Well today marks the first day of Student Life Camp. Just yesterday I returned from a terrific few days training teachers and leaders from the three different Winshape Camps. Now my attention is focused solely on Covenant College and a group of students and adults who I know are needing to hear God speak to them. I know this because I also need to hear God speak to me. So, in just a few minutes I will hop in the car and make the 4 hour drive expecting God to do great things. I have confidence that He will because of number of times I have seen His faithfulness in the past and because I know in the end anyone hearing from God is not just up to me. See, one of the best things about joining a group like Student Life is the joy of working along such great young leaders like Jarod Brown–the director of the team I’m headed to partner with. Whether it is leading recreation, working in the office staff, the directors, the tech crew or the bunches of other positions that make camp work, I know we are all working together for one thing. We want to students to hear God speak to them and launch out on a radical life of faith, hope and love. We are calling this kind of life a devoted life–explaining the SL theme for the summer DEVOTED.
This theme I think is crucial as we speak to the next generation of would be disciples and God-followers. The latest statistics show that just 4% of the millennial generation is coming back to church. Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t have lots of people in the millennial generation calling themselves Christian. We have lots of people who know some stuff about God. We have lots of people who want part of who God is. We have lots of people who want enough of God in their life to ensure He helps them get everything they ever wanted before they met God. And I also know that the skepticism and cynicism about church that this young generation feels is somewhat merited. But part of the deep, unrelenting, nagging and somewhat obvious truth is that we have separated what it means to be Christian from what it means to be devoted.
It wasn’t always so. Just a few thousand years ago, a Jewish carpenter/rabbi was banding a group of motley people together to change the world. The things he called them to were enormous. There would be no way they could be part of it without leveraging everything. And they did.
So, this summer at Student Life Camp for me it is time to once again hear both the challenge and invitation of Jesus–for him not to help me make my life what I wanted it to be before I met him but for Him to be my life–to show me what His life looks like–and for me to take hold of it as the most important thing in the world. I hope you will join me on this journey. If you can’t be there live, listen in online each evening. It’s going to be a great! Come on Lord!
