Thursday Afternoon...final "At Camp" Post

More Random Thoughts/Observations

Last night after ending chapel, Hume/SD put on a brand new optional activity. "Worship Under The Stars" and it was in two different locations, separated for guys in one area, and girls in another. What a blessing for everyone that went! In each group, as a part of the time together, the leaders/counselors were encouraged to pray out loud for their small groups of kids that they are with this week. And then, the students were asked to pray out loud for their leaders! I've heard so much positive feedback from this experience! Leaders and students alike each saying what an impact it was to hear the out loud prayers of the ones that were praying for them. I think the extra layer of students realizing just how often they are prayed for might have finally went to a new level of appreciation as they were able to participate in both the giving and receiving of out loud prayers!

Something that was not a first, and has become a Horizons tradition at camp, was the Wednesday Late Night Burrito Run. I was able to actually find a killer taco shop (Roberto's of course) pretty close to campus, and $325 later, both dorms were filled with the smells of San Diego Mexican Food...Carne Asada Burrito's, Cheese Quesadillas, and Rolled Tacos w/ Guac....(I'm not even gonna type the obvious follow up sentence to the one I just typed....hahaha)

Another non-first was the annual "Boardwalk Walk" that we do as an optional activity every year for them...I'm sure you've seen some pics of the trip on Facebook, there's plenty of them! They took that walk today and had a blast...

Our chapel time this morning consisted of being led in worship singing by For All Seasons (kids have REALLY taken to them!) and then we took an offering for many ministries around the world. Pretty stoked to say that the offering raised $2000.58! What a blessing! Following the offering, we were dismissed to "Church Time" where I was able to give the lesson/challenge/message/sermon today...and we focused mainly on the entire chapter of Ephesians 4. We talked about what an incredible youth ministry we could be if we followed the challenge that Paul gave to the church in Ephesus. I want to challenge YOU, yes, YOU, the one reading this, to click on the link I provided, to read Ephesians 4 and see if YOU might also answer the call to help bring about the type of unity and work of God that Paul challenges that church with in your church!

After a dinner on the lawn, we (Liz, Caleb and I) were asked to once again participate in the 4th of July parade that is unique to this week of Summer Camp. We decorated the golf cart we use (to  help Caleb get around) with plenty of red, white and blue, and had a blast with the Hume/SD staff giving the entire camp a USA Pride-filled parade :)

We are heading off in moments for our final chapel...in what will be the final message the students hear this camp. I'm praying for God to break through any final barriers that students may have, as we look to finish the week of camp on a super high note. 

Tomorrow morning, we'll check out by 7:30, have breakfast, and then do our traditional "awards" before getting on the bus and heading to Mission Beach for a few kids to get Baptized! Then we'll head home and hopefully have a non-eventful trip, arriving back to Horizons at approx 5:30

God Rulz!

TN

Hume/SD 2015 Wednesday Morning

Random thoughts/observations

RAIN/LIGHTING/THUNDER!

Looks like we brought some Monsoon with us to SD! Some of the free time activities had to be shuffled around, canceled, postponed due to the weather yesterday, but the students' attitudes were/are amazing...really just going w/ the flow :)

IT'S GETTING DEEP!

Our counselors are telling me of many real conversations that are going on. Transparence is becoming a frequent thing. Students are opening up about issues great and small. This camp has a "real feel" as opposed to what is often times just "feelings that are real"..big difference!

We continue to look at the life of Peter, and this morning focused on the fact that our walk is not about "Mountain Top Experiences" We looked at the transfiguration in Matthew, and how immediately Peter wants to get to work to sustain the moment, but God interrupts him to say, "This is my son, LISTEN TO HIM!" (here's an old Acapella song that was always one of my favorites that tells the story)

PICTURE PROOF:

With a group this size (about 55 total) we are dispersed among 20 overall teams for Recreation. Some of our kids are at or near first place in the team standings, while others are closer to the "anchor" end of teams scores...but they are all having a blast! I'm not seeing any of our students just sitting around doing nothing..There are tons of pictures being posted by our staff leaders, so make sure to follow them on Facebook, or Instagram for you tech-savvy peeps. If you see my Facebook feed, most of them are including me in there posts. You'll see not only REC pics, but also trips to the yogurt shop, beach, hanging out, and more...a great way to see the life and times of camp week :)

RIDE THE WAVE!

I challenged our leaders this morning (and you can be praying for them) to "ride the wave" for the next couple of days. This is the point where students have kind of figured out the daily routine of camp life...and all the conversations and getting to know each other have led to openings for them to go even deeper w/ their small group of campers. It is also the point of the week where our leaders are kind of "emptied out" of their own strength, stamina, and maybe patience, lol..and so they get to rely more and more on the peace, strength, wisdom, and sustaining work of the Holy Spirit...Pray for them to "stay in the sweet spot" as they "ride the wave" of God's plan at work!

That's it for today!

God Rulz,

TN

HUME/SD 2015 Tuesday Morning

Well, here we go again!

For about 30 years now, this is simply one of my favorite weeks of the year, SUMMER CAMP! And no one does it better, in m humble opinion, than Hume Lake Ministries. And this year is no disappointment!

We arrived safely, and without delay, to camp on Sunday afternoon. We did need to do a bus swap in Yuma, (little to no a/c in our first bus), but we were able to do that over our lunch break...a few of the high school guys gave up part of their lunch break to move all the luggage from one bus to the other

Sunday Night's "Opener" was simply one of their best ever. We have a Pirate Ship, INSIDE OF THE BUILDING, that MOVES! Crazy...

The theme (Aye Aye Cap'n!) is based on the life of Peter, and challenging students to "say yes to Jesus". (By the way, all the camp videos and speaker's messages will be available at http://www.humelake.org/yohoho-sandiego at the end of the week! We are Week 3)

The band, For All Seasons, is fantastic. Led by Emily, the students really seem to enjoy them. There had been some nervousness for some of our "veteran" kids, b/c the prior band was no longer here. But those fears have been alleviated and they are truly engaging and enjoying singing and praising God with their peers and leaders :)

The recreation (rec) is off to a great start, with a number of our students participating and even winning rounds in their events!

After lunch yesterday, about 60% of our group went into downtown on "Urban Missions", which mainly consisted of preparing, and then handing out food to the homeless. Many of our students, for the very first time, were able to look into the eyes of, pray with/for, and shake hands and provide a simple touch to people who are living on the streets of San Diego. A common experience has been hearing how our students, who were going to provide the blessing, were actually the ones blessed by those they went to serve. I'm proud of our students and leaders who willingly gave up their first free time in order to serve.

Our evening speaker, Darin McWaters, is exceptionally gifted. The students are connecting to him well and being challenged by the words God is planting on him to share with us. (side note, he actually graduated from Ironwood High School, so there's a little bit of a neat connect there too!)

Darin presented the Gospel last night, a number of students responded! Some good conversations are happening with our students and counselor, and I'm asking you to continue to pray for God to use these "divine appointments" to break down barriers and open hearts.

Chapel time this morning was focused on Missions around the world, and we heard about and saw a video for a ministry called Harvest India. As I write this, the students are meeting with their counselors to talk about a statement that John Alvarado made: "There is so much you can do if you take your eyes off of yourself"...not guilt ridden at all, but very encouraging and challenging!

If you'd like to see pictures of many of the happenings this week, please feel free to look them up on Facebook! A lot of our staff people are posting pics throughout the day! If you search #humesd you might find the pics a little faster!

I'll try to post more tomorrow!!

God Rulz!

TN

Wed/Thu Recap HumeSD SH 2013 (the one you've been waiting for)

The last two days have been one giant whirl wind! Yes, we've done a number of standard Horizons' HumeSD "staples"...we've walked the boardwalk to the roller coaster...we've dressed up for Super Spirit Day (think Christmas in July)...we've competed in The Great Race....we've had some of our group experience being Champions of Rec and getting the coveted Championship T-Shirt... And then it gets good... The culmination of singing together over the last few chapels is always something I cherish, and this year, The Holy Spirit was doing work! To see students get to the point of crying, or raising their hand(s), many for the first time, or doing motions to songs, or jumping up and down because they simply want to hold nothing back, is one of the ways I believe God gives me a glimpse of Heaven! I pray the comfort and freedom they feel to worship without fear or concern of what the person next to them is doing or thinking will continue as we return to our church home, and become contagious with everyone as The Holy Spirit leads. Wednesday Night's chapel focused on fact #5: "This guy died willingly"...this was the moment, this was everything...this was the "Heaven's roster is different" time of the week that so many people pray will happen...and it ALWAYS does! In our group, we had at least 6 first time decisions to follow Christ! You should be jumping up and down, dropping to your knees, laughing with joy, or even shedding tears of gratitude! Stop reading this right now, and take a minute to praise God and do at at least one of those! There were also over a dozen students that stayed behind to commit parts of their lives they've been keeping from God, giving Him complete control, and in many cases that means control in areas they don't understand or yet have the answers to. I am always impressed with and blessed by students who release pain, hurt, and anger unto their Heavenly Father, and confess that though they may not crave or relish the difficulties they will endure, they will put their trust in the one who wants to bring them through those situations. And finally, in just a few hours, I will have the amazing blessing to Baptize at least 10 students in the ocean! This is going to be the largest single baptism we've done at summer camp! I'm so pumped!!! I'm so looking forward to talking to parents after their students talk to them about the decision made this week! That's gonna do it for now, See you Friday night! GOD RULZ!! TN

END DAY 3, HUMESD13JH

Another solid day here in beautiful San Diego!

This morning's chapel focused on Missions, the speaker was John Alvarado from Reflect Ministries. An organization doing amazing things in Tijuana, Mexico. Students challenged to think about how they can see the whole world, when they stop just looking at themselves :)

Today's rec was "Dye Wars!", see a 2 minute vid here. Kalena crushed the Counselor round on the giant slip and slide!

For free time, about half the kids went back to the beach...and the other half took a trip to FroYo...frozen yogurt...

Evening chapel once again featured excellent leading into worship by 330Plan....as a couple of the songs really focused on the power in the very name of Christ. One line impacted me fresh..."The Fatherless, find their rest, in the power, of your Great Name"....so thankful for my Heavenly Daddy!

After Chapel was the Night Game! A camp favorite known as "Awe Fong" (not sure of the spelling)...basically a "Tag in the Dark" game, where counselors get payback...err...get to "tag" students who are trying to capture points for their teams...

And then a little free time before I worked a little on my "world's best youth pastor" reputation...I made a late night run to Roberto's...nothing puts the San Diego in HumeSD like a batch of rolled tacos, or a carne asada burrito 10:00pm!

Back at the dorms and listening to students memorize verses as I write this...then a young man comes in and opens up his whole life story...what a blessing....and a perfect way to end the night :)

GOD RULZ!

TN

HUME/SD13JH End Day 2

The first full day of camp (day 2, Monday) was a good one! Chapel, Rec, Beach, Chapel, and free time...wrapped around 3 great meals!

In our Chapel Sessions we're learning 5 unmistakable facts about Jesus, through the Theme of Phoenix Dark (a 30's setting representation of the life and times of Christ). I won't share the facts here, as I don't want to spoil it for potential high schoolers that will be here in two weeks. You're kids are dealing with the questions though, and tons of great conversations are happening. Tomorrow night is huge, as the students will have a chance to respond to the message they've been hearing, pray for them!

Our evening speaker is Matt Davis, a friend that I had the opportunity to get to know much better on my recent trip to Israel. He's blessed a good sense of humor, and is relating to the students well. The best part for me though is that he's dealing directly from the Word, and explaining it in a way the students understand, and are willing to hear more.

Following chapel this morning, we had our first day of rec! See a simple hi-lite video here,, and look for a couple of epic moments....Danni Snyder winning the all-time favorite game Kajabi Kan Kan, against remarkable odds, and Jeremy Quiel doing his best reverse summersault impersonation!

We took most of the kids down to the beach for a time of digging in the sand, and splashing in the ocean. 3 of the guys took their shot at surfing, w/o lessons, just rented a board :)

Came back for dinner, and Zach (who spent the morning sleeping and recovering after throwing up all night) was feeling pretty much back to his normal self. Thanks for praying!

Then evening Chapel, with 330Plan leading worship, one of my very favorite worship bands ever, we were brought into the presence of the  Lord. Set up Matt's talk very well, and we heard clearly from God's Word.

After Chapel, it was a couple hours of free time. Snacks, conversations, devos and more to round out a fantastic day. Keep the prayers coming!

God Rulz!

TN

HUME/SD13JH End Day 1

Day started off very well...all of the students were at the church on time (7:00am) and we made it off campus by 7:35am....the drive was uneventful, and without problems (a huge prayer request when traveling 350 miles w/ Jr Highers in a 15 passenger van and pulling a trailer!).

We got to lunch in Yuma and had our choice of Pita Pit, Chipotle, Del Taco, In and Out, and Panda Express...we didn't go hungry!

Arrived at camp about 3:30, checked in quickly, got the luggage unloaded by 4:20. Dropped the girls off first, and the guys carried the ladies' luggage to their front door...

After dropping the girls off, took a quick pick of "just the boys" (see pic) and then it was off to our dorm

We got our gear all in and then headed to dinner...tons of great food...(not the old-school stereotype of "camp food"...it's always legit here at PLNU!)

After dinner was "The Opener",  a 15ish minute production w/ film, live action, singing, dancing, cops, robbers, and more!

The Opener set up the plot/theme for the week, as "Phoenix Dark" represents the person of Jesus...and all week the students will have to ask, contemplate, and ultimately decide "who is Phoenix Dark"....

Took a couple of pics of our kids before the opener...they did a great job of securing two front rows for our group.

Very excited to see what God does this week, as 7 of our 10 students have never been to HUME/SD, and the 3 that have are super pumped to be here!

I've also already had a couple of pretty awesome and open talks w/ a couple of the Jr High guys on a 1 on 1 level. Totally excited to see how God uses some of my past to speak be able to speak into their lives...

Make sure to check my facebook (facebook.com/tnorling) and tweets (twitter.com/tn5) for updates, pics, and more

GOD RULZ!

TN

SH Hume/SD 2012 End Day 3

Here we go...

To see added pics,  you'll need to scroll down past yesterday's in the album...

SH Hume/SD 2012

So yesterday, we had a counselor meeting at 8:00am, pretty standard...as a part of this daily happening, we are allowed to grab some breakfast and bring it in, and eat during the meeting...well, in yesterday's meeting, I had grabbed a big bowl of lucky charms, and forgot to get a spoon, and ended up using one of the blades of my utility knife to eat it 3 or 4 pieces of cereal at a time...

Fast forward to today...I grabbed a bowl of oatmeal with the same plan for the counselor meeting, but I remembered my spoon! Very proud of myself, thank you very much. As I was going in, I handed my bowl of oatmeal to one of the staff at the of the aisle I needed to navigate down to the other end of, as I was also holding a couple of drinks and my backpack...I just asked him to hand the bowl down to me....Unknown to me, my ever alert and faithful staff had taken it upon themselves to make sure I wouldn't be without an eating utensil, and each of them had procured an extra spoon, knowing I'd be bringing in something to eat, as usual. I unknowingly played right into their hands, and when I received my oatmeal, after it had been passed down the line, it was overrun with spoons...I love my staff :)

On to better things...

In morning chapel we heard from "Red" and Vanessa, a very cool missionary couple in South Africa. They have a surf and activities (sewing, art work, etc) ministry to the very poor people there...pretty encouraging stuff!

Rec was crazy again, the kids competed hard and had varying degrees of success, but consistent fun by all! I'm basically walking from game to game, trying to get a picture here and there as I go...

Then it was lunch and free time. Many of students went to the beach, some played basketball, and 22 students and 5 leaders went on our urban mission trip. First we assembled "snack-packs" that included 4 health bars, a drink, and a pair of socks for homeless people, and then we practiced conversations on how to hand them out. Some of the people with New Vision Fellowship are formerly homeless, so to practice with them was a great nerve calmer. 

Then we loaded into a good size caravan, probly 7 or 8 vehicles, with about 60 people total, and headed to downtown San Diego. Each student had 3 or 4 care packages to distribute, and we went to a local place where this was extremely easy, as there were many homeless in this area of downtown SD. (And yes, we had TONS of adult supervision!). 

It was such a great experience to talk with, shake hands with, and even pray with so many of these people with huge needs. One blessing that was felt by a number of team members, was that some homeless people would pray for us! Not what the kids were expecting at all. 

The kids were great, polite, genuine, and caring. It didn't take long to hand out all that we had. So great to "see the light go on" with some of our students that had never experienced this type of thing...

After that, it was back to the campus for dinner and then evening chapel. 

The praise time is going to that "next level" as students anticipate God showing up, and joining Him there. They are feeling the safety of this environment to pour out their hearts. This is one of the big repetitive joys of my life, singing worship at camp, there's just something different about it that I truly look forward to. 

Chris Simning, our gifted speaker, then brought the message. What an impact, and not in the way you'd normally expect. At the end, as he gave the invitation, 8 students (of roughly 650) walked forward to receive Christ! Amen! Heaven is different! We have 8 new brothers and sisters! While some would look at the numbers and unfortunately say "only 8?!", it was so powerful. For those 8, their lives are no longer bound for an eternity apart from the love or our Father! Don't give me an "only?!" for that!

 And then...oh man, then....Chris spoke so briefly to the Christians...specifically the ones who needed to do business with God. He didn't go into a typical "maybe your struggling with this or that"...he simply said, "You know who you are, and so does God...stop what you're doing and repent" He counted to 3, and there was one of the most powerful sounds I've ever heard...as HUNDREDS of students simultaneously stood up, the loud sound of the folding seats raising to their upright positions...it was not a ripple of some seats, then others as maybe some people would stand b/c their friend would...it was a short, powerful, burst. As Chris had instructed their be no clapping for the repentant Christians, this was amazing. The loud burst of the seats, then instant silence as God moved. Boom!

Many of our students stayed behind and talked with our staff leaders about the business they needed to do. I got a few pictures, but was trying to be sensitive. 

After that, a little free time, played a little more hacky sack with some kids, and back to the dorms. 

In the guys dorms, (as I'm sure in the girls', but I can only speak to the guys') things are going great. God is working hard on many of these young men, and there are tears of laughter, and brokenness. Pretty special time...

I'm about to fall asleep as I'm typing. sorry if there's any typos...

Tomorrow is Super Spirit Day...crazy clothes come out!

Be blessed, because...

God Rulz!

TN