6am when my mom came into the living room and opened the windows

I was so thrashed tire this morning when I rolled up to camp but it is so cool to see God moving up here.  I am so proud of our middle school team right now and tomorrow I'm going to post about my top 4 favorite things from winter camp.  This morning I spoke about finding our identity in Christ and helping students move from listening to the world to listening to God.  You gotta watch this video and see how the road conditions were when I drove to camp and how much snow we got last night.



After chapel I went home and played in the snow with the girls for a little while, spent some time with my family and then had a yummy dinner.  I headed back to Pine Summit for Saturday night chapel and God showed up.  I prayed that God would help students to leave here with understanding His truth and not my stories.  Tonight was decision night and I shared my favorite story from Mark 10; the story of Blind Bartimaeus.  I challenged the students pretty hard tonight because I go to the same church they do and I was convicted to not make it easy to accept Christ.  I know that salvation is free for us; but it was costly for Jesus.  I know its easy to raise your hand; but its tough to live for Christ.

My prayer is that these students grow this weekend and radically live for Christ

Winter Camp 2011 Overview

Winter Camp 2011 has come and gone; at least the "date" has but I think year has had a residual effect on students lives.

This year we held our winter camp in Brian Head Utah, the same place we have done it for the last five years. The last five years of doing camp on our own has taught us some good ministry lessons (and made us very thankful for summer camp at Hume Lake). This year there was something different about winter camp though; something smooth, something bigger than us. The theme we went for was growth and challenging students to grow in their walk with Christ.

We left Friday afternoon and were about 75 minutes out of Vegas when the tire blew on our trailer. I stayed back with another leader while our Executive Pastor came and brought us two new tires. This was really the only "speed bump" we hit along the way (no pun intended).

Chase Fiendel was our speaker this year and he brought it! He is our Middle School Pastor and it was so rad to have him with us because many of the students already know Chase and he was able to just jump in and start working with students. He spoke very honestly about his life on Friday night and how he needs people in his life to help him grow. He also talked about living for Eternity and making sure that we are focusing our life on God things. I wish we could have recorded the messages!

Our Adult Leaders are a key part of this event. We ask ALOT of them on this trip. They drive up vans, trucks and tow trailers. We have two leaders go up a day early with the Costco run (about $1600) and then Friday morning divi it up in the homes. The leaders are there getting students to chapel, helping to cook, clean the homes, snowboard, sled, and minister to students. This year I walked away knowing that without that exact team camp would not have been what it was. I am so thankful for the leadership team I get to work with. I constantly tell them they are a huge part of what keeps me here, with the passion I have, working with students.

One aspect I love is bringing students who graduated from our ministry and now come back to serve. Kurt Johnson was in my small group for a few years and I just love what God is doing in his life. He is a Junior at Azusa Pacific University and loves Jesus! Kurt ran recreation for us on Saturday. Kyle Rock just graduated from UNLV and has been faithful in helping us with media. Kyle came and filmed the weekend so we could capture the event on film. Marianna McComb graduated a fear years ago and is attending BIOLA University down in So Cal. She came up and lead worship for us and helped ushered students into worship with Jesus.

To be honest I thought this would have been our last time in Brian Head because it had become so much work but this year gave me hope that we are on the right track and can do this again!

Check out the video recap of the weekend

Pondo Winter Camp

About a year ago a friend of mine called and asked me if I would like to speak at the winter camp she helps coordinate and the answer was "yes, I would love to!"

So the year goes by and this weekend I had the opportunity to speak at Pondo; a camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. I pulled in around 5pm Friday night and was able to meet Dan Skipper, the man who leads Pondo. We chatted for a bit and got to know each other. I appreciate men like Dan who have ministry experience and are committed to seeing students lives change. After we chatted I got all my media set up (that is the boring part of the story). That night we had our first chapel and I have to admit that I was extremely nervous about speaking. I typically get nervous prior to speaking in any setting I find myself speaking before more than 50 people; but this time I was extremely nervous. It made me know that God wanted me to rely on Him!

Chapel started and I knew that God has asked me to speak up there, I was prayed up and prepared for the night. Saturday morning rolled around and chapel was right there. The morning started with me speaking and then worship from the Aaron Hofman Band. Aaron and I have done a few camps together but this one was special. That night was decision and I would say that about 60 of the 250 middle school students up there made a choice to follow Christ in a new way; that was exciting!

Sunday came before I knew it and it was time to share the last message; how do we duplicate our faith? I spoke on Luke 15; The Parable of the Lost Sheep, and how Jesus asks us to reach out to those around us. I feel like the camp was a huge success for the Kingdom. I had such a great time getting to meet the team up there and ministering to students. It was different for me being on that end of the program and not being there with our student but I am very thankful for the opportunity and really think that God was glorified this weekend!

I love the location of Pondo; it is close to So Cal and up in the mountains I grew up in. There is nothing like being in the mountains with a bunch of leaders who love God and like students and getting to watch God continue to change lives. Thanks for having me Pondo; I loved being there with you this weekend

The Use of Media

Last summer I took a course on preaching that was taught by Dr. Rod Casey and in that course we talked about many different aspects of the worship service. There were multiple things that stuck out to me. Sometimes guys will stop there; but I didn't. Rod was very generous with me and spent some extra time one and one and in that time I was very intentional to listen to his advice and wisdom. There were two major things that I took away from that course:

1) The need to be very intentional in my message delivery

2) The need to use media within the worship service

Now some people would disagree with point number two but not me. See I have been working with students for almost ten years now, in the church setting, and have seen first hand how media impacts students lives. There is usaully someone you know that is defined by something they use in their teaching method. I am known as the "video clip" guy at our church. I am constantly using video clips to help teach points because I think it can say things in a way that I cannot communicate and it brings a break in the message to refocus everyone on what is on the screen.

Now another use of media we have done is to allow students to help with making videos that we can show for announcements and Kyle Rock has been the man at this. Just recently though I saw an article from Kurt Johnson and we started doing very simple voice overs to communicate the announcements. It is a fun way to share the announcements and get students involved. Check some of them out



This one was for our Cheesy Christmas Sweater Party


This one cracked me up for winter camp rules


A fairly simple, inexpensive, way to communicate

Winter Camp 2010 Recap

This years winter camp was amazing! I think that every year our team gets better and better at this trip! When I say "better" I mean more effective. We have been able to extend the trip and keep the cost down. We had two amazing leaders who go up the day before and stock the homes with food so that the students don't starve. We have established a great relationship with Town Hall in Brian Head and are able to rent it out for our meetings. I have noticed that our team (adult leaders) love the trip; it gives them a chance to connect with students over the weekend without missing too much work.

This year we had Brian Berry come and speak and he nailed it. The cabin discussion was wonderful in my cabin, and the leaders shared the same. Christian Calvo came and lead us in worship through music. There is something cool about worshiping in a small room with little amplification and just students voices. This year camp was great: I loved it! Don't believe me? Watch for yourself then!

Sophie's First Time Snowboarding

I know the video is side ways, but it was so fun!

Winter Camp Pic

This has to be the coolest winter camp picture that I have ever been apart of!
Thanks leaders for making camp so amazing this year.
(Click the picture and see how rad it looks!)

Explode Winter Camp 2009

Winter Camp was amazing! That is the only way that I can describe this years camp. About four years we decided to do High School Winter Camp on our own to really focus on Discipleship and help our students get connected with eachother. The result has been a huge learning experience for me and our team.
This year we had Chad Blood from Lifeway Church in Arlington, WA as our speaker. Charity and I interned under Chad in Eastlake, CA. Chad taught on the Full Armor of God and really brought the truth of Jesus this year; it was great to spend the weekend with him.
Marc Faircloth lead worship and just nailed it! I love the room we meet in because its not a show room; the place allows students to really connect with God.
The main thing that I have learned from doing camp on our own (literally we do it all: rent houses, rent vans, rent town hall, bring all the food) is that we cannot do it without our leaders. Leaders, if you read this thank you so much for loving our studetns and impacting their lives!
Once again, Kyle Rock made an amazing video to wrap up the weekend.