Bethel Camp News

Bethel Camp News
article by Justin Kurtz

The past several weeks at Bethel Camp have been pretty busy, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be slowing down anytime soon, as we are beginning to make final preparations for this years summer camps. Most recently we hosted a large group from Guilford, Connecticut called “Pilgrims Fellowship”. The group was made up of 54 youth of high school age and 9 adult sponsors.
Throughout the year Pilgrims Fellowship does service projects in their local community as well as fundraising for their one big service trip, which is what brought them to our area. Pilgrims Fellowship was here working with the Home Development Alliance out of Hazard. During their time in eastern Kentucky the group spent their days putting on roofs, framing houses, digging trenches, plumbing and doing other work projects to help those in need. In the evenings after a long hard day of work they returned to camp to clean showers, a hot meal, and a place to relax and recuperate.
It’s always good to have more faces around here at camp. Having Pilgrims Fellowship here was a different experience for us though. They were mainly using the camp as lodging for the night and a place to eat some meals. Typically when the camp hosts groups, the camp staff is involved somewhat with the programming for the week. With Pilgrims Fellowship, however, we were simply responsible for fixing the evening meal. This was a great arrangement for us here as we could get some preparations for the summer done in the morning and then work at getting dinner ready in the afternoon before the crowds returned. While they were here at camp Pilgrims Fellowship was in charge of all their own programming and activities – we simply acted as their host. All in all it was a good for camp as it brought us some needed income, and it was good for the youth to have a place to recover from the long days of service and hard labor.
One of our goals here at Bethel Camp is to increase the use of our facilities during our “off-season”. Our summer camping program will always be the center of our ministry, but we also want to reach out and be of service to our community. If you have a group who needs a place for a retreat, campout, or just room to run, please don’t hesitate to contact us about our facilities and rates at (606) 666-4911

You are the Trailer, He is the movie!

Tuesday March 17, 2009

Read: Luke 10:1 “You’re the trailer he’s the Movie”

My family loves to watch movies together. One thing I enjoy is the movie trailers giving a taste of a really great movie that is almost out. We’ll sit through trailers saying to each other “ooh we gotta see that one!” Or in many cases “yuck, remind me not to see that one!” Wouldn’t it be sad if all we did was watch trailers and never went on to see the whole movie? Kind of a short family night wouldn’t you say? You see the trailer is there to wet our appetite to see the big picture. The quality of a trailer can make or break the decision to see the movie or to let it pass.

 In our passage today we see Jesus sending out 35 movie trailer teams. He sent out the seventy followers in pairs “into every town and place where he was about to come.” They went in to prepare the way for Christ to come. In a sense they were the trailer for the big Jesus production that would soon follow. Every day they would go out and preach, teach, heal, cast out demons, and even raise the dead in Jesus’ name. When the people would respond to their ministry their job was to say, “You aint seen nothin’ yet! We’re just the preview.” If they had just sat around fearful and intimidated whining about how bad the world is and being cynical and religious, no one would have wanted to see Jesus when he came to town. They would have thought “If his followers are pathetic, then the leader must be worse!” It was important for his followers to demonstrate to the people the love, power, and grace of Jesus so when he came they would be prepared to receive him. They were the trailer. He was the movie.  We must remember that we have the same ministry. We are called to be the preview of the one who has come and will come again. This brings several things to our minds.

1. Don’t take yourself too seriously. You are just the preview. No matter how great your ministry might seem to be going, the real picture is much greater than you. It’s not about you it’s about him.

2. Don’t take yourself too lightly. What you do and say will have an impact on what people think of Jesus. If you are judgmental, Jesus is judgmental in the eyes of your viewing audience. If you are compassionate, Jesus is compassionate. Get it?

3. Don’t despair. Jesus only sends people to minister where he is about to show up himself. When it looks like nothing will ever change, remember the Jesus movie is coming to a community near you. He is coming to do great things where you live and work.

4. Don’t quit. Keep handing out those tickets. Jesus will come whether we are ready or not. Make sure everyone has a chance to find a seat in his kingdom. When the doors close its too late.

Today as you go out remember you are giving people a preview of one who holds eternity in his hands. This is a production nobody wants to miss. The day of his coming is closer than you think. Make sure that you are showing people who Jesus really is so they will be ready when he comes.  May our lives reflect his glory.

Delusions of Convenience

Monday March 16, 2009
Read Luke: 9:57-62 “Disappointing our Delusions”
When Jesus calls us to follow him he often begins by disappointing our delusions. Here we see this clearly. In three instances we see the Lord crushing the same delusion in three would-be followers. All three came with the delusion that following Christ could be made convenient, in other words, could be made to fit neatly into their present lifestyles. Our church culture has become overly indulgent in this case. The result of our super accommodating church programs, cozy comfy worship malls and designer bibles, that practically study themselves for you, is millions of spoiled saints who often crumble when reality crashes through their Christian bubble and they walk away saying “I tried it and it didn’t work.” We are sending out a false message that being a Christian is easy, convenient, and fun. We portray it as a cross-free way of enjoying life with no disturbances in the force. But as our Lord shows these individuals discipleship that fits neatly into your life without making any disturbance in your lifestyle is no discipleship at all. If it costs nothing its worth nothing.
“But the son of man has no place to lay his head.” – The first starry eyed volunteer comes to Jesus and says ‘I will follow you everywhere you go.’ Be careful when using words like “everywhere”, “everything”, “anywhere”, and “never” when committing to follow Jesus. This recruit was ready to go “everywhere”, but our Lord makes sure he understands what “everywhere” means before he signs up. In effect he says, “This is no pleasure cruise, sometimes you will have to sleep under a tree or behind a rock. We don’t spend much time a five star hotels, friend, so make sure “everywhere” means “everywhere”. When Christ calls us to say “everywhere” we must remember that sometimes everywhere means we will go into difficult and even dangerous places and situations.
The second thing we have to watch when we sign up to follow Christ is the temptation to say, “Lord I will follow you but first let me…” This happened twice. In both instances the follower wannabe said they wanted to take care of family business first. “Let me bury my father” was a figure of speech, meaning; “Let me stay home until my father dies then I’ll sign up.” The second wanted to tie up loose ends at home, say goodbye, and make sure things are all taken care of etc. But Jesus says, “No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” One of the biggest delusions of convenience is that we can say to the Lord, “Okay I know what you want me to do, and I’ll be glad to do it, but first let me take care of my own agenda, then I’ll get around to yours.” There are no “Round Tuits” in discipleship. You cannot say to Christ, “Let me have all my fun first, get a job, make lots of money, do all the things I want to do, then I will follow you”. In his ears that is simply a long way of saying “no”. Friend if you are waiting until you are ready to follow Christ you will never be ready. When Jesus called his first disciples it says, “They immediately dropped their nets (they were fishermen) and followed him. Levi the tax collector immediately got up from his tax table and followed Jesus without looking back. You will never find the time to follow Jesus in prayer, Bible study, witness or whatever. You must forsake all and follow him immediately. Need time for prayer? Quit something that is eating away at your time, and give it to him for prayer. Need time for Bible study. Put down that magazine, or Romance Novel, or News paper, and pick up your Bible. When Jesus calls he calls now. It will not be convenient because part of his plan is to kill your agenda, and give you a new one. He has no interest in accommodating your status quo or enhancing your cool lifestyle. You and I live in a delusion of convenience and he intends to kill it and give us a life beyond our small dreams. Today when he prompts you to do something, drop what you are doing and follow right away and the adventure of faith begins.

Seek and Destroy? Or Seek and Save?

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Read Like 9:51-56 “Seek and Destroy or Seek and Save?”
It’s hard to hear from God when you lose sight of his redeeming love. Jesus and his disciples came to a village in Samaria but the people would not allow them to come. Like so many today they rejected God’s offer of redeeming love. The disciples were angry at this and asked Jesus if he wanted them to call down fire from heaven and destroy them. The scripture says he rebuked them. In the King James Version we hear these words; “You don’t’ know what spirit you are of, for the son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” I’m not sure what disturbs the Lord more, when the lost reject his redeeming love or when the saved forget it. I guess we can imagine which is worse by the simple fact that Jesus rebuked the disciples, not the Samaritans. It seems like the twelve just weren’t getting it.
Jesus had told them he was going to the cross, but they had blinders on that kept him from hearing what he was saying. First there was the blinder of selfish ambition. “Who is the greatest?” (Vss. 46-48), second was the blinder of narrow vision (vss. 49-50), and now we see the blinder of mission confusion. Let’s not be too hard on the disciples though. They were feeling what we all feel. We get frustrated when the world doesn’t embrace our Lord. When they turn away the savior it hurts us because we know what they are throwing away. Haven’t there been days for all of us believers when we have wanted to call down fire on the godlessness around us? But we have to remember why Jesus came. He came to save a hostile world from itself. We must always resist the urge to condemn those who don’t know what they are rejecting. Perhaps it will help us if we remember that we were all once lost. It also helps to remember the old adage; lost people act like lost people because they are lost people. Jesus could have called down fire on all of us, but he chose to intercede on our behalf. As Christians we must not just be thankful for that. We must follow the example.
As the days of distress draw closer upon us, we will see even more ungodliness than we see now, if you can imagine that. It will be even more important for us to have made up our minds in advance that we will not condemn, but we will intercede. We will lay our lives down. We will love, heal, and forgive, so that the lost can know him. Remember that your work is not in vain.
In acts 9 we see Phillip going through out Samaria preaching the good news, after Jesus had risen from the dead, and many coming to Christ. I wonder how many new Samaritan believers came from the Samaritan Village that had earlier rejected him. So the next time you feel the righteous anger welling up and you have the urge to call down fire, remind yourself of why you are here. You aren’t here to seek and destroy, but to seek and save.

Friday Devotion

Friday March 13, 2009
Read Luke 9:49-50 “Is the kingdom bigger than my church pew”
Sometimes we are unable to hear what the Lord is saying to us because our vision of his kingdom is too narrow. Here we see John informing the Lord. “Master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” John had seen some “unauthorized ministry” going on in Jesus’ name and he wanted the Lord to know about it. Jesus tells him, “Don’t try to stop him, because whoever isn’t against you is for you.” To really appreciate this we need to remember the context.
Remember Jesus has been trying to tell the disciples that he is heading for the cross. A storm of trial and testing is about to strike in ways they cannot imagine. The disciples don’t understand what Jesus is saying because they can’t see beyond their own ambitions. They want to know who is the greatest among them, and Jesus shoots that down by telling them the least will be the greatest. But the search for self- importance doesn’t end there. They start to separate themselves into a closed group, the ones with the corner on God’s kingdom. They saw someone outside their group, who had obviously seen and heard Jesus’ teachings and had been changed by them. In fact, he had somehow connected the dots in Jesus’ teachings and begun to operate in his power just like the disciples were supposed to. Perhaps, as they saw him casting out demons, they remembered just a short time earlier, they had failed trying to do the same thing, and heard Jesus’ stinging rebuke; “how long will I put up with you?”. It must have been a bit humbling to see this guy out doing the work they, the “official” disciples, the trained experts in the kingdom, had not yet been able to do. Ouch! So rather than celebrate this advance of God’s kingdom they felt it best to shut him down. What they failed to understand was that while he had not yet received his degree in the school of discipleship, and joined their aspiring club, he had already received the endorsement of God because of his obedience and courageous faith in Christ. The disciples, in order to get on board with Jesus’ plans, needed what we all need, a wider view of God’s kingdom. For too many of us the kingdom of God is only large enough for people who are in our individual groups. Some preach a gospel that only includes people in their denomination. For others, the boundaries are even tighter. Yet we hear Jesus saying, if they aren’t trying to stop you, then they are for you. In another place Jesus says, “No one doing a miracle in my name will afterward be able to speak lightly of me.” You get the impression from these words, that Jesus is more interested in who he can bring into the kingdom than who he can keep out. This is a major shift in thinking for too many of us.
This is quite the opposite of what the Pharisees did. They had the idea that “the more exclusive I am the more righteous I become”. Many share this perspective today. What we have to remember is that Jesus came to save people. He wants to save lots of people. In fact, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Now, to avoid falling into a godless pluralism where there are no boundaries, let us remember the boundaries Jesus set for his kingdom; “Whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away.” (John 6:37)
In the days that are ahead I believe we will see his servants springing up from the most unlikely places. God will anoint those who trust in his son and walk in faith. They will be saved in hotel rooms, shopping centers, bars, classrooms, and chat rooms. Many will out do those of us who are more experienced in the faith, simply because they are not limited by the constraints of our traditions. They will minister outside our boundaries and do great works in Jesus’ name. In the midst of trouble we will see God at work outside the boundaries, coloring outside the lines, expanding his kingdom in awesome ways. Not only will we have to accept these out of the box apostles and prophets and evangelists, we will discover how desperately we need them. Many will arise as the true leaders of the church to come. The question is will we have the vision to recognize them, or will we be blinded by our need to be important? As we walk with our Lord today let us get a wider vision for his kingdom, and open our hearts to God’s passion to reach the nations. God is interested in seeking and saving whosoever will come. Let’s focus today on who we can bring in rather than who we can keep out.

Hey Everybody

March 2009 Ministry Update for Team Driskill

This has truly been a season of transition in weather, activities and schedules! We’ve had snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, sun and lots of wind—all in the same few weeks. Despite cancelling several “regular” services, we continue to see God moving in our various ministry efforts.

Emmanuel Fellowship: it took more than six weeks this year to hit a Wednesday where we could have kids, adults and youth group all on the same week, thanks to some wild weather which seemed to land on the mid-week service days. We had some tree damage at our house and were without power for four full days Feb. 11-15 and had some debris hit the truck windshield on Mark’s way home from school. Many homes and businesses in the county were damaged, but no injuries reported—thank God! The church celebrated our birthday the second Sunday in February and observed Ash Wednesday the end of the month. Mary continues to work with the Youth Drama Team who performed for a recent Youth Rally. Mark continues to do the monthly radio broadcast and has had someone offer to cover the $50 per month ministry—PTL! In addition to weekly sermons, he continues to write a weekly newspaper column and daily internet devotions. He plans to compile some of these works into a book in the near future. Please pray for his continued creativity and inspiration as he also develops curriculum for his 6 classes at Oakdale. We continue to minister through a couple of home groups and the Owsley County group has had people accepting Christ at each monthly service!

Oakdale: We’ve had the opportunity to host several students during the Spring Break and Mark’s opportunities to share his faith continue with each class. Pray especially for his Introduction to Christianity and Introduction to the Bible classes as these provide the most direct witness opportunities. One student has made a profession of faith and several others are asking critical and probing questions. Mary continues to work with the co-op group and has big plans for the study on ancient Greece, including the construction of a Trojan horse!

Bethel Camp: Mark was the speaker for a youth rally sponsored by Bethel Camp and the Big Rock Players were one of two performing groups. About 60 youth attended, many who had never been to Bethel Camp. We left for the Christian Camp and Conference Association regional meeting March 2 and spent three days at Ridgecrest team building and being challenged and refreshed in camp ministry. We really enjoyed the chance to do some planning and dreaming about the summer—especially in the midst of snow and ice! We are beginning to develop materials for the summer camp season including devotional guides, Bible speaker outlines and staff enrichment.

Pray for these coming events and our strength as we minister through them:

Spring Youth Retreats starting March 27-29 and April 3-5 at Bethel Camp—events for 5th through 12th graders at Bethel Camp.

Easter & Holy Week services in our community April 5-12.

End of semester events at Oakdale, home school and Alice Lloyd College.

For Katie and the Voices of Appalachia as they go on tour in New York March 14-22.

Shaun & Wendy

 The last two weeks have been busy. After the youth retreat, Julia’s grandparents, Stan & Arlene Sizemore came to help out for most of the week. Stan used his carpentry skills to help us check off some items that have been hanging around on our to-do lists for a long, long time. He finished up the bathrooms in (the newly remodeled) Krestan Hall by building shelves in the closets. I’ve been waiting (not always so patiently) for that job to get finished so we have a place to put all the clean towels. Arlene spent so much time cleaning, and she did it well. Sometimes it feels like we have so many different jobs to do that they all get done halfway. I am so grateful to anyone who can put their heart into cleaning and really making a place sparkle. Stan also built shelves in the pantry of “the cottage” which, as of Saturday, is no longer empty.

Justin told me last week that he likes the challenge of getting to do new things. He made that comment while he and Roger were in the process of learning how to lay carpet. They rented a carpet stretcher, figured out how to use it, and got the hallway and two bedrooms in the cottage looking like home. I was very impressed. (I still am.)

This past weekend seemed to be full of nonstop action. Thursday evening a work group came in from Wooster, Ohio, and stayed through Sunday afternoon. That group of middle schoolers got a lot of work done – with much enthusiasm. When I cook for a group like that, I gain new respect for Bill (our summer cook.) By the end of the day, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight – and that was just cooking for 20 people! I don’t know how he does it. Maybe I should drink more coffee – or grow a mustache…

And now for the big announcement… we have another baby! Well, not us personally, but us the camp. Shaun and Wendy Davis and their 4-month-old, Lily, moved in to spend the next year at Bethel Camp. It took me less than 24 hours to realize that I’ll have to set down some rules for Malin and Avery. No visiting at Lily’s house without mom or dad’s permission! It’s just too much fun to have a living baby doll to love on.

That reminds me of a story Ella June tells about one of her girls when she was little – Elaine I think. She loved going down to the cottage to visit Mabel and Martha Maust, but she was too independent, and she had Ella June worried about where she had gotten off to. So the ladies worked out a system. If Elaine didn’t have a note pinned to the back of her dress with her mom’s permission to visit, then she was sent back home. Sounds like a good idea…

Sunday afternoon, just as the work group was packing up to leave, we had a nice surprise. Bear and Opal Noble stopped by to visit! Bear has spent many weeks here at camp in the past, and we’ve missed having him around. Camp’s always open – if you ever want to stop in, we’d love to catch up with what’s been going on in your life. And if you come at mealtime, we just might feed you. Have a great week!

Spring Retreat

I love the way spring arrives here in Kentucky. I look forward to each coming “winter” that leaves us with another work of art blooming on the hillsides. It used to drive me crazy to get used to the warm weather and then have to suffer through another week of cold. But it keeps our lives interesting, doesn’t it? It keeps us from taking spring for granted – at least for the first month or so.

Spring also brings with it the beginning of activity here at camp. This past weekend was our high school youth retreat. We couldn’t have had more perfect weather. Well… it did rain a lot on Friday evening, but Saturday was beautiful. It seemed to be a weekend of refreshment for many people. There was a good group of campers here, some talented musicians, excellent cooks who enjoyed working together, and staff members who we just love to have as a part of camp.

We had a few “worried” parents call us before the weekend retreat this year. They were remembering last year’s spring retreat when we got so much rain that we were flooded in on Sunday when it was time to go home. That was definitely a memory for everyone involved. But this year was a different story, and departure time went smoothly. Except for the fact that everyone had to go home. These high-schoolers never seem to want to leave camp. They could happily stand around all afternoon and talk. We’re glad they want to be here.

We supremely appreciate the 6 women from Turner’s Creek and Bowling Creek who came out Wednesday before the youth retreat to help us clean and get ready. They weren’t able to make it out for our scheduled Work Day, so they chose a day that fit into their schedules – we’re grateful.

We’re doing something a little different this spring. In the past, we’ve always had a youth retreat for 7^th-12^th graders. This year we decided to split the group up and have two different retreats. April 25-27 will be our retreat for 6^th-8^th graders. We hope to see all of our middle-school campers here that weekend! If you need more information, just give us a call.

in the spring, people work.

One of the pleasures of being a camp director is having the opportunity to work with so many different people. Every week of the summer brings a new group of campers and a new (at least partially) group of staff members. Throughout the rest of the year we meet family groups who come to rent the campgrounds, church groups who come to do work projects or have a weekend retreat, people who used to live in the area and want to see how things have changed and many other people who have their own reason for hanging around camp for a few hours or days. Because of our camp connections, our Christmas card list is quite a bit longer than it would be if Roger had stuck with being an electrician…. or a woodworker. 
       To be perfectly honest, I should also say that one of the discomforts of being a camp director is having to work with so many different people. If you’re not a “people person,” the process pulls you out of your comfort zone, whether you like it or not. And when you’re in charge of all or most of those different people, you find out fast that not everyone communicates the same way you do. (Some of us are lucky to meet two or three in a lifetime who really understand us.) 
       Last weekend, I’m happy to announce that it was a pleasure (not a discomfort) to host a group from Arthur, Il. Their church has been sending groups of people out to do weekend work projects most of the years that we have lived in Kentucky. In the group of 13 who came this time, we made some new friends, and we got to meet back up with some old ones who we just don’t get to see often enough.
      They made good headway on painting the chapel… dragged fallen trees out of the creek and split them… jacked up Shaun & Wendy’s porch/laundry room… and lots of other manly things that I wasn’t a part of. The ladies in the group did some cleaning and organizing in the kitchen for us, and they made and froze 1480 cookie dough balls. Now Bill can make homemade cookies any time he wants without getting a mixing bowl dirty – and he has a choice of four different kinds. We figure that it might be enough to last us through the whole summer.
       Our friends from Illinois made a nice big dent in the neverending stream of work and cleanup projects here at camp. This Saturday (April 5th) we’re having a work day for our local friends from 8:00-4:00. If you want the satisfaction of helping someone in need and you’re free on Saturday, come on over – for all or part of that time. If you do come, you can bring along something to eat with the big pot of chili we’ll have ready for everyone at noon. We look forward to spending the day with you – and getting this place ready for campers.

Fall Happenings

 This past week Bethel Camp hosted the Bowling Creek Mennonite Church for their annual campout. They had a good turn-out. I think they fed between 35 and 40 people most meals. Kenny Miller, a pastor from Trinity Fellowship in northern Ohio, was the special speaker. Mary Eash said, “There were just so many little blessings during the entire weekend that added up to a big blessing overall.” They enjoyed the fellowship of the Turners Creek Mennonite Church for the Saturday evening service. A Christian brother (Pastor Peter) from India shared about the work he was involved with and the obstacles they faced. He challenged them to become involved in helping grow the church around the world. The Lord provided beautiful weather and brilliant fall colors set off by a bright blue sky as a backdrop for the weekend. It was even warm enough for a hayride up Little Buckhorn on Saturday to enjoy the fall scenery.

I’including a picture one of the campers took during the fall youth retreat. One of the afternoon activities on that Saturday was photography, and there were some really beautiful pictures taken. Another group made a Bible story video during that activity time, but if you want to see that you’ll have to make a trip over to camp so they can show it to you. Their video was out of an obscure passage in Isaiah – leave it to creative young people to search out a passage like that.

I sure like the good prices I can find on meat at our local IGA grocery store. Good meat too. My wife Ruthie makes a delicious “harvest stew” made with butternut squash, apples, and pork roast. It makes my mouth water just to write it down. I know that it doesn’t sound like it would taste that good, but you’ve got to try it to believe it. And, seeing that our garden produced about 25 butternut squash, we’re all set for some good eating. We’ll just have to get over to IGA to get some more pork. Speaking of IGA, do you all know about their e-scrip cards that can help local charitable organizations and schools. If you register one of their cards, and then give it to the cashier before you check out, they will donate a portion of each purchase to the charity of your choice. If you haven’t got a card and you shop at IGA, you can sign up and choose to benefit Bethel Camp when you shop there.

Phil Swartzentruber and the Teens for Christ group from Breathitt High School came here this past Tuesday. They came to spend an evening talking, planning and enjoying a campfire in the cold. We are encouraged as we see these young people standing strong for Jesus in their schools. Pray for them as they come to mind.

If any of you campers from this past summer left something at camp, a pair of your favorite jeans, shoes, a shirt, a disposable camera, or anything else, call us up or come over and we’ll try to find it for you.

Have a great week and make sure you get outside early in the evening just as the sun sets and breath 5 deep breaths of cool air. It will make you appreciate your warm house and will probably relax you and give you some fresh perspective. Try it and tell me what happened.

–Roger Voth