Kulauqa: Day 1

Well here I go again... after just being home a few days from HS Camp, I'm back on the road at camp - this time with our middle school students. I always look forward to middle school camp at Kulaqua. It's a great place and God always does a great work in our hearts here.

We arrived in early afternoon to some rainy weather that cleared quickly so the students could get out and burn off some of the 'sitting on the bus' energy. They quickly took off for the blob, go karts, water park and sports activities. We all came together for dinner and then had our first worship time tonight. We are always excited to have Wayne Kerr as our worship leader for times of high energy worship! This year we have Chuck Berry speaking on the story of God in four chapters. Tonight we looked at creation and how we as unique and special creations fit individually into God's story.

After worship we have what are called huddle times where we meet together as a church and then we divide down into family groups for some in depth discussion and community time together.

Tonight was our annual huge game of counselor manhunt followed by our water park night. We had a great time but are all pretty exhausted and hoping the students are too. Please be praying for us and for what God has in store for us this week!

Elevate: Day 6

The last morning of camp is always full of mixed emotions. It was especially for me as I would have to say goodbye to our students and watch them pull out and head down the mountain.

The mountain is a unique place... not just Lookout Mountain where Covenant is, but spiritually speaking. The mountain, even throughout Scripture represented God's presence and meeting place with His people. Even in the New Testament, Jesus often withdrew to the mountains to have time with His Heavenly Father. So, it is very fitting for our hs camp to be 'on the mountain.'

But it is always hard to come down from the mountain spiritually speaking. And it's even harder in a 56-passenger bus overlooking the sheer mountain face, but Darryl did a great job for us! Anyhow, there is something within us that longs for the mountaintop and doesn't want to leave. I think that is because we experience what we were created for and we long for that communion in the kingdom to come.

We finished our time at camp literally on the overlook of the mountain. It was a beautiful place to meet with God this morning and to take a spiritual snapshot of camp. I pray that all of you hs students would remember what God has shown you, taught you and challenged you to. I pray that you would treasure Him above all else and readily lay down your idols. I hope we will be able to look back on this camp and remember what God called us to both individually and as a high school ministry. I pray that your hearts would long for the connection you had a camp and would realize God always stands willing and ready to meet you "on the mountain"!

Elevate: Day 5

I'm finding that writing these updates a few days late is a bit more difficult. But weighing the options between writing a current update (at 3:30am after tech load-out) or waiting until later... well, you can see what won out.

Tuesday was our last full day at camp and it was a jam packed day. It was a typical day as far as schedule went, but a very special day when looking back on it all. Everything from morning worship to the interactives, evening worship and even our closing time together during our huddles were powerful moments where we felt the presence of the Lord and a real sense of community together.

During our free time, we made our annual pilgrimage to Clumpies Ice Cream in downtown Chattanooga. We have created a tradition of sorts as we make our way from the riverbank, across the footbridge and then over to Coolidge Park. As you will see in the pics - we had a great time together enjoying some beautiful weather!

The last night at camp is always a special night. Adam and the band led in a Spirit-filled time of worship and Brent brought the message and continued to challenge us to a life that pursues Christ above all else. During our huddle time, I had the privilege to share a challenge with our students and also allow them to share what God had been showing them and teaching them at camp this year.

Our already full day went even longer with our first ever "Southland's Got Talent" Show. We had great representation from the Wood with a solo act, a duo and even an 'everyone's in' rap. We do have some talented students!

Elevate: Day 4

It's hard to believe that we have crossed the mid-point of camp already. And I know I promised some more pics, but I can't seem to find the USB cable so I figured I would get a text update and can maybe do some pics tomorrow.

Today was a big day for the majority of our students that braved the cold water and rapids of the Ocoee. I've heard some good stories about some students taking an unexpected swim, but thankfully no rafts taco'd on rocks like last year! We did have a few chickens... I mean some leaders and students stay behind and took their own excursion downtown to see some sights.

I made it back to camp right when our evening worship was beginning and am so glad I did. Adam and the band led in a powerful time of worship and Brent again did a good job of helping the students see the pitfalls of idolatry. One of the verses from Isaiah 46 that really stood out to me says, "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?" (vs. 5). We have this idea that these idols in our lives can satisfy or bring happiness, yet God clearly sets Himself up in a way that no idols could ever compare. And for the most part, I believe we know that in our head, but His majesty and sufficiency doesn't always impact our heart.

Tomorrow will be another full day of activities here on campus and then in the afternoon we will head downtown for our free time. Tomorrow night after worship we will cap off camp with our "Southland's Got Talent" show. Our students have been hard at work on a musical number that they are very excited to perform.

I would ask that you continue to pray for all of us and pray that God would speak to our hearts in a powerful way that changes our lives!

Elevate: Day 3

HIgh School Camp has been a definite change for me this year with my increased responsibilities being the director of Elevate Camp 2009. I've been quite a bit more removed from our students' lives as I've had to manage the behind the scenes and day to day operations of the camp. But this gives me a great chance to brag on the Wildwood student staffers that are serving as counselors this week to our students. They have done an awesome job leading in my absence but also in investing in the lives of our students this week!

God has been actively challenging us through Brent's messages each night regarding our idols - not the little statues, but rather the many things in our lives that take our time, energy, attention and even top priority away from Christ. As Brent shared - the antithesis of Christianity isn't atheism, but idolatry. He also shared that most of our pursuits can generally be "good" things, but they become idols when we elevate them to "God" things. So we are all trying to examine our hearts this week in our time alone with God and family group time.

It's been cool having our own Adam & Teri Hill lead us in worship and today was no exception. For our Sunday morning worship, we loaded all 300+ at camp and headed into downtown Chattanooga to worship outside on the riverbank at Coolidge Park. This was a logistically challenging, but rewarding experience to worship out loud downtown! God held off the rain just long enough for Trey to finish sharing about how we find our strength and identity in Christ.

We took it easy this afternoon and didn't venture off campus for any excursions, but tomorrow is our big Whitewater rafting day on the Ocoee River. I apologize for not being about to upload any pictures tonight, but I've had to fly back to Tallahassee to preach in the morning at a funeral and will fly back tomorrow afternoon to rejoin camp. Please pray for me, but also continue to pray for our students and leaders that God would continue to shake us up spiritually! I'll do my best to catch up on some pics tomorrow night!

Elevate: Day 2

Our first full day of camp is under our belt and we are having a great time so far. Today was a full day both spiritually and activity-wise. I'm just flat out exhausted and since it's late I'm not going for a full write up, but here's some pics to enjoy.

Elevate: Day 1

It has been a long day and trip, but I guess it wasn't as bad for us as those from South Florida who had to leave at 3:30 in the morning. I was excited to see our students and staff when they arrived. From what I understand it was a pretty uneventful bus ride which is always a good thing. We had a good first session tonight with worship and our speaker, Brett, who spoke about the idols which take priority over Christ in our lives. I'll try to get some pics posted soon and don't forget you can get more updates at twitter.com/wildwoodstudent.