Camp gets students away from their normal, everyday environment and surrounds them with God’s creation and saturated Bible teaching. Campers experience the outdoors for an extended period of time and are exposed to the Scriptures more in one week than in a whole month, or in some cases, an entire year! Campers hear the gospel many times and are consistently challenged concerning their walk with the Lord, with godly counselors standing by to speak with them. Relationships among students as well as those among students and staff are formed and strengthened. There truly is no other youth activity that compares with camp!

The highlight of the year in Student Ministries is always summer camp, and 2015 is no different! On June 25-28, we will be heading to Cedar Lake Camp near Big Bear Lake. We are blessed to have Faith Community Church join us again, and look forward to their students and staff teaming up with ours. Our own pastor, Paul Phillipps, will be leading us through a study of the life of Joseph. We are praying that the Lord does a unique work in our students this year.

Our summer camp is open to any student in 6th-12th Grade. For more details, please call our church office at (805) 987-5051, or stop by anytime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm M-F. We are located at 1101 Ponderosa Dr. Camarillo, CA 93010 (corner of Ponderosa and Lantana).

There is nothing quite like a nice, big, juicy steak that has sat in a bag of delicious marinade for several hours before being grilled to perfection . Just a plain old steak with a little seasoning is not bad, but when it’s been soaked, every little nook and cranny of that hunk of beef has been filled up with savory goodness (sorry if you’re getting hungry, and if it’s any consolation, so am I).

Believe it or not, there is a parallel here to your quiet time. You see, the “I don’t feel like it” syndrome we addressed last time reveals that we are tempted to view quiet time like a spiritual “pill” that will give us the pep to make it through the day. Maybe that’s the case sometimes, but typically, we’ll have highs and lows and oftentimes won’t feel anything after quiet time. This is because time in the word and prayer is not necessarily meant to “pump you up” for the day, but to soak you in communion with God for the long haul.

The NT tells us that sanctification happens as we actively renew our minds (Rom. 12:1-2; Col.3:10). We are to soak our souls in God’s truth through reading it, meditating upon it, and praying it back to Him, and through this He begins to change us. This will not happen in one day, or one week. It will happen over the whole coarse of our lives. You see, spiritual growth is sort of like physical growth. My kids grow so slowly I don’t even notice it, but when I look at pictures of them from just a year ago I’m amazed at the changes that are so obvious!

So set your mind to marinate in God’s word each and every day and let God bring His changes in His time!