A good evening to you. Yeah, in the main hall here at headquarters. But also those that are streaming in this this evening. And, I was paging through. Can you believe it? The 2021 camp edition of a Y the other day, just trying to oil my mind with a couple of things.
And I discovered two things. I learned two things from that, exercise, so to speak. And the first one is that I realized that I shouldn't call you in the room, but also those at home things anymore because you matured two young adults. If you look through the pictures and you see all you that were little ones, at one point, you all grew up to become young adults at this point.
And actually this evening, just before I started to give this message, I heard that we are not going to call these Bible studies teen Bible studies anymore, but youth Bible studies. So that's, rightly, rightly named, so to speak. The other thing that I learned, and, that will not be a surprise, is that the rest of us, we just got older.
And so look through those pictures and realize you matured into young adults. And we just became a little bit, a little bit old. But you might ask this evening, now, why is Mr. Fallon sitting here and we are going to talk about I see why. Why is he speaking about AIC? Specifically 2025 this evening? And I want to mention to you and everyone at home as well, everyone that is tuning in, and I'm sure all the teens are excited and thinking about camp in general, the excitement that us, the youth have, me and myself and my wife, my lovely wife.
We will serve as the camp directors for the camp 2025. So that is one of the things that I wanted to to mention to you this evening. Paul said the he spoke to, the Corinthian and he said that some men he is the one that plants he planted congregations and some men came after him and they watered the congregation.
So many men came before me as camp directors, and they basically planted the camp. A lot of activities developed, camp being developed. And now I'm just stepping in, so to speak, to serve more and further as the camp director for 2025. So that's one of the things that is, maybe exciting, more exciting for me and, for my wife as well.
But then there is someone else, or I could say a group that will assist me. That's certainly not just one person or 2 or 3 people that are able to get camp going and, ultimately bring the fruits that we are all looking for at the end and things that we will talk about this evening, those that came before us, the men that I spoke about, they all had a team behind them.
And who is that team? That is the whole church. I'm looking at you as the youth, but also as, the new camp director. I'm looking at the whole church and thinking about you as the team that will help us. And that is what we are going to talk about tonight, not just for the teens, for the youth, but we are going to talk to you.
Yes, but also to the rest of the church, because everyone has a role to play. What is shall go for this evening as we go through this, this Bible study, our goal is very, very simple. We going to talk about the importance of preparing now for all of us to prepare now for AIC on Varsity Youth Camp 2025.
Now you might think why it's way, way in the future. While we're talking about preparing for camp now, that's what we are going to cover tonight. And I want part of almost a third of my message is about the exciting news that I want to share to. One of the exciting pieces of news was the new camp director.
Again, that's not necessarily you. You hear that and you want to go on. You want to hear the other exciting news that I want to share and to you tonight, and I'm excited to share that with you and with everyone, all the listeners at home this evening. And, I'm ready to, to share that right now.
The exciting news for camp 2025.
And one thing, I have a I have a problem. When I printed my message board of the, the, the printed pages didn't come through. That exciting part is not. It's not you I missed that. Let's go on to the second point, then. That might be also exciting news for you or not. Know that's right there on my pages.
I won't forget to give you the exciting news about camp. We can have a little bit of fun with that. I'm sure. Everyone at home started to think about what? What happened to his to his notes. But, the dates. That's certainly one of the first things that you want to hear about. And as I share camp generally, two weeks next year will not be different.
We're looking at from Sunday, June the 29th to Sunday, July the 13th of 2025. So again, do a two week block. But you say why usually we have camp and those some of the new teens or youth in God's church. You might not be away but typically camp. For many years now it's been, as you know, everyone at either right at the end of July or going into the middle of, of August.
Why would we have camp from June to mid July next year? And that is not just the date that's exciting to share, but the reason why we have that is truly everyone. This is going to be again an international camp. What does that mean? Most of our campus internationally, maybe you you're in the US are not concerned so much about that because if you attend school then or maybe college, there will be a time that you have a summer break that will include those dates.
But those in other parts of the world, they have a shorter break during that time. For many, it is a winter break that they have for those in the Southern hemisphere. And to have all the campus that we want to be here year in attendance. We saw that that date is the one that's going to work best for us.
And the new campsite said it's a go that is actually the dates that they proposed for us. And that was exactly the dates that we wanted for fall camp. So that is exciting news already. But now you want to hear about the campsite. Where is the campsite? For the last two years we've been in in Pennsylvania, coming 2025 to all your months and get everyone excited about it.
We will be again in Ohio just about an hour here. Southeast from us or southwest from us. From headquarters is the campsite called new Hope. And that is, the hemlock campus. They have two different camp, campuses, the one that we we're going to use, 2025 is the hemlock campus. A couple of us here from headquarters, visited the campsite.
We, got a lot of pictures, and we can report to you. This is going to be a very, very special location. It's located near Perryville, Ohio, and that is within the Mohican State Forest. So you can think about now, when you look outside, it's what the snow outside. But during summer that will be lush and green and beautiful in that specific area.
Mentioned that we drove in just before we came to the to the campsite itself. We, look to your left and saw a big nest and lo and behold, that little white it stood out of the nest. And that was it was a bald eagle. So there's a lot of nature surrounding the actually, most themselves, the campsite itself as a nature retreat or an outdoor, education center.
So there's a lot of education that they do for other campus that come to the campsite to teach about just nature, the, the surrounding, surrounding area. So it's really a beautiful and beautiful site. Now the activities on offer, I can just give you a little bit of a snapshot that you can think about. There is a high ropes course right on the camp site.
I think it's about, around 100 hectares or 100. Excuse me acres. The site itself, if I remember correctly, but they have a I rope schools, they have a climbing wall. They have something that's called a giant swing that, I'm not sure if anyone of you have done it before. They have those four posts, and in the middle you put somebody in a harness, and then they can swing, on that giant swing for probably as long as you want to.
We'll give, anyone a chance to be part of that. So might be a little bit of a shorter time that you have to swing. But certainly we will we will swing on the on the giant swing. There's a pond for fishing and canoeing. The river is just basically almost a walking distance away from us. We'll be able to take our canoes, practice on the pond, take our canoes on the river and go right to the, to the lake close by as well.
There is a Frisbee golf course that they're busy finishing, so I think they have currently three holes. So that's an activity that will be able to do a lot of hiking trails. As I mentioned, there is a waterfall, close by. There's a recreation room. I know, most of you like the recreation room, ping pong table, foosball.
All of those things are there. They said pavilion, this space where we can have a nice bonfire each and, every night, and, all the nights that we will have it and, can just enjoy ourselves, do some stargazing, and enjoy the beauty of that area. So this is a great adventure, not just for you. You're in the room, but ultimately for all the teens.
And you'll remember that I mentioned from the beginning that this is a Bible study, not just for you, the youth, but for the whole church. So I'll get to that right at this point. So hopefully the teens at home that haven't been to camp before are excited too. Already. That I could paint a little bit of a picture in your mind.
You have to see the real pictures and then the real pictures. The one that when you come to camp and experience it. But the second thing that I want to talk about is, as we said, the importance of preparing for, I would say, why do we want to be paid for it now? Let's then do a verse one and go to Proverbs.
Proverbs 24 and we will just read one verse, Proverbs chapter 24, and we will go to verse 27.
Proverbs 24 and verse 27, it says, prepare your work without and make it fit for yourself in the field. And afterwards bolt your house. Now typically this verse is speaking about preparing yourself for your career, preparing yourself for maybe your family, your household as you grow up as a youngster. Do get those things ready in your life. You can apply it in other situations as well.
And tonight we want to apply it to our situation in preparing for camp. Why are we using this verse tonight? We're going to break this verse into three parts that will help us to see our preparation in proper perspective as we begin to think about and preparing for camp 2025, let's make it really relevant for our purpose.
Thinking about camp, we're thinking about camp. Why? Why are we talking about camp? And it's more than six months ahead. As you heard me saying, our goal tonight is to talk about preparing for camp. We just oil our minds a little bit about what camp will be. We'll be like, but we want to prepare also. That is, a big part of it.
And that's why this message is not just for you, the youth that will be there, but for everyone and the whole church. That's why I said all of us should prepare for camp. So let's look at the first part of that first aspect of this verse, and it says, prepare your work without your we can say that would be the youngsters, the youth, those that will attend camp, but also, again, everyone in God's church, everyone is part of that team.
You might have the privilege to go to camp. They will be staff and they will be volunteers. We will have the privilege to be there. But everyone has a role to play to make it a success. The verse says, also prepare your work without. Without what? What is that, word? That means that word means without means outside.
Prepare your work outside. It can also mean a war. Meaning if you think about your house and you have to go to school or college each and every day, you have to get out of your comfort zone each and every day across the fence, so to speak. Go out of the gate of your house and then go into the world where your school is or your colleges.
You have to go and step out of your comfort zone. And that is the first thing that we all should do as we begin to prepare. It takes courage to do that. It takes courage to. Yeah, that I want to be at camp. And you begin to wonder what, what should I do to be part of camp?
That's the first part of preparation. The first step, everyone is to secure a solid foundation that is, you make that decision. Let's go to Ezra seven. You must make a decision first. I want to be there. Let's go to Ezra. Ezra chapter seven, and we will read in verse ten. That's the first part of preparation. You get excited to hear about the campsite.
And now you say, what? What do I need to do to prepare? Here is the first thing that we all need to do to prepare. Very, very simple. Ezra chapter seven and we will read, as they mentioned, verse ten, it says for Ezra. They came out of captivity to rebuild the temple. And Ezra was a priest. And he says, For Ezra I had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
That was his goal. His goal was to teach God's law and to do it and to teach statutes and judgments. But he couldn't do that before we did one thing. It says he prepared his heart. So that is what you, as the youth and every person in God's church must make a decision this evening to be involved, to prepare, to lock in your mind, lock in your heart.
I want to be involved. I want to be there. I want to be part of camp. You might be part of the youth, or you might be even a widow that says, I'm old. I cannot be at camp. This is going to encompass a message for everyone. So for us, the youth, what can you do in this preparation phase?
Just simply determine in your heart that you want to be at camp. There shouldn't be any excuses. Think about the excuses or the fears that you have that you say, I don't want to go out of my house. I don't want to go outside. I don't want to step outside out my comfort zone. I can understand that. I can understand that it's can be difficult for you here in the US.
The youth here in front of me, all those that come from different, states, that is that is a step forward coming out of your comfort zone. But think about those that come from other countries that's never been here, never been in the US. That's a difficult step outside. And I want to encourage those once that want to be here to set aside all the excuses that you might make in your mind.
One might be, I don't have enough funds. That's why we have a team, the whole church in place to help us. It is through fall that that outside my fence, so to speak, to the fence to get outside of my yard is to for that comfort zone. I want I rather want to stay at home.
Everyone it's going to be worthwhile and you can think about the danger in front of me. Other teens talk to talk to other teens that's been in camp and ask them the wonderful benefits that they receive, the fears that they might have had that they had to overcome. And then if they had the first camp and came back home, all the stories that they tell, they will tell you that those fears, the fears, disappear once you make the decision to be there.
So that is the first thing that we as the youth can do. You know that my family and I had the privilege to be in, in Belgium this year for the feast, and when I spoke, gave a message that I gave last year. And it's about, the relationship between the old and the young, the youth. I could see there were sparkling eyes in the audience of youngsters that haven't been at the feast or the camp before, and they were going excited about hearing about the relationship between young and old, those when we talked about them, they said, we want to be at camp.
I know that they are. They speak, the king's English. Those coming from the UK, other parts of Europe. They want to be there, these youngsters that want to be. Then I want to encourage them and their parents. This is the next one is for the parents. What can you do? Set your heart to support your children when they come to you and say, I want to be at camp, support them every step of the way.
If they have excuses, work through those to help them. If they have fears, we have enough time to begin to prepare. Set their heart. Now. There's enough time ahead of us. We know God's kingdom is going to come, but we continue to plan. If we are given a couple of days to prepare. If we are given this message tonight to prepare, let's use that to set your hearts and get our hearts ready.
What can the ministry do? That's for parents. That's for the youth. What about the ministry? I want to encourage the ministry that's listening to this message to encourage those that want to be at get to make sure that they apply, and those that you also think that should be at camp, but they might be a little bit shy to come forward and tell you that, or tell their parents that they want to be there.
You know that. Approach them and say, I think you will do well at camp. No, miss the sense. So all they can say. You really think that I will do well at camp. I'm not too small or too slow or I cannot speak well, you know, encourage them to come, come to camp. And then the other one is the brethren.
That's another audience that I can mention. What in this first phase that we talk about tonight, what will be the message for you to set your heart? One of the things you brethren can do is to pray. Pray about the planning. There's a lot of planning, as I mentioned, looking at those that went before me, a blind observation one on one 101, so to speak, of observing what they've done and being involved in certain levels, in the background in the past.
I know what it involves to prepare and plan for a camp. So pray, pray for the success of the camp. Pray for everything that that you will do and the teens will do. The youth will do as well. Brethren, you might not be able to attend, but this is in your preparation phase. This is one thing that we can do.
We can say everyone can take ownership of the camp. This is our camp. It's not just the youth camp. We are all going to do our part. We are a team. We are going to work together. Now, this section, this part of planning, preparation, setting that foundation to make the decision to step out. If you pack this phase, the more you pack this phase, this planning and preparation phase with ideas.
I want to do this at camp. I want to experience that desires or plans or your excitement. The more difficult the second phase is going to be, but the more worthwhile. So you have to go and you have to lock your heart, set your heart. If there's challenges, that's going to come. If you set your heart right, then those challenges, you will, those obstacles you will.
They will not be setbacks. You will jump over them, over those hurdles.
It takes people who are willing to support you to make this camp work. Your parents, the ministry and the whole the whole church, all the effort, everyone for everyone will be worthwhile to partake in in camp the next you. I said, there are three parts, three aspects of this verse. Let's look at the next one.
The second one it says if you read and recall the verse, it says make effort for yourself in the field. Make fit for yourself in the field. This is the preparation phase where we jump into action. You made the decision. You set your heart. The now you're going to go outside. Those fears are out of the way, so to speak.
Make fit for yourself. If you do that in the context of preparing for your family, you go and make plans to go and study or work on your career. That is the action that you're taking. But to make it relevant for us here, speaking about camp and preparing for camp, it means for us to be productive through preparation.
This is we made that decision, but now we jump to action. Let's go to Ecclesiastes, another verse that will help us tonight to do that. The second part here, Ecclesiastes nine, verse ten.
Be productive. That's the action part of our preparation for camp.
Ecclesiastes nine and we will read verse ten. It says, whatsoever you hot hand finds to do, do it with your might. Your hand will find only what you do. What you said in your heart to do. Your hand will find to do it. Then do it with all your might. For there is no work nor device, no knowledge nor wisdom.
In the grave where you go. We know all of us. If you take this verse to the end literally, we know all of us. If you're young or old, we are all going to go to the grave. And we hope for most of us, a life in God's church, that God's kingdom will come before that we are old enough to go into the grave.
So for you as the youth, you don't think about the grave now, but think about camp being far away. You want to be at camp, but it's a long ways ahead. What do you need to do? You must do what you have your hand finds to do, right? You right now. So what? What can you do? As the youth and parents specifically for those that want to come for the first time, you say, and you go to Mom and Dad, I want to be at camp.
And then you have to realize, wait a minute. A lot of us, we want to have an international camp. There might be a challenge with documentation. What do I need? Do you have a passport? Yes, I have, but. But it might be outdated. We think about all the things that happened during Covid and we couldn't bring campers here.
They might. You might be. You might have a passport, but it might expire or have expired or think about a visa. I'm speaking about those that will travel often. Are your documentation in place? That's something that you need to do right, right way before you can come to the camp. You don't want to do that just a month or two before camp.
I'm excited. I have all the funds that I need. I have time off at school, and then you realize. But what about your documentation? These things we want to. Everyone help the teens speak to your minister. Speak to mom and dad. That you make sure that your documentation is in place for others. When the AEC applications open up, what do you need to do?
Jump on it. Jump on that opportunity to say, I want to be. I want to be at camp. We want to make sure that we have as many campers this year that you you're in the room and those that hear this message that you can make friends that you can. I have more friends when you go back home.
I know you go and you speak to each other for weeks on end and share messages and photos and look at this and what we've done. And can you remember this or that? That is those are special, special memories to share. Jump on that opportunity. Once the applications, open up, keep your eye on the announcement bulletin in the weeks to come that you will hear.
Now you can begin to apply for full camp, the race of the church, parents in the ministry in the brethren. What can you do? This is, as I mentioned, that action part that we are all and should all be involved with. What can you do? What should you do? If the campus in your congregation are excited, you will be excited.
Maybe you don't have a camper in your congregation, but you hear about the campers that are excited to come to camp. This is for everyone. What can you do? What should you do? Everyone. The single factor that everyone can do from you as the youth that want to be at camp, what you should do and we all should think about and prepare and have plans in your mind.
As I said, all the ideas and the desires and the excitement that we have, the plans these this is the time. This is the phase where we begin to put those into action. That is all of what we need to do. Passports, documents, renting vans, getting the, the campsite, getting you to the campsite, bringing campers from Australia, Peru or South America, in in Mexico or in, in, in the UK or Europe, Africa, South Africa, Niger, from wherever you want to come to get you, you is going to take fonts.
That's just how this will work. You cannot go to, to an airport and say, I want one ticket, for international flight and you give them a packet of bubble gum. That's not going to that's not going to do the job. I can remember now when I was I might have said it to you or some people before I was a youngster, small boy I could barely see on top of a counter.
And, there was a Greek, a Greek in South Africa, usually in the corner of, of, you know, a little strip mall that you have this vegetable, fruit and veg shop. And I, my mom, I think she from the youth, a young age, I always love fruit. I still eat fruit. I have to have my apple each and every day.
But I wanted to have an orange. So my grandma gave me $0.10 and I could barely look on top of the counter. And I just put my orange and I put my $0.10 on top of the orange. I knew I had to pay full for that orange that man couldn't give. Give that orange for me for free.
So I need to give money to get that orange that I really, really wanted. So for you, everyone, to be at camp, we have to do fundraising. We have to come together as a unit, as a team of God's people, to do fundraising and a new challenge that we are having a new drive that we are going to introduce.
Nothing new about fundraising in God's church. As I said, many, many came before us. We are just continuing with the torch, so to speak, and we are calling this the 5050 challenge. What does that mean? The 5050 challenge? That simply means 50% of the effort that we put into fundraising should go to Ambassador Youth Camp. I said not 50% of the funds, 50% of our effort.
The rest of our effort should go for the funds for the work. That actually means we put our whole effort in. If we fundraise for the work or we fundraise for camp, we do it wholeheartedly. Again, we set our mind. We set your heart to do that. It's a 5050 challenge to, oh, 50%. When you do fundraising in a congregation.
Think about it. I want to have campus at camp. I'm going to use the funds that I give us a widow, a couple of dollars that I can give for camp. This is going to make a campus smile, that is going to bring a camper joy. And that joy from the camper will bring her the widow or the widower or that member.
That's, John Doe there in a congregation, a single congregation that also paged through the the Ambassador Youth Post camp edition, the next one that will come out and they say, I helped so-and-so to get to camp. I made that smile possible. I made that activity possible. So our whole heart, our whole effort should be into fundraising.
That is our preparation to make it fit for yourself. What is our situation? We want to be at camp. Make it work for yourself. What are the things that you need to do to get to camp to fit your situation? Each parent know each congregation. Know what they need to do the ministry. Know what they need to do in that specific congregation to make it fit, to make it work, to make it productive for us to be at camp and to have as many campus at camp as possible.
Now, the third thing is to go back to the verse. It said, the verse starts with prepare. You have to prepare yourself this one. It says lastly and afterwards build your house. Now build them means to establish. So this, this third phase, the first one was for us to establish a foundation, to sit, sit their heart. The second one was to, to prepare action, to, to take action.
The third one here the word means establish. And we can say establish through forward thinking. We are not at camp yet, but when you begin to become excited to welcome you begin to build those castles in your mind, those things that you want to experience, that that friend that you want to meet, that activity that you want to be, to be part of.
We have to do first step one and step two before we can get and successfully complete step three. To really have a successful camp, we have to do the first steps successfully before we can enjoy the fruits of camp. And that's what the third point means. If you again go back to your life as an individual as a youngster, if you go outside, step outside, step out of your comfort zone and you say, I want to do this with my life, and you begin to prepare yourself, you put yourself, put yourself out there each and every day and work hard to become somebody in your in your, at your workplace, your employment, the
career that you're following. Ultimately this verse says, then afterwards, build your house, afterwards work on your family and expanding your help. Your household, expanding the things that you enjoy. So work first, and then later on you reap the fruits and you can enjoy the fruits that you will receive. That same pattern will work for us.
Then that same principle will apply for us afterwards. After camp is finished, after we have done these first two steps, then we will enjoy the fruits of it. Now some of you have gone through camp before you know the fruits of it. You have tasted the fruits of it before. But as I mentioned, there are campus and they might be volunteers.
They might be some of you that want to be staff. You're not camp anymore, but you want to volunteer or you want to be part of the camp staff. There are opportunities for you as well out there that if you do these things, that you can also be part of it. Then you will also be the fruit and enjoy the camp that is ahead of us.
Up to this point, we only covered that we should prepare for camp and how we can prepare for camp, but we haven't touched on why yet. That's what we want to cover here at the end, to leave you with, to help you to set your mind, set your heart and to help us all to prepare. This is the sweet part of the three steps of preparation.
Remember, we're talking just about preparation. This evening. That's all that we prepare, talking about preparing for us all. Now we have to begin. Now. This is the sweet part. Now, if anyone asks you, I'm going to ask you tonight. You don't have to raise your hand, but I'm sure you're going to fall. Your mind is going to fall, and your answer is going to fall in one of these categories, at least.
What is your favorite part of camp? What is that thing that if you've been at camp before, that will bring you back to camp? When I know when that calendar is, maybe you're not thinking about camp six months ahead or seven months ahead, but once it becomes five months and four months, there are certain things that's almost like a magnet that begins to draw you to camp.
As I mentioned, I've not I've been at several camps before, not directly involved in the way that I'm going to be now, but, you can see through observation what are the things that make teens in the youth excited about it? You would not become? I would not be able to start this message with you that matured from teens.
Yes, you mature physically like a little puppy or a little kitten. They just naturally mature. They just you feed them, you give them water and you give them food and they will grow up. Human beings are different. Human beings had that element where you also mature, you can grow up without becoming mature. But when I look at the teens and the youth in God's church, I see mature young people that grew up and all that is from mom and dad that's been teaching you and guiding you and helping you.
But it's also being in God's church and being part of camp. Throughout the years, the experiences that you had, those favorite things that you've done that help you not even thinking about it necessarily, that made you mature to become the mature youth that you are today. That I could start this message with. So what is your favorite part of camp?
As I as I ask that question, some of you would say the activities I'm there for the for the activities I want to be part of the communications, the, the team building, things that we do that those that, that those puzzles do to, think on my feet do have, a way to figure out a problem, to solve a problem, problem solving, communicate with others, team building.
That's my thing. I like to do that. Wonderful. There will be activities like that all music, singing, dancing. Think about, dinner, dance at camp. Then you go to the feast and the, the, the skills that you've learned at dinner, dance or we have the spring dinner dance here at the headquarters as well, where you can go on the dance floor and you can enjoy yourself.
Why? Because somebody taught you to dance at gap. That's an activity that you might say, I love to do that activity. I want to be back at camp to do that. I'm not the best dancer yet. I can only do that one dance. Maybe it's the waltz and you cannot do anything else. Or you can just, dance without a partner and you feel maybe a little bit shy.
The boys to ask. Ask a girl to dance. I want to overcome that fear. Camp is going to be that place. Where are you going to learn that? And if you come next year and the year after that, speaking about those that attended the couple of camps before, those are the things, little things that help you to become the mature individual that you on.
If you think about it, for those that been here, what did it take? It take took a lot of work and a lot of effort, but you can see afterwards, afterwards you see that result. Do you see that fruit in your life? And you have both a small piece of your character into you. But when you look back and see how many people it involved, how much effort elements, funds it took just for you to fundraise and to come up with the funds to be at camp to pay your fee, your ticket, so to speak, to your application, to be at camp.
Those took a lot of effort, but we are just talking about the activities those help you to do the things that I just mentioned. It will be an adventure. You think about that adventure. It made me excited just to see the Bald eagle. I have, a screensaver on my screen for many years. I don't want to take it off of a, an African fish eagle.
It always reminds me about, a couple of fish eagles that I followed where we lived. I mentioned that before as well. It always remind me about that. And I have that good memories when I think about it. Speaking about memory, some of you would say all the memories that you built or have about camp, those good memories.
That is why I want to be back at camp. That is the favorite part of camp is to have those memories. We could say, and you, somebody can ask you about what? What is life about? Life is about making memories. All the things that you are doing, the activities that you have at camp. It might be a good memory or you're at on the campus and speaking about the teens here or the teens in congregations, the feast that you have, the socials that you have with your minister, or the outings that you have with your family, your mom and dad going to the dinner.
Some of them might be good memories. Other ones maybe. You think about the spankings that you receive as a youngster. At that point, it might have not been good memories, but as you grow older, you become thankful for those activities, so to speak. The good ones and the bad ones. But that's what your life is about. You, your mind begin to forget certain things.
You know, as many people mentioned, when somebody when somebody dies, often people will just forget about the bad things that they have done or the weaknesses that they have. You remember for who they were, the memories that you had with them and the things that you've done together. Those are the things that life is about. And camp is going to be part of that.
To build memories. Another thing is, part of that memories is they are not on your own. They were not alone. That's why I mentioned this is not just a memory or a camp for us as those that will be there, but for everyone. The memories that those will have that made it possible for you to be at camp.
Maybe not those active memories, maybe. But they will have them remembering what I've done to make sure that so-and-so can be at camp. And that brings me then, to the third thing about your favorites is relationships. As I said, we are not alone. The relationships that you've built. That person that said, here I give you X amount of dollars to be at camp.
I have done that. I've fundraised. You know, that person worked hard. They've sell, sold this or that or they were creative in this area and they made it possible that raised $50 or $100. My congregation said we raised X amount of dollars for you to be at camp. That is, in a way, a relationship that starts with an individual, all your congregation.
Think about the relationships that you've built at camp with the director and his and his wife, or with the counselors or the staff or the even the camp, the staff at camp. That's not part of the church. People that help you to do the higher ups course or you build a relationship that's part of the memories that you had and the relationships that you established.
This point is, as I said, established through forward thinking, that memories that you have, just some of you don't have it. You will have it after your first camp. Some of you are thinking about it. It's already established in your mind. Think about, think forward, think ahead. Think about the fruits that you will have, the enjoyment, the benefits that you will reap.
As God's Church. That's all these things make you the ambassador youth that you all. This is the Ambassador Youth camp. You don't go out and set yourself to become a representative. That's what ambassadors mean. You're a representative. You don't go and set yourself and say, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z to become a representative of Jesus Christ.
As a youngster. You do these things that we have been talking about tonight, and then you will develop to become that ambassador. The activities that you are involved, the fundraising that you're involved with, the relationships that you are building, the memories that you made, all of those things will shape you to become ultimately the ambassador that Christ wants you to be.
So you don't actively think about necessarily how many of you get up in the morning and say, I'm going to go to school to be an ambassador? No, you do your schoolwork, you go to the feast and you come back and you, you work hard to catch up with your work and, and do the exams that you must.
And then your teachers say, wait a minute, this child is different that make you an ambassador of Jesus Christ without even using the word you. All things have been maturing over many years to become the ambassadors that you that you are, and we are just going to take that torch forward to help you to continue to do that.
That point is, is limitless. You never can say, I, I'm finished growing you. As I said, if God gives us one month, let's prepare ourselves and be ready in that month. If he gives us a year, if he gives us to get to camp, we hope we don't get there. But if we get there, then we want to be ready from day one.
What are the things for the rest of the church that they can look forward to? I mentioned the things that you can look forward to, but one are, in the short term. I mentioned a little bit the joy to see a camper in a congregation to grow. That's in the short term, brethren that you will enjoy, that will make you smile.
The pictures that the teens and the stories that they come back with, that you share with your congregation at Sabbath or with your parents or with your friends, or going back to that person that helped you to raise the funds and say thank you, that small. I've done that and that. And I was thinking about you, that you made it possible.
That is the short term benefit for everyone, particularly as we think about the church as a whole, long term, we can see growing, confident, mature, trained young leaders for the work on every level, we think about God's kingdom that's going to come and God is going to cut this side of the kingdom at one point short. But who will you be going into God's kingdom?
How will he be able to use you if time goes on? You might become useful for the training. A lot of people in the past got used in God's work because of the leadership skills that they've built. Maybe not in God's church, but in other areas of life where they became successful individuals. From the training that they received at Camp and God's Church, you are taking as a team to make sure that we have leaders, future leaders that ultimately is going to rule the world.
We think and look at the leaders outside in the world and we might say, I, I would want to do this and that different. You are those leaders that are growing up to become those. You will be the ones that make those changes and that influence others again around you to become like you. So don't see yourself. As we prepare for camp.
In a nutshell, in seven months, it's ahead of us. See the big picture that we have in front of us? See this as an opportunity for the whole church that will inspire us all. We should all be inspired and be excited. I purposefully left exciting notes in in my office. I didn't print them jokingly, I didn't print them.
They are here. But if they were not here, I would have been able to recite them out of my head because I am excited about the exciting news to share it to you become excited everyone that's sitting in front of me, but also you at home brethren, ministers and parents about the camp that is just ahead of us.
This is going to be not just your camp. Everyone. Youth, youngsters. I again think about all of those faces that I want to see. That said, I want to be at camp and they think about that potential of those youngsters that will be able to be here or volunteers that will be here. But it's not just the youth camp, it's the church's camp.
It's for you to grow and develop you. But it is it is a camp for the whole church. Let's everyone prepare now. Let's make that decision this evening to set our hearts, just as Israel said, is hard. As a priest, he had a goal to fulfill. He had a purpose, but he could not do that without sitting.
You saw making that decision to go outside of your comfort zone, go outside, lock your heart, lock in your mind. Just make that decision. If you make the decision, the rest is going to follow. The actions going to be may be difficult. The fundraising that we are going to do, all the work that we need to do, the forms that you need to fill out, or maybe you miss a couple of days of school and you think about, oh, I, how am I going to do that to catch up?
All those things are the difficult parts that we need to do. Our actions by making sure we get everything physically ready. We sit there hard, we sit there, man. That's the spiritual part that we do the bread and pray for you getting ready. And then we have to go and do and get those documents ready. We will do our part here from headquarters, there's a team of people that's going to be in place that will help you to be ready.
We will do our part, brethren, you have your part to play with, raising funds for the youth. Keep your eye on the fundraising page for ideas. Speak to your Minister of Things that you can do to make sure that we have the funds needed to bring everything back to camp, because this is going to be truly, again, international camp.
If we do that, we will reap the fruits of a wonderful camp. Rather than let us all go and prepare, and when the time comes, we will all be ready. Good night.
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