I hope you and your family enjoyed our last night of Base Camp 2016 on Friday! Family Night is always a highlight for us we get to know your families a bit and share all the fun and learning from this week.

Tonight we concluded our Olympic games with the Chicken Toss.  There was some especially good tossing by Team Brazil who took Bronze and Gold in the event, and Gold overall.  In a surprise turn of events, Team Scandalnavia admitted to cheating and apologized.  Alexi stated it best when he said that they were bad guys but want to be good guys now, just like Saul in the Bible.  Did you see that coming?  It was terrific to see our athletes hug it out and move forward as friends.

Along with singing and silliness, Pastor Craig took a few minutes to share about what we have learned this week as well as what we at Forest Hills Baptist Church know to be true.  He shared about God’s sovereignty and design for people as well as how much God loves us even though we are sinners.  One thing that stuck out to me was when Pastor Craig spoke about how Adam and Eve were deceived but also made a choice to disobey God.  God knows everything and could have just said that’s it!  You are in so much trouble!  God didn’t do that, though.  He knew that they were hiding and pursed them just like he pursues people today.  He wanted to show them His love, mercy, grace, and to give them every opportunity to be restored to fellowship with Him, just like He wants that for us now.  Don’t get me wrong, Adam and Eve ended up in some big trouble, but God still took care of them and promised to make a way for people to come back to Him.  Guess what, God kept that promise by sending Christ Jesus.  Through Him, people have the opportunity to come back to God, and God pursues us with opportunities to choose to come back to Him.  God can’t force us, but He wants to give us every chance to see who He really is and how much He loves.  I think having all our campers and families walk away knowing and hearing about God’s love is what Base Camp is all about! 

Below are a few highlights of our last evening together.  Hope you had a TERRIFIC time and join us next year!  In the meantime, please check out our other activities and programing for all ages at fhbcgr.org.

Have you ever had to do something really, really hard?  Have you ever wondered if it is worth it?  I was late this evening to our Olympic Events, and listened in on our 5th grade girls to see what I may have missed during teaching time.  Meagan, one of their leaders, used verses like 1 Timothy 4:7-8 to help talk with them about enduring the race to follow Christ so God can be glorified.  There will be some hard times, and christians have to fix their eyes on Jesus to become righteous like Him, to gain the crown.

Acts’s 21:13 talks about how Paul was willing to die for his commitment to Christ, and Megan asked the girls if they have ever made a commitment for which they would be willing to die.  I was impressed that some of the girls said yes, but maybe I was a bit more impressed that other girls admitted that they thought it was worth it but not sure why.  I applaud their honesty because while they seem to understand a lot of what we have been talking about this week, they aren’t afraid to admit that they still have questions.  It would be so much easier to just pretend to know all the answers!  Meagan took the opportunity to share her story of coming to know Jesus, follow Him, and how her life is different now.  She reminded the girls, and I want to remind you, that she other staff are so willing to stop what they are doing (EVEN GAME TIME) to  talk more with you about your questions.  No silly questions!  No shame in asking!

After hanging out with the 5th grade girls, we headed outside to games.  I had so much fun watching everyone!  Game time seems to be a highlight for all our campers.

Competition continued as we closed our evening and took a look at how things are going between Scandalnavia and Brazil.  According to our new announcer, things are neck and neck as Scandalnavia won gold in the Leap Frog event while Brazil took Silver.  With one night of competition left, who do you think will win?  Were there anymore accusations of cheating?  Speaking of cheating and unsportsman like conduct, what did you think of things with our announcers?  I love them, but their actions seemed a bit questionable….

Friday is our last night of Base Camp 2016 – Paul’s Race as well Family Night.  Starting at 6:15 pm campers and families are invited to a wrap up of this week’s activities with dinner and family fun.  (This is a family event and parents are in charge of their children as leaders will be running things and corralling their own kiddos!)  It is an event that shouldn’t be missed, and we hope you will join us.  Check out a few last minute highlights until tomorrow!

Base Camp 2016 continues to keep us on our toes as we have fun and learn about God through Paul’s race.  Tonight I joined our oldest, 6th and 7th grade campers with Mr. Scott C.  We talked about how Paul shared all about Jesus with the people of Athens, Greece, and ultimately what we need to know about Jesus too!

The big picture shows us how our choices and sin keep us separated from God because He is holy.  It’s been that way since the first people, Adam and Eve, chose to sin, and the separation is nothing we can ever do anything about on our own.  Sounding pretty depressing, huh?  God, though, never intended us to be separated from Him, and since we could never do it on our own, He made a way to bring us back to Himself!  God designed us to be in fellowship with Him.  It’s what He wants more than anything else!  To pay the cost of sin for us, God sent Jesus to die as a perfect sacrifice.  Jesus could have not come and not gone through the crucifixion.  He could have chosen not to save us, but that’s not love and that’s not God!  Mr. Scott C. explained how it was the only solution, and now we have a choice to choose to accept Jesus and His sacrifice or remain separated from God forever.  God did what He could to make a way for us, now it’s up to us to make a choice.  It’s a lot to take in and a life changing decision!  Mr. Scott C. (and all our staff) want to encourage our campers and families to think about the choice and ask questions.  For all the craziness of Base Camp, talking with people and answering questions about Jesus is why we are here!  There are no silly questions!

On the silly side of things, Brazil and Scandalnavia continued in their quest for Gold.  In the heat of competition with the 3-legged race, things seemed to go terribly wrong for Scandalnavia as the team members turned on one another.  In fact, their lack of ability to work together meant that they could not even finish the race!  Brazil ended up taking both Gold and Silver Medals!

The potential rain held off, and we all headed outdoors for game time.  While yesterday involved water, tonight was full of running for kids of all ages.  We’ve been playing a lot of different games this week.  Have you had a favorite?

Just a few more pics from the night!  See you tomorrow!

Singing, dancing, learning, snacking, playing – what didn’t we do tonight at Paul’s Race – Base Camp 2016?  I hope you all had fun as I know all your staff did!  What was your favorite part?

I had a chance tonight to hang out with our youngest campers, Miss Shirley, and our puppet friends.  Miss Shirley started the evening by asking some recap questions from yesterday about Paul, and our youngest friends showed what great listeners they have been.  They answered every question!  Miss Shirley went on to tell us about how after Paul believed in Jesus that he went around telling everyone about Him.  Paul ran into some trouble along the way, though.  Do you remember what happened to him?  He was stoned, thrown in prison, beaten….  Can you imagine how you would feel if that happened to you?  Would you keep doing it or give up?  What did Paul do?  I know all our campers were learning about Paul.  Can you share what you learned with your family or friends?  

Miss Shirley summed things up so far by saying that yesterday we learned how Paul acknowledged his sin, and today we learned about how he endured and overcame hardship to tell others the truth about Jesus!

Our puppet friends had their own lesson for us.  If you saw puppets, what did you think about the differences between Emily and Eddie?  Who do you think had the harder day?  Eddie really did, but it sure didn’t seem that way.  Even though all sorts of bad things happened to him, Eddie looked on the bright side and praised God for the good things that came out of it.  He knew that God is GREAT and in control.  Even when something bad happens, God can make something good out of it!

While you all were in Cabin time, our game team were busy setting up fun for us outside.  Even if just a small amount, it seems like there was some water involved in all the games.  Did you get wet?  Was it fun?  It sure looked like everyone was having a great time!

After games, we had a chance to catch up with our athletes from Scandalnavia and Brazil.  Were you excited to see the Brazil team win gold tonight?  I know Scandalnavia was not happy in the least, but there are more games to come.  Do you think there will continue to be allegations of cheating by, ah… one of the teams?  How do you think our announcers did tonight?  Do you think the cue cards for emotions helped?  I’m not so sure….

Well, that’s it for tonight.  Just a few more photos of our time together, and it is off to bed!  Hope to see you tomorrow for Day 3 of Paul’s Race!

Wow!  Our first night of Base Camp 2016 – Paul’s Race is over already!  The time just seemed to fly by, but I must admit to being a bit tired after all the fun.  I don’t think, though, that I am as exhausted as our torchbearer!  It was quite a run he made!  Why do you think he did it?  Didn’t he look tired?  Didn’t it look hard?  Why do something that is that hard?  I have a feeling that the ‘why’ of it all may come up this week, so put your thinking caps on and be prepared with your best thoughts.

So, what did you think of our first night of activities?  Was it what you expected?  Personally, I am glad that no one asked me to actually run any races.  I know Base Camp is all about Paul’s Race this year, but I have never been much of a runner.  Running just makes my shins hurt which is not much fun at all!  Now, maybe with training, I could do it, but I think I would have to be part of an encouraging team to even try.  Any thoughts on our teams, one from Brazil and one from Scandalnavia?  Which team would you want to be part of?  I don’t know much about either team, but I have to admit that I am with Craig and Luke in thinking that one of the teams,… you know the one…, is just a bit scary even if they did win tonight.

During large group time, I think we all learned a bit about Paul.  Actually, do you remember what his name first was?  I had a chance to listen in with our 3rd through 5th graders.  Mr. Scott G. had an interesting activity for our campers to begin with.  He asked them 3 times to choose between two different things.  Depending on their answer, campers moved to one side of the room or the other.  The first decision was to choose between cake or ice cream.  For those who love both, it was a tough call!  (Ice cream won!)  The second one was between books and movies.  (Movies won!)  The last one was to decide about a person that beat you up, and if they would be a friend or enemy.  Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it?  The funny thing is that God doesn’t always take the easy choices.  Mr. Scott G. explained how He chose someone against Himself and made the person one of His racers, one of His team.  If you get a chance tell, your friends or family all you learned about Paul and maybe why he was an odd choice for God to use!

I had a lot of fun watching you all compete in your own games tonight.  It seems like we have some tough competitors among our campers.  Take a look at some of the pics from tonight’s games and other activities!  We hope to see you back for our 2nd night as well as the rest of our action packed week!

Big news for parents: online pre-registration won’t be needed this year. Be sure to invite friends, classmates, and teammates with a Base Camp postcard or by sharing this post with them. A preview of what’s to come:

And a quick look back at the fun we had last year:

Expectations.  We all have them about really most things.  Coming into this week, what did you expect Base Camp 2015: Joshua would be like?  Did you think it would be fun or boring as you were only coming because mom said that you had to?  Either way, we hope that what you experienced this week was better than you every could have expected.  We hope you had fun, learned a lot, made friends, and just had a blast talking about God.  I know that when staff got together at the end of each evening that our expectations were more than met.  We just had a terrific group of campers.  You all listened well, got into the drama, sang your hearts out, played hard, and with your thoughtful questions and answers, you showed us that you were really thinking about the things we were learning.  We hope that you will continue to think about them too!

So, speaking of expectations, what did your parents think of our Family Fun night?  Did you have to fill them in on some of the drama?  While we all knew what was going on, I am guessing that some of them wondered about it all.  Any thoughts about what Pastor Craig shared with us?  It is pretty important stuff.  I know we’ve hit on parts of it all this week, but Pastor Craig really touched on what God wants for us.

Right back to Adam and Eve, what God wanted was to have a relationship with them, to be able to fellowship.  I think He really did care about those things Pastor Craig mentioned – like the new fruit they discovered and what they named each of the animals.  God still wants that kind of fellowship with us today.  He wants to be part of every part of our lives.  Did you catch why God sent Adam and Eve away?  They were disobedient and sinned.  He still took care of them and gave them things like clothes, but it really couldn’t be the same.  God is holy and righteous.  He can’t tolerate sin, and it keeps us away from Him.  Even then God knew the only way we could be made right is through the sacrifice and blood of Christ Jesus.  It was way back with Adam and Eve that He set things in motion so that at just the perfect time, Christ Jesus would come and make things right.  All along the way, God continued to show His love, grace, and mercy.  Do you remember some of the ways He showed His faithfulness to His people, the Israelites, and even to foreigners like Rahab?  God would love us all to be made right with Him, but when He made us, He chose to give us free will.  He lets us choose to accept the ultimate sacrifice or not.  God doesn’t force us but would much rather have us as His children than be separated from Him by sin.  It can be a lot to think about.  If you have questions, all you need to do ask.

As you probably ‘expected’ from the flyer and announcements, our evening ended with food and fun.  Below are just some of the highlights.  It think sliding was a real blast for most of you!

Those are some unusual choices, but I think my favorite choice was seeing all those listening ears during teaching times!  Thank you for paying attention as well as answering and asking questions.  I hope you know that there is never a silly question!

Do you remember the first choice we learned about tonight?  It had to do with our IIA agents.  Which agent chose to do his own thing rather than follow his assignment?  Yep, it was Agent Nigel Hawkes, and now Katia Badguyinov has the code book!  I hope we find out tomorrow if they get it back.  It seems like a serious consequence for our agents.

During teaching time, I stopped by Mr. Dilly’s class to see what was up.  I actually stumbled across them talking about a choice Joshua made.  It seems that although Joshua was a good leader, he had a tendency to not always stop and listen to God.  He actually forgot to even consult God!  Do you remember the result?  Joshua and the Israelites ended up being tricked by the people already in the land.  Not very cool at all!  What do you think God thought about that choice?  Why is it important to talk to God and follow His leading?

Speaking of having a choice, do you ever think about what kind of choices God has?  Can you think of the biggest choice He made for us?  Mr. Dilly pointed us back to the first Passover in Egypt.  The Egyptians had made quite a series of bad choices, and God told the Israelites to take the blood of a lamb and mark their doors.  If your door was marked, the first born of the household would not die.  If you didn’t mark your door, like the Egyptians, they would die.  Ultimately, this leads us later to Jesus Christ.  What kind of choice did Jesus make?  What kind of choice do we have to make?  I’m sure many of you know the answers.  First, Jesus paid the price for our sins by choosing to come to earth and die on the cross.  He really could have not come, and even once He was here, Satan tried to get Jesus to test God.  It is really a pretty amazing choice to come and die for us, and now we have the opportunity to choose to accept His payment for our sins and follow Him.

Some of you may know or have guessed (I did have a few) from earlier posts that my oldest daughter, CJ, has been in Alaska this summer.  As I was thinking about the choice that Jesus made, I remembered the story behind the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  It is the story of sled dog teams that raced against time to get live saving medicine to the town  of Gnome.  The teams that participated faced harsh conditions with subzero arctic conditions over the course of almost 700 miles.  One article referred to it as “The Great Race of Mercy.”  I can only imagine that it was a tough decision to be part of the trek, facing horrible conditions that could lead to frostbite and death.  I’m sure that people participated out of love.  What strikes me is that Jesus Christ also came to save us out of love, but with His choice Jesus knew before He even came that He had to die.  He knew how hard it would be and how badly some of the very people He came to save would treat Him.  Could you make a choice like that for someone who maybe already treats you badly?  While not a race, the choice Jesus made, and the choices God made all the way back through Bible with Israelites, begin “The Great Story of Grace.”  Grace is what gives us the choice to be children of God.

While not talking about the Iditarod, I am pretty sure that we will talk some more about grace on our last night together.  Remember that it is a family fun night, so families will be staying to enjoy the activities!  The night begins on Thursday, August 6, 2015, at 6:15PM.  We’ll meet together, eat dinner, and enjoy games.  One of the events is even a watery slide.  If you plan to participate in that, don’t forget to bring a swim suit (or extra clothes) as well as a towel.

A few pictures until our family fun!

When you hear that someone is getting carried away, we often think that this may be a bad thing, that they lost control.  At Base Camp, though, I think that getting carried away is literally what we do, and it is a GREAT thing!  I love seeing everyone getting carried away having fun and learning about God!  Did you get carried away on day 3?  What was your favorite thing to do AND what is something you learned?  Take a few minutes to share it with someone.  They may need to hear just as much as you did!

Were you at all surprised what we discovered with our IIA agents?  I know I was!  I never knew that Dr. Seuss was  a long time agent of the IIA and that his books had such powerful secret messages.  Do you remember what book the agents needed to diffuse the bomb?  I have read that book so many times, and I never knew….

Before heading to large group teaching time, we got to enjoy some more time singing and praising God!  You all sure know how to make a joyful noise!

I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Scott’s class with the our oldest campers.  Speaking of old, you guys make me feel old being in this group.  Exactly when did you grow up?  It was just yesterday that you were hanging out with the puppets….  I am getting off track, though.

Mr. Scott talked about some serious stuff tonight.  What did you think of the story of Achan?  How about the idea that sin is sin regardless of how big or small?  I know that we are all use to paying more for things that are bigger than others.  It does make sense that that King-sized Snickers would cost more the snack size.  Why doesn’t sin work the same way?  And what about Romans 3:23 that says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  I don’t know about you, but I think I am a pretty good person.  I hear about all sorts of awful things on the news like murder and stealing, and I don’t do any of that!  Do you think Mr. Scott is on track talking about all of us having sinned and that sin is sin no matter what the size?  As much as I hate to admit it because I don’t want to admit being a sinner, I think he is ON track.  The great thing is that I am absolutely, positively sure that Mr. Scott (and God!) are not going to leave us hanging, doomed to never measure up, never able to earn our way to God.  I really hope you and all our campers of all ages will be back Wednesday night to hear the rest.  I think all the teachers have some pretty amazing things to share.

During puppet time, our youngest campers talked  a bit more about Jericho.  Do you remember who was really in charge at the Battle of Jericho?  Who brought the walls down?  It is pretty awesome!

While you would think teaching time would be the serious part of the night, I think EVERYONE, especially the leaders, took games pretty seriously too!  It was really all in fun, though!  Be sure to check out the photos at the end for more of our game time fun.  The way everyone was running and smiling I can only imagine that you ALL went home exhausted!  I actually think that some of you were running so fast that you were almost flying!  Check out some of your feet.  You really left the ground!

To close out the night, we ended with our two wannabe agents.  I have to say that it is much easier to take pictures of them when they are not invisible.  I thought for sure that they were going to be zapped by those lasers.  Plus, I’m not sure, but I thought I heard some of you clapping trying to turn the lasers back on.  Did you want them to get zapped?

Well, that is all for now.  Check out our smiles!  See you later!

I mentioned the other day that things don’t always go as planned.  I just didn’t think I would be experiencing it so literally Sunday night.  The goal is to recap some of our Base Camp events each night, but the storm left me without internet.  It is really hard to post without it!  As we go with the flow, we’ll try to hit a few highlights from two nights in one!  (From a different perspective, no internet meant more time to sleep!)

What do you think of the start of Base Camp 2015: Joshua?  Did anyone get zapped by the metal detectors as we headed in for singing time?  I saw a few leaders get beeped as they tried to carry things like metal keys through the detectors!  You would think that they would know better.

Singing and worship time is always such a fun way to start as well as end our evenings.  Do you have a favorite song?  Can you tell your family what verse we are learning as we sing?

Well, now we are two nights into learning about the agents of the International Intelligence Agency (IIA) and their counterparts of the Evil Spy People Network (ESPN).  Our secret agents seem to have their hands full with Katia and Boris Badguyinov, not to mention with their own Agent Nigel Hawkes.  Now that the IIA has used the truth serum on the spies, what do you think their next step will be?  Do you think you would ever like to take a truth serum?  I sure felt sorry for Boris when he confessed how mean his sister, Katia, can be to him.

Learning about these spies is really nothing compared to what we have been learning about Joshua and the Israelites.  Did you realize that there were real, live spies in the Bible?  Do you remember what happened when God brought His people to the Promised Land, and they sent spies to look at the land?

If you were in Mr. Dilly’s group, you probably learned that he can do quite a verbal impression of Rahab!  More importantly, though, we talked about how the Israelites let fear get in the way of taking what God had promised them.  All the spies except Joshua and Caleb came back and told the Israelites that there was NO WAY this was going to work.  Joshua and Caleb, though, remembered how God had already provided for them and trusted Him to do what He said He would.  They saw things differently.  Unfortunately, God was pretty frustrated with the Israelites, and there was a consequence to not believing.  Do you remember what it was?  Do think it was fair?  Sometimes when we get in trouble, we don’t think being disciplined is fair, and I bet the Israelites didn’t like it either.  The amazing thing Mr. Dilly reminded us about, though, is that OUR GOD is a GOD of second chances!  Just because we goof up, He doesn’t throw in the towel on us.  In fact, just like with the Israelites, He continues to care and provide for us even when we are being disciplined.  God doesn’t discipline just so He can be the boss.  God disciplines to teach us what we need to know.

Today our youngest campers picked up the story with Miss Shirley as they learned how the Israelites finally trusted God and went into the Promised Land.  They finally saw that God is bigger than any obstacle we might see with our own eyes.  He is bigger than all our fear!  I loved the picture Miss Shirley told us about when they went to cross the river.  Do you remember what went first?  The Arc of the Covenant because they were to remember to always follow God.  In the same way, they followed the Arc of the Covenant as they followed God’s directions and marched around Jericho.  If you were in Miss Shirley’s group, can you share with your family what you did to show this and tell them what happened next?

While there is so much more to tell, it is getting late, so I need to go to bed.  We’ll catch up on more tomorrow, but until then, here are a few more pictures!