Camp Ministry is the BEST!

Caleb, Gabriella, and I drove up to camp. Shelby was already there.

Mount Katahdin in the distance. That view never gets old.

I love watching the kids learning to praise Jesus in song!

I love love love this! I put up my paintings after I'm done preaching the messages, and it's a JOY to see campers studying them during their free time. Praise God!

When a 10-year-old girl comes up to you and says, 'I remember you! You gave me my Bible last year, and I still have it.' Yes, that makes your day BIG TIME! And I remembered her.

I have a silly game I play with the Camp Counselors. Every day I give out an 'I Am Cool' award to the Counselor who I think has the coolest t-shirt. Often a fun Star Wars shirt will win, or a Marvel Superhero shirt, or whatever I think is the coolest. It's fun and the kids all want their Counselor to win. Well, Counselor Caleb here went above and beyond. He made a 'I heart Mark S.' t-shirt! Did he win? Of course he did.

This is Erin and Lauren, and they tried to mess me up with my 'favorite t-shirt award' by wearing the SAME SHIRT. I do have a soft spot for Disney's Stitch (the cute blue guy on the shirt), but since they were trying to mess up the game, I disqualified them. HAHAHAHA! Not to worry, they each individually won later in the week. :)

OUCH! I was doing a gospel magic trick with a bear trap, (actually more of a wolf trap), and the trap snapped closed TOO EARLY and my finger was stuck inside. Yikes! The kids thought it was part of the trick. Finally someone realized this wasn't part of the act and that I was in trouble and helped me get my finger out. That's NOT the way that trick is supposed to work. My finger throbbed for days, but it's fine now. I still have black under my fingernail, but at least it doesn't hurt anymore. Yikes! If you want to see how this trick is _supposed_ to work, it's on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/5mhrQ88LVnU

Goofing around with some of the campers. :)

Not a bad view at all. The mountains in the background are in Canada.

Here's the amazing Campers and Counselors who I got to share Jesus with at camp. Of the 60+ kids, 10 publicly professed to repenting of their sin and believing in Jesus for the first time. About the same number admitted to already being born again, but being distracted by the world, and they committed to get rid of any idols inhibiting them. I praise God for the tremendous work He's doing! Hallelujah!

Caleb did a GREAT job as a Staff Boy. He scraped paint, re-painted buildings, mowed lawns, collected trash, moved bails of hay, helped move a fallen tree, and whatever else needed done around the camp. Way to go Caleb!

Shelby helped lead the Barn Staff again this year, and Gabriella volunteered as a Junior Wrangler. Somehow Gabriella weaseled her way out of this photo though.

This is part 1 in a 5-day series on 'The Gospel in Creation.' I believe kids are smart and can understand Theology when explained to them. So we learned God is 'Eternal,' meaning He always existed and always will. We learned that God does not have a body of flesh and bones, but is a Spirit. We learned that there is only 1 True God, and He exists in Three Persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. We learned that God does not need anything. He is self-sufficient. We learned that God is omni-present (everywhere at all times), and that God is more powerful that everything! Great Theology there, and the kids really 'got it.'

Part 2 in 'The Gospel in Creation.' We learned that God is soooo powerful, He can make things from NOTHING! That's pretty amazing. And we learned how life began, and what God made on each of the six days of Creation. We also learned that out of all of creation, humans are the only ones made in God's image, which means, like God, we can reason and analyze and make decisions. At the end of the 6th day, God saw that it was 'very good.' But why aren't things good today? I told the kids that we'd learn that tomorrow.

Part 3 in 'The Gospel Through Creation.' We learned 'How Death Came Into the World.' Adam and Eve had only one rule, and they said 'yes' to sin, and that lead to death. The whole human race died three ways: 1) We were cut off from God, our life source. Just like when a branch is cut off from the trunk, it begins dying, the same thing happened to us. Now God is not our friend, but we are enemies of God through rebellion. 2) We will all someday die physically. 3) We all deserve to live forever in the Lake of Fire. Our only way out is through a Savior. I told the kids that they'd learn about God's way out - The Savior - tomorrow!

Part 4 in 'The Gospel Through Creation.' We learned that as a result of breaking God's Law, Adam and Eve were now ashamed, and afraid of God. They had never experienced these negative emotions before. Then they started blaming one another, another new aspect of their relationship now that sin was in the world. But God was merciful! He made leather skins to cover them, and that requires the death of an animal. The very first death ever was a blood sacrifice by God Himself. God also promised to crush the head of the serpent (Satan). But there were consequences to Adam and Eve's rebellion. The worst is that Paradise was lost, and without a Savior, all humanity is doomed for the Lake of Fire. The greatest news ever is that God provided Jesus as a substitute to die in our place, paying for our sins with His blood! I told the kids that there would be more on that tomorrow!

Part 5 in 'The Gospel Through Creation.' We learned that God demanded a blood sacrifice because sin must be paid for with death. Abel obeyed and offered a blood sacrifice in faith. In contrast, Cain did what seemed right in his eyes and gave a produce offering. God accepted Abel. Cain had the opportunity to admit what he did was wrong, but instead he tragically killed his brother. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the animal sacrificial system. We can be like Cain and do what is right in our own eyes, and get what we deserve - the Lake of Fire. Or we can be like Abel and believe God, and choose a blood sacrifice - Jesus Christ. Jesus' blood sacrifice covers us if we turn from our sin and trust in the gospel! There was a very clear gospel presentation and everyone was exhorted to turn to Jesus. About 8 Campers indicated that they trusted in Jesus. Praise God! Please pray for the kids who heard this vital message!!!

Here's the BEFORE and AFTER of the painting of the first message from this series. We learned what it means that Jesus is 'THE SON OF GOD.' Jesus prophesied His own death. He accurately predicted the manner of His death, the city, and the time. He could do this because He's 'The Son of God.' Then Jesus was transfigured. God the Father Himself declared Jesus to be 'The Son of God.' Jesus also performed miracles. Specifically, He exorcised a demon. Jesus had control over all nature because He is 'The Son of God.'

Part 2 of 5 of 'Who Is Jesus.' From John, chapter 11 - the raising of Lazarus. Jesus showed that He is fully God by knowing that Lazarus had died, and having the power to raise him. Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' (John 11:25-26). Jesus showed that He is fully man by weeping at the death of Lazarus. There's soooo much in this amazing passage! Lazarus was dead. Jesus made him alive. Then Lazarus became a testimony and many others turned to Jesus because of him. God does the same thing with us! We are all born with a soul that's dead in sin. Jesus makes us born-again. And then He uses us to reach others! But be careful, when God uses us, satanic forces will try to stop us and even try to kill us, just as the jealous religious leaders in Jesus' day wanted to kill Him and Lazarus too.

Part 3 of 5 of 'Who Is Jesus.' I taught from John, chapter 10. In Jesus' day, sheep were safe from thieves and predators only if they were in the pen, and there was only one way in, guarded by the Shepherd. Jesus said He was that one way to safety. He is THE GOOD SHEPHERD. This is just like in Noah's day where there was only one way to be saved from the flood. The Ark was a preview of salvation in Christ. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus calls, leads, loves, cares for, protects, dies for, and knows His sheep. Nothing is more important than knowing for certain that you are one of Jesus' sheep, protected forever in the Father's hand. I told the campers that we'd learn how to belong to Christ in the next few days.

Part 4 of 5 of 'Who Is Jesus.' I had the privilege to teach the kids the vital passage about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, from Luke, chapter 18. The Pharisee thought God's Way to Heaven was by being good and doing religious deeds. The Tax Collector was humble, pleading for God's mercy. God's mercy was paid for at the cross! Both men were sinners, but The Only Way to be forgiven is through God's mercy, given through Jesus Christ. Even a sinful Tax Collector, if he comes humbly to God through the cross, can be forgiven!

Part 5 of 5 of 'Who Is Jesus.' We learned what it means that Jesus is 'THE ONLY SAVIOR.' In a culture that wanted children to act more like adults, Jesus said he wanted adults to become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of God. A rich young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to enter Heaven. But there's nothing we can do. We've all sinned. But this man mistakenly thought he had successfully kept all of God's commandments. To show this man his pride, Jesus took him through the 10 Commandments, to show that we're all sinners. 'All have sinned' (Romans 3:23), and 'None are good' (Romans 3:10). Our only hope is to trust in the Only Savior. Because He loves us, Jesus died for sinners. If we turn from our sins and trust in Jesus, that He died and rose again, and is THE ONLY SAVIOR, then we will be Born Again and be adopted into God's family. What GREAT news!!!

My final message at Camp. Heaven is God's Home, and it's a place where there is no sadness, sickness, or death, because there is no sin there. But the BEST PART about Heaven is that we get to finally see Jesus face-to-face and be in God's presence forever! Jesus is our Treasure! The Book of Life records the names of all who will be allowed to enter. But first we need to understand why we don't deserve to go. God made the world perfect, but Adam disobeyed the one rule he was given, bringing sin and death to humanity and the world. Now God it's no longer our friend, but our judge. But He's merciful and loving, so God gave Adam and Eve leather clothing. Leather requireds the death of an animal. An innocent animal was killed to cover the guilty, and a precedent was set. God requires a blood sacrifice for sin. The death of that animal was a picture, or a preview, of what Jesus would someday do. The blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin. God sent the PERFECT FINAL SACRIFICE, Himself. God came down, lived a perfect sinless life, and sacrificed Himself on the cross to pay for the sins of those who repent and believe. Two thieves were crucified along with Him. The first disrespected Jesus, while the second was humble, acknowledging his wrong, and looking to Jesus to enter His kingdom. These two thieves represent to kinds of hearts: one that trusts self, or one that trusts Jesus and the cross. Which person will we be like? Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for us, and he was buried, and in the third day rose from the dead. He commands everyone to repent of their sins (turn), and believe the gospel (trust). If we do or not is literally the difference between eternity in the Lake of Fire, or eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. We must be Born Again through repentance and faith! Then we get to go to Heaven, not because we're a good person, but because we're a bad person who has been forgiven by a very good God. That's grace! And God becomes our Father now and we can walk with Him by faith all the days of our lives.