Camp Agape California 2017 Recap: A Trail of Light has Begun

Camp Agape California 2017 Recap: A Trail of Light has Begun

Isaiah 60:1-3

 Arise, shine, for your light has come,

    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth

    and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

    and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light,

    and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 

It has been a exactly one week since Paul and I stepped onto the bus heading up to our local mountains for the start of the first Camp Agape here in Southern California.  For those reading this blog that are unaware of what this ministry is, Camp Agape was started in Hawaii in 2005 as an offshoot of Angel Tree, a ministry for the children of incarcerated parents.  A couple at our church, Liz and Jon Vallejo, felt strongly that God was calling them to begin a camp here in Southern California.  It was a process that took five years, much prayer and a huge leap of faith!  How Paul and I came to be on this bus last week is our own interesting story, one of prayer and a leap of faith of our own as well.

A little over a year ago, with divine guidance, Paul and I arrived at a new church, Southlands in Brea, CA.  We were not entirely sure of all the reasons God was leading us to leave our former church and all of our friends, of which we had many, and go to a church in which we did not know anyone at all.  But when God calls we have learned that there is much fruit in just obeying and not asking too many questions. There has been much fruit in our obedience, as well as much opposition at times, but this little blog will be focusing on one of the things that we are now able to see in hindsight that was on the Holy Spirit's list of things He had for us to do at our new church.

We were only at the church for a few months when one Sunday morning a man was chatting with two women sitting in front of us.  I briefly overheard him mentioning a camp he was heading to that coming week and he seemed excited about. During the service my heart was stirred about it and I felt that we needed to offer to pray with him at the end of the service.  He seemed appreciative that we were offering, and we asked a few others to join us.  As we began to pray for this camp, Camp Agape in Hawaii, I felt the most overwhelming sense of the pleasure of God pour over me!  I began to weep as I prayed and I knew that God was certainly going to be doing something there!  Sure enough, a few weeks later I ran into my new friend Manny and he gave us an incredible testimony of how God had moved in power upon the kids.  What I did not know at that time was that the plans of bringing this same camp to Southern California was already well under way.

Several more months passed and I was so pleased to hear that our church was going to be partnering with the start of the first ever Camp Agape in California.  I knew right away, as the Holy Spirit had so clearly highlighted this ministry to us, that we would be partnering as well but I thought perhaps it would only be in a financial sense as we have been hosting international students in our home and being gone for a weekend seemed rather difficult, but I kept the thought open.  When it came time to sign up for the camp though I felt strongly that I needed to go.  Paul was unsure if he could make it, due to work, but all of the obstacles removed themselves by God's grace, and my adult daughter stepped in to take care of our students and keep the household running in our absence.  

In the weeks leading up to the camp I spent some time in prayer.  I specifically asked the Lord about the girls I would be mentoring.  I assumed I would have two girls, as they seemed to pair up one mentor with two "angels" as they are referred to.  However, I could only "see" one girl as I was praying.  From what the Holy Spirit was showing me she would be around 12 or 13 years old, have a little curl in her hair that was brown with golden highlights.  I was unsure what race she was, as she appeared to be mixed.  I even thought she might be European.  I received a list of names that would be in our group a few days before the camp began and one name just popped off the page.  It was like I knew that was the girl I would be with and her name was Sarah.  Sure enough, when I was given my "angel"  I was only given one girl, and it was this same "Sarah" and when she arrived she had soft brown curls with golden highlights and she was 12 years old and her mother was Hungarian and her father Hispanic.  Amazing!  I teared up as I was introducing myself to her.  She didn't know why but later I shared with her that God had a plan and had shown me that I would be her mentor.

As the weekend unfolded, I was surprised that Sarah already had a very strong faith in Christ.  I pondered why the Lord had paired me with her instead of one of the other girls that had a much more obvious "hardness" about her, but God in His sovereignty had good reasons that actually ended up being a blessing to me as well in this.  The first night of camp was actually incredible in that over 50 kids responded to the call for Christ and even more to let go of anger towards their fathers.  The worship, led by the worship leader from my home church Southlands in Brea, did an amazing job as usual but I did notice that there was no background vocals.  There was a mic set up for the keyboardist but he was not singing much at all.  Also, there were no females on the worship team and I thought that perhaps it would be nice if there was a female up there as a role model for the young girls at the camp.  As I have spent most of my life, since my teen years, on a worship team in one aspect or another, I found myself wishing I could be up there again.  It has been over a year and a half since I have been on a worship team and I found myself missing it.  But then I thought about how God, in His kindness, had given me such a clear picture/vision of Sarah and it was all part of His perfect plan for me to be her mentor that weekend.  

But God gave me a little gift the very next day!  As I was passing Josh, our worship leader, I mentioned that they could use a female vocalist up there, and of course I was more than willing if needed!  I was shocked when he actually considered it.  He invited me to join them for practice later that night!  I said I would have to chat with my cabin, and I also spoke with the camp coordinator in charge of the girls, but both the girls in my cabin and the coordinator were excited for me.   It was at this moment I realized that if I had been paired with a student that was struggling and was more needy I would not have felt the freedom to plug into the worship team for that hour or so.  It was such a gift to me in that I felt like God had heard my heart's cry.  Hopefully my motives were pure, but I did sense that the girls were so excited and one of the girls in my cabin mentioned that she liked to sing too and I was able to encourage her, as well as the other girls in using their gifts for Jesus.

As I was spending my time with the girls, Paul had some even more amazing breakthroughs with the young men he had been assigned.  As God ordained it, he ended up leading the "cabin time" with three young men that had never been in church before.  They were a bit overwhelmed by the newness of the services.  Paul took it slow with them and didn't pressure them to respond until they were ready, which was the last night in which Paul was able to lead two of them in giving their hearts to Christ in the cabin!  One of the younger ones had said, as they were discussing how the Bible helps us to have a life of love and a good life, "So if I follow the Bible I won't end up going to jail like my dad?"  Later I commented that the Bible helps all of us not end up in places we shouldn't be.  We all need the Word to be a light unto our paths!

As for the Word being our light, I had a picture of my "angel" Sarah being a light that left a trail everywhere she went.  The light she carried would draw others to Jesus.  I shared this with her and she was just beaming!  What was really incredible for me, and honestly the moment in which I was the most overjoyed the entire weekend, was the last morning before breakfast.  The camp pastor Jeff had invited all the campers that wanted to sign up to become "junior mentors" to arrive at the campfire for a chat that morning.  Most of the girls in our cabin wanted to go, which I was very happy about.  What I was not aware of, however, was that one thing Camp Agape does is when a student signs up to become a "junior mentor" is that they tell them that they are going to keep them accountable to do their daily devotions for the entire year leading up to the next camp.  They send them something called a "SOAP" which is basically an outline for studying the Word (Scripture, Observations, Application, Prayer).  Seeing thirty or so kids lining up to commit to studying the Word everyday overwhelmed me and I cried more over that than anything the entire weekend!  I was like I could "see" the trail of light that was just taking place before me at that moment.  Nothing transforms us more than being in the Word consistently!  As amazing as seeing the kids going forward to give their hearts to Christ, praying for the forgiveness of those that had hurt them, prayers for the breaking of generational curses and strongholds, the daily "bread" of God's Word was going to bring sustaining life to these kids for the entire year ahead. 

So I anticipate much fruit from this now.  I applaud my church, Southlands in Brea for having the "eyes to see" that this ministry is something that pleases the Father's heart.  Churches certainly cannot give to every need or organization out there, they just do not have the resources to do so, but it brings me joy that the Holy Spirit had highlighted this one to me and our church as well.  I can see the "trail of light" ahead and although we may never see how bountiful the harvest from this will be until we reach heaven I am confident that there will be enough visible fruit to give us a small glimpse of what is to come.  As it says in Isaiah 60:3, "Nations will come to your light!."