Sunday, August 12, 2012
Opening a Close
The last group of summer campers for the year arrived at Camp Phillip today. The younger group of 2nd-4th graders came for one half week and shared the camp with the even younger peewee campers. Peewee camp is our camp for Kindergartners and first graders. The kids stay with their parents in the campground or at a local hotel at night and then the camp staff leads them in regular camp activities throughout the day. Today both the Peewees and parents got mix with one another. The Peewees learned their Peewee poses, made new friends, captured the "crazy" counselors and then crammed together inside hula hoops to hide from a storm. Their parents worked together to complete one of our portable Challenge Course initiatives. Both groups performed well (even the parents).
Friday, August 10, 2012
The Hunger-y James
It's been quite the week here at Camp Phillip. Yesterday on Thursday we had a voracious Singing Supper and crazy evening games and campfires throughout the week. One character that has repeated throughout the week is the lovable and quite nerd Artie. Throughout the week, Artie has gone to an art museum, learned how to be a smuggling pirate and even turned into a bear. Artie has appeared at camp throughout the summer and is especially famous for "tightening his belt" and the food he keeps in the breast pocket of his trademark blue polo. Beyond Artie, another highlight was the Hunger-y James. A Hunger Games inspired game where kids raced to catch their champion counselors while the hungry James ate and ate.
Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
The camp started the morning with morning praise where the kids gathered together to sing instead of having a typical Password devotion and then Bible Study progression. For devotion, Jason told the story of Cliff Young, an Australian distance runner who ran and won his first race, over five hundred miles long, at the age of 61 and broke the old record time by almost two days. He changed the way people ran extreme distances forever. Races like this were never going to be the same again. When Jesus saved us, he changed the world. Christians could never be the same as those who didn't believe. The forgiveness of sins and a future with God changes the way we see the world and how we approach everything.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Last First Day of Sonshine
Today featured, as the title says, the start of our last week of Sonshine Camp. At this point, the counselors have easily established their set routines and the smoothness of the opening day schedule and introduction to Camp activities showed throughout the day. Even as everything is routine at this point, the faces of campers nervously entering the cabin and then lighting up as they meet new friends never gets old.
Today also featured the opening of Grandparent-Grandchild Camp. Eleven grandchildren and their grandparents came together to join for half a week of camp together. They had mixers, came to song period and enjoyed a time travel themed campfire.
John 3:24 The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Ben gave a devotion that featured him giving Starbursts, first to Jim who had to work for them and then Brett who got them right away and then didn't bother to listen to what Ben asked of him. The illustration pointed to how we honor God by living for him and show our thanks for how much he loves us by doing what he asks, not just to get a reward.
Today also featured the opening of Grandparent-Grandchild Camp. Eleven grandchildren and their grandparents came together to join for half a week of camp together. They had mixers, came to song period and enjoyed a time travel themed campfire.
John 3:24 The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
Ben gave a devotion that featured him giving Starbursts, first to Jim who had to work for them and then Brett who got them right away and then didn't bother to listen to what Ben asked of him. The illustration pointed to how we honor God by living for him and show our thanks for how much he loves us by doing what he asks, not just to get a reward.
Friday, August 3, 2012
The Legend: Part 2
Hello Friends,
Today offered the conclusion of The Legend, the daily camp schedule and campfires for the week. Fridays are sad because the kids and counselors all know, "this is the last time we'll..." But they are also a blast because everyone knows the week is almost to and end and wants to end on a high note. The kids have established good relationships with each other and the last day is kind of a victory lap of great week at camp. Things that stood out today were cabins using free time to play fun, silly games together or nap. The Legend: Part 2 featured the campers essentially playing capture the flag but certain counselors were the flags and the campers had to work together to wrangle them back in. The Cold team carried in two counselors to the Hot team's one which made up for their poor showing the day before. The standings are one to one. I guess the camper's will just have to come back next year for the tie breaker =)
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Password featured Molly comparing the dedication Olympic athletes give to their sports with what it would mean for us to live as sacrifices to God. Normally, a sacrifice would be a one time thing. A living sacrifice requires a lifetime of dedication. For Praise and Worship Campfire, some of the staff members wrote their own personal definitions for words such as guilt, Savior, rescue and others. The campers wrote ways they could serve God at home and then staff members also read those between songs. Thanks for a great week everyone!
Today offered the conclusion of The Legend, the daily camp schedule and campfires for the week. Fridays are sad because the kids and counselors all know, "this is the last time we'll..." But they are also a blast because everyone knows the week is almost to and end and wants to end on a high note. The kids have established good relationships with each other and the last day is kind of a victory lap of great week at camp. Things that stood out today were cabins using free time to play fun, silly games together or nap. The Legend: Part 2 featured the campers essentially playing capture the flag but certain counselors were the flags and the campers had to work together to wrangle them back in. The Cold team carried in two counselors to the Hot team's one which made up for their poor showing the day before. The standings are one to one. I guess the camper's will just have to come back next year for the tie breaker =)
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Password featured Molly comparing the dedication Olympic athletes give to their sports with what it would mean for us to live as sacrifices to God. Normally, a sacrifice would be a one time thing. A living sacrifice requires a lifetime of dedication. For Praise and Worship Campfire, some of the staff members wrote their own personal definitions for words such as guilt, Savior, rescue and others. The campers wrote ways they could serve God at home and then staff members also read those between songs. Thanks for a great week everyone!
The Legend Part 1
Yesterday started with morning praise. One of the funnest things, for me, about morning praise is how many of the songs we sing at Camp are original pieces by the staff who work here now or in the past. This summer has featured a number of new songs that demonstrate the musical skill and doctrinal understanding that our staff is blessed with. After Morning Praise, the campers split off into activities and had a blast playing Tellestrations during Schleef Encounters, hit the mark in archery and challenged themselves (and the laws of gravity) at the High Ropes Course.
The highlights of the day for many kids included the evening game and campfire. The game, called The Legend Part 1, is the first of a two part epic battle between two fictional aboriginal tribes in Australia. The first part that we played had the campers struggling over control of the booger bridge. (No campers actually went into the booger.) The gathered materials and tagged each other and got hyped up. The hot colored team won but the game was very close and the kids tried extremely hard. Then, for campfire, the campers were treated to a vision of Jason Schleef ruling the world through the domination of the chocolate market. The campers sang the world anthem of Schleeftopia and watched as a traitor seemed to take down the empire only to betrayed himself. Just as you'd expect the campfire ended with Jason still ruling the world and laughing maniacally.
Roman 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Joe Garbe had devotion and went through the passage and taught how God loves us through anything in this word. In the devotion he even set the passage to a tune and had the campers sing along.
The highlights of the day for many kids included the evening game and campfire. The game, called The Legend Part 1, is the first of a two part epic battle between two fictional aboriginal tribes in Australia. The first part that we played had the campers struggling over control of the booger bridge. (No campers actually went into the booger.) The gathered materials and tagged each other and got hyped up. The hot colored team won but the game was very close and the kids tried extremely hard. Then, for campfire, the campers were treated to a vision of Jason Schleef ruling the world through the domination of the chocolate market. The campers sang the world anthem of Schleeftopia and watched as a traitor seemed to take down the empire only to betrayed himself. Just as you'd expect the campfire ended with Jason still ruling the world and laughing maniacally.
Roman 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Joe Garbe had devotion and went through the passage and taught how God loves us through anything in this word. In the devotion he even set the passage to a tune and had the campers sing along.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Sanitation is Elation
What a fun Wednesday we had yesterday! For Schleef Encounters the kids attempted to make a hot air balloon but did not quite off the ground. The group just couldn't find the right number of camdles to use as a heat source. It was either not hot enough or melting the garbage bag because of the inferno. The other group played canoe dodgeball and then got to have some extra swim time. We had to say goodbye to soccer leader Adam as he has something called a "real job" that he had to go back to. We'll miss you Adam!
During the evening game, campers had to rescue the Junior Staff from their own smelliness by gathering in soap without getting infected with the stink and then when all the soap was gathered, bring in the Junior Staff. Then for the campfire, Joel the Troll travelled around looking for friends. He ran into a group of bakers singing "Come to the Elves," some mimes, and finally some real friends =) Then for devotion, Justin taught us about Romans 8:28 and that God's true purpose for us is to save sinners.
During the evening game, campers had to rescue the Junior Staff from their own smelliness by gathering in soap without getting infected with the stink and then when all the soap was gathered, bring in the Junior Staff. Then for the campfire, Joel the Troll travelled around looking for friends. He ran into a group of bakers singing "Come to the Elves," some mimes, and finally some real friends =) Then for devotion, Justin taught us about Romans 8:28 and that God's true purpose for us is to save sinners.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Smooth Sailing
The morning started with campers showing off their cabin pride. Cabin Pride breakfast featured cabins adorning face paint with their cabin numbers clearly displayed. Some wore Red, White and Blue to demonstrate their pride in their country. Finally, some dressed up as lions and came as a literal pride. Like breakfast, the days activities were action packed. Bible study had the kids, reading, thinking and laughing. Schleef encounters had one group drawing hillarious pictures and another running through the woods hunting and being hunted. The boy rock climbers go to do their thing and went to Devil's Lake to spend the day rock climbing. Kids played crazy games at outdoor sports and disc golfed. Soccer specialty played a crazy soccer game inside the Bula Ball ring and baking specialty filled up on Lemon Bars and home made ice cream. At the ropes course kids jumped off the leap of faith with the coolest adventure coordinator in the world, Justin Heise.
For the evening game, the evil Sector X came to camp and spread a mutation infection to the staff. Doctor Adam and Doctor Jason came in with a plan to have the campers find Sector X and cure him of the infection inside the Decontamination Station. Some campers seemed to enjoy being infected though and set out to infect the rest of camp. The game ended as serum that looked like water from the hose poured onto Sector X, the staff and pretty much the whole camp. Then at campfire Grandpa Joe and Grandma Molly went to Smooth Sailing retirement home and dealt with the crazy antics of Harold, Richard Nixon and the other people at the center.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
For password, Clare let us into the mind of Adam as he struggled with what to do about a new neighbor. The good side of Adam that looked like Ben wanted to greet the neighbor and invite him to church. The evil side of Adam, that looked like Jason, wanted to steal the man's Ipad and then use it to take over the world. Clare used the funny skit to talk about how we struggle with sins and choices and as Christians we need to focus on the Spirit. Devotion leader Jim had the kids think about what their actions say about them and that as we are motivated by Christ we should focus on building others up.
For the evening game, the evil Sector X came to camp and spread a mutation infection to the staff. Doctor Adam and Doctor Jason came in with a plan to have the campers find Sector X and cure him of the infection inside the Decontamination Station. Some campers seemed to enjoy being infected though and set out to infect the rest of camp. The game ended as serum that looked like water from the hose poured onto Sector X, the staff and pretty much the whole camp. Then at campfire Grandpa Joe and Grandma Molly went to Smooth Sailing retirement home and dealt with the crazy antics of Harold, Richard Nixon and the other people at the center.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
For password, Clare let us into the mind of Adam as he struggled with what to do about a new neighbor. The good side of Adam that looked like Ben wanted to greet the neighbor and invite him to church. The evil side of Adam, that looked like Jason, wanted to steal the man's Ipad and then use it to take over the world. Clare used the funny skit to talk about how we struggle with sins and choices and as Christians we need to focus on the Spirit. Devotion leader Jim had the kids think about what their actions say about them and that as we are motivated by Christ we should focus on building others up.
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