Clear 2012 - Week 8

Week 8 - Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment

Well, here the is, the last installment of my Clear Camp summer blog for 2012.  

The last week of camp consisted of all three of our teams converging onto the Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment for our biggest camp of the summer.  This youth camp brings in an average of about 600 students and 100 adults a year.  Add in the close to 70 Clear Staffers and guest throughout the week, there is about 800 people on the campus at any given time.  Needless to say, there is a lot going on.  

Throughout this week God was continually pushing me out of my comfortable place.  I didn’t realize that I had any comfortable places left after being surrounded by my other 16 team members non-stop for five weeks, but I did.  

Anyway, one of the major standards of Clear is that the staff is with the students as much as possible.  This means from breakfast at 7:30 in the morning until we walk them back to their cabins between 11-11:30 at night.  What this does is forces us to interact with students, at all times.  It forces those of us, like me, that don’t really like to talk, to talk.  

For me, this week started with just simply talking with the adult leaders.  I met some that had been doing this for a long time, and others that were at a Clear event for the first time.  Mostly, God pushed me in talking with students in the lunch/dinner line.  Since we all had to be there, and it took some time to go through, I had some great conversations with students throughout the week.  I really believe that God was speaking through me, showing His vast love to the students.  

Even as I type this, God is showing/reminding me how he systematically brought me through this summer, not just this week, teaching me to interact with people I don’t know.  He has continually been teaching me about His love for people.  About his love for me.  

The week at Daniel Springs concluded with 60 salvations.  How amazing is that!?  60 new believers in the kingdom!  That is why we do camp.  To lead students into a relationship with Christ, and give them tools to grow in that new relationship.  Over the entire summer, with three teams from East Texas, to Chicago, to Florida, and all the way to India, Clear has seen 293 give their lives to Christ!

This has truly been an amazing summer for me.  God has shown me a ton about himself, and myself.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along.  If you would like more information about Clear, let me know or check out the website at www.clearcamps.com. There is some great stuff coming up this fall that you should definitely check out. 

Until next time,
David