Bathroom humor and righteousness; what's the connection????

The Lord can use ANYTHING! and everything-- to make His Name known. Even a dirty, stinky DIAPER!! on a 16 year old boy (that we all know and love!!!) --Yes, even this can help us know Him better. Lloyd did such a beautiful job tying together the stinky diaper scenario with our covering of Jesus' righteousness. My sin keeps me from God. Only when I take on the redeeming blood am I washed clean. He (the Father) looked on Him (the Son) and pardoned me.... I can't wait to see the sketch again tomorrow night at FWN!!! What fun that will be!

g-Camp...the PLACE to be

g-Camp has been THE PLACE TO BE this week!! 

With 9 kids ranging from a little over 2 to 5-going-on-6, we have had a few challenges--and LOTS of fun!!  My worker bees, Nicol Sponberg and Nancy Petak, along with our youth helpers Maddy, Millie, and Tori have greased all the squeaky wheels and helped our camp run smoothly--and joyfully. 

Our focus this year is that we are God's kids, princes and princesses, being trained by the King of Kings for His service. 

Monday we talked about what it means to be a servant--and how Jesus left heaven and its glory to come to earth-- still King, but Servant King. 

Tuesday we looked at two examples of Jesus' servanthood.  First, we looked at His feeding the multitude from the standpoint of His serving the people by meeting their need for lunch.  Second, we looked at Jesus' example of serving His disciples by washing their feet.  These campers listened intently to the story then quietly followed the instruction to move onto the tile floor, taking off shoes and socks, and wondering what was going on.  The Lord had impressed on my heart to follow Jesus' example so I washed their precious little feet.  Their was no giggling or questions or talk (which I fully expected!), just quiet watching.  For me, it was a glimpse of glory, this side of heaven, and something I will not forget!  I was clearly reminded that God is at work teaching the teacher!! 

Today we talked about one bad king and two good, talking about Saul, David, and Solomon. God's Word reminded us that man looks on the outside but God looks on the heart. 

Before, after, and in the in-betweens we have colored, glued, played on swings and slides, sprayed each other with the hose, prayed together, made new friends, ridden wheeled toys lickety-split in the hall, chased each other in rousing games of Duck, Duck, Goose and Cat and Mice, laughed, snacked on popcorn, goldfish, frozen pops, and lemonade, eaten lunch with the 'big kids' and at least 100 other things!

Thank you for lending me your wondrous, amazing, funny, tender, wrestling, curious children.  They have been a treat these first three days and I fully expect more of the same for the last two days.  Our God, the King of Glory, is incredible!  ~ Gege

Our Caring Shepherd

I love storms. Love hearing them, love watching them roll in, love squealing from my car to where ever I need to go and love getting drenched by rain...and watching others do the same. Minutes before our campers were sceheduled to be moved to the east parking lot for our big yearly ecamp photo, the black storm clouds finally made good on their threat. This wasn't a soft, seeping-into-the-parched-ground Oregon kind of rain, this was a good ole fashioned Cumberland Valley of Middle Tennessee downpour! There was nothing Southern-polite-like about this kind of storm. It is merciless and drowns every thing in its path, displaying the wildness and unpredictability of our massive Storm Maker. But minutes later, it ceased. Just long enough for us to herd all 140+ precious little sheep outside for a group picture. The skies over Brentwood were perfectly overcast, which meant no shadows! (Every good wanna-be-photographer knows this and smiles when this happens.) It's so kind of the Father to care about even these things. He makes His Name known as Jehovah Raah- our Shepherd, who cares. Later, it started pouring down again and stopped again throughout the day. No wonder there are so many different Names for God- He cannot and will not be contained. He is WILD and unpredictable - just like stormy weather.

Grasp It!

Have you seen the red hands? They are everywhere. Do you know what they mean? If your e-camper came home with a red hand I hope they have shared the reason! Our hands are attached to us at all times. We never will be without them! Our hands help us play games, eat, work, write, clap, pray, praise God and also TELL the story of what Jesus has done in our lives. E-Campers are walking away from Grasp It with a tool to share the salvation story with friends and family. The Thumb: God loves me. He gives me the free gift of Grace, if I choose to accept it. The Index finger: I am a sinner. When we point out the sin of others, we have to remember that there are 3 other fingers pointing back at me. Everyone is a sinner. The Middle finger: It is the tallest and greatest! Jesus Christ is the greatest in all of the universe. He died on the cross, because I am a sinner and gives me the free gift of Grace. The Ring finger: I need to Believe that Jesus came to earth to die for my sins. The Pinky finger: If I believe, then one day I will spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

At the end of each session, e-campers are invited to place their hand on a piece of cloth as a remembrance of what Christ did for them. He bled (hence the red ink) and died on the cross for our sins! That's MY God! And my prayer is that MY God is, or becomes, THEIR God. As they are making their hand prints, several wonderful ladies are praying God's blessing on each individual camper. It is a blessing to see their face light up when we lift up their name to Jehovah Raah, our shepherd.

Thank you so much for sharing your child with us this week! This is one of many hearts that have been greatly blessed! And it's only day 2!

holy halls

Please excuse my lack of techno-savvy. I cannot figure out how to rotate this video, therefore, will you please rotate your head to watch?

Today 140 children walked through the tunnel of love to e-camp. Our student leaders made the tunnel by standing shoulder to shoulder and raising their hands high. Little people passed through it to the other side amidst cheers and whoo hoo’s. 

I can’t help but see the figurative illustration represented here by the literal. These student leaders are giving their lives away. A phrase we throw around a lot at Fellowship Bible Church. Do we actually do it? Well, I am seeing it first hand in action by a loving group of student leaders this week. All day long I saw the leaders encouraging, bending down and looking littler people in the eyes and giving them words or hugs.

And as a mom, I know, these littler people thrive on the attention from teenagers. One Create it! (that’s e-speak for art) participant bloomed right before my eyes when Erin Ogilvie pointed out a facet of her design that was beautiful. 

My own children have regaled me with stories since we arrived home. In fact, one just called me away from this post to ask me something “very important.” He is supposed to be going to bed. One more story had to be told. He asked me if I had seen Fernando today. I told him I had not seen him but had been looking. Fernando is a friend we made two years ago at e-camp. He is from Honduras originally and now attends El Shaddai church. (We are blessed to have a group from there participating.) And so my son, Joshua, was telling me how Fernando had made him laugh today. We lived for four years in Honduras and share a special love of that country.

And so back at my computer, thinking of Fernando, I watched the video I had taken this morning and who should appear coming through the tunnel? Fernando. Catch him in the Honduras soccer jersey. Hey, Fernando, Viva Honduras!

Worship. Community. Growth. Service. Generosity. 

I’m not sure these halls at Fellowship have ever been holier.

My name is Gigi McMurray. I am being lead by ten 6 year olds and thirteen other young people during the Create it! afternoon focus group. In addition, each child will create something in the morning in our art break-out session. We will display these expressions of worship on Family Worship Night. Yes, these children are leading me. And they will lead us in worship Friday night.

Look forward to seeing you there!