camped 08 wrap up

Well, if you're like me, you find yourself these days longing to be back at camped. I personally loved the mornings when it was cooler and quiet. I would ride the golf cart up to the meeting room on the little trail along the edge of the woods. All was calm and I could reflect on the previous evening; how it was exciting and new with the students getting healed and delivered and hearing God maybe for the first time. One such morning, I remember I was riding along the trail and two baby raccoons were high stepping through the grass. When they saw me coming down the lane they just sort of froze and had that "oh no!" expression. Well, as much expression that a raccoon could have. That was the morning that I met with the leaders and we tried our best to process what happened in service the second night of camped.

I have to say, working along side our counselors at camped was an honor and privilege. The way they loved on the campers was amazing, whether it was during an activity or during the services. Even though this was only our second Jr High camp ever, it was still the best by about 10 times! The staff at Sky Ranch was pretty great. I kept hearing all week from AMPED counselors how nice and cordial the staff was. It was almost as if they really were happy we were there, imagine that! Props to Terry and Brenton for helping us with all the details before we ever showed up in Oklahoma.

Someone asked me yesterday what was my favorite moment at camped. Hmmmm. I had to really think hard about that. Truthfully, I love how Jon and I worked together during the services and during the response time at the end. I feel like I really made an even better friend with Jon at camped, and I feel like the Lord really did some blessing in his life. I love how our campers just loved on him and his response to that. I love how our campers responded every night. It was as if they came to camped hungry and looking. It was as if they had nothing to get in the way of receiving what the Lord had in store for them. I know almost as well as anyone that Jr High students face some pretty heavy stuff these days and it is amazing to see them give up a lot of that stuff at camp. God is so amazing and faithful to meet us right where we are, and that weekend, we were in Cave Springs Oklahoma, dirty and broken. But He restores, cleans, purifies, mends, fixes and pours Himself into us. All we have to do is ask and present ourselves as available. He always longs to do something amazing in us. I love that about Him.

Maybe you went to camp and you are longing for that experience again, right now. Or maybe you weren't able to go and you really want what many people did experience at camp. Maybe even though you did go, you felt that nothing happened to you and you are secretly jealous of the others that had an awesome experience. Right now, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you can experience God almighty in all of His greatness. Just ask Him right now for whatever you need, and if you don't know what that is, it's okay. Just ask Him to do whatever He likes in your life. I promise you won't be disappointed to bring CAMPED home with you.

A look backwards and forwards.

Some of this may look familiar, but this is the recap video we showed at AMPED tonight.

CAMPED Pictures!

Jillian has been hard at work uploading pictures from C-AMPED. You can see them here:
http://flickr.com/photos/ampedjrhigh/

The Last Day :(

I'm typing this today, the last day of camp. I've drug myself exhausted from my bed. I was up editing videos till 4:15 am, so I'm not really going to say much but "WOW!" God moved last night. Watching your kids worship without any need for leadership was amazing. They just stood before God and sang. God has changed hearts this week. Stay tuned to this blog because there will be more to come over the coming days. A couple more video updates, and some words from Pastor Keith. Until then, here are 2 videos from The events on Sunday.

Sunday's day events:


Sunday's Service and evening/early morning activity.


As of 7:45 Monday, despite the rain we're getting, we are still anticipating being back at Southlake Campus by 5:30PM tonight.

-Chris the Nintern

Saturday At C-AMPED!

I want to start off by saying that I am so honored to be part of what God is doing this weekend. I am blessed with a unique position to view what God is doing. I just finished watching over all the video of the day. I took a quick evening nap, and now I am putting together the video and trying to put into words the amazing things God has been doing. I'm sitting here with the springs flowing just outside my window, the snores of my living mates pushing through the walls, and the presence of God is surrounding me, showing me the beautiful plan He has for these kids.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention some things that happened last night(Friday). I touched on it, but I was so tired I was not in a good mindset to blog. Our alter calls last night had some power to them. God moved on some kids lives powerfully. God first gave the opportunity for the kids to "step out of the boat." Jon spoke about how Peter had to make an act of faith and get out of the boat so he could walk on the water to Jesus. I personally got to pray with 6 guys, imparting boldness and strength to stand strong. Then the kids were able to come up and deal with emotional hurts. Father wounds are such a destructive thing in people, and our kids are learning how they can push past them and love their heavenly Daddy.
Today was amazingly fun. We started off the day with some silly calisthenics to wake the kids up, then worship and Pastor Kam in morning session. Pastor Kam brought an amazing word that piggy backed from last night, giving the students further opportunity to forgive their Fathers and deal with their wounds. Tribal competition was a blast, but they had to be cut short because of the sudden storm that blew through. Oklahoma is a land of unpredictable weather. One minute it was cool and cloudy, and another it was hailing and 235 jr high students and their counselors are sprinting for the dorms. My viewpoint was classic.... Just after lunch, we broke the camp into boys and girls. I was not invited to the girls session, but Camp Sheriff Rich Tooley brought a word to the men about understanding the difference between Fact and truth. As he loves to tell people "Fact is, when I was 18 my dad died 4 days after Thanksgiving. But the truth is that my Heavenly Daddy is alive and well and loves me and wants to see me at my best." If you watch the below video, you'll see them grunting and being like real men.
Tonight's service was something that I have been praying and seeking God to experience for a very long time. Jon gave some of his testimony, and this time it really got to him. As the video will show you, he started crying and felt a couple girls hug him. Imagine his surprise when he finally opened his eyes and the whole camp is huddled around him! I just spoke with him about it and I think he was really blessed by it. Jon led them in a prayer of forgiveness towards others, circumstances, and themselves. It was a powerful time. Then Keith came up and gave our students the opportunity to accept Christ and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't know if we have firm numbers yet, but I know for a fact we had two students saved tonight, and at least 175-200 baptized in the Holy Spirit. You can watch the video, and that does some justice, but the energy in the room was electric. These kids long for more. The need more of God in their lives than any generation before them. They are wired to live a life not of this world. I am excited to see where this goes from here. I think my favorite story was from Big Mike. He told me he laid his hand on a kid and asked God to set him on fire. The kid instantly began speaking in tongues, but then stopped, looked Mike in the eye and said "I am a mighty man of God."

Again, I count it all joy to be part of this move of God happening this weekend. God will continue to do mighty things. I know tomorrow is to be a day of joy. That is a word I keep hearing as I think about tomorrow. Tonight was love and forgiveness, tomorrow will be joy. Celebration is in order! Please continue to pray that God will give these kids supernatural understanding and revelation of what is going on around them. Pray for Joy and love to flow throughout the day tomorrow. I thank you all for your prayers, and from everyone at C-AMPED, Have great day.

-Chris the Nintern
"Image is nothing, Thirst is everything. What will you do for a drink?"

Be sure and check out our pictures

It's a C-AMPED Friday!

I love camp. That's all there is to it. Over the last year God has changed my life radically. He's shown me things that make no sense in the natural. I exist in this world, but I love the camp part of this world. I love seeing Heaven invade Earth. I love seeing God come down and impact a generation! God is moving. I'm sitting in the back of the room as I type. Worship has ended, and a few minutes ago, Pastor Kam opened up the microphone for students to tell what has happened even so far at camp.
Today we've had kids healed from depression, from injuries, from emotional hurt....Kids are being free from depression and a whole list of other things. I can't even describe to you the ways God is touching our students. I find it so exciting when we get away from the hustle and bustle of our normal lives and we deeply immerse ourselves into the Spirit of God.
Please be praying for this week. Satan has a powerful desire to see this week fail. Just the weather and the stress of yesterday was enough to make it obvious that Satan is after us. He knows that strongholds he has been developing in these kids are in serious danger of being overrun by a revival that will shake nations. God is faithful. God is always faithful. Please pray for us and with us.

Pray for the continued healing of the students
Pray for students who need healing, and for those things to be brought to attention so we can help the kids through it
Pray that the counselors can effectively minister to the students


And of course, keep praying for fun!!!! We had so much fun today it was ridiculous. And there's even more coming. Here is the link to our AMPED fliker account, so you can check out pictures of everything we've been doing!

http://flickr.com/photos/27352167@N06/

And Friday's Highlight video:

HELLO FROM C-AMPED!

Hey there everyone at home! I'd like to be the first to say hello from C-AMPED! so far we have been having a great day at Sky Ranch Cave Springs. Thanks to all of you who braved the crazy weather this morning and dropped you kids off with us. Implementing what I like to call Check-in Plan "R" was a little crazy, but we got everybody together, and to my knowledge every issue was taken care of. Praise Jesus!
Dinner(Taco Night! WOOHOO!) was great, then we started getting all the kids signed up for activities. Sky Ranch provides amazing opportunities, and I can sense the excitement in all the kids. During service, Pastor Keith preached on stories. Using a personal story very much like the parable of the prodigal son, Keith gave the opportunity for the students to get their lives right and come back to the Lord. During the altar call about 50 kids came up to get right with God and bring other prayers. Needless to say we had an amazing night!

The video posted is a little grainy, I'm sorry. Hopefully we'll have a better one up today!

-Chris the Nintern