A MARVELous Escape!

Hi Team,

Thanks for praying for Escape - it was a great retreat.

Here's a few highlights from the weekend...

A few of my girls stayed behind to talk after the Gospel was presented on Saturday night. As I was chatting with them about what they were wrestling with, one of them said to me, "I don't think I've ever actually prayed to receive Jesus, can you show me how to do that?" After we finished praying and opened our eyes, I saw that she was crying so hard that all of her super hero face paint/make up was smeared and running down her cheeks - she had the biggest smile on her face! It was super cute. During our worship session the following morning, she turned to me and said, "today I don't feel like I'm just singing along, I feel like I'm actually singing to God." Praise the Lord!

One other girl in our Gospel night circle said she had already said "that" prayer (to receive Christ), but didn't feel like she had done a very good job of growing in Jesus and asked if there was a prayer for that. I prayed with her and she rededicated her life to the Lord. It was cool to see her desire to get back on track with Jesus and begin growing in her faith.

To help students remember the Gospel, AJ, Anthony and Heather dressed up and lip synced to LZ7's "Four Points" song. AJ and I heard LZ7 at Flevo (a Christian music festival in Holland) - they're a British band that sounds sort of like the Black Eye Peas. Our students LOVE them! Click here to hear the song. Their "Light" album is great and they'll be coming out with a new album in March.

Thanks for praying for our two experiential learning times, I thought they went well. These activities are always hit and miss, as some middle schoolers are just too concrete of thinkers to make the real life connections we hope for. However, many do get "it" and it's fun to watch them connect the dots.

^ Leading students in the "Laser Shot"

I spent our two afternoon times of free time going ice skating and swimming with some of our students. It made for fun times with them.

A stomach bug went through camp. Between 3 students, we had 4 throw up incidents in the middle of the night - all boys (nice for me, but unfortunate for AJ). Put on your middle school mindset: Our unofficial song for the weekend was ... "I think I'm going to throw up, I think I'm going to throw up, I think I'm going to throw up... my hands to the Lord!"

Thanks for praying for the Multnomah team - they did great! Many of them expressed interest in coming out with us in the future. Many of the students shared testimonies to encourage and challenge our kids. Our speaker also did an awesome job connecting with students. Students seemed to understand his messages and took to heart the words that were shared.

^Super Hero night ... I was Clay Matthews (my favorite Packer!), AJ went as Aquaman, we also had Wonder Woman, The Red Skull, Spiderman and The Hulk.

THANKS for praying for Escape - it was clear God was at work and His fingerprints were on everything.

Escape - T minus 5 Days!

Hey Team, Only 5 days until Escape!

The camp theme is "Marvels." We'll be looking at Christ as the ultimate superhero, capable of defeating all evil. It doesn't matter what sorts of "powers" we have, we'll never be able to save ourselves from the traps of this world. Jesus is the only person who can save us from our sins.

Prayer Points -

1. Our Students - we're taking 28 students to Escape this year (13 girls and 15 boys). Our group is pretty young, primarily 6th and 7th graders. Many of them are churched students, however, a lot of them are still wrestling with what it means to have a personal relationship with Lord - aside from their family's church participation. It's my prayer that they will take ownership of their faith and begin to experience Jesus personally!

Going away for a weekend is a great way for students to grow together as a group. Please pray for unity within our group. Pray that the common middle school cliques/attitudes wouldn't be present in among our students and they would have eyes for one another.

2. Our Staff - we've got 4 adults and one teen volunteer helping us out this year. We are super blessed to have great volunteers! They are giving up their weekend to come and love on students, engage in spiritual conversations and point them to Christ! Each staff will have a small group of students who they will lead in discussion after each chapel session and help them personalize and apply the speaker's messages. Would you pray that the Lord would give them energy to get through the weekend, patience and grace to deal with students it's late and they're tired and wisdom to know how to encourage students with their relationship with the Lord.

3. Our Camp Team - Mark Wilson, our CSM director will be speaking throughout the weekend. A team of students and their professor, from Multnomah University, will be leading various components of camp. They'll be helping with small groups, late night games and worship. Please pray for both Mark and the Multnomah team as they travel from the states this week. Pray they wouldn't experience delays and that they'd get over jet lag quickly, and that they'd all connect with our students.

All of the Multnomah students are youth ministry majors. Some of them are nearing graduation and considering their future plans. Some are seriously considering Cadence and this trip is serving as a taste and see. Pray that God would use this weekend to open their eyes and draw them to CSM in the future!

4. Experiential Learning - AJ and I are leading 2 experiential learning times during camp. They will be times for students to do something active that will serve as an illustration for some of the camp messages. Please pray that our activities will go well and that they will help students understand the messages.

5. Weather/Travel - Winter finally arrived in Germany last week. It's finally cold enough that the snow is sticking to the ground. Please pray that we'd have good weather while at camp and wouldn't have to deal with closed roads or really bad/wet/cold weather. Pray for safe travels!

Above all, pray that the Lord would be glorified through Escape and that His Gospel will be proclaimed well! Psalm 86:10, "For You are great and do marvelous deeds; You alone are God."

THANKS so much for taking these requests to the Lord. It's a huge blessing to have you as part of the prayer team. Thanks for joining me in reaching our students with the Gospel!

Looking forward to sharing camp highlights with you when we return!

Blessings,

Beth