Wednesday, December 19, 2007
camp afterglow
Wow! I must say that I was quite bowled over by the rave reviews below, but it's true: camp was AWESOME! :)
Honestly, on day 1 I was quite tired coz my Tribe Leader job seemed alot more arduous than what was described to me earlier. I pretty much had to shuttle between the 4 groups to get to know everyone a little better and help out the leaders who were having any trouble. While it was difficult at first coz I'm not much of an extrovert, as I got the hang of it, it was actually pretty fun coz you get to hear from all sorts of people and experience the different atmospheres in each group.
While initially I thought the camp would be really exhausting, by the last day, I was really sad that it was over so quickly, just as we were all getting the hang of it :( One key moment for me was on Day 2, just before the workshops when Pastor Alvin asked those who felt led to go to any one of the for corners of the hall to pray and re-commit their lives to God. I was a workshop IC so I actually had missed most of the sermon and had come in to bring people in my workshop to the correct venue. When Pastor Alvin made the call, I went behind those who came forward to intercede for them. During that time, God all of a sudden filled me with compassion for all the youths in YM to the point that I was tearing as I prayed. As I had shared with one of my groups in camp, for guys who don't cry very often, when your eyes start leaking (especially if there was no emotional build-up), you know that God is at work.
In some ways, camp is kind've scary for leaders coz you don't know what God's gonna do and whether you will be able to handle what He throws at you. But what I learnt from this camp is that God can use any one of us so long as we have a willing and obedient heart that cries out to him saying, "Here I am, use me." As you all enter into your second year at YM, I would encourage you guys to start considering joining one of the various ministries to serve others in YM just as you have been served. For those of you who are interested in video/phtography/creative arts can join 12 Stones, those of you who like music can join the Worship Team, and those of you who enjoy playing games can help out with the Crosstrainers. It doesn't matter whether you have the skills or the talents coz it's all about giving God our best and letting Him do the rest.
I hope all the testimonies on this page will be enough to motivate the rest of you to come for camp next year, and the good news is that you don't have to wait till next year to start getting serious with God coz it can start today! :)
For those who went to camp (i.e. Magdalene, Sarah, Rachel, Melanie, Marc, Joel and Natasha [for a while]), please feel free to approach Chuu Ling or myself if you have any questions about anything you heard at camp. There was one guy in Adriel's workshop who was aggressively challenging his arguments, which is good coz it's by asking questions and thinking critically that we grow :)
Honestly, on day 1 I was quite tired coz my Tribe Leader job seemed alot more arduous than what was described to me earlier. I pretty much had to shuttle between the 4 groups to get to know everyone a little better and help out the leaders who were having any trouble. While it was difficult at first coz I'm not much of an extrovert, as I got the hang of it, it was actually pretty fun coz you get to hear from all sorts of people and experience the different atmospheres in each group.
While initially I thought the camp would be really exhausting, by the last day, I was really sad that it was over so quickly, just as we were all getting the hang of it :( One key moment for me was on Day 2, just before the workshops when Pastor Alvin asked those who felt led to go to any one of the for corners of the hall to pray and re-commit their lives to God. I was a workshop IC so I actually had missed most of the sermon and had come in to bring people in my workshop to the correct venue. When Pastor Alvin made the call, I went behind those who came forward to intercede for them. During that time, God all of a sudden filled me with compassion for all the youths in YM to the point that I was tearing as I prayed. As I had shared with one of my groups in camp, for guys who don't cry very often, when your eyes start leaking (especially if there was no emotional build-up), you know that God is at work.
In some ways, camp is kind've scary for leaders coz you don't know what God's gonna do and whether you will be able to handle what He throws at you. But what I learnt from this camp is that God can use any one of us so long as we have a willing and obedient heart that cries out to him saying, "Here I am, use me." As you all enter into your second year at YM, I would encourage you guys to start considering joining one of the various ministries to serve others in YM just as you have been served. For those of you who are interested in video/phtography/creative arts can join 12 Stones, those of you who like music can join the Worship Team, and those of you who enjoy playing games can help out with the Crosstrainers. It doesn't matter whether you have the skills or the talents coz it's all about giving God our best and letting Him do the rest.
I hope all the testimonies on this page will be enough to motivate the rest of you to come for camp next year, and the good news is that you don't have to wait till next year to start getting serious with God coz it can start today! :)
For those who went to camp (i.e. Magdalene, Sarah, Rachel, Melanie, Marc, Joel and Natasha [for a while]), please feel free to approach Chuu Ling or myself if you have any questions about anything you heard at camp. There was one guy in Adriel's workshop who was aggressively challenging his arguments, which is good coz it's by asking questions and thinking critically that we grow :)
Posted at 10:47 PM | Love, Marcus
