Time Past, Time Off and Time to Come

The last two weeks have been full and exciting. When I last wrote we were just about to start our second week of camp at Olivet. I tried to take a mess of pictures to sort of show what we do. I don't know that I accomplished it all that well but here we are. I'll try to caption to explain as best as possible.

This is my view most of the time. I control the lyric content, slides and video that goes on our main screens.









This is just one minute before our opening session.








These are our mood pilots. There roll is to get the kids hyped and to essentially give them a reason to go crazy. This shot is from our week opener. Crazy loud music and out of control lighting. Every kid gets a laser pointer and gets to go nuts and forget about everything in their life that doesn't make sense for just a moment. It is really cool.




Here is a quick loop of what our lighting designer, Brad, can do. It is amazing to see the show.

This is Jeff. He is the founder and current man in charge. He is a man of great vision and heart for the kids. He also has a killer three, so if you're playing him in basketball get ready to keep your hands up.






This is Steve Carter of willow lake who was in to preach for the week. He was a super intelligent guy that loved the Lord and loved to teach kids more about what it means to follow Christ daily.

This is a call for students to write down the things that are keeping them from following Christ closer. No doubt a powerful moment and one they will never forget.

This is a shot of chase and his band. This band lead us in worship all week and we saw som amazing things happent that I could never have enough time to write about. Good days

 Here is Charlie and Becca. They take time each morning to teach the students about how to read the Bible and why they should make it a consistent part of their lives.

This is a game that was put on by Becca and John. They are the MCs for the week and they are two of the goofiest people ever. Good days.

The week was made great by a few brief visits from Shea. It was great to get to show her a little of what I do.










That is a glimpse of what our weeks look like from day to day. Between the sessions we have times of working out, late night ice cream and food runs, napping, exploring and general relationship building.

WEEK OFF!

Last week I got the week off. I got to do a load of good things. The weeks started off with writing and recording music in Marion with Christian and Daniel. We have our first song well on its way. We hope to get an EP in the near future. I also was able to spent the night with my friends Chris, Rachel and their  son Thatcher. We had crazy good tarts with Al and Cherilyn. Tuesday was and awesome time with my family for Bryce's birthday.

Wednesday morning I headed up to visit Shea in Chicago for three days. Wednesday we just did our thing, which typically includes watching loads of Ellen, sleeping, eating and hanging out with whoever stops by. Thursday was 100%, as Shea continually made clear. It is her favorite holiday and was easily the best 4th I have ever been a part of. We got to have a solid slow morning with reading, running and eating. The afternoon was spent preparing for the party which produced a load of different people. We all went to the local firework show where we spent time singing to our favorite country renditions of overly patriotic songs. We then went and sat around a bon fire until 3 in the morning star gazing, laughing and trading stories. I met a guy named Curran, who was from South Africa. We were able to talk for ages about travels and the places were Brad had been in South Africa several years back, which were right close to where Curran lived.

Finally, Friday we went down into the city to see Shea's sister Amanda's apartment. We were able to visit a new coffee shop by Intelligensia. It was an incredible experience, and I was happy to experience it with some close friends. We then went for a walk down in the city, which is always loads of fun. We went back to Frankfort for dinner and a surprise visit to Nicole from Colton. I left Chicago around midnight and was on the road for the next stent of the tour by 7:30 am.

I am now in Hoeten, NY for two weeks. We have two camps here. We have already visited amazing waterfalls and eaten at a real country bar and grill/bowling alley/arcade. Out of control. For those praying for us, we could use prayers for endurance. We have 3 weeks and 3 camps left. We have to drive to NC for our final camp which means a drive through mountains and I can only imagine we will have to forge a river. We all know, as we learned in the Oregon Trail, means potential hypothermia and the ever present yellow fever. Just kidding, but seriously. Thanks for following me, and stay sweet.