In the weeks leading up to overnight camp, I traveled to the Judson campus each weekend to go on some prayer walks. I walked to campus for a few hours and prayed over buildings and rooms and specific places that I knew would be prime locations for the Spirit of God to move during the weeks to come.

One week, my sister, who is a ROCK STAR FOR JESUS, came with me. We prayed in many places, including the upper common room where in a few weeks time I would preach a salvation message to nearly one hundred high school students. What we were doing probably looked strange to others, watching us walk around the campus laying hands on buildings and talking to ourselves, but I knew that we were laying spiritual booby traps. Setting prayers in motion, expecting that in a few weeks time the students that God placed at camp would trip over them and reap the harvest.

Camp soon came and over the first two days I was already seeing God answer prayer, but nothing yet had correlated directly with something I had prayed for during those walks. On Wednesday, we discovered that one of the girls at camp, we’ll call her Susie, was not eating. All day Wednesday we as counselors tried to encourage Susie to eat. Her excuse was that she was a vegetarian, even though she had been passing up on all the vegetarian options as well. We were beginning to get worried, so one of our female counselors pulled her aside privately. Through that conversation, it was revealed that Susie had indeed been struggling with an eating disorder throughout the past year.

We praised God first and foremost that He had loosened her tongue and brought her to a place of openness, but we knew His work had only begun. We gave Susie the choice, if she was really going to get better, it would have to be her choice. We told her that if she wanted to get better, then we would help her through each meal this week, as well as help her and her family take the necessary steps towards healing once camp was over. If she decided that she didn’t want to get better, then her parents would be called to take her out of camp.

After thinking about it for a few hours, Susie approached the female counselor she had talked with earlier and broke the news, she had decided that she wanted to get better. At our counselor meeting that night, we all rejoiced at the victory that God had won in Susie’s heart, and the next day I texted my sister to tell her the news, as I had been doing several times that week. Kayla texted me back almost immediately, and the text nearly sent me to my knees in amazement. Her text said this, “Wow! What a crazy awesome answer to prayer! The day we went and prayed at Judson I had to go to bathroom and in the bathroom I remember feeling led to pray for a girl with an eating disorder, that’s so beautiful.”

And it was. I went over and showed the text to a few other counselors and they had my same reaction. It was one of those moments when any and all possible doubts about God being real or about God caring for His children are utterly wiped away, and all that remains is a true prayer miracle, or a prayer booby trap that had been tripped over at just the right time.

God still hears prayer and God still answers them because God still cares ad He still wants us to know He’s there.


-jon

Thought we might double it up for this post...

"Over the last year since camp I have suffered many things and have lost myself. I cut myself and rarely prayed about it, I was severely depressed about many things and was never happy on the inside. This week at camp has changed my outlook completely and I have come to realize God will NEVER leave me. Ever since Thursday night I have just been filled with joy and I love it! Thank you so much to all the counselors. I'm now on my journey with God and though I am still in the midst of my storm I am on the way out."

Now for number four....

"Every year I’m excited for camp but this year, like every year I didn’t know what to expect. I wondered who I would room with, I wondered who would be there. This year has been a challenge for me. I've had multiple family issues and have struggled a lot. I was hoping to have a recharge at camp. The first days of camp were fun and I got to meet a bunch of new people. When it came talent show night I went and auditioned. That night for the first time in my life I felt how it felt to get cut from something. That night I also met someone who changed me. They were so talented and had a beautiful voice. Just being there comforting him made me feel good. After that we had faith night. To hear Justin was amazing. Then after it we just stayed and prayed. It was such a good feeling I literally felt like I was high on God. Then I saw something that truly changed me, it was one kid and he went around and prayed over everyone and his bond with God inspired me. Camp has changed me again and has brought me back closer to God. The counselors, and the people impacted me for the better. I will never forget Joseph Middle School Overnight Camp."

"The most amazing thing that happened to me at camp actually started long before Monday morning when camp officially started. It started right when I began my freshman year at school when I made a friend (I will call him Michael in this testimony) who I am sure will be in my life for a long time. When I met Michael, I didn’t realize that God was putting him in my life for a big reason. I could be honest with him and trust him with anything. Our friendship grew stronger and stronger throughout high school as we both dealt with the struggles of leading Christian lifestyles at a public high school. He especially dealt with the struggle of trying to find loving friendships, and getting along well with the people at our school.

When I went to Spotlight camp in 2011, we had Faith Night just like we did this year, and my friend’s name kept coming into my head. I began to pray for him a lot that night, praying that he would be there next time and he would be moved by the love of everyone in the room and the love of God. I didn’t know if he had ever really, truly experienced that before.

I went back to school in September with the same mindset. I wanted him to go to Spotlight camp with me in June. He started auditioning for shows at Spotlight and taking all of the classes, and I could already tell God was working through him.

Later during the year, I was having a really hard time getting along with his other friends. They would gang up on me on the internet, and say horrible things about me, and my self-esteem took a nose dive. I didn’t feel any sense of belonging at my school, and I wasn’t even getting along very well with Michael anymore. I lost friends faster than I ever had before, because I chose to be with my friends from Spotlight instead. However, I still had a gut feeling that we had to stay friends. I don’t even remember if I knew why I wanted to stay friends at that point, but I can see now that God wanted us to as well.

In early June, when he finally said he had signed up for camp, I was so filled with joy because I remembered all of the fun we would have together. I had forgotten my original reason for wanting him to go to camp, my prayers during Faith Night last year. I was just excited that I got to spend a week with another one of my best friends.

When camp started, I could see that he was having a great time. We all were. It was going to be an amazing show, the devotions were bringing us closer to God, and our friendships were growing constantly. But Thursday night (Faith Night), that was the turning point. As the speaker shared the message of the Gospel, and asked us to accept or re-accept Christ as our savior, everyone in the room was overcome with emotion. I looked over at Michael, and he had tears streaming down his face, and that moved me to tears too. After the speaker had finished speaking, all of my friends and fellow campers got up and started hugging and sharing encouragements with each other. Before I was even able to move out of my chair, Michael grabbed and hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe, and would not let go.

At that moment, I remembered my prayers for from Faith Night 2011, and I really think it was in God’s plan since freshman year to bring him to this camp, and show him a loving community. In return, it showed me how much the joy of being saved by God can affect people, and made me want to bring more people into the Spotlight community. Now, I just want everyone to have the experience that I have had. I want to show people the love of Christ, and show them that they have a faithful God, who is always working to bring His plan into action." 

These will continue to pour out over the next couple weeks. I have gotten a HUGE response from campers! Here is entry number 2.

"Every year at this camp, I will tell myself "I’m not gonna cry, I have nothing to cry about", and especially this year, I found myself tearing up so much. I didn’t really realize that I was drifting away from Christ. I go to church every Sunday, and I went to my church's youth group when I was in middle school. When I graduated middle school I was supposed to move up to the high school ministry, but no one from my school went to my church, and I felt like everyone knew everyone except for me, so I didn’t go. I didn’t feel like I was drifting from God, I thought that I was learning enough by just going to regular church services. I’ve had a stronger faith in Christ than most people I know, and I thought that was enough. One day my dad told me he knew this family with a girl my age who went to the high school ministry and she wanted to meet me. I said okay but never really planned on talking to her. One day my family went to an early church service and when we were about to leave, we happened to run into her family. Later that day the girl messaged me on Facebook and we talked and she invited me to the high school ministry. I said maybe, really meaning I didn’t really want to, and if I did go it would probably be a one time thing. I thought the girl was nice, but I didn’t want to go and feel out of place. Fast forward to camp. We focused on community and spiritual gifts and identity, I learned a lot through these messages but I didn’t completely understand what it directly meant to me until Thursday night; faith night. Just as the beginning music was playing, I started to tear up and I couldn’t figure out why. I was trying to figure out what was nagging me the speaker spoke. He talked towards the end about how a tree is fed water through its roots. To me personally, I took it as we learn more about ourselves and the Lord when we are established in Jesus Christ. I realized my "roots" weren’t as firmly established in the ground as they could be, and how at camp, surrounded by Christians my age really made me feel connected to God. I then realized that I could feel this way in regular life at my church's high school ministry. I thought about the girl who invited me to the ministry and how nice she was and I’m like, "I have to go there ASAP!" So I am hoping to be able to go to the high school group next Sunday night and I believe that it will be a great experience for me. Without this camp and the girl who invited me, I don’t know how much longer it would have taken me to realize my roots hadn’t been watered in a while. I want all to know by this that even if you are a strong believer in Christ, there is still so much more you can do to grow closer to Him."

-jon

Every year, Spotlight Youth Theater holds two week long overnight camps, one for middle school, and one for high school. I have been blessed enough to be a counselor at these camps the past few years and I am always floored by the amazing things that God does in these two weeks. Now, I could, and will tell you all the things that I saw and experienced this summer at camp, but there are nearly 250 other accounts of things that God has accomplished the past two weeks. I have asked the campers to share their testimony anonymously because I believe that giving testimony not only helps us reflect, but it is an amazing way to bring Light into the world and help spread God's kingdom. Here is entry number one....

"Before this camp, I had noticed my relationship with God had been put on the back burner. Last year it had taught me so much and I looked forward to it all year. This year I was excited; yet, scared to go knowing I had let Him down, knowing my relationship with Him had not been a priority. When I arrived at overnight camp, I had realized God knows time gets away from us and keeping Him in your life can be a job in of its own and His arms are always open. My favorite memory of camp was faith night, that was the first time in my entire life I had felt God in my presence. Throughout the week I had been wanting to feel that experience and it finally happened. Worship every morning was very emotional. Faith night was Thursday and on Friday morning at worship I did feel emotional, but the feeling of finally understanding and accepting God in my life, during the songs that morning, nothing but smiles ran across my face. "There is no place I'd rather be," the people I met and the people I reunited with will never be forgotten. I believe summer of 2012 Spotlight camp, I renewed my relationship with Christ and now know that I am "cherished, loved and adored above all things, by the creator of all things, for the glory of Him who is greater than all things," but the number one thing I learned at camp and I will take with me the rest of my life is, I never have and never will walk alone."


More to come, perhaps even another before the day is out.... ;)

-jon