ACCA!

Adam's County Christian Academy

 

 

When we met the students at ACCA (Adams County Christian Academy), we knew it was going to be a great time. We fell in love with the students and faculty, and the rest of the week was a memorable experience. We started the day with some fun cheers and a game of, “Never Have I Ever.” It was fun to see the students already start to relax and get comfortable with the setting. Lawrence shared the first, “Be4Real” about dropping our water lines and being authentic with God and with one another. T.J followed up with a challenge to the students to clear the couch from their hearts and place God on the throne of their hearts. The rest of the day we got to hang out with the students in their classes. In English class;T.J. and Lawrence were able to drop their own waterlines and share their life experiences with the students.

 

 

Our team was hosted by the Hart family, and we were so blessed to see a godly family in action. All us guys can admit the three boys are servants and hard workers, but sadly they lack in dodgeball skills :). We enjoyed our time at their house and look forward to seeing them again.

 

The next day at ACCA, Walk -the-Line was again a powerful ministry tool that the Lord has provided. The school was transformed by the transparency displayed.

 

 

 

During the open mic time, the following day, students and faculty confessed to harboring bitterness and were able to forgive. The students realized that they never walk alone in life. Not only is God always with them, but they now realize that they have a Christian body of community. A community that faces the same trials and can join with them on their journey in life.

 

 

Another highlight was Friday morning worship through music. We were told students didn’t like to sing out loud, and we challenged the leaders of the worship team to share how their hearts were touched by the songs we prepared to sing. It was amazing to see the change in students as they realized that they were offering praise to God. As a team we continue to be in awe of the work God is doing through us. ACCA is a Christian school set ablaze for God’s glory, so watch out, because they are going to impact the world for Jesus Christ!

River of Life Camp

This weekend, Team Charger Challenge had the privilege of traveling to Irasburg, Vermont to help serve at River of Life Camp. On this journey two new faces joined the team, Kylee Bennett and Amanda Bracelin. Our team was so grateful to have these ladies give up a weekend to travel with us as we journeyed up North. We had a pretty uneventful ride until we were about an hour away from the camp and could see the snow and the mountain ranges. Creation truly reveals God’s majesty, and we really enjoyed scenery of the beautiful camp. When we arrived, Kylee, Amanda, and Eric enjoyed a sleigh ride to travel to their cabins, as they served as counselors for the weekend. T.J. and Lawrence helped out with programming during the weekend. The weather was about 9 degrees upon our arrival, and it took Lawrence a little while to get used to bitter cold
 

The first night we joined in worship with Justin and his team, followed by a strong challenge and testimony from T.J. about allowing God’s life transforming Word. He presented our need to destroy the other “thrones” we place on our heart. God needs to be on the throne, and his Word needs to shape our lives. We followed this us with pizza, playing knockout, basketball games, and genuine fellowship with the students.

 

 

 

 

Saturday’s highlights:
We had the opportunity to go snow tubing. Campers and counselors had the joy of going down a huge hill and racing on top of the frozen pond with the tubes. The best rides were when we had all the tubes linked together racing down the hill.

 

 

 

 

T.J. brought back the German band and the counselors did a pretty good job with it.


The B-Rob concert was a good time to see someone taking music and redeeming it for God’s glory. B-Rob lyrics were solid, and we could tell the students loved every bit of the concert. B-Rob sang about casting our sins to God and allowing his blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That was certainly a message we as team needed. We need to daily confess our sins and allow Christ to cleanse us from our unrighteousness.

Sunday morning:
The weekend was capped off with a challenge by Lawrence from 1:Timothy 4:12. This passage challenged us to truly be an example to beleivers as we leave the camp. Are your words, actions, love, faith, spirit, and purity an example to fellow christians? Or are you a follower of the world instead of an imitation of Christ? T.J. filled the pulpit for the Sunday morning service and challenged us from the book of James. Our faith without works are dead, and we need to live lives committed to meeting the needs of others around us. Our works show that Christ sacrifice on the Cross truly transforms our lives.

 

 

Sunday Afternoon: We ran into some car toubles on the way home, but we are blessed that we are alive and back in Lancaster. We learned that Moses prayer,“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12) is applicable to our lives. We don’t know when our lives will be over on earth, but we want to make it count impacting lives for Christ. Are you doing that today?

Camp Sankanac

Camp Sankanac

 

This past weekend Team Charger Challenge was honored to be invited back to Camp Sankanac. Camp Sankanac holds a special place in the hearts of our team. In previous years, all three members of Team Charger Challenge had the privilege of serving alongside of the Camp Sankanac staff during their summer camps as a part of the Team Charger camp ministry. Each one of us holds in our hearts fond memories of Mr. Jan Coudriet, who served God faithfully as Camp Sankanac’s Director for 29 years. This past year Mr. Jan passed away. Although Mr. Jan was such an important part of Camp Sankanac, we knew the impact he had on the lives of his Sankanac family would mean that they would not miss a beat in continuing the tradition of Camp Sankanac, which has been founded on the Word of God. Team Charger Challenge looked forward to continuing in the friendships and relationships that we have formed with the staff and campers of Camp Sankanac, as well as forming new relationships with campers during their ALL BOYS Winter Retreat!

 

As we arrived at the camp on Friday night, we were able to catch up on life with some old friends as well as begin to form new relationships. It didn’t take long until we got sucked into games of Battleship, Chess, card games, etc. After some fun and fellowship, Mr. T.J. lead the campers and staff in some mixers and icebreakers. After a few rounds of Birdie-on-a-Perch, Mr.  T.J. split the group into two teams, 1) Peanut Butter and 2) Jelly. Peanut Butter had to compete against Jelly in a game of extreme tic-tac-toe. Teams had to race against one another to bring T.J. a random item. For example, the first team to bring Mr. T.J. a chewed piece of gum got to place and “x” or “o” on the board. In order to win the round of tic-tac-toe though, the team had to finish a food challenge. Some food challenges were not too bad, such as first person to eat an entire apple. But the peanut butter cookies marinated in buffalo sauce was too much for one camper to handle.

 

 

After some mixers, Mr. T.J. shared a challenge for the night. He spoke out of Ephesians 2:10. So often we believe lies about ourselves like; “I will never be good enough”, or “God doesn’t really love all of me”, or “I don’t really matter”, or “I don’t have any or much worth”. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.” This word “workmanship” literally translates to poetry. If you think about poetry it is an intimate expression. In other words, we are God’s masterpiece. God does not make junk! When we believe the lies mentioned before, it is almost like saying to God that He didn’t know what He was doing when He created us. The campers and counselors had a time in small groups and to discuss the truth that Mr. T.J. shared. Many of them shared about the lies they had believed in their own lives.

After small groups it was time for some dodge ball. After a few rounds of intense dodge ball, where the counselors whooped up on the campers (at least that’s how we remember it), it was time for a snack. We enjoyed some Smores before heading to our cabins for some much needed sleep.

In the morning we woke to a delicious pancake breakfast, thanks to the ladies who served us all weekend. We spent a little time fellowshipping in the morning before Mr. Lawrence brought the Word for the morning. Mr. Lawrence talked about how we like to hide things in our life and only show people the “good” or “attractive” things in our lives. He compared our lives to icebergs. Like icebergs we only show people the 10% of things in our lives that are above the waterline. These are things we want people to see about our lives. But we hide the other 90% below the waterline because we don’t want them or God to see them. He spoke from Genesis 3 using the example of Adam and Eve and how they tried to cover up and hide from God.

Campers and counselors again had a chance to discuss their thoughts in small groups. They shared some of the things they have been hiding from God below the waterline in their lives. For some it was sin that needed to be confessed. For others, it was fears or struggles that they were not surrendering to God. After small groups, we had some free time. Some stayed inside and played games. Others went outside for some knockout, street hockey, football, etc. After free time we enjoyed a nice lunch of hot dogs and warm chilli.

 

Once the food settled, the time had come for one of the most anticipated events of the winter retreat…MUD FOOTBALL! Because it had just rained, it was the perfect conditions for some mud football. Everyone had a great time playing football and getting dirty; although I am sure there were some mothers who weren’t so thrilled when they saw the dirty laundry and muddy shoes. We were also blessed to have no serious injuries, which is surprising considering the way Mr. Lawrence was running the football. After we got cleaned up, it was time for some more football; the playoff game between the Ravens and the Broncos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched the first half of the game, and then had to pause for dinner. After a delicious meal, we turned the game back on. What we thought would only be a 3 hour game turned into a much longer game as the two teams battled into overtime. The Ravens fans were ecstatic that their team stole a win in overtime. After some short celebrations, it was time for Mr. T.J. to bring the Word for the night. Mr. T.J. talked about the importance of authenticity in community. He shared his own testimony of “if you really knew me…this is what you would know.” He talked about the need for God to be on the throne of our hearts. But what often is true of our lives is we replace God’s throne on our hearts with a couch to make room for other things in our lives. And often times God actually ends up not even getting a seat on that couch. Our God is a jealous God, and He will not share His throne with anyone or anything. Besides, a throne is only meant for one person; it is only meant for a King!

After his message, campers and counselors had time to share in their own small groups. They had a chance to share their stories of “if you really knew me….her is what you would know about me.” They shared about their struggle and fears, their likes and dislikes, their home life, their hearts and what is really on their “throne”, etc. After small groups we played some more dodge ball before heading to the cabins.

 

In the morning we were able to sleep in and fellowship in the morning. Mr. Flick brought God’s Word for the morning. He spoke out of 1 John 1:5-9, which talks about God as light, and in Him is no darkness. He referred to the story of Hosea to remind the campers of God’s love for them. He reminded them that no matter what we do or how many times we are unfaithful, God would pay ANYHING to have us in His family. In fact, He paid EVERYTHING so that we may forever be in communion with Him. With this in mind, we should want to walk in the light! We should not want to try to hide anything in darkness. it is the light that heals; it is the light that heals. In the light all things are made new, all things are made righteous.

 

Campers and counselors again had a time to share about the things they were hiding in the darkness. With a new found joy in just how great God’s love in for them, campers were able to share some deep issues that they had been keeping in the dark. We ended our time at Camp Sankanac with a huge breakfast buffet, cleaning up the camp, and playing some games until parents came to pick up the campers. We were blessed to be able to be a part of the winter retreat. We know that God will continue to bless Camp Sankanac as they journey into a new season under new leadership. We also pray for the campers and counselors as they continue to be transparent in their lives and surrender to what God can do in and through them.

 

 



Faith Christian Academy

http://www.my-fca.com/

As a team we are excited to introduce our new team member Lawrence Lartey. Lawrence has taken the place of Brett Derr, who after graduating in December with a Student Ministry degree is following some different dreams and passions in his life. Lawrence is from Kansas City, Missouri. He has a passion to preach God’s word and is recently engaged. We are excited and blessed to have Lawrence in this role and are excited to see how God uses his gifts.



Team Charger Challenge had the opportunity to be with Faith Christian Academy on Monday and Tuesday this week. What a glorious time we had with 190 students and 15 or so leaders. To see the students open up to Gods word was awesome. We started off with some mixers trying to get the students excited for the day. This was not too difficult once we reminded students that they at least got out of classes during our time there (special thanks to all of the teachers, faculty, staff and volunteers who took time out of their lives and made this Team Charger Challenge Day possible).  We started off with our first B4Real where Lawrence did a great job encouraging us all to drop our water line to show what is really going on below the surface of our lives.  We split into small groups and shared some thoughts about what we hide below the surface.



After meeting in small groups, it was time for some more games and interaction with the students and leaders.  We had a lot of fun and started to see some of the walls come down. Shortly after playing some games we went into our second Be4Real where T. J. talked about what was on the throne of our hearts. He made not that some of us have replaced God’s throne with a couch, He then brought forth our need to move the couch and replace it with a throne because our God is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24).  God wants to be on the throne of your heart. So what about you? What do you allow to be on your throne other than God? Is it a boy/girlfriend, video games, perception of others, athletics… the list goes on and on. What is it for you? Will you put God back on the throne where He belongs?



We finished up our first day with FCA in small groups discussing “If you really knew me” this is what you would know. Students talked about their likes and dislikes, their struggles, their family background, etc. This is when we started to see the students share more of what was going on in their hearts. To cap off our first day with FCA,we decided to see FCA’s Men’s Basketball team reveal their heart and hustle as they battled in a hard fought game. The outcome was not what we would have liked, but they certainly gained respect in showcasing their discipline and perseverance to never give up.



Afterwards we returned to a nearby host family for some fellowship and football, although the National Championship game was pretty much a blowout by Alabama. We returned the next day looking forward to spending our final day with FCA. We had another three hours with the student body. Our day started off with a SCREAM, literally! We had to do something to wake up the students. After some loud noises and giving away some t-shirts, we  introduced Walk-the-Line, where we saw God do immeasurably more than we could have thought or asked in the lives of FCA students and faculty. We saw students be vulnerable as the student body of FCA started to form into a community. Relationships began to be restored and students showed one another that they had each other’s backs.



We capped off our day with some small group interaction. Students then had the opportunity to share with one another the commitments they had made. Some students wrote letters to friends and family, while others were able to write a commitment on a banner. We closed our time at FCA with a skit called, “Baggage”. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”



To celebrate the ‘true community’ that God had created in their school, the basketball team lead cheer and an FCA chant. God is moving at Faith Christian Academy, in Sellersville, PA. Continue to pray for these students and faculty as they continue to grow closer to God and one another.