{"id":5583,"date":"2025-07-21T18:36:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T18:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/?p=5583"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:34:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:34:29","slug":"middle-school-camp-1-family-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/?p=5583","title":{"rendered":"Middle School Camp 1–Family of God!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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And, \u201cI will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.\u201d 2 Corinthians 6:18<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pyro was our speaker for Middle School Camp 1 and on Monday night he spoke about something that is worth pricking your ears up to hear. See, Nessie Karu’s example above. Those who trust Christ were adopted into the family of God. Not grudgingly allowed into Heaven. Not put up with for a time. Not given a distant seat at the table and basically ignored. Adopted as beloved children of our Creator God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” Psalm 68:5-6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sometimes it feels like God only wants the most distant of relationships with his followers. However, if you read the Bible, it becomes strikingly clear that God has always pursued the closest relationship with his people that they will allow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During Tuesday’s chapel, Pyro spoke on how God’s love changes the world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master\u2019s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit\u2014fruit that will last\u2014and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:11-17<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this passage, Jesus himself describes what he is seeking with his people using another close relationship, friendship. Shocking, yes. Mindboggling, absolutely. True, well do you believe the words of God himself? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Wednesday, Pyro spoke about how different people connect with God differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Praise  – Psalms 42 : 8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature – Psalms 19 : 1 – 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friendship – Psalms 133 : 1 – 2a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bible Study – Psalms 1 : 2 – 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer – Philippians 4 : 6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service – Matthew 20 : 25 – 26<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And while there is most likely a way of connecting with God that feels most natural to each of us, all of these connection points are available to each of his children!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Thursday, Pyro spoke about the story of the good Samaritan and what it means to love our neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhich of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expert in the law replied, \u201cThe one who had mercy on him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus told him, \u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d Luke 10:36-37<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Friday, Pyro spoke about the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2<\/em>
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Amidst all the great teaching, counselors and campers were building community through all the crazy and fun activities that make up the summer camp program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The beautiful thing about summer camp is that absolutely nothing is wasted. Each time a counselor calmly shows a child how to do an activity, facilitates a restoration among friends, helps a nervous camper fall asleep, or walks across a tarp full of canned pears blindfolded, they are proving their trustworthiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Children who trust their counselor to get them to horse rides on time and to drink the Camas Smoothie for the team, find that they are able to trust their counselors when they say that God loves them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This week, we saw that ministry extend beyond the boundaries of camp to those who write letters to campers as well. Our nurse Mothra was sitting beside a camper at the pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019m having the best time!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, really? I\u2019m having a good time, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you know I actually got a letter? This is my first time here and I\u2019m on scholarship so my mom didn\u2019t know you could send mail. It was my teacher, she sent me a letter!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This teacher goes to our church and asks for prayer for her students. Over the years, she has arranged for many of them to go to camp and made sure that they got a scholarship if they needed one and also a letter. That letter made this camper glow. He knew that someone had remembered him, that he was loved and that he was seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We ended the week with cabin skits and a baptism in the meadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The camper who wanted to be baptized wanted just her cabin to be there and she wanted Scruffy and her cousin to baptize her in the giant horse trough that is older than the camp itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the special things about this girl’s decision is the string of connections that brought her to camp and this moment in the meadow with her friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You see, about eighteen years ago Scruffy started a Camas ministry that had people shaking their heads in confusion. CamasCon, a Christian Boardgame Retreat. He got pushback about his idea, some of it quite disheartening, but he felt that this camp aligned with the Lord’s calling and so Scruff hosted that first CamasCon anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eventually, Camas Meadows started hosting three to four CamasCon camps a year where those who love tabletop games can come and followship, go to chapel together, and play games all weekend long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A fun couple who have become good friends began attending. Then they sent their children to camp. Their son invited his friends. His friends invited others as well until the young man in this photo invited his cousin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then on Saturday of Middle School Camp 1, this young lady asked to be baptized in the meadow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baptized by her cousin who had invited her to camp and who took the time to pause and pray with her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Baptized by Scruffy who had taken a risk to start a camp ministry that nurtured the faith of a long string of Christians until she found herself on a mountain meadow ready to make a public proclamation of her faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet, this is not only her story. The beauty of the close family relationship that led this girl to camp can be all of ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The camp counselor who walked to the meadow to support this camper isn’t family . . . and yet, she is. Because not only did God die our death to rescue our souls, give us strength for this life, and hope for the future, but God has invited us to be part of the family of God, heirs with Christ, friends of God. Shocking and lovely and absolutely true. God wants you in his family, my friend. His love for you is that vast, powerful, and personal. So, what will you tell him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boo Boo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And, \u201cI will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.\u201d 2 Corinthians 6:18 Pyro was our speaker for Middle School Camp 1 and on Monday night he spoke about something … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5583"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5625,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thecampfire.camasmeadows.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}