Something remarkable happened at the recent Young Adult Camp at Hartland Christian Camp in California. I was privileged to proclaim the Word six times over four days under the theme “Self-less Living” to 115 young adults from 18 to 28 years old. There were about 6-7 churches represented there, along with their Young Adult Pastors.
We dug deep into the gospel on Friday night by examining the various “Angles of the Cross.” We saw the “Utter Sinfulness of Sin” on Saturday morning when we walked through Isaiah 59. Saturday night, we breathed a sigh of relief as we saw the gospel of grace abound over our sin in Romans 3:21-26. Then, on Sunday morning, we sent off the majority of our campers with the challenge to be wholly given over in their Christian lives to Christ by expositing Romans 12:1: “Therefore brethren, in light of God’s mercies, I urge you to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Then something special happened. Most of the young adults had to leave on Sunday afternoon, leaving about 20 left. In light of our smaller group, the camp director decided to turn the chapel into a living room! They rearranged the couches, chairs, end tables, etc., into a cozy circle, which allowed us all to interact with the last two messages from the Word. I had initially planned on bringing parts one and two of “The Gospel Roadmap,” but after talking with the camp director and the Young Adult pastor, we decided to continue on in Romans 12:2. Sunday night, we had a highly interactive message on “Do not be conformed to this world.” People had great questions, comments, and illustrations that helped young people grasp the challenging and convicting Scriptures.
The camp director had never experienced anything like that during a camp in about 25 years. The Holy Spirit was moving, and people were being impacted by the truth. Our last session on Monday morning was more of the same, praise God. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for the camp; the Lord mightily answered those prayers in the affirmative.
Here’s a 5-minute recap that Hartland put together.
Please pray that the Lord will open a door for a full-on Witnessing Training Camp at Hartland in the future. I discussed the idea with the camp director, and he’s excited to explore it in 2025. Thanks for praying!
