Why I work camp

School will be out in just a few days and summer will officially begin. I will have the privilege of serving as a chaperone to both our Middle school work camp (Louisville, KY) and High school work camp (Brighton, Tenn)this summer and I can't wait.

Why would I use 2 weeks of my vacation to serve a with a bunch of people I don't know, sleep in a school with 30 of my closest high school "girl-friends" on a cot and work outside in the heat and humidity? Glad you asked!

I love Jesus and Group Work Camps has been one of the greatest experience of my Christian walk. I have met some amazing people (youth and adults), I have grown in my faith, I have gained confidence in sharing the gospel and I have PERSONALLY seen GOD at work!

My first work camp was in Racine, Wisconsin in 2007 and was the experience that got me hooked. We arrived on a Sunday and worshipped at the local United Methodist Church in Racine. Later that day I met my crew (4 teens and one other adult). Our project would be to paint the house of our resident, a man named Ed.

We met Ed (a tattooed, chainsmoking Viet Nam vet who worked at a meat packing plant)on Monday morning after stopping for a short prayer outside his home. During the 32 hours we worked outside Ed's home, it was apparent God was working inside. Lunch devotions bonded the crew members to each other and to our resident but the chair reserved for Ed was always empty until Thursday, when he joined us for lunch. Ed shared with me that the church I had attended on Sunday was the church he had been raised in and that his sisters still attended there. He hadn't darkened the doors of a church for more than 30 years. When it came time to conclude or meal/devotion time with a prayer, I asked Ed if he would close us out with a few words of his own. He stumbled over his response, stating "I don't know if I can do that" but when the prayers circled around to him, he boldly uttered "Amen". God had used 6 people, painting a house to reach one of his lost sheep. Ed returned to his church the Sunday after we left Racine, exactly one week from the time I worshiped there. He joined several committees and the following summer he served on a mission trip his own church sponsored to West Virginia.

I love work camp because I have seen God through the actions of his people. I have felt his presence in a real an powerful way. I have grown in ways I did not imagine possible and I have seen the power prayer has to change things.

The mission field is right outside your door. Pray hard!