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Hello, Everyone!
It’s hard to believe, but we just wrapped up a month of camp! It was an incredible time where we saw God working in many different ways. A couple of highlights and stories from July ministry:
- Our first week felt like our smoothest “first week of camps” ever, and we think it’s in large part due to the fact that we have so many returning staff this year! It’s been really encouraging to see how many young adults, local and international, are stepping out as leaders at Camp Falcon Rock year after year. We are so encouraged by how solid our team is this year, and it was evident this week as we saw the team work in such unity and with such focus for what God has called us to this year!
- During our first week of camp, we were joined by 5 Ukrainian-Hungarian campers! This group drove in the early hours of the morning from Ukraine to Camp Falcon Rock to spend the week with us. We were honoured to be able to connect with these young teens and walk with them in their unique season of life. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting the NAB Ukraine work, as it helped sponsor these young people to come to camp.
- In the middle of week one, after a powerful time of worship and sharing from the Word, campers were invited to respond. We were overwhelmed seeing the many campers who made decisions that night to accept Christ and grow in their faith. At the end of camp, as we invited campers to share about their experience, many campers shared about how Wednesday was their highlight of the week because they made the decision to follow Jesus! Praise the Lord!
- During one of our morning staff devotional and prayer times, we were encouraged to pray for campers who may be called into ministry or serve in ministry settings. As we continued on with our day, we saw God answer that prayer request in a number of different ways. One way was having a number of campers ask leaders about when they will be allowed to be leaders at Camp Falcon Rock! One girl in particular, who is only 12 right now, wanted to know more about what it means to be a leader at camp and when she will be able to serve in that way. Praise the Lord for how he is gripping young people’s hearts here to step out and serve in his Kingdom mission.
- During our second week of camp, a youth team of 11 from Metropolitan Baptist Church from Fargo, North Dakota, joined us for the week. We were so grateful for the fresh energy they brought our team as they quickly joined in helping our counselling and program teams. Our time was greatly blessed by them, especially through the youth sharing their testimonies of God at work in their lives and around the world.
- Though this second week had some challenges – in part due to extreme heat – we were struck by how well our team worked together to navigate the difficulties and even more by how they continued to lead campers in deep spiritual conversations in the midst of all that was going on. This week we saw a clear picture of the body of Christ at work in individual gifts, as well as in the unity displayed in our team.
- For our third week (youth and young adults camp), since some of our leaders became campers, we changed up the theme we were teaching on from “The Greatest Commandment” to “Hope.” We focused on a number of different topics relevant to young adults, like education, career, future spouse, etc., and how we find hope in these different gifts and callings stemming from our true hope in Christ. We invited two Hungarian pastors to the camp to be our speakers for the week, and their messages resonated deeply with those at the camp.
- Our team grew this week to include two young couples from the Hungarian Baptist community – one seminary student and his wife, and one key worship leader and his family. We love partnering with young, called, and equipped leaders from Romania. The seminary student hosted all of our teaching sessions and guided campers into deeper experiences with God as we worshiped and heard from the Word. The worship leader led some powerful worship times, including a worship night co-led with one of our international volunteers. We loved seeing our team expand and the unity that came as we all served together.
- For the month of July, we were blessed to have the Smith family back with us in Romania. The whole family served in different areas, including: camp pastor, staff devotionals, nurse, counsellor, program team, mission team oversight, and speaker. We were encouraged to see how quickly they picked up where they left off and how the deep relationships they formed when they were here last time continued to be impacted as they connected with young people while they served with us this summer. The Smiths were such a great addition to the team, and it was a blessing to be able to serve together again!
- After this third week of camp wrapped up, our local Szentkiraly young adults team, along with our international volunteers, headed to a nearby city to run a week-long English outreach day camp. They have been there for this past week and have been building connections with the community kids and parents alongside local church leaders.
- Also at the end of July, we received a mission team from Grace Baptist in Kelowna, British Columbia. They served with their sister-church partner by running one week of VBS village programs and then one-week English camp. Some of our international volunteers joined them for the English camp. It is always encouraging to see so many parts of the body of Christ come together to serve from all parts of the world.
Camps will continue to run throughout the month of August, so you can be praying for that ministry as it continues. We will be heading to Canada August 9 through September 1 on a mission trip with key Romanian young adults from our ministry. The team will be visiting a number of NAB churches, as well as serving homeless ministries and at Camp Caroline. We’re looking forward to all the ways God is going to work in and through our team on this trip.
Thank you to all of you for praying for summer camps and journeying with us! We praise the Lord for all that took place over July. As we ended one of our staff debriefs, we ended by singing the worship song “Gratitude,” as it is truly how we all felt – grateful that as we step out in faith God shows up and works powerfully for the sake of the Good News of Jesus!
Grace and Peace.