GO! Camp...The Final Update

I am sitting in the comfort of my living room typing the final blog post for GO! Camp. 24 hours ago, we were closing out an incredible day in worship together.

Our morning started with the GO! Camp morning show. Every morning, James Ervin and Matt Atnip "shook it out" with the teens and got them ready for the busy GO! Camp days.

The Idea Lab began as we visited with some GO! Campers who spent half their week in Haiti. They flew back to Tennessee and immediately came to GO! Camp. It was great to hear about their work in the medical mission field.

Jeff Shinabarger, from Plywood People, joined us on the phone to talk about his organization and his new book, "More or Less". "More or Less" challenges us to consider what generosity looks like. "What would happen if we created a culture where we gave away everything that was More Than Enough for us?" GO! Camp gifted campers with copies of Jeff's book.

Alex Cox from GOOD SPREAD joined us to share about their unique "one for one" organization. Good Spread sells peanut butter. For every package they sell, they gift a package of MANA RUTH, a therapeutic food to a child in need of nourishment. 

Beth Hailey joined us from EXILE INTERNATIONAL. She has become a great part of the GO! Camp family. She explained a little about Exile's amazing work with Art Therapy on Kids saved from the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. She also challenged the teens to go and accomplish the mission that God has given everyone of us…to take the Gospel to the world. That is what EXILE INTERNATIONAL is trying to do by saving the children in Uganda, and that should be our goal no matter where we work and who we come in contact with. 

Thursday Afternoon, like Feed My Starving Children, has become a staple to GO! Camp. This is the day where we load up and go to a baseball game sponsored by SPECIAL NEEDS ATHLETICS. Descriptions aren't adequate for what this night does for the participants in this league or what the experience means for the campers...so let's explain it with a few pics.

Special Needs Athletics is exhausting, mentally and physically. These teens put their heart and soul into cheering on these athletes of all ages. With the pep talk of Matt Atnip...

we even decided to stay for an extra game. It was electric!

It was a beautiful night...but it wasn't over! We all met back at the sports plex for a period of worship, lifting up our God who put us in this place, and gave us the opportunity to GO!

After Chris Malone's incredible lesson challenging the group to join the "Love Revolution", Darbie Lynch decided to stop looking for meaning in her own brokenness. She committed her life to the fullness of Christ. Congratulations to her!

On Friday Morning, GO! Camp closed with Brad Montague sharing his heart with the teenagers and challenging them to Seek God and seek ways to take Him wherever you GO in the world.

The closing ceremonies were great! With campers providing entertainment (with an impromptu lip sync and an incredible guitar solo!), DJ Randall bringing his spoken word talents to the stage, and Brad bringing one last challenge to the teens...we left GO! Camp full and excited to take Christ to the world around us.

What a great week!

I'm thankful that we got to spend a week on the campus of Freed Hardeman for this great camp!
I'm thankful to Brad and Kristi for all they put into GO! Camp...and I know hundreds of lives have been changed because they have chosen to share the incredible gifts God has given them to the world!

For More about GO! Camp...check out this fantastic blog post.

The 52 week countdown has begun! We have 1 year till GO! 2014...let's see how we can change the world in the next 52 weeks!