Two Wonderful Weeks of Ministry

One of the joys I’ve had in ministry over the last 23 years has been to be a part of the Walk Thru the Bible Ministry Team. If you haven’t been to a Walk Thru the Bible Live Event you’ve missed a wonderful, life-changing experience.

Most of the events I teach are usually on weekends in churches. During the summer, there are opportunities to teach at camps. This summer was unique in that I taught in two camps in consecutive weeks. When I say it like that, it sounds like they were a lot alike. They were alike in some respects and very different in others.

The Similarities of My Two Weeks of Ministry At Camp

• both were at “camps”
• both were Walk Thru the Bible Live Events
• both were lots of fun
• both were fruitful times of ministry

The Differences Between My Two Weeks of Ministry At Camp

• One was at Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference in Michigan (comfortable beds and A/C). The other at Timber-lee Ministries in Wisconsin, a camp (bunk beds and A/C in places).
• Maranatha was a family camp (I taught 6th-12th grades) and Timber-lee was a youth camp (3rd-8th grades).
• Maranatha had primarily middle-class campers and Timber-lee mainly lower income children.
• Maranatha had people who were mainly from suburbs and small towns whereas Timber-lee had urban youth.
• Maranatha was a racially homogeneous group and Timber-lee interracial.
• At Maranatha I taught OT Live and at Timber-lee NT Live.
• My group at Maranatha was about 60 kids plus a dozen counselors. At Timber-lee we had 245 kids plus 100 counselors and staff.
• At Maranatha the kids had free time to run around. At Timber-lee the kids were with their counselors every moment.
• At Maranatha most were from Christian homes. At Timber-lee some were from Christian homes. Many were unchurched.

I hope you can see they were as different as night and day. Because most of the kids at Maranatha were from Christian homes most already knew the Lord. My ministry there was primarily teaching how to walk closer with God. In addition to teaching at Timber-lee, I had more of a ministry of evangelism.  At Maranatha none indicated they decided to follow Jesus. At Timber-lee, incredibly there were over 60 kids who chose to follow Christ. Thank the Lord!

I’m grateful for the opportunity to pour my life into the lives of the kids in both places. You put the same amount of energy and effort into everything you do. Sometimes there are visible results and sometimes not. We don’t serve for visible results, we serve for the Lord.

Please pray for the kids who chose to follow Christ that they will do so. Pray the churches that brought them follow up and disciple them. Pray for those who heard the Gospel but didn’t yet respond that they still will. Pray for all who heard the teaching of the Word that they will grow.

These two weeks have been exhausting and a joy. I’m happy to be back at my regular work so I can get some rest.

I’ll see you tomorrow with another post.