By James Newby

June 25 to July 1 marked the second annual North Central Region Servant’s Passage—The Voyageurs Adventure. Eleven sojourners embarked on this seven-day Passage designed to help workers and servant leaders become more effective in ministry. Five of those days were spent in the northern Minnesota wilderness of Voyageurs National Park —canoeing and camping in one of the most spectacular classrooms in the world.

The first day was spent at "base camp" in Orr, MN, preparing our gear and getting acquainted with fellow travelers. The morning of the last day was spent in Duluth, sharing with the congregation who finances the trip the many valuable lessons of Servant’s Passage.

For five days, however, equipped with Bibles, notebooks and Servant’s Passage guidebooks, the small group of disciples explored God’s will for their lives. Each participant was encouraged to ask God, "What is it you want to tell me ‘in general’ and ‘personally’ about this call to servant leadership?" Amazingly, but not surprisingly, he answered those requests in our discussions and Bible studies around the campfire, in small group prayer, in private devotional time and while on the trail and on the water.

While Servant’s Passage intensives have some reasonably expected outcomes, it is the ways that God chooses to show up that makes these intensives personally and uniquely valuable.

Three of the participants this year were ladies from northern Minnesota. One is a member of the new church plant in Orr, Northland Community Church, shepherded by Tom and Sandy Kennebeck. God showed each of them that their participation in his church and kingdom work will be very valuable for the raising up of the next generation of believers.

One of the ladies was able to visit the exact spot where her 18-year-old son was baptized the previous year on Servant’s Passage (he is currently ministering to teens in his local church). Another of the ladies gave some helpful advice to "old-time" members: "You’re not who you were. Get over it. Move on. Let’s do a new thing!"

All three women were witness to the fact that God sets situations up for us and has disciple-making work for us to do with people we already know.

Four young men from their community "just happened" to walk through our camp one day while we were doing a group study. Both groups were shocked to see the other in a remote wilderness. "What are you….?" "What are you doing here?" was the question each simultaneously fired at the other. One group (four men) came to fish; the other group (three ladies) came to learn how to fish for Jesus.

What were the chances? Could God be showing the ladies there are young people in their community who need the gospel? You bet. That "chance" meeting was the third of three personal encounters where God spoke pretty loudly saying, "I have people I want to reach through you." Each of the ladies "heard" God tell them they need to be more involved in the work of the church in their community.

The other two encounters happened in rapid succession while we were carrying canoes from one lake to another. The first involved a man from a nearby campsite who was watching us carry our gear down to the water’s edge. It seemed as if he had been taken back in time as he studied our canoes and gear. He was reminiscing, yet was troubled. He approached and began to ask about our group and what we were doing there. Tom Burnett, our guide, told him he was from Orr, and the stranger said he had attended a summer camp there back in the early ‘80s. It turns out he was formerly part of the church but was now a casualty of the upheaval that happened in our transformation. The tragic death of a sister in the middle of it all had made the religious revolution too bitter a pill to swallow.

At his campsite was the family of his deceased sister’s husband and the widowed husband. It turns out he was an Ambassador College roommate of mine back in the early ‘80s. He had also been badly hurt by these circumstances. But now, 23 years later, in the remote Minnesota wilderness, what a reunion! Mere chance?

This family’s annual fishing trip is always taken a week later, over the Fourth of July, but this year circumstances put us all in the woods at the same time. Stories were told over the campfire, consolation was offered, old friendships rekindled and email addresses were exchanged. Doors for ministry were opened, too.

The second encounter involved two curious strangers who just came up and launched into a discussion that went something like this. "So you guys are Christians, eh? What do you think of Islam?" It just happens that our guide had recently been studying about Islam and was able to give a reasonable (and pleasant) argument as to the weaknesses of Islam, a defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ and an invitation to visit a Christian worship service. It just so happened that one of the men lived in a town close to Orr—one in which our guide’s brother also lives, and he is a worship leader.

One of the pastors on the passage remarked, "I could have read several books on evangelism and they could not have taught me what I just learned by observing Tom as he witnessed to the people God just sent across our path."

The last story emphasizes how important it is for us to ask, seek, and knock… and also to listen. One of the disciplines we do is called "getting alone with God." We venture out of camp alone for an hour or two and ask God to speak to us. "Reveal yourself, your plans, your will."

One of our participants has been going through a time of deep searching. He lives in a rural farming community that has some local churches with "issues." His congregation disbanded some time ago, but he feels a strong attachment to this denomination even though he has no local congregation. His question to God: "Where do you want me to be?"

While sitting in the cleft of a rock looking out over the lake, a fishing boat began to approach. As it got closer, a woman on the boat began to notice our sojourner on the rock, pointing at him while talking with the skipper. When they got within earshot, she said, "Wow! You’re in a perfect place." That’s all she said. Words our friend needed to hear. As he was walking back to the campsite he looked down and saw an object partially buried in the trail. After digging it out and cleaning it off, he realized it was a button, and on it read, "I AM."

As we each get more involved in the work and mission of the church, we find there is still a lot more work and mission to be accomplished. Initiatives like Servant’s Passage and the intensives that have been discussed in Together go a long way in equipping individuals for these works of service.

By Jeff Broadnax

It is amazing when you get to see God’s fingerprints all over your life. That is what the New Heights Summer Camp family experienced in Connecticut during August 20-26. The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was invigorating, the staff was engaged, the young people were turned on and the Spirit of God guided our way.

God answered all my prayers regarding camp—and then some. I asked him to send young people he knew needed to be at New Heights, and we welcomed 87 preteen and teen campers this year (up 10 percent from 2005). Of our total, 31 percent were new to the New Heights experience, and many of them were from outside of our denomination.

Praise God, through the generous donations of individuals and congregations in the Northeast, over 50 percent of our campers were able to receive partial or full tuition scholarships. We can’t thank everyone enough for catching the vision of Generations Camp Ministry.

Along that line, I must acknowledge the Spirit of living sacrifice and mentoring that our 63 volunteer staff members (including six pastors from the district) offered to the young people. They shared in the rewards of service, joy and occasional heartache that come with Christian ministry, but it is quite an inspiration to see what these folks give, with some traveling over 300 miles to serve each year. We want to thank Raylon Joseph for coming all the way from Louisiana.

The theme was "Free to be me in Jesus Christ." John Halford, Anthony Rice and I led daily chapel services and other activities focused on this theme—encouraging the participants to pull out the arrows of negativity and doubt that had been shot into them and allow Christ to help them be who he made them to be. We had one baptism, while over two dozen expressed a desire for a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because of a generous donation, we were able to purchase a copy of The Message New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs for each camper. The camp closed on an inspiring yet sobering note, as newly baptized Omar Bin-Safir led us in a prayer for Private 2nd Class Nick Jenner (left), who volunteered a week of his leave to serve at the camp before he deployed with his unit to serve in Iraq.

By Shane Bazer

For more photos, see www.carolinacamp.com

In the second week of August, 154 campers and 70 staff and their families began their week of revival at Higher Ground Summer Camp in Traveler’s Rest, SC.

In the 1800s, the term "revival" was synonymous with "camp meeting." Historical accounts show that the Holy Spirit has manifested himself in amazing ways at these camp meetings throughout Christian history. Many of the great revivals we know of began with a camp meeting and then spilled forth throughout the community when they went home.

When you consider how our denomination’s camp ministry is run, it is easy to see why there are revivals happening at our camps. We all leave the comforts, stresses and distractions of our homes and cities and commune in God’s creation for a week. We begin each day with corporate and individual prayers, praise and worship and a chapel message. Dorms have break-out discussions at the conclusion of each chapel message and throughout the day have more opportunities for prayer and talking about the Creator. Each day ends with dorm prayer time. With so much focus on God, I would be surprised if a revival didn’t take place each summer.

The spirit revival isn’t limited to the campers. Most of our staff come back year after year for a week or more of volunteer work because of the spiritual revival that happens to them at camp. It is the hardest work week of my year, but it is the most spiritually fulfilling one. I wish all church members had the opportunity to serve at one of our camps.

At Higher Ground this summer, we had the unique challenge of having 67 percent of the campers here for the first time. This was because our camp week got moved into August, when many of our regular campers were already back in school. About 70 of the campers found us by searching for camps on the Internet. Despite having so many unchurched and fresh faces, God granted us an amazing amount of camper spirit and unity from the very first day of camp.

After much prayer and following the trail that the Holy Spirit led us on, God brought us to a new facility for Higher Ground next summer. We were going to have to raise tuition to over $400 per camper in 2007 if we remained at our current facility. We will now be able to have a longer camp, longer staff training time and charge only $275 next summer. 

We will be able to have camp the last week in June, which will be perfect for us. The new camp facility is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 10 miles east of Asheville, NC.