As we enter into September and the excitement of the fall season, it’s good to give thanks for the blessings of summer and what God has been doing in our lives.
Before it gets too busy, why not take time now reflect and express your thanks to God for the specific things you’ve experienced and learned over the past few months?
Summer Camp at Manhattan Beach Retreat Centre
From August 4-7, over 300 of us packed up ourselves and our families to go out to Manhattan Beach Retreat Centre and enjoy our annual Church Camp weekend. Here is a report from the Summer Camp Team that we’re excited to share with you:
What an awesome time we had out at camp this year! God moved in powerful ways through our guest speaker, Joan Hunter, and through our own congregation as we were challenged to embrace the simplicity and promise of God’s healing and to step out to pray for others to be healed. The weather was perfect, activities were well attended, food was in abundance, worship was uplifting and there was just enough time to relax.
We want to take a moment to thank all of our volunteers who lead events in their bright green t-shirts – camp wouldn’t be possible without all of you. We also need to shout out a few honourable mentions:
- To Chuck Edwards for coordinating all the activity leaders – job well done.
- To our team on the dock organizing the boat and tube rides – we appreciate all the time you spent blessing others.
- To Bill Skelton, Glen & Diane Curtis and Len Derksen – our boat and seadoo drivers – thank you for donating your equipment & gas and sacrificing your free time to spend the afternoons (and more) providing the rides.
- To the worship team and techs – thanks for leading us into God’s presence at each service.
- To the Children’s and Youth Program leaders and volunteers – thanks for teaching & inspiring our children and giving parents that little break, Family Rocks was a hit.
- Who could forget Roger’s bison stew and bannock – yumm!
- To the many others that are too numerous to list – thank you.
KidzRock and Threshold Youth were busy out at camp too, as you’ll see from their reports:
We had an awesome time in our children’s chapels at camp this summer. The mornings were filled with fun activities, games, crafts, prizes and the famous “water wars” battle. Each morning ended off with a little something to satisfy their “sweet tooth” ….yummy freezies.
The evening services were also filled with fun but with the added bonus of learning “God’s Word.” The elementary kids worked on lessons entitled A.I.M-(Agents in Motion). These were lessons that taught them how to cause positive change in their families, their church, their friends, their community and even their world!
The preschoolers were blessed with a panda-themed camp. The children learned all about God’s great big world and His magnificent creations. They learned all about how God cares for them, listens to them, and watches over them, and of all the beautiful things He created, God’s most prized creation is them. The children were able to experience these lessons through sound, touch, smell and movement.
In Threshold, 30+ youth participated, which is the most we’ve had come out in a camp year yet. The students learned about hearing God’s voice and doing outrageous acts for God, and the camp speaker, Joan Hunter, came and prayed with many teens for healing. They also had a lot of fun with various activities (group games, late night capture the flag against the YA, and late-night swim).
It’s time to start making plans to attend next year and thinking about who God wants you to invite. Reserve Aug 9 -12, 2012, on your calendar as tentative dates and watch for updates next spring.
Summer Schedule Ends September 6th
Part of our review of the summer includes a HUGE THANK YOU to all the volunteers who so willingly adjusted their schedules to make our summer service schedule such a success. Special thanks also goes out to the summer KidzRock volunteers who pitched in to give our regular volunteers a break. Sunday mornings were especially busy for everyone here, with all the families attending together at the 10:25 AM service!
This weekend (Sept. 4/6) will be our last Sunday/Tuesday night of the summer schedule. Starting SATURDAY, SEPT. 10th, we’ll be back in the swing of things with SATURDAY LIVE@5:25 and our two regular Sunday morning gatherings at 9:25 and 11:25 AM.
See you there!
-Larissa
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