The Camp News

Up and Rolling at the LP

2008-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

LP 2008

It's not the Aquarius 1, 2, or 3, or even 4. We've moved 90 college students from 4 different campuses into the Aquarius V family motel! It's hard to believe we've been down in Myrtle Beach for 2 weeks already and even harder to believe that we will be here for the next 7 weeks.

God has already done a ton in our students lives. All of our students have gotten jobs and are getting close to the others in their rooms. We have had 2 full weeks consisting of formal Theme, Bible Study, and Evangelism Training times coupled with small group discipleship groups in the rooms.

What's in a theme?

Our theme for the summer is 'The End'. We're not talking about the end of world or a linear end, but rather the idea that Christ is the end, the chief purpose, the reason, and the motivation of, behind, and for all that we do. We find this from our theme verse which is Colossians 1:16-18:

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

Another tag line that we have put in for understanding is: From the end to the means. When we get the end - Christ - right, the means by which we know God - Bible study, evangelism, life in community, Church, soccer, reading, etc. - all fall into place. But we must start with Christ - with Him as our chief purpose, our end, in all that we do.

I am excited as God has been working this theme into our hearts. Daily, I am seeing ways that I make the means (i.e. ministry, sharing my faith, marriage) the end. These things are sweet, sweet means and incredible ways to know more of Christ, but they become tainted when we live for these things and let our lives revolve around them.

Praying that God will be preeminent, that He will be The End in all of our lives.

Thomas Camp

Summer Leadership Project

2008-05-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

In just 4 days we will head down to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Summer Leadership Project!

The 'LP' is an 8 week spiritual growth and leadership training opportunity for some of our student leaders. Our goal is to train our students in some of the foundational disciplines of the Christian faith and send them back to campus ready to live out these things. It is an incredible summer of deep character development and training that really sets our students up for a lifetime of pursuing Christ.

Summers like these were incredibly instrumental for Sarah and I when we were in college and we can only dream of what God will do in the lives of the 90 students from our four C.O. Greenville campuses that will be represented. Not just for the year to come, but for eternity. And not just for Furman, but for the Kingdom and the nations and the Church.

That being said, there is no other place to have this much real fun over the course of a summer.

Check out the LP website to get a feel for what this summer looks like!
http://www.cogreenville.org/LP08.html

Check in in a week or two to find out more about our theme for the summer and some pictures of the outset of the project!

1,000 miles, 500 more

2008-05-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

The month of May has been a full one for the Camps! We have taken a whirlwind tour of the Southeast connecting with supporters and raising some additional financial support. What an encouraging month it has been! Thank you for getting behind what we are doing!

We have spent only 2 nights at home, slept in 10 different homes, with many different families, and sat in many of your living rooms. Again and again we feel encouraged that we are not simply walking onto the Furman campus alone to impact it for Christ, but rather, we are walking arm-in-arm with all of you.

Sarah and I have been pushed toward Christ again and again by you, the Body of Christ.

If we haven't gotten to see you yet, don't feel left out. We are saving the best for last! We will call you in July after we leave the Leadership Project...don't worry.

Love you all,

Thomas and Sarah

Furman Baseball Player, Beamer Carr's Spiritual Journey

2008-04-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Beamer Carr is a Junior at Furman and a catcher on the baseball team. He recently shared the story of his spiritual journey via video at our Wednesday night Encounters meeting and said we could share it with you. It is an amazing story of learning to live life for a purpose in light of a lot of adversity both on the field and off.

I can be your hero?

2008-03-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a skit that Thomas helped a couple of guys make for our weekly meeting a week or two ago. You may have heard of the popular song 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias. Well, Enrique ain't got nothing on us.

Sarah's Tuesday Night group

2008-03-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday night when Thomas's 'Man Time' freshman guys group vacates the premises - this group of girls, plus 2 more, meet at our apartment. All of these girls are Juniors at Furman. They are studying Womanhood this semester. Sarah also spends 1 on 1 time with them each week. Not only are they a lot of fun, they really are a joy to mentor.

Greetings From Man Time!

2008-03-24T15:29:00.001-07:00

This group of 7 freshmen guys spends a couple of hours every Tuesday at our apartment. Thomas started this Bible study (now called 'Man Time') in January by combining 2 other Freshman groups that met in the fall. God has really blessed their time together every Tuesday night. They have been studying different verses each week that pertain to being a Godly man and reading the book THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN by JC Ryle.

After Man Time each night, however, our living room turns into a no-holds-barred wrestling match - as you can see in this picture. We have had an egg dropped on our carpet, a couch broken, and sent a guy to the infirmary because of a peanut allergy triggered by Sarah's Reese's cookies.

God is doing a lot in the lives of these young men, and Sarah enjoys spending her Tuesday evenings from 7-9 at Starbucks...where it is a lot calmer!

Boston Rescue Mission- Spring Break

2008-03-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

We had an incredible trip to the Boston Rescue Mission in Boston, MA. Sarah and I took 10 Furman students to live at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Boston for the week of Spring Break. We promised them an experience, and an experience it was! We formed a ton of great relationships with people that we likely would have never met, grew together as a team, and caught a real vision for God's plan of redemption - which includes drug addicts, college students, and affluent businesspeople. We talked throughout the week about how He is making all things new. Thank you for your prayers throughout the week!

Jake, Mike, and Keaton on the last day of work

2007-08-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

Thomas's guys on their last day of work at Kroger. The folks at Kroger were sad to see them leave, they really had an impact for Christ on that place.

Click on the picture and zoom in to check out Jake's apron- it was the only one they would give him (he's a real charmer).

Sarah with some girls at the Leadership Project

2007-08-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here is Sarah alongside some of the girls at the LP donned in Hawaaian garb. Sarah mentored one of our staff interns, Emily (front row first from right), this summer. Emily led a room where she spiritually mentored Christian (front row, right), Stephanie (front row, first from left), and Ali (top left).

Sarah loved all of these girls and had a blast getting to know them and seeing them grow in their relationship with Christ.

Fun at a Myrtle Beach Pelicans baseball game

2007-08-27T08:51:00.002-07:00

Mike (WCU '09), Keaton (PC '10), Jake (PC '08), and Thomas

This is a picture of Thomas and the guys that he was, spiritually mentoring, this summer at the Leadership Project. They do not always dress like this, we promise!

All of them grew a ton in their relationship with God this summer as they grew in some foundational disciplines of the Christian faith like how to study the Bible, how to pray, and how to tell others about the hope that they have found in Christ.

A Wednesday Sunrise

2007-08-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is a great picture of the sunrise that Thomas took one morning this summer at the Leadership Project. Wednesdays, our day off each week, were our 'pretend like a vacationer day' where we got away from project and acted like we were on vacation at Myrtle Beach.

The Leadership Project: Counting it all loss for the GAIN of knowing Christ.

2007-08-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Learning to be married while teaching college students to walk with the Lord.

After a crazy month of May, consisting of our wedding (which was amazing), a crashed computer, relaxing honeymoon, and frenzied week of organizing our apartment in Greenville, we settled in at Myrtle Beach, SC for the summer to mentor students at the Leadership Project. Each summer, Campus Outreach Greenville puts together an 8 week spiritual growth opportunity for our student leaders. Our students work 40 hours a week at a variety of Myrtle Beach businesses during the day, and each evening, participate in a different discipleship opportunity. We have several large group meetings as well as a small group discipleship group throughout the week. Our goal in doing the Leadership Project is to train our student leaders in fundamental disciplines of the Christian faith; thus we spend our time teaching them to study the Bible, to pray, to share their faith at work, to memorize scripture, to see a need for the Body of Christ and the local Church.
We are all studying through the book of Philippians for the summer and all of our training revolves around our theme which is drawn from Philippians 3:7-8- Gain. Our prayer is that our students will see the everything that Christ calls us to give up in order to pursue the Christian life as gain for them in light of the tremendous joys and blessings that Christ offers. We are reading the book Don’t Waste Your Life, written by pastor John Piper, which has proven to be a very challenging compliment to our theme. Our teaching topic at our theme meeting each Monday night revolves around this theme.
Thomas is discipling (spiritually mentoring) three guys for the summer. Jake, a rising senior at Presbyterian College, became a Christian during his sophomore year at PC and is on the student leadership team here at the Leadership Project. Mike, a rising Junior at Western Carolina University became a Christian in January of last year at our New Years Conference in Atlanta. Keaton, a rising Sophomore at Presbyterian College became a Christian as a child and got plugged in to Campus Outreach this past year through his involvement with a C.O. staff member investing their life at PC. Sarah is discipling one of our staff interns, Emily Parsons. Emily, who will be a senior at Furman in the fall, got involved with Campus Outreach through one of our staff members, Priscilla Sanders, investing in her life one-on-one. We have both found a lot of joy in leading these students.
While it is not always easy and often translates into many late nights and early mornings, we are growing more convinced each day that the slow and tedious process of life-on-life discipleship done in the context of personal relationships is setting these students up for a lifetime of walking with Christ; and we take tremendous joy in the opportunity to model the life of Christ and be used by God in this way. Oh that we will gain Christ!

2007-08-22T08:44:00.000-07:00