Camp Joy El

Hello from Oklahoma!

We had a wonderful week at camp Joy El in Greencastle PA. God did such amazing and awesome things while we were there that it was almost difficult to pack up and leave. Personally, it has been too long since I have seen God’s Spirit move in people’s lives in such a tangible way as He did this week at Joy El.

The staff at the camp was incredible, truly defining what it means to be servant leaders. The mission at Joy El is “to connect with each camper on a relationship with Jesus and equip them to share with others”. We saw this happen with every camper as we served there this week. Beginning each morning with staff devotions and prayer for the campers, I was struck by the emphasis the camp has upon personal and corporate prayer, Bible study, and memorization of Scripture. Sadly, such defining dedication to these disciplines cannot be found in most “Christian” environments, but this week revived the importance of these things in my life and with the rest of the team.

The six of us guys were split into 3 groups of 2 and were in cabins with the senior high guys all week. Denny and I had six guys in our cabin. Highlights from cabin time for myself were fly hunting with Kyle (we destroyed at least 30 flies in one night with flip flops and bare hands) and listening to Denny tell ridiculous jokes – like the one about the 3 strings in the desert… We split up into 3 teams for the week, ours being the Pufferfishes. The Pufferfishes finished second in the overall week’s events; waging against team Babbaganoosh and the Terrorific Tugganeers. Highlights from the weeks events include climbing a mountain on the Appalachin trail (we saw a couple hiking from Georgia to Maine who had been on the trail 3 months), capture the flag, sink the ship (canoes), the big swing, Ga Ga Ball, looking at the sunset from the lookout, campfire testimonies, and best of all, chapel! Aaron Meredith, an IWU graduate was the speaker for the week and was captivating to say the least.
Main songs during this week were Jesus Paid it All, Happy Day, I Exalt Thee, From the Inside Out, All Because of Jesus, I Will Exalt You, Your Love Never Fails, and Counting on God. Counting on God was put completely put together in a day and we played it on Thursday night, it was easily the favorite song for the week. The spiritual atmosphere at the camp seemed to increase exponentially during the week with the message of the cross on Wednesday night. The theme for the week was “Share the Message” (Matthew 28:19,20). We were challenged to seriously consider eternity in our lives as well as the lives of friends and this week we saw kids getting serious about evangelism!

Wednesday night we saw God move powerfully. The message of the cross penetrated so many chains and hurts, touching the kids hearts so much that 3 of the kids gave their lives to Christ for the first time along with many others rededicating their lives and calling out to God for the salvation of friends and family. That night we had an impromptu extended worship service, which took the rest of the night, where God truly moved our lives. The testimonies of the kids were incredible as we shared at the campfire on Thursday night. It was an honor and pleasure to be able to be with those kids this week!

After Joy El we drove to Seth’s house to spend the night in St. Clairsville. In the morning we drove to IWU and spent the night there getting to see friends and women of significant interest to some of the guys on the team. Chris Kleman got to finally see his mom who he hasn’t seen since Christmas – so that was definitely a praise! Next we are on to Oklahoma! Sky Ranch is the name of the camp and we are hoping there are horses…
Feel free to leave comments or questions on any of the blog posts! To those of you that have been praying for us, we can’t thank you enough. I hope you have enjoyed reading and please continue to pray. God bless!!