In hanging out around the bookstore on free time this afternoon, Jordan, Pete, and myself met another student, a guy probably my age or so, from French Settlement, LA. We struck up a conversation for a minute about the outrageous prices at the bookstore, and then we went on our ways. Well We ran into him again a few minutes later, before getting a smoothie in the union. So we continued talking. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure his name was Cory, so we will call him Cory. So in actually talking to Cory for ten minutes or so, I was imbued with a growing sense of disappointment, and a bit of discomprehension even. Today was the last full day of camp, and the day after I was nearly certain everyone's life had been refreshed and revitalized for the Lord. But in talking to Cory, I never picked up on any traces of that effect in him. Not once did I hear anything from him on camp itself, or the band, or the teaching, or anything. Indeed the only aspect of camp that Cory talked about, from when we ran into him to the time we left him, was the female students. Sure I am a teenage guy and I can't say I haven't taken notice of some of the girls here, but Cory's mindset blew me away. It was like Student Life camp for him was a concentration of young women for him to goof around with. I heard all about his "pickup lines" (which were laughably lame to boot) and was asked if I knew where all the hot UNT college girls were hiding. And there was much more that I just can't pinpoint. In hindsight, I truly wish I would have challenged Cory to rethink...everything about his camp experience. Instead I simply heard him out and tried to sneak into another topic when I could, simply because I was in too much disbelief that God could transform our group, as well as many, many other students, and that Cory could still be here ignoring what the heart and soul of Student Life is about, and was literally only concentrated on a wholly immature idea. Perhaps I'm missing something, but if being dumb and immature is what I'm missing, I am missing nothing. In fact I believe Cory was missing something so much more important. The God of the Universe and our time with Him this week. Please pray for Cory, that even though tomorrow is our final day here, that he would still not go without a realization, a revelation, a mental/spiritual slap in the face if you will. Well anyway, that's been on my mind, just wanted to get it out.

On a more positive note, even since we got here, in fact even since just a couple of days ago, our group has been brought together through our Lord and Savior like no one could have predicted. Our lives have been refueled, as has our faith. Ben Stuart has done a phenomenal job with his teaching, and our worship leaders, Tenth Avenue North, have provided a week of amazing praise to our King. At lunch today, Mike Donehey, the singer/guitar player sat with Erin and myself as well as two other people. Allow me to simply say that he is as much of an inspiration over pizza and corndogs as he is on a stage behind a microphone. He has been a blessing to us through his relationship with our Lord. I am proud as a Christian to call him (and the other guys in the band) my brother.

Well, we will be leaving hopefully soon after dismissal from worship tomorrow morning at 10.

Pray that we will have a safe and pleasant trip home. My heart is with all of you, we will see you soon.

- Caleb

PETE!!!

Wassup?! This is Pete here. Everyone was touching my hair and admiring my legs....nice.. Anyway! Having a wicked time and do not want to leave! :( Well, i will ttyl!

Having an awesome time at camp!!! Learning alot about God from speaker Ben Stuart.

Morgan

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. - Ephesians 5:8-10.

We were once darkness, but now, as believers in the one true God, we are the light of the world. What a hope, and what a challenge!
God has done great things tonight. The Lord be praised.

- Caleb

New Friend

Yesterday I went to my dorm room to get ready for bed. I went to go get some water down the hall to the water fountain, then this voice said,
"Whatcha doin?"
I said "Gettin some wata."
"Me to!" she said. I told her my name, then she told me her's and we both talked to each other like we were old buddy's
She showed me her dorm room and she said she wanted to show me a little dance she called, SILLY BANDS DANCE! It was uh,
very, uh, different! so then she came over to our room, and I showed her my drawings.
"could you draw me?" she asked, "and could you draw me with a different expression AND longer hair?" I said sure!

Now right as I am writing this, it was morning. She and I discussed last night that we should sit together the next morning, so we did!
She is really nice and very cool! So tonight she is going to come over and chat some more!



-Erin Holloway

Best Day Ever!

Well, so far, we have had another God-filled week of church camp. Ben Stuart, the speaker, is very relatable to all ages and is simplifying aspects of God for our group - even me. He uses great examples, is funny, and very forward in his speaking. We are reading God's word and sharing our thoughts. Those few that are not used to speaking are actually praying out loud. I hope we can bring this fire home and continue to open our minds. God is.... beyond words. I think all of us - including adults - needed this week.

Please continue in prayer for us. We are so grateful for the help of our church and parents who worked hard to send us. We are praying for all of you too.

Pam

Dunked Heads, Shared Verses, and a Little Boy Named Jonathan

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 - 11:35 PM

Hi everybody!

I suppose I'll just dive right in to some high points from today.

We are on team Green Machine for rec this week, and our rivals are Red Rumble. Before we left for rec today, we had a special rock paper scissors tournament to start things off. For our team, one member from each church went to "qualify" to be the finalist against Red Rumble. I was picked for Crossroads, but I was beat out by a guy that looked to me like a 6-foot tall Frodo Baggins, who was then beat out by our finalist, who then proceeded to, after a grueling 7 or so rounds of the game, lost to Red Rumble. We've got all week however to beat them...at something.

Anyway, we had Soaked at rec today. Swimsuits, water, and exhilaratingly embarrassing games. Such as my personal favorite, which consist of each team standing in a line behind a bucket, and each student must run to a giant tub of water, dunk their head, and run back in order to squeeze as much water from their hair as possible into the bucket. They say the team with the most water at the end wins, but no one ever judges or picks a winner. That's okay. We got wet, grassy, and lovingly humiliated. That counts.

And tonight, Crossroads Church was represented to the whole camp through my sister, Erin. After visiting with the actors (they do various skits and things during the morning service and other events) in a special meet & greet session this afternoon, Erin was invited to participate in "Late Nite" after worship tonight. She ended up being in Round 2 of a boys vs. girls competition, consisting of a game in which a ballon must be taken and bounced down a line of three people using only their heads, (without letting it hit the ground) to be caught by the popper (my sister) who must then sit on the balloon and pop it. Such noble acts were witnessed and applauded by over 2000 young people today.

Erin and the girls ended up losing to the boys, but all in all I'm sure it was a great experience for her. When she gets back, ask her to write a book.

Something really great happened tonight before heading back to our dorms. After worship we have church group time, in which we all meet and share with each other our thoughts about the day, and what we learned, etc. Last night I suggested to Mark that throughout each day, we find a passage in the Bible that touches or challenges us, or worships God, or impacts us in general. In turn we share our passage during church group time each night. Mark was very excited and said it was a great idea, and supposedly even shared the concept with the other people at his youth ministers' meeting today. Well tonight was our first time doing it, the "pilot" if you will, and it was spectacular. It is amazing to hear the word of God spoken out by everyone in our group, as a group. And to see all the different concepts expressed through each of our verses is phenomenal. For curiosity's sake, tonight I read Hebrews 10:19-23, which says,

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

And lastly, I'd like to say that Compassion International is here at camp, and they had a guy named David from Africa come and share with us at worship this evening. About twenty minutes later, I found myself in the lobby, filling out my information in order to sponsor a young boy, Jonathan Nii Tettey Tetteh, a 10 year old from Ghana. He lives in an AIDS-affected area, and on the cover of his packet there is a small line of text that urgently requests that he be sponsored immediately. There were several packets on the table, each with a picture and basic information of children around the world. But this boy, Jonathan, stood out to me, and God spoke to me through Jonathan's urgency. I've heard things about Compassion before, but tonight, I got punched in the face with a truckload of perspective. I am so blessed to be sitting here typing this post on a computer that I can call my own. I am blessed to have a job, that provides me with money. It brings tears to my eyes in realization of how much I have in comparison to this boy, Jonathan. I want to share with him. But not just my money. I want to share myself. And I want to share my whole life's hope through the Lord Almighty, who gives me so many blessings, and the ability and desire to share them.

- Caleb

E=MC Hammer

Alright just to start things off, the title has nothing to do with our topics of conversation. But, we did have much fun today with the water day. At water day there were many things that I'm not going to mention but our favorites were mostly the most athletic ones where you had to scoop water into a scooper and bring it back to your bucket without getting hit by wet sponge/ball things flying around everywhere (I went Flawless both times that I went Jordan Perez and it was just my luck that I went right when everyone had nothing to throw........twice). And the quotes of the day from Mike Donehey (Lead singer of the band Tenth Avenue North) What he did was make a very good impression of the old guy from Rocky and Rocky himself we all think he did it just to show off but he did it well.

-Jordan Perez

Monday July 26th, 2010 - 11:11 PM

Hello again! Caleb here. So today is/was Day 1 of Student Life camp in Denton, TX. Something you may be wondering about, yes, so far I've been heading up this blog and am the only one posting as of now, but hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to hear from some of the other campers and leaders.
Well, I just got out of the shower and Pete Bentivegna, my roommate this week, has turned in for the night. Speaking of showers, ours are community here in the guys' dorm, but at least the showers are divided individually. ;) Still there's something about having random strangers taking showers next to you that makes things that much more unnerving. But on the plus side, it definitely hurries one's showering.
One thing about this campus at UNT that is a positive change is that its cafeteria experience is a much more enjoyable one than at last year's camp.
So much better in fact, that one is provided with ceramic plates rather than styrofoam, and a choice between Pizza/Pasta, "Home Cooking" or "Global Dining" food lines, rather than simply varying degrees of artificiality. We are wholly and truly spoiled.

This particular Student Life camp at Denton, TX happens to be the largest of all the camps that are put on throughout the summer. Last year at Cleveland, TN, there were between 800 and 900 kids attending. Here in Denton, that number is literally tripled. Yes indeed, there are over 2400 kids here attending. Last year we had worship in an auditorium. This year, the university's basketball arena. It is truly awe-inspiring to look around you at thousands of young people who are here for the same reason as you: to pursue a passion and renewed vigor for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Of course, this brings me to something that cannot be overlooked. It is the reason for and the soul of this camp. We registered about 12 hours ago, and in the time since, I can already feel our Lord's tug on my heart. So much has already come to bear, that I can only imagine what could take place over this upcoming week.

Extra Extra!

Special Story: At dinner, seating arrangements were slim, so me, Pete, and Mark ended up sharing a table with four girls from another group. They ranged in age from probably 12 to 14 or 15. I'm sure that they are good and God-fearing young women, but I can't help but say that they somewhat lived up to their ages' stereotype, unfortunately. Well, after some time, a truly awful thing happened. Mark and Pete got up and left the table. At the same time.

I was soon informed that I evidently remind the young ladies of a friend of theirs, as well as look like a "band dude," and as a result was asked if I played in a band. Furthermore, I look like a bass player....?

I was eventually saved by the return of malekind.

Something that I would like to mention finally, Tenth Avenue North provides astounding worship, and our speaker Ben Stuart is definitely a challenging and eye-opening teacher, but I must honestly applaud our group's leaders, Mr. Mark Richardson, Ms. Chelsea Miller, and Mrs. Pam Bentivegna. Our group is blessed to have such caring and devoted people to lead us and challenge us in our experiences here.

- Caleb

The Boy Who Stares at Uhauls

Sunday July 25th, 2010 - 10:13 PM

Hey everyone! The trip is now underway. After 8ish hours in the car, significantly lowered iPod batteries, and numerous mindless conversations, I now sit here on a bed in the Hilton Garden Inn in Tyler, TX.

Showers are taken and vending machine runs have been made, and everyone's ready for bed apparently, so I guess I'll end this pretty quickly.

- Caleb

Extra Extra! (look for this in the future, for pointless but fun facts)

Popular topics of the day: hand wars, flaming water beds, and explosive orthadonture.

Top rated event: Wendy's plastic kids' meal microphone opera courtesy of Pete Bentivegna.

Quotes of the Day:

Caleb (after Jordan set a record for drinking a can of tea in 12.86 seconds) - "Well that was an efficient use of snacks."

Mark (to Jordan) - "I'd love to see one of the old testament characters interpret one of your dreams Jordan..."

Jordan - "I will run out of here naked if I have to!"

For Title Spoiler, scroll down...

...Petey got extravagantly bored.