Dear praying friends,
Thank you so much for standing with us as our prayer covering during our summer camp. It was beautiful and we are grateful for your support.
This year’s camp was another very blessed and successful undertaking.
Though the threat of Iranian attack reduced the number of campers to 42, it’s very likely those 42 left the camp forever changed.
For at this camp, they learned how to escape the torment and prison of unforgiveness.
Praise Reports
Orna Grinman https://ornagrinman.com/ and team prepared a visual, theatrical and hands-on teaching on forgiveness, focussing on the parable of the unforgiving servant (Mt. 18) and the verses from Rev. 3:19-20 which tell us that the Lord rebukes and disciplines those he loves – the Hebrew word being more like “torment”.
In very creative ways, the kids saw how thorns can enter our hearts when offense comes.
- Emotion-thorns like rage, humiliation or self-incrimination.
- Thought-thorns like: Authorities are cruel. I always freeze when attacked. I’ll never change.
- They saw how these thorns create a prison around us if they remain un-dealt with.
- They saw how not forgiving grants the Father his legal right to demand payment for our own sins, which he can compile in a long list whenever He chooses.
- They heard Yeshua cry out for our freedom because his sacrifice already paid our debt in full.
- They saw how forgiveness is a choice, and we can simply refuse to choose it.
- They saw the tormentor circling the one who refuses, piling on abuse, insult and misfortune.
- Finally they saw grace overcome the lies. They saw forgiveness pronounced and the prison walls fall away to freedom.
The kids learned to gauge forgiveness by answering this question: Can I bless those who wounded me to never, ever experience the same wound themselves? More than once the kids showed how well they understood these concepts by reframing them in their group skits. One such skit was so effective, Orna used it in her next morning’s teaching. Counselors reported that the kids grappled very honestly with the difficulties of truly forgiving through the week.
Then on the last night of camp, the kids spent 20 minutes alone in the desert with a paper on which they had written a wound needing forgiveness. After inviting Yeshua in and identifying their thorns, they were to move through the steps of forgiveness. When they regathered at a bonfire built nearby, many tossed their papers into the fire, symbolizing the freedom gained from forgiving. We then had a beautiful time of worship by firelight under the desert stars.
Besides the effective teaching, the worship times led by Doung Koo and his international team were anointed and wonderful. The prayer team gelled quickly and prayed over the special troubles some campers experienced, as well as offering individual prayer sessions for all leaders who so desired. Our camp nurse rejoiced over no serious injuries whatsoever. Closing logistics flowed smoothly, and the counselors showed a burst of joyful energy at camp’s end, forming a large circle and singing: Im Elohim Itanu… If God is for us, who can be against us?
Last but certainly not least, when Marianna made the invitation, 13 kids came forward to ask Yeshua to be Lord and King of their lives!
Father, protect and grow all these campers to be strong in Your Power and Might – these whom you are raising up as a voice in the desert crying out: Prepare the way for the Lord!
