The week before we left for Alberta we got to host a discipleship retreat for our campers at GBC. It was the 10-12 year olds which is a very fun age group! In the pictures below you'll see activities like making iced coffee, roasting marshmallows over the fire, chapels, drama, and just good ole having fun and being plenty weird! Camping ministry for a long time has been a great evangelistic tool, but their has been a major shift in the last little while. Sharing the Gospel has and will forever stay the center of our ministry at GBC, but we are recognizing the importance and need of discipleship. We have anther 3 discipleship retreats planned for the year, and our retreats are such an encouraging time of pursuing Jesus with our campers!
Most of our campers are not from churched families, so their is always a big hole in their lives after a week of camp. Enter Jael Napolean! She has been very faithful in allowing God to use her gifts, talents, and passions in discipleing the campers of GBC. We are looking to hire another full time male discipleship director in the near future Lord willing and I hope this will have the affect of a team of heavy horses! 1 Heavy horse can pull 8,000lb, but if you team up two together they can pull 20,000lb! Please join me in praying for the right person to hear the call, and act on it. I am really excited about the possibilities of 2 discipleship directors!
We are still currently on our trip out in Alberta and it has been going very well so far. I Can't wait to share some highlights in a future update. We've had a few interesting conversations that have been an encouragement to our work at GBC. We've spoke to one person who is not a Christian, but he spoke of how much he enjoyed going to a few weeks of bible camp as a kid. It planted seeds, and although the seeds are not growing yet, I get a real sense there is a deep wrestling happening there. There was a real softness to us talking about our faith in Jesus with him. The second conversation we had was with someone who recently became a Christian. She expressed to us how she had wished she had had the opportunity to go to camp as a kid. Life was quite challenging and she knew that camp would have made a difference in her life at a much younger age. Another camp director came and encouraged me with a story of how a camper of his 20 years ago, found him recently and told him how he still had a hand written letter encouraging his faith walk from this director. That kid, now an adult is working in camp ministry as well!
The simple take away....
Don't grow weary of planting seeds and waiting for results. Our God is so patient, and that's a good thing! When we are faithfully walking in the fruits of the Spirit, we will produce fruit! Sometimes that fruit is evident in a week, and sometimes that fruit is only visible 30, 50, 80 years later. Do not grow weary, run the race of endurance!
Prayer Requests!
10 hampers would come together for Gimli Bible Camp Families this Christmas
We have two horses at home that have rain rot... Big Sigh!
For continued fellowship and meaningful relationships as we finish up meeting with friends in Entwistle
For safe travels home
Our kids are struggling with big emotions on this trip
The right person to step up to the male discipleship position
We are so grateful how God provides for our family in so many ways!
Comments