Dear Praying Friends,

Working as the Youth Pastor at Camp is always wonderful, and this year was no different.

I’ll do my best to share what happened so you can be a part of the amazing ways God moved.

You’d think that at a “Christian Camp,” we’d get kids that “have it all together.”

That’s not the case at all!

A large percentage of the kids come from homes where they do not attend church. For them, this week at camp is all they get for learning about who God is, who God says they are, their need for salvation, and how to become a child of God.

Many of the kids, and teen staff, shared with me about their broken homes, the foster care system, the hurts of divorce, and abuse.

I want to share a first that was disturbing to me. Four different young campers approached me to ask a question. All of them 12-years-old and under.

All of them has basically the same question… “What’s wrong with men having sex with men and women having sex with women if it makes them happy?”

In my 8 years of Camp Ministry with 8-12 year-olds, this was the first time they asked me a question about homosexuality. The language they used told me two things:

1. Kids are being forced to grow up too fast. These kids are in grade-school!
2. Kids at a young age are being indoctrinated and bullied into thinking that morality is about what makes you happy.

My answer to the kiddos (they are young kiddos) was this, “You know how we’ve been learning that all our problems come from sin? Because of sin, what makes us happy is sometimes pretty messed up. It makes some people happy to rob banks, or to beat people up, or to have sex with the same gender, or to have sex with multiple people. The question isn’t, does this make me happy? The question should be, what does God say about this?”

They seemed satisfied and appreciative of my answer, but I was disturbed how our society is so effectively targeting and influencing our very young with dangerous ideas.

Let’s definitely be praying for this young generation, and lovingly reach out to them with the Biblical Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ! Let kids be kids.

As Youth Pastor, it is my privilege to preach 11 times each week:

• A 5-Day Series on “The Gospel Through Creation,”
• A 5-Day Series on “The Early Life of Jesus,”
• A stand-alone evangelistic Bible message to close out the week.

These messages are very powerful because they’re right from the Scriptures. I believe that kids are very intelligent and can understand Theology if it is explained to them, and that was definitely the case this summer. So many kids reacted so positively to the Word of God and the Gospel Proclamation!

Over 80 kids, plus a dozen+ Teen Counselors attended camp the week I taught there.

A handful of kids publicly testified to repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus as their Savior! Praise God!

Many more confessed to not living the Christian life they should and committed to turning from idols in their lives. Please keep these new brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers, and let’s praise God for the tremendous work He’s done!!!

I believe Jesus is working healing in a lot of kids. Eternal healing by being saved from their sins, but also temporal healing by coming to grips with their brokenness and pain. And they’ve learned that they’re not alone. Many were introduced this week to their Loving Heavenly Father who wants to comfort them. And they learned they have peers going through similar struggles.

I’m really proud of Shelby and the kiddos. Shelby once again helped run the Horsemanship program. A lot of kids come to camp just to be with the horses, so this is a great draw. Shelby did a lot of physical labor carrying around hay, saddles, buckets, etc. Vivienne wasn’t planning on helping in the barn, but they needed her help with a horse, so she volunteered for a week. Caleb volunteered as a “Staff Boy,” where he did jobs like mowing the lawn, getting rid of garbage, etc.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1)

God’s Word is powerful because God is powerful!!!

I have some photos that will also show how God moved at camp this summer. I pray you enjoy these…

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In the mornings I taught a 5-day series called “The Early Life of Jesus.” The before and after photos, as well as descriptions, are below:

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In the evenings I taught a 5-day series called “The Gospel Through Creation” The before and after photos, as well as descriptions, are below:

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On Friday night, I taught a stand-alone Evangelistic message called “Heaven.” The before and after photo, as well as description, is below:

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I hope this post has encouraged you. God is working in the next generation!!!

Thank you for your partnership, prayers, and financial support, without which we could not be reaching the lost for Jesus Christ!!!

Please share this update with others you think would be blessed by it!

all for Jesus,

Mark (and family)