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We are so overwhelmed by God’s grace and blessings to us this year! This year we had 111 teenagers go with us to various churches to run our sports camp Bible schools. This was our largest group ever! We took three trips to Bradshaw, WV, Ringgold, GA, and Southport, NC/Olyphic, NC.

We began our summer with a trip to West Virginia. God blessed us richly on this trip. On top of the sports camp Bible school, we were able to participate in numerous work projects including: painting, electrical work, building, pouring concrete, etc. The people of Bradshaw were very appreciative, and this trip once again showed that God is rich in grace and mercy.

Our second trip of the year was to Ringgold, GA. We conducted out work at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. Pastor Neil Grimes is the former pastor at Shoreline Baptist Church in Southport, and he invited us to

come this year to have our program at his church. God did not disappoint. We had a fantastic camp with the kids, and we had several of our own mission team members come to know Christ on this trip. When God saves a soul we can do nothing but stand in awe of His grace. We were able to minister to many teenagers in the area as well, and we’ve made great contacts for future kingdom work in the area. We can’t wait to go back next year!

 

Our third and final trip of the summer was a 2-for-1. We conducted two sports camps in the same week at Shoreline Baptist Church in

Southport, NC and Olyphic Baptist Church in Olyphic, NC. We started our camps in the morning in Southport, and then we sent a team every night about an hour away to conduct another sports camp in the evenings. This time proved to be tiring, but God provided us with the strength to get through it, and we were blessed richly for it. While the Olyphic team was running the evening camp, we did a teen ministry in Southport led by Mark McKinney and Jonathan Lunceford. During this time we had another mission team member come to know Christ as his Savior. We were so blessed by God during this time!

 

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and financial support for us. Without the faithful support of all of you, we would not be able to do what we do. Keep us in prayer throughout this fall/winter as we conduct our school ministries and basketball coaching.

When I think about our incredible summer, two verses come to mind: Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know”, and Proverbs 16:9 – “A man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps”

 

We had an amazing summer. It was full of mission trips, camps, bible studies, worship, service, hard work, fun and laughter. We had a record  number of people join us this year for our trips. We had a total of 111 people that came from 23 different churches who served with us on our mission teams this summer. Those people shared the gospel in the   mountains of West Virginia, in Georgia, and along the coast of North Carolina in two different communities. Not to mention the 3 local camps we did in Alamance County as well. We were able to share God’s love, and the hope that He gives with nearly 1,000 people! We saw people receive Christ (children, teens, and adults) as their savior. Others were rededicating their life to serve Christ, to be a godly influence in their school, church, and families. Several expressed they felt like God was calling them into full-time Christian service. Here are just a few of many quotes from this past summer:

 

“I’ve been a Christian for a long time, but this trip has literally changed my life”.

 

“Please pray for me as I feel like God is calling me into ministry”.

 

“This year God is working in my heart, and I know God is telling me to be a leader at my school”.

 

“Hey everyone……I just got saved”

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“Never have I felt so much love, and acceptance than from this team”.

 

“I am officially giving my heart to God”.

 

“Before coming on this trip, I had got off the wrong path, but I am rededicating my life to God”.

 

“Next year, I want to do all three trips”!

 

From a parent: “my child has come back a different person”.

 

From a local pastor who had students go on a trip: “those kids came back and have us all fired up”.

 

From former mission teamers who visited our camps: “Don’t take these trips for granted”. “Decide now to serve God and live for Him”. “God is always pursuing us”.

 

Wait! There’s more. Just heard from one of the pastors of a church where we did a camp. He said “two new families started coming to church since their children attended sports camp while we were there. One of them came forward during a recent service to receive Christ as Savior”! How exciting!

 

I shared the two verses at the beginning, because there was so much up in the air with planning our trips. We had new destinations, new schedules, more people than ever before, but God. We tried to plan accordingly, but it was truly God who directed our steps, and He did things we didn’t even know about. Far more than we could have ever imagined. All praise to God! He alone is worthy.

 

Mark

 

This week was full of fun! We had the opportunity to conduct a three-day camp at the Graham Recreation Center for a group of senior adults. We had around 10 of our mission team members come to spend time with these senior adults, and it was a very fun time full of blessing.

The camp consisted of a lot of the activities that we do with children on our annual mission trips. We sang and danced around to our fun children’s songs, we did a daily puppet show, and we played games. The senior adults really enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with them, but I know that our team was blessed equally as much just having the opportunity to be a part of it. At the end of each day, we did short Bible lessons that were conducted by Jordan (our new full-time staff member), and Jonathan and Josh (our summer interns.)

On Monday, Jordan spoke about the hope that we have in Jesus. In recent weeks there have been some high-profile people that have taken their own lives. Despite whatever is going on in your life it is important to remember that we have hope in Jesus, and, as the song goes, “life is worth the living just because HE lives.” We will experience trials, but we are promised in Romans 8:28 that “…in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

On Tuesday, Josh talked about how God hears us. He cited the Old Testament story of Leah and how she cried out to God in pain because of her situation. God heard her every time she called out and blessed her richly with many children. Leah named all of her children special names that had deep meanings of God’s faithfulness to her. No matter what you’re going through, God hears you!

On Wednesday, Jonathan spoke about the story of Job. Job’s story is a very popular example to cite when we talk about trusting God, and for good reason. God allowed Job to experience immense trials in his life. Satan took everything from Job except for his life, and it would have been very easy for Job to just give up. But, rather than take the advice of his wife and “curse God and die,” Job remained faithful to God and was blessed far more than he ever lost because of it.

All of these lessons are encouraging to us, and we were so delighted to be able to share them with the senior adults that we worked with this week. Please pray for us as we prepare for our busy summer of ministry. We have three mission trips coming up, and we pray that God will use us as he sees fit.

 

 

As we prepare to head into the summer, we are overwhelmed and overjoyed at all of the ministry opportunities that God has given us. On top of the two annual missions trips to War, WV and Southport, NC, we have added a third trip to Olyphic, NC. On these trips, we will be conducting our sports camp Bible schools, as well as service projects and programs for senior citizens. The opportunity to be a part of the staff on these trips is very exciting because, in middle school and high school, I was part of these trips as a mission team member. As I grew up in Christian Adventurers I learned the importance of serving others and serving God.

I went on my first trip with Christian Adventurers when I was 13. The trip was to Southport, NC and it was the 2nd year Christian Adventurers had gone there. Every year since then, we have been going to Southport to serve at Shoreline Baptist Church and conduct our sports camp Bible schools. A couple years after that I decided to go on my first trip to War, WV.

These trips turned out to be very eye-opening for me. Due to the economic status of that area, I was exposed to an amount of poverty that I had never yet experienced. After I got back from my first trip to War, I was reminded of all of the blessings that I had at home and charged myself to never take what God had blessed me with for granted. Thankfully, God allowed me to go on several trips with Christian Adventurers in middle school and high school, and those trips allowed me to learn how to serve God and serve others.

I am now on the other end of these trips. I am a staff member and a leader. God has now allowed me the opportunity to invest in young people like so many others invested in me when I was young. The impact that Chief and Mark had on me as a young person was huge. I am now able to try and make an impact on others’ lives as a staff member. I pray that God will use me to be a light and leader to the young people that we are going to minister to, as well as the teenagers on our mission team this summer.

As we look ahead to this summer, we have a lot to prepare for. This coming week (June 4-7) we are holding a soccer, basketball and volleyball camp for kids grades 3-8 at Bethel Baptist Church. The following week we will be holding a morning camp for a group of senior adults at Graham Recreation Center. After that, we begin to gear up for our 3 week-long mission trips that we will be doing this summer. Please pray with us that God will lead and guide us this summer as we minister to children here at home and in other states. Pray that God will prepare our hearts to be servants for him so that we can forget all other distractions and spread his gospel.