Preteens Experiencing Jesus

Last week was awesome! I spoke at a preteen camp, COLLIDE, in Arizona. If you haven’t read the first post about camp, click here. If you read my previous post then you’re probably curious to find out how both the Wednesday & Thursday evening sessions went. They ROCKED!  Both were different, but very exciting!

Wednesday’s evening session was focused on surrendering your life to Jesus. Out of the nearly 300 5th/6th graders present, 65 first time decisions were made. WOW! It was one of the most amazing God moments I’ve ever encountered! Before I gave them the opportunity to respond, I could sense that God was about to do something really big. I feel God’s presence all around the room.  I simply stepped out of the way and let God move.  A really cool moment!  Next, I gave preteens (especially the Christians in the room) an opportunity to put God the center of their lives. I think nearly the rest of the group made a decision in that moment to do so.  It’s been a really long time since I saw that kind heart and passion for God. Really exciting!

There were three churches that joined forces in order to put on the camp. The 5th/6th grade pastor of one of the churches was new to preteen ministry.  He had experience with High Schoolers, but was only two months into his new role as 5th/6th grade pastor. He came up to me after Wednesday’s chapel and told me how touched he was by the whole experience. Wednesday night’s chapel was a confirmation that he was in the right place with leading preteens. He was touched by their maturity level to experience God and make life changing decisions to follow Jesus. Wow!

Preteens often fall through the cracks when it comes to a lot of things.  Experiencing Jesus is one of them.  One of the best things the COLLIDE team did was allow God to move after each message. They allowed me freedom to sense what God was doing in the moment and allow preteens the space to respond to God.  Preteens are ready to take steps in owning their faith in Jesus. We simply need to give them the opportunity to do so.  We create the environment to connect with God.

Thursday’s evening chapel was different. Campers and leaders drove 2.5 hours away from the camp to one of the churches. We were going to meet in the main auditorium, which sat around 3,000 people (a guess). It was a big place. Family and friends were invited to attend. Afterwards, parents would pick up campers.  It was a way for parents to be exposed to the camp experience.  A way for the church to partner with parents and ask them to keep the momentum rolling forward. It was a bit risky though. Would many show up? Would it be a flop? How would campers and parents respond?

I stepped into the auditorium and was a bit overwhelmed.  I didn’t realize I was going to speak on that big of a stage. As parents and campers entered, my guess is that somewhere around 700+ were in attendance. The band started playing and all campers were invited to come to the front and worship! It was really cool to experience the worship band with the super cool sound system. Much different than camp! But the hearts of the campers was the same.  They really got into it! I looked around and was in absolute awe seeing hundreds of campers praising Jesus with passion and intensity. A lot of the parents were also engaged. Then, I spoke to the campers one last time.  Sort of a recap of all the previous messages and a challenge to collectively as a group go out and COLLIDE with the world around them.

I had a few minutes to speak to the parents and told them all the amazing God moments at camp. I challenged them to be the leader in their preteens spiritual journey and affirmed that our role as the church is to walk alongside of them in the process. Parents seemed to like the experience.

Both my boys attended camp all week. Had I not been there with them, I would not have had a clue all the amazing things that happened. I probably would have asked them, “How was camp?” and gotten a response something like, “It was good.” This experience really brought the parents into the entire camp experience.  And it made a statement.  The statement was that partnering with parents is important.  Communication with them is a priority. The role they play in the spiritual development of their preteens is key. Great job to the COLLIDE team for trying something different.

Lastly, just wanted to say thanks to Spencer, Mike & Ryan for having me speak at camp! It was an amazing experience! Great job putting on a life changing event for preteens!