Scotland Team 2010

Awakening -- Days 3 Recap

2010-07-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Day two went great. The ropes course was open to campers and counselors.

Many students overcame their fear of heights.

Then there was archery.
The evening activity was Christmas in July. There were stockings hanging on the wall
games

Christmas carol contest between girl and boy campers

...and good times had by all.

Awakening -- Day 2

2010-07-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Monday started of with quiet times, Kristin sharing her testimony, small groups and then....GAMES!

The teams dressed in their appropriate colours. (It's not Mardi Gras ladies!) Amy went subtle. Janet went Elton John!

It rained hard all day, but somehow we managed to find five minutes to take a team photo. Elizabeth took the picture and will be photoshopped in later -- probably standing on top of that out-building behind David.

After the photo, the campers headed to their Impact Groups, where they played sports, painted, learned more about music and drama, and new ways to engage the Lord during their quiet times. Some of the girls participated in Beauty 101 and learned more about true beauty and how the Lord views them. After the Impact Groups, the campers enjoyed some free time and the Tuck Shop (where they had one pound to spend on some sweets and drinks). After dinner, the evening activity was "Opening Night" where the campers and counselors dressed up as their favorite movie character. Minnie and Mickey Mouse made an appearance. Awards were given to the best costumes and best male/female dancer.

Brandon and Jason were our DJ's.

Matt showed us his true colours in his Matt Damon costume. Matt calls this move: Invictus!

Strike a pose.
Strike a pose again.
After the dance, we switched gears and prepared our hearts for worship and to hear Ernie's next talk. Justin, Alex, Camille, Amelia T. and Brandon led us in worship.

Ernie shared a great message about John 18 and called the students into the greater things of the Lord. People received Jesus into their lives and were filled with the Holy Spirit. We also had one youth experience healing for her back.

We look forward to posting more from this week! Thanks so much for your prayers. Please keep praying for us and watch the livestream each day at 5:00 am EDT and Tuesday night's session starts at 3:00 pm EDT. For the livestream, click the link on the top of the blog.

Photos from Awakening -- Day 1

2010-07-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

Before you can run the Assault Course, you have to prepare the Assault Course. In our first shot, we see Anna Kate doing just that and demonstrating that, indeed, everything is better with chocolate ... sauce ... on a tarp.

Amelia tries to find a place to hide. Silly Amelia. There's no hiding on the Assault Course.

One of the campers attacks the foot bridge that Amelia was hiding under.

The Kidney Beans team fires up the rope wall -- dodging water balloons on the way! The vuvuzela was meant to inspire. I think it did more to distract and disorient.

What you can't hear in this photo, is the camper's feet squishing on the wet grass -- or his high-pitched screams as he avoids the barrage of water balloons!

Sweet victory! Well, the chocolate sauce was sweet. As was the ketchup.

Jason thought she needed a hug.

The Navy Beans team posing for the camera after their run through the course. They seem satisfied. And in need of a shower!

Matt contemplates where he lost time on the course. The chocolate mohawk did make him more aerodynamic, but he feels he could have been more efficient. Always the engineer. (For those of you reading this in Georgia, when not leading his Garbanzo Beans team through the gauntlet, this man is tasked with helping ensure that Georgia's bridges are safe. We can all sleep soundly knowing that, right?)

Awakening -- Day 1

2010-07-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

After months of preparation, the big day has finally arrived. We have 26 students at camp this year, and we are confident that every one of them is here for a reason. After greeting the youth and their parents at registration, we spent some time hanging out with them, getting acquainted with each other. Most of the team is new this year, so they enjoyed getting to know their soon-to-be Scottish friends, and the students seemed to enjoy getting to know a new batch of Americans. More southern accents to make fun of!

After everyone arrived and got settled in, we gathered them together to share the all-important camp rules. You can't have a church camp without reminding students not to drink, smoke or take their friends' prescription drugs. But as we said, it's not about denying them; it's about helping them leave behind things that prevent them from encountering the Lord and hearing what He has to say to them this week.

After the initial meeting, we had a fire drill to ensure the kids knew where to go in the event there was an emergency that required such an evacuation. We were efficient in our execution. We had 2 people with clipboards checking off names -- verifying the safety of everyone on site. It was a maneuver of precision -- something a Swiss clockmaker would've marveled at.

Then it was time for dinner. We were treated to an American dinner of hot dogs and chips or "crisps" as they say here. The varieties of crisps are rather interesting. Worcestershire and Prawn Cocktail are just two of the more notable "flavors" from which we had to choose. When in Rome, right?

After dinner, we settled in for some worship and a great message from Ernie Wagoner III. Ernie shared his testimony and encouraged the students to put aside the inadequate substitutes on which we rely to provide our sense of worth or our identity. He reminded us that Jesus doesn't call us to put aside those things that don't sustain to leave us with nothing. He calls us into a relationship with Him -- a life of abundance and excitement and joy. As Ernie said, we think that Jesus is boring, but it's not Him who's boring. We're the boring ones. Jesus is anything but boring. It was a great start to the week.

We are excited to hear what else the Lord has for Ernie to share with us -- as well as what Kristin and Elizabeth will share throughout the mornings this week.

We will post more tomorrow about Sunday night's activity: The Assault Course. The pictures will amaze and astound. You will thank us that they are not scratch-n-sniff!

The morning messages are at 10:00 a.m. local time or 5:00 a.m. EDT. Monday night's evening service will be at 8:00 p.m. local time and 3:00 p.m. EDT. You can watch them at the top of this blog if you like. Thanks for looking in and for praying for everything that the Lord has done here and will do for the remainder of the week and beyond.

Day 2- Exploring Glasgow

2010-07-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

Bill in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. Kristin dressed for Toronto in February. She's wearing long johns. No seriously. Long johns!

Our first day- camp set up

2010-07-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Sleep, Sightseeing, and Some Worship

2010-07-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

After a well-earned long night's sleep, we started Day 2.5 with some breakfast. Every day should start with a hearty breakfast. We went with flakes of bran or corn and/or rice krispies. Some went a little Scottish with some buttered toast and jam while throwing in a banana or orange for good measure. One of our leaders, Kristin, brought a French Press to sustain her coffee habit. And she was kind enough to share her stash of Daily Grind coffee with the rest of us too. The first shall be last and the last shall be first, but Kristin gets the first cup of joe. It's her French press people. So back off!

We packed our lunch for the day and headed out to explore the fine city of Glasgow. We started at the Glasgow Cathedral. Many used the opportunity to purchase post cards to send home -- perhaps to some of you reading this very post.

From the cathedral, we ventured to the City Centre where we dispersed to explore the shops. Between the cathedral and the shopping, the team experienced the finest in Scottish weather. Clouds, drizzle, wind, sunshine, more clouds, more drizzle, more sunshine, wind, more drizzle, sunshine, more clouds, wind, sunshine, rinse, repeat. Many doubted the claim that the weather changes about 50 times throughout the day until they were able to experience it first hand. Most hadn't appreciated the hood of a jacket as much as they did today.

On our walk through the shopping area today, we were treated to a Highland drumline of sorts. Incredible street performers. Here's just a glimpse:

After completing the shopping portion of our day, we headed to the Kelvingrove Museum. Man that was a site to see -- from the outside anyway. Turned out that the museum was closed due to a work stoppage. That's right. Museum workers protesting the harsh conditions in the museums. Where's Charles Dickens to write of the atrocities in the museums when you need him? "They make us stand near art ... ALL DAY! It's just not right!" Please.

Undaunted, we loaded back into the vans to see the Burrell Collection -- a story about a shipping magnate and his uncanny ability to acquire art and artifacts from around the globe and then bequeath it to his countrymen for posterity. Walking about the halls, admiring the varied pieces, it kind of made you stop and think -- like this guy:

(Too much?)

Anyway, after the museum, it was time for dinner at our tour guide's favorite restaurant in

Glasgow -- Cafe Salma. Harry and his wife, Anne, eat at this restaurant every Friday night. It was a hearty meal of Indian cuisine for everyone. If you're ever in Glasgow, the team highly recommends the chicken tikka garam marsala. Tell them Harry sent you!

After dinner, we returned to Lapwing for a pre-camp worship service with our friends from the Potter's House Church. It was great to worship together in preparation for the week ahead. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to move this week in the lives of the students who will be here this week -- students that we know the Lord has here for a reason. There were two sets of verses that were shared during the worship:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. 3 John 1:4-8

and

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you." John 16:12-15

Our response was: "We say 'yes' to your Spirit!"

Camp kicks off tomorrow. We are excited for the culmination of all of our preparations. But we do not want this to be "our" camp. We want this to be His camp. His camp that awakens a new generation of believers that will share the reality of Christ with the nation of Scotland for years to come.

Day 1.5

2010-07-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived this morning at 7:00-ish a.m. local time in Glasgow. Our bodies still felt like it was 2:00 a.m. or worse depending on how little we slept. When we arrived, we proceeded like sheep to the UK Border Agents. This is always an interesting process because it's a little like playing roulette. If you get the right agent, there's some brief chit-chat and the SHRUMP ... SHRUMP of approval as the agent stamps your passport for entry. But as we all know, the roulette ball doesn't always land on the number you want. Six of our group spun that roulette wheel this morning.

We didn't need visas to enter the country for this trip, but we did secure letters from the church with which we're working to explain what we were doing, that we had raised our own financial support for the duration of our trip and that we were definitely leaving on a fixed date some 11 days after our arrival to return to the colonies. The letter should've answered the questions for the border agent regarding our intent and the absence of any potential threat posed by our groggy crew. Always vigilant ... or just bored ... the agent took a skeptical view of the church sponsoring us for this journey and asked them to wait in the chairs in front of everyone else waiting in line. (Kind of like being sent out of class to sit in the hallway while the kids in another class march by to go to lunch. Half are giggling at your obvious inability to convince a government employee of your harmlessness and the other half looking on anxiously thinking "what do I have to say not to meet that guy's fate?") After making them wait for about 10 minutes, the agent -- having confirmed that the church indeed was a registered charity -- emerged from the back room and passed the "Glasgow 6" through.

We then proceeded to baggage claim where we were happy to find all of our luggage and the supply bins riding the belts awaiting us. One bag looked like it'd hung onto the landing gear the whole ride and helped brake the plane upon landing. But it was there with everything else.

One of our team did have a bit of a rough night on the flight. Revisiting her in-flight meal at one point. But with some great care from a nurse on our team, she made it through the flight and has been improving throughout the day.

After arriving at camp this morning, we fought the urge to sleep by setting up various aspects of camp in preparation for the students' arrival. We enjoyed a great lunch prepared by some women at the Potter's House Church and then ventured into Paisley to exchange money and visit ASDA to get some camp supplies. We returned home to another meal for dinner prepared by a woman from the church. Two hearty meals and a nice shower made the rest of the day go a lot easier.

Tomorrow is a day of sightseeing in Glasgow before a dinner out at one of our host's favorite restaurants and then a night of worship in preparation for camp with our friends from Potter's House.

It's been a long day, but we should all sleep like babies tonight. (The kind of babies who sleep through the night and have to be woken in the morning. Not the kind that have their sleep cycles destroyed by a seven-hour overnight flight and share their displeasure with a plane full of people.)

Pictures to follow later (uploading issues -- too tired to troubleshoot -- must sleep -- good ni......)

The Journey Has Begun

2010-07-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

We are sitting in the Philadelphia airport waiting for leg two of our trip to Scotland. Leg one went well -- which means everyone was on the flight and no one needed to use their air sickness bag. It's the little victories.

For everyone who is following us on the blog, we wanted to share our prayer needs and foci (yea, I took Latin in high school).

Dear Friends & Family,

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for our team and youth camp in Scotland! God has done a lot to prepare us and we are expectant that He has GREAT things in store!

Some things to know:

-camp begins 18 July and ends 23 July

-to see what's happening on a daily basis and throughout our trip, please visit our blog: www.scotlandteam2010.blogspot.com.

-we will be live streaming from Scotland (pretty cool, huh?) and we will give information on the blog as to how to access the live feed. (we are five hours ahead of Atlanta)

-Scotland has a RICH history of revival. Currently most of Scotland is very dark spiritually, but over the last 10 or so years there have been MANY words and visions about revival breaking out.

-our theme is "Awakening" and our prayer is that the youth of Scotland would be awakened and revival would come!

Ways to pray for us:

-safe travel and great favor as we move our entire team through passport control in Glasgow

-that the 28+ campers coming would encounter Jesus and grow in love for Him

-unity among our U.S. team and unity with the Scottish counselors

-protection from sickness, injury, spiritual attacks

-that the Holy Spirit would fill the camp at Lapwing Lodge

-specifically for Justin leading worship and Ernie preaching

-Kristin/Elizabeth will be teaching in the mornings

-there are lots of small group times. Please pray God would anoint our team's time with the kids -- not just during those times, but during meals, and all aspects of camp

-wisdom and revelation for everyone at camp (Ephesians 1:17)

Thank you so very much for your prayers! We truly depend on them.

Car Wash Was a Success!

2010-04-20T04:30:00.001-07:00

In an effort to raise some money for the costs of this year's trip, the team got together early last Saturday morning to provide "free" car washes. Cars trickled in initially, but the team endured a three-hour stretch of non-stop washes in the middle of the day. We set up at the Chick-Fil-A at the corner of Barrett Parkway and Dallas Highway, and the manager was incredibly generous with his store's water and with some coupons for free chicken biscuits and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches to hand out to people who supported our efforts. We were blessed by the generosity of those who came through the line offering donations for the team in exchange for their free car wash. At the end of the day, the manager of the store was impressed with our organization and the total we were able to raise. He also seemed appreciative for the number of people we were able to steer inside his business throughout the day. Many went inside to grab some food while their vehicle was being de-pollenized!

The other great part of the day was sharing the hours working with the team. It was a great occasion to learn more about each other and our personalities. It will go a long way towards building the bonds required to work as one moving forward. And no one got hurt in the process! Although Liz and Justin did battle it out with the hoses trying to see who would walk away more soaked! We'll call it a draw.

This weekend, we will be at RiverStone Church on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for a yard sale. We'll have a variety of items for sale, including kid's clothes and a queen-size mattress and box spring. A couple of team members will also be selling hand-crafted journals and head bands to raise support for their costs of the trip. Come by and rummage through our assortment and find that hidden treasure! And support a worthy cause.

Here are a couple of shots from the car wash:

David is watching to make sure Justin doesn't miss that spot ... again.

Camille looks on approvingly.

It was billed as a car wash, but that didn't stop the team from tackling this boat! Amelia was so dedicated, she even washed the inside of the boat. Or was she looking for a place to take a nap?