Clear 2012 - Week 3

Week 3 - Chicago, IL


Well, this week our team has traveled up to the grand ole city of Chicago.  Most of our team was surprised to learn that the entire east side of Illinois is mostly flat, and is nothing more than corn and a few windmills.   


And to say that coming up here has been a culture shock would be an understatement.  You could probably call it ignorance but I had no idea Chicago contains a large Hispanic population.  In conversation I have learned that the majority of the neighborhood is of Puerto Rican heritage.  I am now intrigued to do a little historical research about the city when I find the adequate time.  


Anyway, we have been working with Salem Christian School which is a ministry of New Life Covenant Church here in the city of Chicago.  The school is located in an old Lutheran church that was built in the 1890’s.  History tells us that the church closed in the early 1980’s and the school bought, and moved into the building.  So from an architectural and historical point, this is a pretty cool building.  Looking at it from a modern day comfort standpoint … not so much, but we are happy to be here serving the Lord, which I will tell you about next.


Ok, so this week we have helping do some renovation/maintenance work (cleaning, electrical, painting, cleaning bird poop from a bell tower, etc).  Yes, you read that right, quite a few members of our team were given the task of cleaning piles of old pigeon poop from the top of the school’s bell tower.  This was a nasty, but rewarding job for those involved.  Once it was cleaned, some of us went up that night and enjoyed a beautiful sunset along with a great view of the city of Chicago.  


While I was able to enjoy a piece of our teams hard work, most of my days were spent working on all things electrical.  Ron, the school’s maintenance guy, was extremely happy to have someone with an electrical background on the team as he has had a long list of items that needed to be fixed.  He’s probably been exploiting my limited skills as an electrician, but I don’t mind that because I’m one of those weird people that enjoys playing with wires.  


I’ve also had the chance to use this time to teach these skills to one of the other guys on my team.  God is definitely stretching me here as He’s basically given me someone to teach and mentor all day long.  


So while this week we are working, next week kids are coming!  Kids are one of the reasons Clear exists so we are extremely excited about that.  


Anyway, time for me to go. Try and see you all next week!

Clear 2012 - Week 2

Week 2 - Camp Bethany


Week 2 was our first camp of the summer, and my first real camp experience with Clear.  Originally my team was supposed to be in Pittsburg, TX doing a VBS however the church needed to change the dates.  Our next plan was to go do to Kenner, LA and help a church renovate some different areas but once again, God had different plans.  


So we found ourselves working with another team at Camp Bethany in Bethany, LA.  We were able to join right in with the other Bible study leaders and support staff which was pretty magnificent.  Like always, I jumped in on the production side of things which meant setting up and helping run staging, audio, lighting, and video.


God showed me something really fascinating about myself during this week, and I’ll tell you how it happened.  Warren, Clear’s director, asked me after the first day to train other people in using ProPresenter, our presentation program.  I was a little hesitant on the inside but did it anyway.  After trying my best to teach the first person I felt a little better about it, so I got a couple more.  During this process God showed me that I can teach and reproduce the knowledge that’s in my head, and pass it onto others.  I gained a great deal of confidence in this area over the course of the week.  


I was also able to teach the production leader on the second team a few things throughout the week.  It was completely refreshing for me to work with people that possesses a desire to learn.  I am looking forward to teaching others as the summer progresses.  


So while all of the teaching stuff is good, God also showed me at Bethany that I hide behind production equipment.  Why?  Because I fear the rejection of others.  I am insecure and unconfident in many areas of my life.  What’s really interesting about me though, is that I hide all of this very well.  I put on my mask and act a certain way but have many many internal battles.  Though I am learning that I need find my security in Christ alone.  This is a really new step as it’s uncharted ground for me but I’m really enjoying it.


During the week at Bethany, we saw 13 pre-teens come to know Jesus as their personal Savior.  This alone is what Clear is about.  Investing in people and leading them to Jesus.  


As always, get more info about Clear Camps at www.clearcamps.com


David

Clear 2012 - Week 1

Well, here it is, my summer blog about working with Clear.  Hope you enjoy… 

Week 1 - Training Camp

The first week of summer is training camp for the staff.  Training camp had been described to me as many things; Camp for staffers, Detox week, Leadership training, and Staff development.  As the week progressed, all of these things definitely happened.  

Something that was very intriguing to me was that we didn’t wait very long to have an encounter with God.  From my experience, camps typically reserve the first day for everyone to get acquainted.  As a result of not waiting, our times of corporate worship were intense from beginning to end and we saw the Spirit move in powerful ways among all of our staff.  Many moments throughout this week, we just worshipped.  A “worship leader” wasn’t necessarily needed, which kind-of blows my mind a little bit.

I also had my first opportunity to “lead” worship for the staff during training camp.  I don’t know how much leading I really did as I could start a song and the staff would pretty much take over.  I also felt extremely intimidated in leading for the group the first time because Clear has some amazing worship leaders already.  I didn’t really think I would match the others but then I realized that it’s not about me or the other worship leaders, it’s fully about the God we are serving.  What’s nice is that the staff knows that.  They are not ashamed to hold back, no matter who’s leading.  

Throughout the week I also had the chance to clear up some very important things in my life.  I was able to declare truth over extremely huge lies that have been hindering me.  I will blog about this in more depth after the summer is over but it’s literally life changing.

The last day of training camp was bittersweet.  After a good morning of some leadership/crisis training, we headed out to load up equipment for the remainder of the summer.  This was a chaotic few hours for me as I was the leader for the load and I felt extremely unprepared and unorganized.  However despite my feelings, it went very well.   

Friday evening we split up into our individual teams at different host homes.  It was nice to go from the big group of about 70 staffers to our smaller team of 15.  I’m starting to get to know the people on my team better and I’m excited about working with them this summer.  We had a nice ‘family’ meal around a gigantic table at our host home, which was huge in itself.  I have learned that some of the girls have devised a plan to force me out of my “shell” throughout the summer.  I don’t really think I have a shell, but they do so we’ll see what happens.  

David

Summer's Here!

Our first summer working with Clear Camps starts tomorrow and we are tremendously excited!  After training camp this week my team will be traveling to Chicago, Shreveport, & Houston doing mission work as well as hooking up with the rest of the team for Clear’s big youth camp at the end of the summer.  I hope to be able to post everyday but it might slack off at times due to Wi-Fi availability.  So stick with me and if nothing else, I’ll flood you at the end of the summer with what God has done! 

  My main purpose in blogging this summer is for you, my family and friends to be able to read about what we are doing.  I also hope that you will join along with me in praying for all of the Clear staffers throughout the summer.  God is going to be doing some big things and Satan knows it.  We will be going through spiritual warfare and will only be able to survive through your prayers and our strength in the Lord.  

      If you are on Twitter and would like to follow Clear activity, use hashtag #clearcamps.  This should set you up with anyone tweeting about Clear this summer!


You can also check out the Clear website at www.clearcamps.com

Hope you will join me on this journey!

David

Video - Stars

For now this is the last in my video collection from Riverside.  This was a bittersweet moment as it was the last I would play here as God was calling me to a new ministry opportunity.  I am thankful that I got to share it with my friend Jeremy Mohr.  Here is our cover of "Stars" by the David Crowder Band.

Stars Lyrics



you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now


you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now


and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again


and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now


and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful


and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now


and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.


cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.