One of the things we at Compass Wilderness strive for during our summers is being intentional about engaging students in conversation about their relationships with God. We have plenty of talks during group discussion in small groups, but we also try to talk one-on-one with the students about their spiritual lives. Sometimes this is challenging, sometimes we feel awkward, sometimes we’re met with little response, and sometimes we just don’t find good opportunities. But sometimes we find students we really connect with. This past week I was really blessed by a conversation with one of the campers. He was hiking behind me on our long descent down the backside of Engineer and began asking me questions about what would happen to his camp high when he returned home. He talked about what he was learning from the week and about how he wanted to regain the excitement for Christ that he had earlier in his walk. It was so encouraging to connect with a camper and be able to share some of my stories with him and to hear some of his. When he left to return to Texas, he told me that he was no longer sad to leave or afraid of returning home and losing what he had gained at camp, but rather that he was excited to return to his friends and family and share his excitement and what he learned.
The Lord really blessed me through simple conversation and reminded me why it is we do what we do every summer.
Hannah Eubanks
I cannot begin to describe God's goodness. Each morning I pray that I can just experience more of his goodness because it is so much better than anything I can do for myself. I have realized that God's goodness is all about his love. Love roots us in everything we do because God has first loved us. Without his love, I can't even aim to obtain anything good because there is nothing good about me without Jesus. Why does he love me so much? Why does he love the campers and staff and all of his children so much? I have no idea. We don't deserve it, but he gives it anyway. Thank you Jesus.
Something that God has been rooting inside of me all summer long was brought to the light the past week. The past week I was overwhelmed for the first time by God's love for someone else. We had two students accept Christ last week and as I sat and listened to how God had spoken to these two and the rest of the students throughout the week, I was overcome with the love of God and not of myself. I have experienced my own love for people and have experienced God's love for myself, but never have I so strongly felt the love that God gives for someone else. Like I said, he has been rooting this inside of me all summer long. Week after week God has spoken through various things. Whether it is frustration, admiration, happiness, or peace, God continually showed me that his love for us is bigger than any emotion I can ever experience. Emotion and excitement often times fade, but the love that our Lord and Savior pours onto us is never-ending. All this to say, my momentary glimpse of understanding God's love for a person has given me a deeper glimpse into what life is about, love from our Father. I pray for a deeper understanding so that I can live more like Jesus each day.
Sam
"May the words of my mouth and the deeds of my day speak of only you Jesus"
The Lord is good. This week I got to see part of God's amazing and mysterious plan revealed. Two and a half years ago I lost my mother to breast cancer. At the time, I knew God had a plan but of course I didn't understand it at the time and I'm not sure I ever will completely. But, this week He showed me His faithfulness.
About half way through the week, it was brought to my attention by a fellow staffer that one of the campers (who had accepted Christ the day
before) had dealt with a very similar experience and had expressed questions and concerns. The next day, I felt God urge me to let her know that if she needed a fellow griever that I was her girl. We began to talk. We shared stories and she asked questions. Some of which I gave an answer, some of which we pondered together. We comforted each other. We encouraged each other. We cried. We laughed. We hugged.
God gave us that time together. Time to share together. Time to hurt together. Time to remember the remarkable women He put in our lives.
That is what living in community is all about. Doing life together. God is doing amazing things in the lives of these students and I feel so blessed that He uses even the most painful experiences to further His plan.
Blessed by the people I encounter,
Carrie David
Although I am the newest member of the Compass Wilderness Staff (last week was my first), I know that I am already a part of the family. My contributions are valued, although it took me the whole week to figure out my true contribution . During small group the last night I stopped mid sentence after I realized I had repeatedly told a camper "you should do this and that." It immediately hit me that what I was saying did coincide with the Compass Wilderness curriculum and philosophy this summer, but how I was saying it did not.
I paused for a moment and apologized to the small group. You see, young people go to church and they hear from people acting like they have it all together, yet I am as sinful, if not more sinful, than each person in the room that night. I continued to participate in the discussion, but instead of using the word "you" I substituted "we."
What it all comes down to is that my contribution to the small group, and the Compass Wilderness Staff, is to grow along with campers, leaders, and staff. We are all sinful in nature, we all fall short of the glory of God. Any attempt by me to bring campers to my level would only be counterproductive, but we can grow in our relationship with Christ whose given the ultimate sacrifice to free us from sin. We.
Growing,
Jon David
We had an awesome time with the Clear Creek Community Church. Our small group times showed a lot of growth from day one to the last day. We hiked the Engineer trail and climbed and rappelled at X-rock. We had fun on the ultimate field and the campers loved white water rafting. All in all it was one of the most successful weeks, as God worked through us and continued to show us that Compass is His ministry.- Will Schaub
This summer at Compass has been great so far, and this past week was no different. I am reminded daily that it doesn't matter at all if I am ready for the campers to come, or if I know enough to be able to teach them, because God is ALWAYS ready and waiting. All that I have to do is be there as a vessel ready to be used by God so that he can impact the hearts around me, and I have seen it happen time and time again this summer when I am least expecting it. This week I had the joy of knowing that I now have a new sister in Christ, as one of the girls in my small group prayed to receive Him into her life after the first night. I was also blessed with many opportunities to listen to several students’ life stories throughout the week and see the way that God was actively moving and working in their hearts. What an Amazing and Powerful God we serve!
-Alyssa Erratt
This week of camp, like all the others, has ended in a way that has both surprised and encouraged me. I am always wondering how things will turn out when I meet a new group of campers, but God always reminds me to not underestimate His unique way of working with each student. This week in particular stood out to me because I got to see firsthand how God uses physical challenges to make sense of our spiritual challenges. It’s exciting to see someone accept Christ as their Savior and then hear how walking silently through the woods or trusting a climbing rope helped them to realize a spiritual truth. I love getting to be a part of both the physical and spiritual growth that happens with the students because it is different and special each time.
I love Compass summers. I’m always reminded of the greatness of God in so many ways.
The staff went into this week after having two weeks of no campers. This group had never done a Compass trip before so neither we nor they knew what to expect exactly. I was feeling anxious and unprepared in a lot of ways. The way that we do things was definitely stretching to most of the campers, which led to a little bit of an awkward first day. There were also interpersonal challenges within the youth group and staff. On the first night, I start by leading worship and then telling my life story. I hadn’t told my story in a couple weeks, as I mentioned, and I was suddenly nervous and blanking on what I would say right before worship. Overwhelmed, I had to step away from everything and pray.
“Lord, I can’t do this without You. I have nothing good to give on my own. Please use me this week. Let it be You working through me, because I can’t do it without You. Move through the entire staff this week. In Jesus’ name and for His glory, amen.”
Well, we are now coming off the end of this past week and it was incredible. The entire staff is encouraged after a great week with awesome campers. We had two campers accept Christ as their savior and many other heard from Him and/or learned more about Him through worship and discussion. The staff was able to build great relationships with the campers, and (more importantly) we saw campers build great relationships with each other that weren’t there at the beginning of the week. Will and I started off with a small group that wanted nothing to do with us because they expected us to want nothing to do with them. At the end of the week, we became great friends, spending lots of extra group time just hanging out.
These things could not have happened without God’s movement through us, and these things happened for His glory. We were simply blessed to be a part of it. We were blessed to see God do great things. And even as I say “he did these things through us,” I hardly feel like anything is happening through me at all. I feel more like an observer of God growing and moving in our campers. I come to the last night or the last morning before campers leave and am amazed at all that God has done.
This happens weekly for us here at Compass. Additionally, God’s movement and using of this ministry also produces incredible growth and blessing in the lives of all the staff. We grow together by working towards a common purpose and seeing God do great things here. This is my fourth summer to work, and each summer has brought its own revolutionary movement to my faith as well as a new closeness to/understanding of God. His love is real! His Grace is sufficient for all our junk and our pain and our struggles! His strength is perfect in my weakness! I know these things because of God’s using of my Compass experiences.
Needless to say, I’m blessed beyond words to be here.
- Justin “Lunny” Luningham
One of the things we at Compass Wilderness strive for during our summers is being intentional about engaging students in conversation about their relationships with God. We have plenty of talks during group discussion in small groups, but we also try to talk one-on-one with the students about their spiritual lives. Sometimes this is challenging, sometimes we feel awkward, sometimes we’re met with little response, and sometimes we just don’t find good opportunities. But sometimes we find students we really connect with. This past week I was really blessed by a conversation with one of the campers. He was hiking behind me on our long descent down the backside of Engineer and began asking me questions about what would happen to his camp high when he returned home. He talked about what he was learning from the week and about how he wanted to regain the excitement for Christ that he had earlier in his walk. It was so encouraging to connect with a camper and be able to share some of my stories with him and to hear some of his. When he left to return to Texas, he told me that he was no longer sad to leave or afraid of returning home and losing what he had gained at camp, but rather that he was excited to return to his friends and family and share his excitement and what he learned.
