A Summer in Jackson-Centrifuge #5

Another week has gone down here in Jackson and with it comes more salvation, healing, and rededication.  This past week was our second biggest group we had coming with close to 900 students taking over Union University.  This next week is actually our biggest with close to 1,000 (I think) so prayers will be appreciated!  It's hard to not let this become routine.  This was my third week of Bible Study and second week teaching tracks so I didn't want everything to run together.  Each week is unique because I get to encounter different students each with their own goals, desires, hurts, struggles, and pasts.  It's getting easier to talk to students, but it's getting difficult to remember who has what story because I've heard so many already and I'm only going to hear more.  One thing God has really laid on my heart is that I need to love people with the love that He's shown me though.

The Bible studies we teach come from Ephesians and it always blows my mind whenever I read a letter written by Paul.  Here was a guy who persecuted the church with everything he had.  He killed Christians and tried to essentially destroy the church.  God totally revamped his world though.  He blinded Saul (at the time) and called him to preach to the Gentiles.  Saul then became Paul and is the reason that we have heard about the Gospel here in America.  Paul tried so hard to reach the lost that he was shipwrecked, floated in the sea overnight, given the 40 lashes minus 1 5 times, stoned, and exposed to death time and time again.  Read 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 for a full account of this.

"Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?  Who is led to sin, and I do not inwardly burn?  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." 2 Corinthians 11:29-30 I feel weak during camp sometimes, but these are the times when I just have to totally rely on God.  I'm only human after all.  I've seen God work in some mighty ways though.  I've seen over 20 people who didn't know Christ before this week come to know Him.  I've heard stories of abuse in people's lives and how they can live with themselves now.  There are dark places in this world, but we can be the light that people see and God can heal the broken because He's healed me.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support this summer.  It really does mean a lot to me.  Please keep praying for energy, patience, and a servant's heart for our staff here.  I'm excited to see what God has in store this week and can't wait to report back to ya'll!

In Love,

Bill

A Summer in Jackson-Centrifuge #4

I want to start out this post by talking about how special a touch can be.  This is a bit random and kinda weird, but have you really thought about how intimate physical contact with someone is?  I'm just talking about a simple hug or a pat on the back here.  I remember in Psychology this past semester reading about how some monkeys would forgo food in order to be in physical contact with a "mother" and this week I was reminded of this.  I was in the middle of a worship service and this random student walked up to me and said, "You look like you need a hug," and proceeded to give me one lol.  I don't really know why but it just made me feel like God was hugging me.  Worship is such a fierce experience for me because I really get into the music and just have a conversation with God.  This week was a bit emotional for me just because I could tell so many kids were in pain and I wanted God to heal that hurt.

Here are some lyrics from a song the Christian Baxter Band played called "Living Water":

"For all the lost and the broken

 For all the lame and the blind

 Come to the table of mercy

 And all who seek me will find

 For all who had it together

 But lost it all in the fight

 Come to the One who is able

 And says His burden is light

 You have seen how far we've fallen

 Sent Your only Son to die

 For the wretch, the thief, and the broken

 On the cross You poured out Your life."

There are all kinds of students who come through Fuge camps.  You have the ones who have grown up in church all their life and "had it together."  You have the ones who are hiding sin, guilt, shame, and "have fallen."  You also have the ones who have never heard any of this before and are "lost and broken."  There is a God who is greater than all of this though.  He has the power to heal and I've seen Him move in some incredible ways already.

Two students in my Bible Study really stuck out to me this week.  I won't ever mention names because it's confidential, but they were both hurting.  The first student's parents were going through a divorce and she approached me after Bible Study and wanted to talk.  I met with her and I had no clue what to say.  Christ definitely helped me in that conversation because I can't relate to it all.  She was a bit embarrassed by it and just wanted people to treat her normally.  She didn't want sympathy, she just wanted to be accepted.  The second girl had so much spiritual warfare going on.  If you think of the textbook definition of broken person she was that girl.  Her counselor recommended her to go on this trip and I'm glad they did.  She was introduced to the Gospel for the first time and asked a lot of questions.  I don't think she accepted Christ by the end of the week, but I could tell that she was soooooo much closer than she was at the beginning of the week and that made me happy.  Life change isn't just a saying at Fuge, lives are changed forever because Christ is alive and working.

This week has been really tiring, but I'm excited about it and can't wait to do it again.  My awesome girlfriend, Bri, came to see me as well so it was refreshing to see her beautiful face again.  I'm excited to go home to her at the end of the summer.  In the meantime, there's work to be done.  God is going to do even bigger things here and I'm blessed to be a part of it.  I can't wait to look back on this summer and know that God is more powerful than anything I can/will ever do.  Please be in prayer for the students who are coming through here.  Pray that they are willing to accept the Message and change.  Please also be in prayer for the staff because we are pouring our hearts into these kids and we put out so much energy.  It's going to be draining the further we get into the summer, but God will be glorified through it.  Thank you so much for reading this and for your prayers!

In Love,

Bill

A Summer in Jackson-Centrifuge #3

So I have completed my first week as a Centri-Fuge staffer! If Christ came back tomorrow I could say in heaven that I worked for Fuge :)  Last Sunday was the storm to kind of set the mood for the week (literally).  One of our staffers broke their arm while setting up a Bible Study room so we lost a member of our family here for a week which was sad.  Then we were kind of closing up stuff for the night and it started raining really hard.  Tornado sirens went off shortly after so we took sanctuary in a storm shelter on campus for awhile.  I wasn't really afraid though.  All this chaos was going on around us and all I could focus on was how powerful our God is.  The storm that came through was just an example of that.  It was a pretty crazy time to start a week of Fuge, but God is faithful.

I got to greet the very first church to arrive which was awesome and something I was really excited to do.  I was so excited I forgot to pray with them like I was supposed to lol.  I learned my first camp lesson that day as well: Wear sunscreen when you're going to be outside.  I have a really bad tan line all over my body right now haha.  I got to meet my Bible Study that night and they were a good group.  It took awhile for them to interact with each other, but they eventually opened up.  6-8 graders are always an interesting bunch too.  Tuesday started my first full day of camp which wasn't really full because I only worked a "half week" (aka, I get 4 hours off during the day).  I definitely used my free time during the afternoon to get stuff done and nap though.  It was good for me to get that transition week in.  

I didn't really feel like I was getting through during my Bible Study throughout the week.  God showed me otherwise though.  I got to sit and eat with a couple of my kids during lunch and I would ask them about Bible Study and God spoke to them in some way so it was encouraging.  I had a couple of students also accept Christ at different points during the week so that was incredible just to see God working like that.  That's why I'm here after all!

I just want to take this time to say thank you to everybody who is praying for me and my team here.  God is moving here and He never fails to provide what we need.  Whenever we need some encouragement, God has a way of showing us that He's in control and working on His time.  We finally got our team member who was injured back today, but we had lost another staffer for the summer because they needed to be at home.  God will be faithful though and I'm excited for another week here at camp!  If you could pray for energy for our staff because it's only going to be harder to be excited as the summer wears on.  I'll be teaching Choir and Softball (not Spiritual Gifts anymore) this week so pray that I teach well and that the Word of God just speaks to everyone here.  It's awesome to get to hear such good worship every night (be jealous haha).  Thank you for your prayers and support!

In Love,

Bill

A Summer in Jackson-Centrifuge #2

Well I am sitting in my new friends' dorm room writing this post on my first day off since last Thursday.  It's been go, go, go here as we're preparing the curriculum and our hearts for what God's gonna do here in Jackson.  I feel pretty good about the Bible Study material.  It'll be cool to share with these kiddos the Gospel.  There will be some kids who are confused about their parents' divorce, neglected by their classmates, and searching for something to fill that void in their lives.  The theme for Fuge this year is Pursuit and it's an awesome topic to talk about because God is constantly pursuing us with a love that we don't fully comprehend.  It's exciting to be around people who want to share this awesome news to others and have the same passion that I have.

After some training, I finally understand why Fuge is such an awesome camp.  We are trained for just about any situation and the focus is on the students.  The staff comes from different backgrounds and can relate to the students that come through.  I'm excited to be doing Centrifuge because I get to do Rec with my Bible Study!  (btw, if you have any good cheer ideas for the Bolts, I would love to hear it!)

This is also a short post, but I hope to have some stories that I can share as the summer progresses.  If you could be praying for the staff here that they have energy, for the students that come through will be willing to accept God's love, and for protection for everybody I would greatly appreciate it.  Here's some Scripture that has been laid on my heart I hope you find encouraging:

"I will go before you and level mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.  I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name."  Isaiah 45:2-3

God is powerful and will fight for you, literally.  We can't be stopped.

In Love,

Bill