Back From Camp!

I just returned from a week of summer camp with a bunch of students from our ministry. We drove a couple of hours north of Jupiter to DeLand, Florida to attend Student Life Camp on the beautiful campus of Stetson University. We arrived on Monday around 11 am to register our group. This is our second Student Life camp so I pretty much knew what to expect. Great programming, attention to detail, speaking, music and leadership. From the moment we arrived I knew it was going to be a good week as we were assigned "close" living quarters (as in close to all of the goings on). You see last year the only complaint anyone from our group had was how far away our rooms were from the hub of everything (like a fifteen minute walk). This year would be different. This is what made our camp experience great....
We brought a smaller group - this year we brought a considerably smaller group to camp than in years past. I think this made a difference in relationship building and getting to know students. When you have a larger group, you tend to miss out on these connections. God really moved in the lives of some of our students. I cant wait to see their response over the next months and years.
Church group time - Student Life has a designated church group time each night for every church group. This was a special time for me to lead conversation and prayer with our group. One night we had a couple of members of the acting group come and chill with us, nice.
We drove our own vehicle - because of this we were on our own time schedule and didn't have to deal with grouchy bus drivers. Also, we were able to make Wal-Mart runs for special church time treats for the students. One night we had a pizza party, another night, a candy party.
Student Life program - from the Camp Pastor (David Rhodes) the worship leaders (Unhindered) and the acting team (All Things To All People) it was fantastic. The students really enjoyed the Biblical focus by the pastor, the progressive worship by the band and the ridiculously funny and when necessary contemplative acting team. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for all!

It truly was an amazing week for our whole group. Oh yeah, I was selected Coach of the Day by the SL staff and our students. Very cool honor! That's what the picture is of.