A Tough Crowd

One of the key elements of Young Life outreach camps is club. Club is a lot of fun. The program team does a great job preparing skits, games and music that are very entertaining, but also draw the attention of the kids and help prepare the mood for the speaker. Over the course of a camp, the Gospel is shared through these talks.

This summer our camp speaker at Pico Escondido has been Rafa Alejo, who is the Vida Joven national director and a gifted speaker. Yet even for great speakers there are tough crowds. Last night was the first club of camp 5. A group of kids made it hard on Rafa, making noises during his talk and getting up out of their seats to leave club. That is hard for any speaker. It distracts you, makes connecting with the crowd difficult. It had that effect on Rafa. Yet after every club there is a cabin time, in which the kids get together with their leaders to discuss what the speaker talked about. Leaders reported that cabin times were great. Kids participated well, and in general got the message and were thinking about Rafa's talk.

Rafa and I met this morning and reflected on this. It is another of many examples of this theme: we can (and should) do all we can to put on excellent camps in every way. In the end, God often surprises us in the things he uses to impact the life of a teenager. He can use a club talk in spite of distractions. He can use the friendship of a volunteer leader. We have even heard several kids this summer say they were impacted by the fireflies or the stars. Pray with us that God would draw Dominican teenagers toward him this weekend and that we would once more be wowed by how many choose to follow Him.