By Robert Brazile, Youth Pastor, Shepherd’s Grove Student Ministries

Shepherd’s Grove Student Ministry’s summer camp was a blast! I cannot believe that it has come and gone already! We had an amazing time out in God’s creation for a week. For those who have no idea what I am talking about, we took 26 students and 4 leaders up to the Sacramento River Delta for five days on houseboats. We really truly got away from everything that keeps us so busy in our normal day-to-day life and experienced God in ways I don’t think these students ever have before.

Not only was it fun, exciting, amazing, and joy filled, but we also got to see students taking steps, having some ‘ah-ha’ moments in their faith. I want quickly to share just a few of those with you.

There was a young student, a boy going into sixth grade, who it seemed had never really been out in God’s creation in this way before in his life. Just so you have some context, we all slept on top of the boats (guys on one boat, and girls on the other) underneath the open sky. Every time I would wake up and check on the students, this student was wide-awake, just staring at the stars, pointing at them, smiling in awe at the beauty that God had put in front of him that he had never experienced before.

And there was another young girl who experienced worshipping God in a whole new way! On Wednesday night, we met up on land with four other churches and had a worship service. About halfway through, this young girl began raising her hands in worship to God, letting everything go – not worrying about those around her and not worrying about anything except singing praises to her heavenly Father. This was a huge leap for this student because, up until now, she had really been searching to find peace in her life, and in that moment, the Holy Spirit overcame her and gave her a peace that only God can give.

Those are just a few examples, but overall, at the end of the week, we baptized seven students (both of those mentioned in the previous paragraphs were baptized). Not only that but also one of our leaders had the opportunity to baptize one of the leaders of Sunshine Ministries (the organization we do the trip through). Camp is such a mysterious thing. It is something about getting away from our busy lives, slowing down, relaxing, and experiencing God that I don’t think we will ever understand. But our God works in mysterious way, and we certainly got to see Him work on this summer camp trip!