Summer Camp Countdown...

In one week, we will have dozens of little first through third graders traipsing around camp...learning about Jesus, trying new adventures, and having tons of fun!

Some of our 1st-3rd grade campers from last summer.

 As our summer staff have been arriving over the last month, we have been overwhelmed by God's provision of such an awesome group! Going into another summer facing program leadership transitions, we knew it was going to be important to have a summer staff who are solid, focused, and somewhat low-maintenance. The Lord has blessed us with above and beyond what we had asked...each of our staff are highly motivated people with great leadership potential and, most importantly, a deep love for the Lord. We are so excited to see how God is going to use them this summer and how He is going to work in each of the campers' lives. Last week they all spent a week at the World Impact ministry center in Fresno, gaining some experience in urban life and leading sports camps in several local parks.

A few of our summer staff in action at a park in inner-city Fresno.

A little boy and his dad at one of the sports camps our summer staff put on in Fresno.

Our theme for the summer is "ROOTED," based on the parable of the sower in Luke 8:4-15.  

"Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." (Luke 8:7-15)

In talking with World Impact staff in other cities, we've learned that one challenge that inner-city Christians face is keeping themselves rooted in their faith.  Although they may have a desire to grow deeper in their relationship with the Lord, they are often surrounded by influences and "thorns" that pull them the opposite way, choking their faith and keeping them stagnant.

Please join us in praying for each week of camp--that the hearts of all of our campers would be as good soil, which "hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop" (Luke 8:15).

God has placed many of our campers in strategic positions in which to share His love to the poor and needy. Our prayer is that they will be rooted so much so that His light shines through them, yielding a crop of new Christians in the inner-city, "a hundred times more than was sown!"

 June 28-July 1:  1st-3rd Grade Camp

July 3-8:  4th-6th Grade Camp

July 10-15:  4th-6th Grade Camp

July 17-22:   Junior High Camp

July 24-29:  Senior High Camp