Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: So we have some students who aren't comfortable with open ended, like, what do you want to share? And you have some students who aren't comfortable with, like, answering questions in the moment. And then you have Celia, who said, can I do both?
Cecilia, please come.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:00:20] Speaker C: hold on.
[00:00:24] Speaker D: Hey, guys, if you don't know me, my name's Celia.
Still me.
Okay. I was one of the people who got to go to FUGE this year, and I had such a good time. So I'm going to share a little bit about it.
I've been to a lot of church camps and I feel like they can often be a little bit flashy and sometimes it's really hard to get past the lights and sound of everything and really be in worship. But at Fuge, it was so special to just see the whole room full of people my age, older, younger, just in prayer and worship and so deep in that. In their own personal thing that was. That meant so much.
It also meant a lot to me seeing just how God was moving in Philly because I've only been there once and it was just at a gas station, so I didn't really get to experience anything. So does not count. But yeah. My mission group had the opportunity to serve at a church in Philly that used to be an elementary school. So it was massive and it needed a lot of work. It needed so many repairs. But it was so special seeing the volunteers there. Even though there was so much that had to be done and it was such an overwhelming space, they were filled with nothing but gratitude to just be there and to have that space and they had such good attitudes about it and that meant so much. And it really made me reflect on my own life, how many things I have to be grateful for that I don't even realize. I don't have a 64,000 square foot church that I need to repair. So I'm doing pretty good. So, I mean, it just made me feel very grateful. Yeah.
Okay.
[00:02:09] Speaker E: I kind of have a lot.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: And next, Kate will be coming up to share.
[00:02:17] Speaker E: Hello, I'm Kate. For those who don't know. But now you. Now you know.
First off, I want to just say thank you to all the leaders that came with us on this trip.
Yeah. So I was just. It was great, so thankful that you guys came because I know all of us really had a great time and you gave up your entire week and a lot of sleep to be able to do that for us.
So this was my third time going to Fuge and this is actually the first time that I felt comfortable enough to share about it, so praise God for that.
So I've been in Horizon youth group for, like, I think, six years, as long as I've been able to be in it. And it's been incredible to be able to grow in my faith with this group as the years go by.
Just two years ago for the first fuge, it really sparked my personal faith journey. And now going back to camp, it's always, like, really restorative and, like, nostalgic. For me, truly, the highlight of this week was getting to know each and every one of the people in our youth group better.
It's always such a great bonding time, and we all made so many inside jokes, and we played a lot of nine square together, and it was amazing to get to know everyone and to be able to sort of grow into, like, one of the oldest people in the group.
Crazy.
Every year I go to fuge, I really feel God's presence there, and I feel like that's a very common thing.
Most of us would probably say we had an experience feeling God's presence, especially during those big worship nights with all those lights and all the sound and everything, all the emotions. And it's easy to say that's just our feelings or that's just something that camp does.
But I liked what our pastor Mark had to say on the last day we were there, and he said, God isn't just at camp more than here. In James 4. 8, it says, Draw near to God and he will draw near to you Every single day. We went to two worship services, two sermons, two Bible studies, and two hours of missions.
We were really drawing close to him and seeking him almost every single hour of the day. So we were able to have that encounter with him and feel his presence because he was drawing close to us, because we were drawing close to him.
And it was so good to hear that his presence isn't just at camp. It's not just a spiritual high. It's something we can experience every single day.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Okay, now, you guys, I didn't expect this many questions. You're a curious group.
We'll start off with some easier ones, Kind of warm ourselves up.
Who can share a funniest memory from the trip?
[00:05:39] Speaker F: I think the funniest moment was when I did my sit down comedy.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: What was your best joke?
[00:05:49] Speaker G: Do your opener.
[00:05:50] Speaker F: Oh, why are mints minty?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Why?
[00:05:55] Speaker F: Because they're not spicy.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: My personal favorite was why am I up here?
Because I'm not down there.
[00:06:07] Speaker H: That's good.
[00:06:08] Speaker F: All right.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Anybody else besides T. Shay Thinking of himself as the funniest moment. Anybody else have any funny moment?
[00:06:13] Speaker G: Lj.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: LJ and then Aiden.
[00:06:17] Speaker I: I liked when we were all in the.
The dorms.
The dorm, like, and we were all playing around.
Yeah,
[00:06:31] Speaker G: Elijah. I have two.
So on the second night, or, like, the third, I'm just, like. While looking at stuff on my phone.
[00:06:41] Speaker E: Wait, wait.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Say your name.
[00:06:42] Speaker G: Oh, my name's Aiden. For, like, the 20 people. Hi, Krista.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Yeah, my bad.
[00:06:50] Speaker G: So on the second night, I have. I'm sharing a room with this guy. Keep in mind, T. Shay. Oh. I look under my bed, and he's just laying under my bed.
I have the video if any of you want to see it.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: AI Is real.
[00:07:07] Speaker G: I got you later.
And then the other time, this guy, bro, has Axe body spray in the dorm, he sets off the fire alarm.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Allegedly.
[00:07:16] Speaker G: Allegedly.
It was kind of funny.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Okay, we got more. Any. Any ladies want to share funny moments?
[00:07:30] Speaker G: Oh, yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Get up here, Jen.
[00:07:32] Speaker J: I'll be.
[00:07:32] Speaker K: I'll be your Vanna White.
[00:07:33] Speaker H: It's fine.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: We don't need those.
[00:07:39] Speaker D: Okay. So they had this thing called, like, the Variety show, and there are these people who were doing, like, an epic challenge. And there was one of them. He said, I'm gonna skip rope 60 times. We're like, that's cool. This guy said, I'm gonna solve a Rubik's cube. Okay. This other guy said, I'm gonna dry scoop protein powder. That's legit. All he did. He stood up there, and he just.
[00:07:58] Speaker E: He.
[00:07:58] Speaker D: It went everywhere.
[00:08:00] Speaker E: He just.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: That's all he did.
[00:08:02] Speaker D: Avery got his autograph. We called him.
We called him Dry Scoop. We're like, hey, Dry Scoop.
[00:08:09] Speaker E: It was a mess.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Next question.
I lost it. Oh. Somebody asked how many people were at camp.
[00:08:20] Speaker K: There was 80 kids, so it was pretty small.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker K: It was only six churches. One church had three kids.
So I think it was a dad and his three kids.
But I think that at first, I was like, oh, disappointing. Our first year was 800.
I think our second year was 300. We're like, wow, this is tiny. And then this year was 80. But I saw God move in the intimate. We got to know the Bible study leaders closer. We got to know their camp pastor closer. The band closer. I thought that was actually a blessing that it was so small, so.
So I took that one. We had 22 out of the 80,
[00:08:57] Speaker A: and it was obvious. Yeah, everybody knew the kids from Horizon.
[00:09:01] Speaker K: So the three. There were three big churches. Upper Marlboro from. From below D.C. around D.C. that's hilarious.
[00:09:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker K: Yeah, they were awesome. The leader was like 25 years going to fuge, so they treat him like a VIP.
We were 22. And then the other big church. I forget their name. Anyway, they were from Hartford county, so Maryland represented.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Okay. What did you do for your mission? Outreach, remember? I'm keeping track of who's sharing. Everyone will share.
No, you share. She already talked.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: Okay. So I was doing the same thing as Celia. We went to abandoned elementary school.
It wasn't like the roughest part of Philly, but it was still definitely rough.
And we were just cleaning the areas and, like scraping paint in the downstairs level. And it was like three stories, so it was a very four stories. So it was very big.
What?
[00:10:05] Speaker K: When are you going back to clean some more?
[00:10:07] Speaker C: Oh, no, Never. Never.
[00:10:09] Speaker G: All right.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Who else? A different group who's something you did.
[00:10:13] Speaker L: So this. This week, we did different things. Like we were painting and construction and social.
So like, the first day we went to a church and like, you know, we went to a garden and we cleaned that out. And then.
Yeah.
And then the second day we went to one another church and we, like, picked up branches and stuff because there was a big storm that hit.
And then third day we went to the same church, but since the air quality was so bad, we did stuff inside.
So we, like.
[00:10:43] Speaker D: I worked.
[00:10:46] Speaker L: We were doing, like, decorations. We were setting up for, like, vbc.
And then at least I was like, setting up crafts for that. And then the last day we went to another church and we just, like, helped clean it out and like, we painted and stuff like that.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Give it up for Lucy. She's the only one who has to be up there where her dad badgers her with questions.
Anybody else in a different group?
Yeah, go ahead.
Oh, yeah, go ahead, Ross.
[00:11:12] Speaker K: Sorry, sorry. I got. I got the pleasure to take Lucy's group and a bunch of us, I think six of our girls were with us. And then LJ joined us. No, five girls. And then LJ joined us on middle.
And what was cool was the camp pastor Mark. We got to serve at his church for four of the days and to see or to listen to him speak about what they're doing in the community. But then to see it was more moving, I think, to see what their church is doing in. And it was rough. Philly, they were. It was pretty rough. And they meet at an old Methodist church at night. They said the Methodist church is like 20 people above 60 and it's kind of disappearing. And so they're trying to change that whole neighborhood. They're cleaning the church, they're cleaning the neighborhood. That community garden was around the corner. They're trying to use it for, like, picnics and how to minister to the community.
And it was just really special to be a part of his life as we hear him preach and kind of back up what he's preaching and seeing it. So who was going to share next?
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Maybe one more Ave.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: So I was with Sayla and Kate, and we kind of did a little bit of everything.
And Fernanda, we miss her, don't we?
[00:12:24] Speaker L: I got it.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Okay.
But we went to a really rough area of Philly, like Kensington.
I don't know how much I can talk about it. Like, yeah, it was a really rough area.
But the first day we went to this lady's house and we kind of cleaned up her.
Her yard a little bit, removed trash. Some people were, like, cutting down tree branches, cleaning up glass. There was a lot of glass. So we did that and we talked with her and her daughter and then.
Anybody else want to share what we did? That I kind of forgot. Do you want to.
[00:12:59] Speaker E: I don't know if I remember all of them.
One of the days when the air quality was bad, we went to, like, firehouses around the area and brought them, like, donuts and cards and just, like, thanked them for their service and stuff.
And the last day, we went to a lady's house and cleaned it because she had, like, health problems and she couldn't. She couldn't clean it herself. So. So us and another group all went together. So there were, like, 40 people cleaning her house. It was crazy.
[00:13:30] Speaker M: Oh, yes.
[00:13:31] Speaker E: We went to a church right in the middle of Kensington that was, like, serving that community. And we were sorting underwear for them.
Clean underwear? Yes.
[00:13:46] Speaker M: Yeah.
[00:13:46] Speaker E: Because they get over, like, they get extra stock from, like, Target and Walmart and they give it out to, like, the people in that area. So, yeah, that's what we were doing.
[00:13:58] Speaker K: Who's had their hand up?
[00:14:00] Speaker A: A stage left needs some. I was with them.
[00:14:02] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:14:03] Speaker I: All right.
[00:14:05] Speaker K: Anybody else? Any other groups that didn't get shared?
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Okay. Did you. Oh, were you going say something?
[00:14:11] Speaker M: Go ahead.
[00:14:14] Speaker I: We went to.
It was like, the first day I got there, and we went to this church and.
And there was, like. It was like, on the corner, and there's like. It was like a little neighborhood and then.
And they're like construction workers down the street. And there, like, wasn't much going on. It just looks kind of like. Kind of like, sad when you first got there. And then, like, we started working and stuff. And I wasn't doing, like, the stand, but there was a.
Like, it was like a snowball stand. And they just put it out there. And it was cool because you could, like, everyone was, like, coming out, and then, like, people were, like, laughing and, like, having a time. So it was like everyone was just, like, kind of coming out when you, like, like, do stuff.
[00:14:58] Speaker K: Yeah.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Thanks, lj. All right, new question. What was your favorite activity at camp?
[00:15:08] Speaker K: Do we need some people that haven't talked yet?
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm keeping track.
[00:15:14] Speaker H: Okay. So we did, like, lots of things. So first we woke up and then what do we do?
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Like, Yep. We started every morning by waking up.
[00:15:22] Speaker H: Yeah. Well, there was, like, worship and then sermon and then Bible study.
So I guess I like the sermon the most. Like, people were, like, sleeping in it.
[00:15:31] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:15:32] Speaker M: Who?
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Name names? No, I'm just kidding.
Maybe, like, fun activities that they had that we did there.
[00:15:40] Speaker I: I liked the nightlife, and my favorite one was probably the mega relay.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Yeah, you'll see. You'll see that in the video.
[00:15:50] Speaker D: My team.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: So my favorite, I have three top ones. So one was silent disco. That's always, always the favorite.
So it's where you have a headphone set, and then there's three channels with three different discos, and it's green, blue, and red. And they play songs, and it's like categories of songs. So you switch to the one that you like the most, then you just sing along to it.
And I was just going crazy. Like, I was the only boy who was doing it, But.
And then nine square was always fun. It's just a fun activity. And then I scored the winning home run for Wiffle Ball. So that was fun.
So, yeah, those were my three top.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: My favorite activity was the nightlife. And my favorite one was the night that we got more free time. We all went to Rita's.
What did we do after Rita's? Wiffle Ball. That's when he hit a home running home run.
That's right. Walk off.
[00:17:07] Speaker I: Okay.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: There are lots of questions about, like, application. Like, what did you learn there that you're gonna bring home to whether to, like, your everyday life to our Sunday group or even to, like, vbc.
Are there things that you learned or thought about that you know is going to be applied to life back home?
[00:17:35] Speaker K: Did you want to share Anybody over here?
[00:17:40] Speaker A: This is what you asked for.
[00:17:41] Speaker K: You got to raise your hand higher.
I can't see your hand.
[00:17:46] Speaker J: My name is Adriel, and I just wanted to start off by saying this is my third year going to Fuge.
And something that has always stood out to me about it is how we get to experience it all together. We get to.
There's some really powerful moments and impactful moments, and we all get to share that memory. And so coming back and then seeing those people every single week. We're in Bible study together, we're in worship together. Like, it helps keep it kind of, like, alive in you. It helps you remember that it wasn't just like a camp fever dream or something.
It really happened. And that is really helpful for bringing things back home with you that God taught you or that you want to commit to in your life. So.
[00:18:41] Speaker K: Anybody not share yet that wants to.
[00:18:42] Speaker F: Sure,
[00:18:51] Speaker D: Yeah. Something for me, that was really helpful being at Fuge was when we were serving. You have to go out every day. You're serving for two hours. You're maybe being in a rough area. And it's impactful to me because it doesn't really matter, like, how you're feeling or what you're thinking about. You just. You go and serve. And that reminded me in my life how many times I don't do things that I could do for other people, because I just.
I'll be really honest, like, sometimes I just don't want to, and sometimes I'd rather do something, like, for myself. And it really helped me, being at Fuge to just, like, get over myself and to be able to serve forever and to have a good attitude about it, too. Because while I was there, like, I noticed how much in my group or other people's, like, people's attitude, if it was, like, if they had a bad attitude, it made it feel so much longer and nobody wanted to do it. And so it really helped me, like, having a good attitude to be able to get through the serving. And maybe we even found something fun about it. And that really just reminded me at home how much we could put other people before ourselves in my life. And that may resonate with other people, but just to think about other people before ourselves and to just have that heart of serving and just be looking for opportunities to help people and to not grumble about it either. Like, not something you have to do, something you get to do.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: May I ask?
[00:20:25] Speaker G: Okay.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: There are a lot of questions about, like, friendship, love, growing closer together.
So let me pick one of these.
Is there someone in our group you feel like you got to know better? And, like, what is something that you, you know, learned about them?
[00:20:54] Speaker E: Okay, so this is.
[00:20:56] Speaker D: Oh, this is three people.
[00:21:01] Speaker E: The three Kemp boys that went.
I feel like they were all, like, very quiet when they were here. And then we went there and we got to see, like, how hyped they could get and how friendly they were. And I just thought that was really cool that we all got closer.
[00:21:22] Speaker K: Anybody?
[00:21:27] Speaker F: I learned how athletic Judah is, so.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Which one?
[00:21:34] Speaker F: Judah Ogden? Yeah, because I threw a football really bad throw on the roof, and he just went with the blister on his heel. He just climbed up the roof and got the football.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Oh, backpedaling a little bit.
[00:22:03] Speaker G: Sorry.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: I meant to do this during the missions question, but did anybody do any street evangelism?
That was something that was, like, explicitly given out last year, but not this year.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Like handouts.
[00:22:20] Speaker K: Does anybody want to talk about the fire?
[00:22:23] Speaker A: She kind of mentioned that already.
Okay, anybody else? Oh, here's a good one.
The adult that made the most impact on your life at Fuge. What was he or she like? And do you like that he's growing his hair out long?
Just kidding. I added that last part.
And it doesn't have to be from our group. I know you had group leaders, Pastor Mark, all that bipping.
[00:22:54] Speaker E: I think the adult that was most like, that helped me the most was probably Jen because, like, I have social anxiety and like, I have. And I was. And I have not been able to share my testimony with anyone, but. But I was able to share of her.
[00:23:24] Speaker K: That's not a popular question.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Okay, moving on.
Yeah.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: I got close to you, Elijah. I felt like you were just somebody who is like, you can talk to anytime, give a hug. You're a really good hugger. So, you know, I appreciate just the love that you gave to the whole group and everything. Yeah.
[00:23:56] Speaker J: I think someone mentioned this earlier, but because it was such a small group of people this year, we really got to get closer with the FUGE staff this year. Like, it was really cool to just see the Bible study leaders and the behind the scenes people just learning everyone's names. And they would walk up to you in the cafeteria and be like, hi, Adriel. Hi, Celia. Like, whoever.
Even the band people who, like. I don't remember any of the band people from the last years, but it was just. It was inspiring to see how intentionally they got to know each person. Even if it was just learning your name or just talking to you for a minute in the nine square line. We really got to. Yeah. Get to know people better this year.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: All right, that's. That's good. That's it. On questions, anyone that did not share just want to give a little 30 second.
This was my weekend. This is what I liked. This is what I learned. You know who you are if your last name rhymes with bent.
[00:25:02] Speaker I: Hi, my name is Judah. I like the variety show.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: People got on stage and did funny
[00:25:08] Speaker I: things, and I really like the worship.
[00:25:19] Speaker D: So my, like, let her out.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Come on. Do people want to see her?
[00:25:23] Speaker H: A part about the camp that I really liked was that, like, we got to grow close with, like, a lot of people we didn't know, too. Like, we might have recognized them because it was, like, a smaller camp and stuff, but we really got to know them because it was a small camp. So that was kind of cool.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Levi. Levi's last one.
All right. You can go ask Levi after church.
All right, everybody.
[00:25:50] Speaker D: Good.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Okay, thank you, guys. You can come. Grab your seats.
I really made a mess of all your stuff. Kate, Ross, Jen. Are you guys. Krista. I know Krista said no. You guys want to share?
[00:26:08] Speaker M: Hello, my name's Jen, and I got to go to Fuge this year for the first time, and it was awesome. It's kind of hard to summarize the whole experience, but I just had a few takeaways I wanted to share.
It was a huge blessing and definitely think. A lot of transformations took place for myself and others. And as Kate mentioned, and I'm sure others felt it, we learned that it wasn't because God was more present at camp.
We know God's omnipresent. He's everywhere, all the time.
And in Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
And at camp, we learned that we were more present and alert to God. And of course he met us. He was there. He always is.
We pursued God, and of course, we found Him. We studied a lot of psalms during our worship time, and we took a deep look at the theme. The Lord is our shepherd, our good shepherd, hence our T shirts. And we learned that life is hard.
We talked a lot about. We walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and there's a lot of suffering, but we can't have joy without the suffering. So that was a big theme.
And we know that God's with us every step of the way. And as we went on site visits, serving, we learned that we're not doing things for God.
He actually doesn't need us, but he chooses to use us for our benefit, actually. So we do things with God. Like, we remembered he was with us in all these moments. So there was lots of moments of pure joy, fun silliness at camp, but there was also a lot of self reflection and growth.
On my first day there, we did. We were being prepped for going into an area called Kensington. That's one of the poorest areas of Philly. I didn't realize it was like the actual drug addict capital of our country, at least, maybe even the world. But it's a huge open air drug market. We saw people just suffering.
We were prepped not to shake hands with some of these people because of fentanyl exposure, not to step on needles, that sort of thing. So I'm asking myself, what have I gotten myself into?
And I was a driver, so parked my vehicle next to an abandoned warehouse with like cement cinderblock walls with barbed wire coils at the top. And I just started praying, like, God, please help the vehicle to be intact when we get back. Honestly, I was like worried about that. Kids were playing in fire hydrants, which I thought was kind of strange, but learned. That's just like a normal summer in Philly.
But, you know, throughout the day, we met wonderful people who chose to work in that environment. They like, literally one guy was from Parkville, Maryland, and he lived in this neighborhood on purpose to have an impact.
So, you know, they're running the church, the community center, outreach programs.
That's where we did a lot of work. We were able to give these people a boost and as a team, do a job that might take them individually the whole day, like sorting this underwear.
And so it was nice just to know that we were able to free them up to do other things and to kind of rejuvenate them.
And then we returned to our unharmed vehicle and went home, which was wonderful.
We had a great pastor named Mark. He was a huge blessing. He took us deep, deep into God's word and truth and really great timed messages that infused humor and key takeaways. There were two sermons a day. When I realized this, I thought, wow, that's a ridiculous amount of church.
But honestly, I would have welcomed more. I loved it and they taught me so much.
Many times. I. One of the things I learned is a lot of times we're seeking God's blessings in our lives, like success, success, health, prosperity. But really all we need to seek is God himself.
We studied the rich young ruler who couldn't part from his material things to follow Jesus, not realizing that Jesus himself is the gift.
The pastor likened this to having, like the ultimate birthday party where you received every gift you could possibly want and then realized there's no one that came to the Party to share it with you. You were all alone.
So we learned that God's blessings, they're like the breadsticks at Olive Garden. They never run out.
God's kingdom has no scarcity. There's no scarcity in God's kingdom. Another takeaway from camp is that when we serve, we're actually the ones being blessed. My first adult group session, we were asked to reflect on why we're there, why are we helping the teens? And my first thought was, because I want to be there for the kids. But in actuality, it helped me be accountable in my own faith, and it kept me rooted. And so I was actually the one being blessed.
One day, we visited firemen at three different fire stations throughout Philly. They wrote cards and gave them donuts, and we prayed with them. And this was actually my first experience with deliberately looking for opportunities to share Christ with others, which I think is one of those takeaways that we can just be more mindful of where we can infuse that in our daily lives.
And it was a great experience.
And then our last day, we served at an unusual church.
There were a lot of peculiar things about it. The pastor's wife was, like, obsessed with details and had, like.
She had pages and pages of supplies where they are lists, alphabetized and different. And.
And the funny thing is, we were all still confused, and we weren't sure what to do. And LJ built a shelf that he took two hours to build, only to take it apart because she realized it was the wrong shelf.
So he learned a lesson in patience.
And her husband was so obese. He was the pastor, and he actually. I didn't see him get off the couch. I don't know how he would get off the couch. And I, if I'm being honest, was kind of criticizing the church. Like, how effective can you be if you're unable to be mobile? And I was kind of wondering, like, could we be effective somewhere else? And then I realized, thank God. God doesn't think that way. He doesn't, like, wait to help people who have it all together. He helps everybody, especially those who are flawed and imperfect. So. So I just also want to share that after spending a full week with our teens and tweens and leaders, I have to say that I like them all more.
They're amazing kids. They were extremely loving and kind to one another. A lot of times we didn't know what we were doing until an hour before we were doing it. We didn't know where we were going. Everybody had an open mind. I didn't hear one complaint or eye rolling or anything. They just took their jobs. They did it with great attitudes. A lot of times we put on music. We just had a really good time together. And a lot of the staff recognized how special our kids are, and I just want to reiterate that. So it was a great experience.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: Okay, so I just have a couple things I want to share, and then we're going to close with a song.
When our kids are given something, they rise to the challenge. Whether it's getting hype, whether it's going out and surfing, and it's just really encouraging to see them.
It's like, okay, this is what. This is, you know, why we're here. This is what we're doing.
And there's a lot of conversation about bringing that back home.
And so, yeah, just for you family, it was important for me, you guys, to see that because sometimes we just kind of come in here and we're very quiet and we just kind of stand in a circle.
But there is so much life and there is so much, like, potential.
And when we put it to them, they meet it, they rise to it. It's just very encouraging for me to see, and I'm excited about what we're gonna do this next year together.
The theme was Good Shepherd. And kind of from the jump, Pastor Mark kind of issued this thing of like, who are you following? And there was really three options. It was, are you following someone? Something besides Jesus?
Are you following no one, which is essentially yourself, or are you following Jesus? And that was kind of, you know, overarching of the whole week of like, he's a good Shepherd. He has your best interest in mind.
And. And you can turn to him and you can go to him. I really like that. And. And this has been shared a couple times. But one thing Pastor Mark said, I think it was on our Saturday, the last day.
He said God didn't show up to camp. He's always here. He's always wherever you are. He said, you showed up, like, you made the choice to come here, where there was going to be two church services a day and two Bible studies a day, and all these things, you know, and really, you know, kind of showed even to. To me, like, you know, if I'm just, like, messing around, going through my life, just like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And I'm just expecting God just to, like, pop in. He. He will. He does do that.
But how often am I, like, where are you, Lord? And he's like, where are you? You know, and just a reminder of, like, no, no, no, I gotta show up. I gotta. I gotta, you know, extend my hand. I think it's. Is it da Vinci who did the creation of man? Do you guys know what I'm talking about?
Michelangelo knew it was one of the Ninja Turtles.
I think about that painting all the time because I feel a lot of times like the guy in that painting is what I'm talking about. God is, like, falling out of heaven, like, arms totally extended, and homeboy is just like, meh. You know?
And so, like, yeah, just really convicting of, like, we gotta show up, you know? And will God? Will we have that big feeling every single time? No, but.
[00:36:52] Speaker G: But.
[00:36:52] Speaker A: But we need to seek God. It's a command. And there is blessing in that. And it was great to be reminded of that.
My favorite time of the day, after the evening service, we had church group time because, like, they were all split up. You guys saw on different teams, they were in different Bible studies.
We all went out on different work sites, you know, but at the end of or close to the end of the day, right after service, we would come together just, you know, the horizon group and get to kind of just chop it up. Sometimes we broke out into smaller groups. Sometimes we just stayed together.
We found a couple of really out of tune guitars, and Kate helped us find the key because we couldn't find it, and sang some worship together. And that time was just really special to kind of process with them throughout the week and kind of hear what they're saying. If you have. Hopefully if you had a kid on this trip, they've been sharing with you, but if not, squeeze them a little harder. They had some good things to say, and it would be awesome for you to hear that from them as well.
So Philadelphia, last two years we were at Harrisonburg, Virginia, two years ago at jmu. Last year we were at Virginia beach.
And last year was the first time we did missions. And it was kind of like, fine.
But the team at Philly was saying pretty much all the other mission sites, they're, like, trying to find people who, you know, we can go serve. Philly has a wait list, and so we did a lot more.
Zach was asking about street evangelism and obviously, like, that need, you know, we need to be evangelizing, but there's just so much physical brokenness and so much physical need there.
The first day, T. Shay and Aaron and I went to a park to, like, play with kids, and there was garbage everywhere. Like, Packed like topsoil of layers of centuries, like under bleachers and stuff. And I was like, man, like. And we just played with the kids. I was like, dude, we could, if this was in Reisterstown, like we'd come back and we could just bring a trash bag and that would be loving and serving these people. You know, there's just so much physical need there. And so that was, that was for me felt really special to be able to go, as Jen shared, to some really, really broken place places and love them with our hands and with our backs and all that. So it's really cool.
We talk about bringing missions home.
And I talked with some of the leaders, Krista Ross, about our first Sunday pizza Anns and we talked about how instead of those always just being like kicks and giggles, actually using those to go out into the community. So August pizza and is already scheduled, but our September pizza and is going to be at Hannah More and we're just going to take sports equipment, crafts, different things out there and do what we did in Philly with kids that we actually might see again.
And maybe we can invite them to our church or something like that, you know, and just begin to put into practice in life what we did at camp.
Because again, like when you put it to them, they do it so much of the time. We just need that invitation. So I'm really excited about that September. Mark your calendars last year and much has been said about this.
Yoshi, Zak and Jonathan graduated and left us and two of them came back. Hi boys.
And it's no secret that our group was like, like they, they were leading the charge for us. Like, you know, they, they kind of got the group started eight years ago or however long it was coming out of vbc. And we're just really passionate and really committed and charismatic and really love the Lord. Just kind of led the charge in, in a lot of different ways. Right.
And so when they left, this past year has been a little bit of like an. A group identity crisis. Like oh no, like who are we without those guys? And I feel like this year we found it at Fuge.
I love these kids so much and I get it that life is happening and we got to come to current and we got to go back home, we got to do homework and all that stuff. But just getting to hang out with them and just sit at meals and just play nine square and not have to worry about like, oh, you know, there's a schedule. But we just got to like be together and they're so Special. And they're so smart, they're so kind, and they're so funny.
[00:41:41] Speaker K: One of the. One of the things that came to mind is watching them. I've been blessed to go through years and watching them grow in their faith and worship. You're making me cry now.
That was probably the Lord was working on me the most of, like, just watching them grow in him and seeing them go to the front and raise their hands or just be there and be present. Yeah, that was really.
Yeah, they melded, so I didn't mean to cry too.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: No, you're good.
[00:42:08] Speaker G: You're good.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: People come up to me often and they're like, oh, like, God bless you. Thank you for what you do for the kids and the community and stuff. And like, when I tell you guys, I feel like I get so much more getting to be a part of your life and getting to, you know, talk to you, hang out with you, play with you.
It just brings so much joy to my life. So thank you guys for letting me be a part of your life.
And it was cool because it was recognized, like, our kids were being recognized by other churches, by the fuge staff.
Aiden specifically got a shout out on site for always asking, like, hey, what can I do? How can I help? He would finish a job. What's next?
And so props to you, bro.
And then, like, whenever we would be doing something, like, other churches would just, like, come and start doing it with us. And like, the huge staff would. Were like, off the clock, but they saw us playing wiffle ball in the dark and they just came onto the field and wanted to play with us because our kids are welcoming, inviting, fun, fun to be around.
And so it's just really cool because I'm definitely biased. I've known most of you since you were in diapers, but it was like, yeah, they are awesome. They are fun to be around. They are cool and interesting and all those things. So that was really, really special.
Okay, last thing. I just want to say thank you to the Martin family for letting us use their van. And the Billings Siras used his van. And the whites. Where are the whites? The whites letting us use their eight seater. It was like two days before I thought we were gonna have to, like, rent a van. And they were like, you can use our eight seater. Beautiful answer to prayer. And what was the fourth vehicle? Oh, Olivia and Jen's cars. They drove their own. So thank you guys for doing that.
I want to thank the chaperones, Olivia, Jen, Krista and Ross.
I want to give a special Shout out to Krista and Ross because they're with me all the time and that's a lot for them.
And it really, it feels like brother and sister and the way that we complement each other, hold each other accountable, challenge each other to be better, laugh with each other, have fun.
[00:44:46] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: The way you guys love me and support me, not just at fuge all year round, I'm just very, very grateful for and is often the wind under my wings when I get a little weary. So thank you guys so much.
Thank you to everyone that donated financially to help us get there.
A lot of us, myself included, were fully scholarships to go on this trip.
So thank you guys so much for your generosity in that or ideas for fundraisers or participating in fundraisers. I'm going to be more planned out next year, but we got it. We made it happen and you guys did that. So thank you so much for that and for everyone that was praying for us going up before the trip and while we were there, for safety, for God to move in our students.
Thank you for thinking of them and praying for them while we were gone.
And lastly, I want to thank parents and say, you're welcome also taking your kids for a week, but thank you.
Yeah, I mean, like, not a lot of parents would be like, oh, you're going to go into inner city Philadelphia and do stuff.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: Yeah, great, go ahead.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: You know, but just trusting us and trusting mostly the Lord that this is something that is going to be good for them, something that he wanted them to be a part of, you know, having kids of my own, I understand, like, what it means to let them go and trust them with somebody else.
And so I know how significant that is. You know, you could keep them, hold them close, protect them from everything and, you know, but the fact that you trust us and mostly trust the Lord with their spiritual development, their relationships, all that kind of stuff, we're really honored and we take that very seriously and we're grateful for that. So, yeah, thank you for everything, everybody.
