YOUTH SUMMER CAMP
Summer camp is a wonderful tradition for youth groups in many churches across the U.S. For many students, this is a chance to experience Christ at a level that they haven’t at home or even in a youth group. Students and even adults get to have – what I like to call – a mountaintop experience. If you have ever been to the top of a mountain you know the amazing view and feeling of accomplishment and strength you experience at the top.
One thing I know for sure is when you haven’t been preparing or strengthening your body, heart, and mind, you will struggle to make it up a mountain. It’s a struggle to get up to the top of any mountain, especially if you haven’t been preparing to climb one. Even those who have been training and preparing will struggle on their way up. There’s always a chance that you may not make it all the way to the top.
While it may be possible to make it to the top on your own, it’s always safer and better to climb with others. Most people just can’t make it to the top by themselves. Self-doubt, insecurity, or fear of failure may keep us from remaining focused on the goal. That’s why we all need someone to push us, encourage us, and to motivate us along the journey. We are called to “…one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” Fixing our eyes on our common goal, we persevere through the encouragement we give one another.
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been called to ascend mountaintops together. Together we celebrate our ascensions but we know life isn’t lived on a mountaintop. Eventually, we must descend. We must not forget, however, that the way we got up the mountain is the same way we should come back down – humble, and gentle; patient, and bearing with one another in love.
From July 6th–10th, 21 students and 5 adults from First Baptist Church of Tallahassee will head to Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA for a mountain top experience. Pray for those embarking on this amazing journey.