Family Ministries Update

It's been a wildly fun adventure full of snow, games, worship, and a deep dive into faith for our students as we headed up the mountain this past weekend to Thousand Pine Christian Camp in Crestline California for Winter Camp! Many milkshakes were drunk, there were rock walls climbed, and several spontaneous snow ball fights were waged across four awesome days. Camps sit within Youth Ministry as a "Mountain Top" experience (in our case quite literally!). They pull our students out of their regular routines, and create a clear headed space to approach faith. It removes them from the craziness of school, sports, band, arts, social media, and the rest of the activities that fill their busy schedules. It also creates some space from the challenges of home life, squabbles with siblings, and disagreements with parents. It creates a window to breathe, and it creates a space where they can approach their own faith journeys. Camp is a safe space for questions, doubts, vulnerability, and taking big leaps of Faith. And yes, if you ask our students what their favorite part of camp was, you will most likely get an answer of "the Malt Shop!", "shooting my friends at Paintball" or "climbing the hard path at the Rock Wall". But underneath all of that we have seen great leaps and strides taken in their faith journeys. We had older students get excited to share their experiences and stories with younger students, encouraging them in their own journeys; we witnessed deep growth in their relationships with each other; and we heard from students who want to step up how they lead in our programs. We are fond of saying that "a year's worth of ministry happens in a week away at camp", and we are excited to see how that growth carries our students forward in the months and years to come! Timothy Wazny