Summer Camp: It’s More than Food Fights and Bonfires

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More than 1500 students in Willow Creek’s junior high and high school ministries stepped out to summer camp where they received in-depth biblical teaching, worship, and a whole lot of fun.

 

High School Students Head to Sandblast

Student Impact, the church’s high school ministry, took 1,078 students and leaders to Indiana Wesleyan University for Sandblast summer camp. Josh Riebock, author of My Generation: A Real Journey of Change and Hope, was the guest speaker throughout the weekend. 

 

A new aspect of camp that ministry leaders most anticipate is the impact camp will make on  the lives of 73 students who have never been to church before. These students were individually invited by their friends. “There is something breathtaking about watching students use their influence to bring those who are far from God to camp,” said Student Impact Teaching Pastor and Regional Area Leader Bryan Jones. “There already seems to be a holy anticipation that God is going to move at camp.”

 

Junior High Students Collide

Elevate, Willow Creek's junior high ministry, maxed out their capacity at Judson College in Elgin with more than 500 students and leaders registered for Collide, their summer retreat. Scott Rubin, director of Elevate, and Wes Wilson, programming director for Elevate, taught.

 

Besides the goal of making Collide the best weekend of the students' summer, leaders helped students grow closer to God and build deeper relationships within their small groups. “When a middle schooler sets aside a weekend to spend time with God, cool things happen,” said Scott Rubin.

 

Student Impact Visits Zambia

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Eight students and four adult leaders from Student Impact, Willow Creek’s high school ministry, spent 10 days in Zambia, Africa working on projects to support partner ministries in the area. While many hours were spent painting, digging wells, helping out at a local clinic, running an after-school program for orphans, and tutoring at Samfya high school, the team was impacted by an opportunity to shadow care providers on home visits to patients with HIV/AIDS.

 

“We visited a 22-year old woman named Mercy,” said one student. “She was incredibly weak, lived in a cement home with a tin roof and two pieces of furniture—a shabby red arm chair with a cardboard seat and a bamboo mat.” Students prayed with Mercy and read Scripture. “The peace she found in her Savior was beautiful and unexpected,” said the student. “Her circumstances were the polar opposite of most Americans, and Mercy found hope and joy in the midst of her circumstances.”

 

Student Impact meets at Willow Creek on Sundays at 11:15 a.m.

Category : Student Impact