What's this? It's a BLOG post that's what!

The Riverbend Youth have gone and returned from camp! It was an amazing week in Ridgecrest, North Carolina of worship, fellowship, and laughs. There were numerous reasons why I chose this camp this year, but the one reason that outweighed all the others was because Landon Dowden was preaching. What a blessing he was to our campers. He got up each and every night and shared the gospel with the kids of Riverbend Church, and there was great response.

He taught from God's Word about relating to the lost, relating to authority, family, friends, and other believers.

I walked away so proud of each of our students as they all, at some point or another, shared hurts, joys, struggles, triumphs, and celebrations in their own personal walks with the Lord. It was a great week!

Glory to God

This weekend was my first every DNOW to plan. I've been a part of a million DNOWs, so thankfully, I had plenty of ideas that I liked and disliked. That was a help. But a few weeks before DNOW, as sign up lagged, I found myself getting worried. I found myself getting worried that a poor showing of people would reflect badly on me. People would view my leadership as a failure. Then, I realized, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!

That was a huge relief. Eventually, people began to sign up and the weekend was approaching. I think in all we had about 16 signed up (which is right around my goal), but unfortunately, the flu took to that number, and a few of our students had to miss. However, I'm confident God still worked in our small little youth group. James did such an excellent job connecting to the youth, as did Adrienne, Chelsea, and Adam. James spoke to these young people (and adults) about what it means to be a disciple of Christ while their small(er) group sessions focused on finding identity in Christ. So, scripturally speaking, the weekend was interwoven pretty well.

Continue to pray for the youth at Riverbend.

Has it really been June since the last update?

Well, I may as well check in a couple of days before Christmas. Riverbend is going through some encouraging times right now. We informed the church that we were moving into a new building. This building will allow us to grow and minister to the community more effectively. (Oh, and, THERE'S A YOUTH ROOM!) Anyway, we needed approximately $32,000 for the "soft costs" of the new building such as tables, chairs, sound equipment, etc... Well, I looked at that number and the whole time I was saying in my head "There is no way we can get that much money for a two week campaign called 'Be A Part of More.'" Well, as I told our pastor, I forgot it was God we were dealing with. Not only did we get the $32,000 needed for this new building, but God included an extra $2,000 just for good measure. We serve a faithful God that will provide for our NEEDS both individually and as a church family. I am looking forward to 2011!

A more immediate event in the youth is our upcoming DNOW January 7-9. I debated whether or not to do an event with another church that would have more people and more flare, but I eventually settled on doing something simple and small with our church. It'll be far different from any other DNOW that I have been a part of, but I pray that the students of Riverbend Church will be impacted by God's Word that weekend as well as some fun ways to serve the community around them.

But that is it for now. I hope you all have a great Christmas!

VIDEO

Time for changes

Tonight was quite challenging... Pat challenged us all to look at ourselves in a new way. He covered us with Scripture showing us that we are a new creation, a chosen race, and a righteous people because of the blood that Christ shed. To illustrate this, he discussed the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Simply stated, butterflies don't live and hang out where caterpillars hang out. So, why do we find ourselves going back to those same old habits that we did before we found our identity in Christ? Christ offers us the fullness of joy, yet we so often settle for so much less. The students responded well to God's Word tonight.

They also had a full day of recreation, ministry, and ball of all sorts. Our church entered a volleyball tournament, and we didn't fare too well (lost 11-4). But the blessing of the day was the fact that several of our students got to go off campus and minister to some kids at the Boys and Girls Club. It was great to hear those testimonies.

Pray that the last full day tomorrow will be productive and refreshing. I am going to be VERY busy, though, so I am not sure if I will be able to update. If I do not, I cannot wait to see you guys Saturday as we return!

Grace and Peace,

Clay

We're still alive

I haven't posted anything yet today partly because of all the running around I have been doing, but all the students are still here and enjoying their time. I think they are looking forward to being home (as I am), but enjoying it still nonetheless. We are looking forward to a great worship service tonight, but first, we hope to go beat up some other churches in a volleyball tournament.

Check back...

Great day today

The students were, again, challenged in new ways through God's Word, and I truly believe that they are all growing together as a unified group. One thing that I have noticed missing in our youth group was unity, and I knew that an event such as this would be the difference maker in that, and I am so thankful for the things that have been done in their lives and mine so far.

Tonight, we got rained out of a lot of free time and got soaking wet attempting to make the campus long trot back to the dorms. However, we pray that God has been glorified under all our circumstances good or bad.

On a lighter note, he'll kill me for doing it, but I don't care.... Meet Lane and all his glorified dance moves.

Her new nickname: "Shiver-me-Kimbers"

Our camp pastor, Pat Kelly (blurry)

More to come... Goodnight