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Dear praying friends and family,
It sure is fun having little kids and listening to them talk about Jesus as they begin to grasp the concept of who He is during this time of year when there is so much focus on Him… at least in church and at home. We pray that soon they will understand why He came to earth and how it affects them. We love the call God has put on our life as parents to train our kids up to love and serve Him. We see this as God’s greatest call for us. We have worked with many youth over the years, but with only a few hours a week of positive influence from us vs. the balance filled with negative influence from home and every other source, we are very limited and many have succumbed to the overwhelming negative influences. We can at least lay a good foundation in our own kids, rather than trying to shore up a sunken foundation as we have been doing so often in other kids.
This weekend we had a prayer retreat. Melissa and I had already decided we were going to spend Saturday in prayer, fasting, and seeking God, even if no one showed up, which two weeks ago (the deadline for registration) was how many had committed. Two days before the retreat, the youth leader from a church in Hutchinson, KS, that has been very supportive in terms of bringing youth down as an encouragement to us that someone is interested, called. He had six youth that were able to come! That encouraged two from our group to stay the weekend and participate. Twelve of us spent Saturday fasting, praying, and meditating on God’s word. During one of our sharing sessions, one participant said she heard from God that He was calling her to some sort of ministry. The great thing about an event like this is that there can be no doubt that it is not just some emotional response to a hyped up speaker or moving music. When it is just focused time alone with God, His is the only voice to be heard. We will be sending out reminder cards to each person later of what they said God showed them this weekend, to help reinforce it. Please pray for continued growth from this experience in the lives of each of us who did it. Also, pray that more people would see the value of this type of experience and that we could have more of these prayer retreats in which God could move in the hearts of His people, drawing them closer to Himself and revealing Himself and His will to them.
Another thing that came out of the retreat is a potential opportunity for God to use Cedar Springs youth to encourage to the leaders of this group from Kansas. In talking with them, it sounds like us taking a group up there would not only serve to expand the horizons of the teens from this area, but would serve as a much needed boost to the morale of those working with the inner city teens of that area. We will continue to pray about this and consider details, but it sounds like it may the answer to our prayers for Christmas missions. Then we can just do local projects on weekends and at other times the teens here are available.
I continue to have a burden to focus less on completing the camp projects and more on using those projects as training opportunities. This is difficult for me, as I really want to be busy completing projects. The Cary-Grove Center is so close to completion that I can taste it. I am still trying to find those whom God has to be training. Whereas, last month I said there are two youth who are willing to be involved, that is down to one. My off-camp work is getting caught up and we have almost already paid off all bills relating to Jairus, so it looks like God is making it possible to work more at the camp. This last young man is not really into carpentry, so we will work on ice storm clean up.
With the slowing off-camp work schedule, comes an increase in the ability to meet with young men for one-on-one Bible study. In talking with some of them last week, I realized how critical these weekly meetings are, in that most of them said they had not read their Bibles on their own in the few weeks that I had not met with them. I shared with them my concern that my goal in meeting with them is that they will come to the point at which they will have formed such a habit that they won’t need someone hounding them about it. Of course, Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that we need to get together for that very purpose on a regular basis. This is the heart of growing Christians - daily seeking and serving God and holding each other accountable to that.
Thanks for your prayers and support,
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