Cypress and Ohio District Youth Camp

Hello everyone!! I hope this blog finds you well and filled with the Spirit of Christ! We are enjoying the summer thus far and Denny wanted to write this week and tell you all about what last week was like. We will likely be taking turns writing for you this summer. Enjoy!


Welcome one and all. This is Denny, writing to you from the van on the way to OK. God has kept us safe thus far, and we thank youfor your prayers.
So there we were, driving away from Cypress Wesleyan Church, on our way to West Harrison in Southern IN, all packed and ready for our first camp. Five miles down the road Matt (the driver at the time), voiced concern that the trailer was pulling strangely. We stopped at a gas station, and sure enough, one of the wheel bearings on the trailer was much hotter than the other three. We then called our facilities director, who told us that our trailer needed help.
Essentially, the trailer was not drivable. We ended up loading the essentials (amps and instruments) in the van and driving down that evening with three people (Chris, Andrew, and myself.) We arrived at the camp at 5:30am. Matt, Aaron, and Mike stayed in a hotel that evening and rode down the next morning with the worship leader from Cypress Wesleyan, who would be our worship leader for the week. By 10am on Monday morning we were ready to begin our first camp. We left the trailer at the church to be looked over at a nearby trailer shop.
This week we had the great pleasure of working with a very experienced and professional soundman Rick May (drummer of DC Talk), and with Mark Wilson, worship leader at Cypress Wesleyan and an IWU alum and veteran of ministry teams. There was also a Southern Wesleyan ministry team working as counselors. The week went very well and we learned a lot.
We were further blessed by some of the best camp accommodations I have seen in three summers. The food was also very well prepared.
Though we were not counselors as such, we did get to spend a lot of time with the campers. Some of the guys were approached after a set and told by two campers that because of the services, “They knew who to live for.” I had the opportunity to help lead a small group. God showed up there as well. One evening my junior high campers asked questions about the Old Testament for an hour. They ranged from “why did the Jews give sacrifices,” to “how does the God of the Old Testament match up to the God of the New Testament.” Thank you for your prayers! God did some amazing things!
As we finished the week we received our trailer back from the shop, and they claimed that there was nothing wrong with it. When we took it home to facilities however, they agreed that there was something wrong and gave us a new trailer. They are fixing it right now. The saga of the trailer lives on…
I finish writing this at a table in a hotel on the way to our next camp in Oklahoma. Pray for opportunities this week as we step into a new world. Pray God would open doors to impact kids for Christ. Thank you all! See you next week!

Training Week

We are finally on our way!

I write this morning in the back of Sheila, our fantastic 15 passenger IWU van, with trailer in tow and our team stoked to finally be on the road. This past week of training was just what we needed to get the summer off to an excellent start! Our days have involved a healthy dose of Baldwin, TAWG (time alone with God), listening to Reverend Atkinson speak from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 about standing firm in faith, team time and devos, random housekeeping chores like trailer, admissions and treasury training etc and many well spent hours of practice. We will be studying the book of John as a team this summer as well as going through a book called The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A’ Kempis.

Some of our favorite songs from the week include Christ is Risen (Matt Maher), Joyful (Brenton Brown), Salvation Is Here (Hillsong), Hosanna (Paul Baloche), The Lord Reigns (Gateway Worship), and Build me up Buttercup! We have really enjoyed putting the music together and are anticipating worshiping with the kids this summer as well as getting a chance to enjoy our new freedom to dance as IWU students.

Aside from nailing down 30 excellent songs this week we were able to also enjoy Circle K breadsticks, movie nights with the other ministry teams, a bowling night and a pool party with the teams. We have pictures from bowling - feel free to enjoy! Andrew surprised us earlier that day with not only our new and ridiculously awesome jerseys, but also headbands to match and further increase style points for the team. Kathy (Denny’s girlfriend) joined us and turned out to be one of our best players. Most of the pictures we have were courtesy of her as well. She was also awarded the “team’s favorite girlfriend of the week” award after baking Denny/us a box of fresh chocolate chip cookies. The bowling was a bit weak the first game and so after a very inspirational halftime speech (by me), we boosted our next game average by 4 points! Our team average after two games was a 107 – a pleasing score indubitably.

Long story short, good week of orientation, excellent instruction and Spiritual renewal and a fun way to get started! We are on our way to Cypress Wesleyan Church for the weekend and then on to the Greater Ohio Youth Camp for the week. Thank you all for your prayers, God is teaching us a lot and we are looking forward to an incredible summer!

Love you all!

Revolution

Revolution: Round 2

Hello there!
It has certainly been awhile since my last blogging experience, but I am so excited about this summer with Revolution that I figured I'd better write it down again! Not only for our own memories' sake, but also so you can keep us in your prayers this summer!
It’s hard to believe, but training begins on Monday! We have a great schedule to look forward to with some camps we have the opportunity to return to, plus several new camps that we are all totally stoked for, to say the least. We will be returning to Sky Ranch (OK), Bay Shore (MI), and FCA (IN) which is beyond fantastic, since those camps were incredible last year. If you’re interested, the posts from last year’s camps are still on the blog - so feel free to go back and recap on some of the camps as a refresher to how incredibly epic we anticipate this summer to be after a summer like the last one!
Sadly, we will not be traveling with Seth, Anthony and Chris K. this summer. They all died in a terrible car accident on the way to Guitar Center in Indianapolis last month... just kidding hahaha (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Seth is actually interning as a worship pastor at his home church in Ohio, Anthony is going into youth ministry and getting married this summer, and Chris will be working near Indianapolis all summer! All safe and sound! :) I already miss them, but I am unbelievably excited to have Denny and Chris H. returning with me as well as several newbies to Revolution:
Andrew Ketcham is our sound technician, Aaron Tuscherer is our electric guitar player and one of the vocalists, and Mike Conner will be taking good care of the bass for Revolution this summer. I deeply respect each of these guys, and am psyched out of my mind to get to know and chill with them! They are each excellent at what they do and will be a privilege to work with. For a refresher, Denny is the team leader and our keyboard player well as a vocalist, Chris H. is our drummer and does an excellent job of singing harmony from his throne in the back, and yours truly - acoustic and vocals. It’s a team. And an excellent one at that! Praise God!!
Again, I should be able to post about once a week during the summer, and I will fill you in on where we are and what we’re involved in, the highlights and the lowlights, plus exceptional pictures and video footage. Most importantly, I'll keep you posted on the impact Christ will have on the kids and our team through the faithful service of His body and the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit!
Please remember us in your prayers as we work diligently to be faithful & pure vessels that overflow with the abundance of the love and life of Jesus Christ!