Revolution Speaks

SUMMER SURGE POSTS ARE GUESTS POSTS BY A WOODSTOCKHSM VOLUNTEER

It has been amazing how God has heard all the prayer concerning the weather for this camp.  The storm came through during the middle of the night and we woke to a light rain that was gone by the end of our morning worship service.  We are all praising God! 

Since it was raining our students were not able to have their quiet times on the beach but they all found a spot of their own to get along with God this morning.  The devotion focused on assurance of salvation and they read through I John 2.  They were asked to take a deep look at their behavior and attitude toward the things of God and to pray for that the Holy Spirit would give them confirmation in this area or it encouraged them to ask godly counsel.  We pray that this one week will allow some of the students to begin the habit of seeking God through His word daily.

During the morning worship service Bryan Bailey continued to examine the church of Ephesus and all that Jesus had to say about them.  We read in Revelation 2 about all the things the church had done right and all they had done wrong.  In spite of all that the church was doing right Jesus called them out for abandoning their first love, Jesus.  He also read I Corinthians 13:1-3 and encouraged the students that even if we have all the accolades and money this world has to offer but we don’t have love we have nothing!!  He closed by challenging the students to keep pursuing Christ!

It was relay time today during recreation.  The students were divided up within their teams and they all participated in the relay that went from the pool, to the field and ended on the beach with all the teams in the ocean!  The kids play their hearts out and truly love the competition. 

Our students have really enjoyed Clayton King, our camp speaker for the week.  His sense of humor and honest in the messages allow the students to connect with him.

Tonight’s message was on Life or Death from John 10:1-8.  He clearly explained that Satan desire to destroy us because we look like God, we were made in His image and we are hopeless and defenseless on our own.  But thankfully someone died to save and protect us and that someone is Jesus!  During the invitation he asked the students what they need rescuing from.  We are praising the Lord for 10 salvation decisions tonight. 

The late night session was a concert by Jake Holman and then some worship time with Jake and the Epicenter band.  The students are passionate about singing and worshiping the Lord, it is an awesome thing to watch!  Our leadership surprised our students with 75 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts tonight!  It was a lot of students but don’t worry, they were all devoured!!

Here are some specific to pray for:

1. Students will form a habit for studying God’s word daily
2. Service projects that students will do on Thursday
3. Strength to finish the week strong

SUMMER SURGE POSTS ARE GUESTS POSTS BY A WOODSTOCKHSM VOLUNTEER

The rain stayed away all day!  We had about five minutes of rain this morning and then it was dry for the rest of the day.  Thank you for your prayers!  Unfortunately, we have an 80% chance of rain on Wednesday.

The students start their day with quiet times on the beach.  Today the students focused on love during their devotions.  They were challenged to answer questions about their love for Jesus and for others.  It is an amazing sight to see the student digging into the word of God individually and praying on the beach.  Not only is this a great time for themselves but also a great testimony to the rest of the resort!

So far we’ve had three worship services and each time with the band has played a song by Chris Tomlin entitled “Lay Me Down.”  It seems like this song is quickly becoming the anthem for the week.  The words to this song match with the desire that we have for each of these students here at Summer Surge.  Part of the song says, “It will be my joy to say Your will, Your way always.”  Our students have been singing their hearts out to this song!

Bryan Bailey, the college pastor, spoke this morning in our worship service on Acts 19.  He challenged the students to take a look at their influence and explained through Scripture what biblical influence looks like.  He told the students that your influence as a believer is anchored in your identity.  Bryan will continue to dig dip into the word of God during our morning sessions. 

The battle continued today on the fields with a competitive game of dodgeball between the teams.  Each team put forth their best 30 girls and then best 30 guys to compete in several rounds of dodgeball.  After a day and a half of Summer Surge the Red team has now moved to first place with Blue, Orange and Green to follow respectively.  Our late night session was a grade competition tonight.  We found out that several of our students have some hidden talents including a certain 10^th grader that has some very impressive dance moves.  Our counselors though shocked us the most.  We had one chew a piece of gum that had already been chewed and another that put someone else’s retainer in their mouth!  We are blessed with the best counselors and ones that would do anything to support their team.

We are thankful to have Clayton King as our guest speaker for the remaining of our night worship services.  Clayton is from North Carolina and travels all around the world speaking for different student events.  He started off with making some funny statements about girls but promises to make some equally as funny statements about guys tomorrow night.  His text for the evening was John 12:1-11.  Through the story of Mary washing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume Clayton showed us four signs of true conversion; it is personal, passionate, public and permanent.  We are genuinely looking forward to all that God has in store for our students and leaders through Clayton’s preaching.

Here are some specifics to pray for:

1. Our counselors as they connect with our students during small group time
2. Strength and energy for all at Summer Surge
3. The weather on Wednesday is expected to be nasty

SUMMER SURGE POSTS ARE GUESTS POSTS BY A WOODSTOCKHSM VOLUNTEER

Summer Surge 2012 has begun!!  From the moment the students stepped off the buses here in Myrtle Beach they have been filled with enthusiasm.  They quickly got their room assignments, headed to the meeting room for orientation and then it was a pizza for supper.  As the students began to fill the auditorium for worship it was obvious that this week is going to be amazing.  Matt lead a prayer time with our students on their knees.  Each individually praying for this week and all that is involved.  Our worship pastor this week is Jake Holman.  Jake has an ability to lead people to worship without calling attention to himself.  He, the Epicenter band and David Riddle played their hearts out tonight! 

Matt preached from the book of Joshua tonight.  He walked us through the whole book and talked about the glory of God.  He asked the students, “What if the glory of God mattered to you now, what could God do?”  He shared a personal story of time he spent in Denver and felt like he was in the wilderness and that God revealed to him through His word that this was about God and bring glory to Him and not about Matt feeling comfortable with where he was.   Matt’s prayer is that the glory of God will be in the heart of every student here!  To challenge the students even further with this Matt shared a new vision for Epicenter.  At the Warehouse we have started to reach 80-85% capacity on Wednesday nights but still desire to reach more students!  To make God’s glory known we will soon launch a secondary site for Epicenter in northern Cherokee County.  At this point we do not have location to hold this secondary site.  We will need another band, media team, adult and student volunteers.  We don’t have a lot of the details laid out yet but we do know we need lots of prayer!  Please begin to pray with us as we desire to reach our community! 

After the service the students go back to their rooms to prepare for Late Night.  It’s Monday night at camp so that means Team Competitions!!  The students dress in their team colors from head to toe and battle the opposing teams.  It was extremely loud in the auditorium tonight!  The students were full of energy (it’s obvious tonight is night one of four)!  Tonight was full of karaoke sing offs, Spam eating competitions and a group game of Heads or Tails.  At the end of the night we ended with Blue in first, Orange in second, Green in third and Red in fourth.  Some teams think it’s best to start strong and other teams strategize to come from behind, we will have to see what this week has in store. 

Here are some specifics to pray for:

1. Open hearts for our students
2. Our speakers for Tuesday, Bryan Bailey & Clayton King
3. Weather (rain forecasted for Tuesday & Wednesday)