SUMMER CAMP TWILIGHT FACEBOOK CANDY

I've been using these pictures on our summer camp event page to catch the eyes of students and to elicit a good laugh.... enjoy.

THE TRAVEL CHANNEL AT CAMP EAGLE

The Travel Channel show "Bert the Conqueror" sent me this link about their time at Camp Eagle. Bert challenged the summer staff at Camp Eagle to a blob contest and thought I should share it with you guys in student ministry who might be interested in Camp Eagle or who also just love watching a good blob showdown.

They had no idea we are actually taking our students to Camp Eagle. We rented Camp Eagle for our own camp and will be headed out on the 4th of August.

Check out a preview of the upcoming show that will air Wednesday, July 28th at 10pm est.

You can follow Bert on twitter @BertConquers.

Summer Camp

Gateway had never had a summer camp when I showed up 16 months ago. We made a lot of changes to create energy and environments for students to lead and experience life change. I want to say that the term branding, although secular, is something to take seriously when you're building a ministry. Getting kids to identify and take personal ownership of their community is a very powerful thing. Facebook has been an incredible way for us to communicate and reach out to all of our kids. Even though we have uprisingnews.com, the reality is that facebook is our website... seriously.

By the time we came to camp we had built a reputation that what we said would happen. So when I told kids we were going to give them the best week of their life we delivered. I was so pleased that our very first summer camp ever ended up taking 117 students and 18 leaders. Two years ago I got to take over 250 Flamingo road HS students to Tennessee and then the very next week our team took over 230 MS kids to Southwind in the Fl. panhandle. That was a record for FRC still waiting to be broken for an off campus camp and because of this first year run at Gateway I truly believe I'll get that chance, Lord willing, to load up that many kids again. I love camp. It was phenomenal. The band Courrier also did a great job of worship. We saw about 30 kids take a step toward Christ through salvation. Here are a few highlight reels.

Hey SOUTH FLORIDA friends...

Flamingo Road Church student ministry is asking people to be a part of dinner at Chik-fil-a to help raise money for sending kids to camp. A ton of you guys who followed me while I was at FRC still follow me today so Im asking you to spread the word and be there! Here is the Facebook invite. I don't care who you are or where you live... loving kids and telling them about Christ is something you got to be a part of and support! 20% of the proceeds go to sending kids to camp. If you ive in Florida get your camp info here. 

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2009 5-9PM @

PEMBROKE LAKES MALL FOODCOURT

11401 PINES BLVD

Did somebody say Summer Camp?!

Check out another promo video.

The Uprising will be headed to Camp Buckner July 13-16th. Canp is only $250 and includes meals, transportation, all activities, and lodging.



Sign up before June 13th by turning in a deposit of $75 and you will get the early bird price. After June 13th the cost goes up to $275.



All forms and info is online at http://www.uprisingnews.com

What it looks like to start a camp for your church....

I posted a note to our team through Facebook today. Gateway has never had a summer camp and I'm stoked to be able to lead them into new and incredible things. I thought I would share with you the note. Enjoy.

________________________BELOW_______________________________

Leaders,

There is so much I want to say to you right now. I know that even what I have to say won't be enough to come close to what I know you are going to experience this summer and to what I know God will do with our beautiful students. This morning I took Jon Evans to Camp Buckner and let him see first hand the property, where kids would sleep, meet, eat, and the things they could do there. Watching John get excited it helped me realize that until you are there for yourself and until you experience camp you won't be able to know what is coming. 

There were so many pictures that we took today. I posted all of them on our camp fan page. Here is a picture that kind of sums up what I am feeling today. I hope you will track with me and that it causes you to think. Take a look and then keep reading.

So what you're looking at is a trapeeze bar. It's stationed at the end of a high ropes course that our kids will participate in. This bar is suspended 50 feet in the air. From the ground that doesn't look like much but when you are stanidng on a platform and you have to force your body and summon the courage to leave that platform and grab that bar it's a whole other story. Even though you are strapped in your mind is telling your body it can't be done.

For our kids who take this plunge they will be rewarded with a sense of accomplishment and thrill they remember for the rest of their life along with a whole host of other memmories.

I think about this and I think about us as a ministry. You guys have taken the plunge with me on a lot of things. We have come so far and seen so much over this past year and now I am asking you to take a four day trip with me into the heart of the hill country for the sake of kids. But not only that I am asking you take a leap with me that you will never forget. I can tell you that one week of camp will get you further with these kids relationally and spiritually than an entire year of showing up at the Uprising but until you see it for yourself and take that plunge my words won't have meaning for you. 

But I need you to trust me. I need you to go. I need you to chase after kids. I am already hearing juniors, seniors, and sophomores excited and wanting to go as well as parents asking questions. All we have to do is help them find a way and save their cash. They can do it. They must do it. You have to own this even if you didn't go to camp as a kid or had a bad experience as a kid. This is different. This is us. We will love these kids and create an environment for them that will be out of this world. As we draw closer to it every kid must go! Every kid must be asked. We really shouldn't take no for an answer. They will be so glad they did. 

This will be the best week of their life. Take this plunge with them. No matter what it looks like from here.. we can do it. We must do it.

More to come! 

If you want to see pics of the rooms and accomodations that you won't see on the site click the link below and please join the summer camp fan page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/UPRISING-SUMMER-CAMP/66149662505?ref=ts

Chad

My Interview with Obama

Uprising Presidential Camp Promo from chad swanzy on Vimeo.

contest time

Brian & Jacob at Rethinking Youth Ministry are hosting a contest and are inviting me to share it with all of you who read the blog. There are some pretty sweet prizes being thrown out for just a few thoughts and ideas from you. Jump in on this offer!

Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

One last link...

I swear I have original stuff I write but here is one last link that I stumbled on for student pastors, youth leaders, and anyone who is trying to program games for camp. You will find mounds of stuff at Ultimate Camp Resource.

winter camp set design

This past winter camp we started our first night with a little activity for the high school students that became our backdrop for the evening sessions. Carson laid out an image of Jesus interwoven with our session topics and background a week before we left for camp. She then divided the graphic in sections and then printed each section out. Students were given only one section and a canvas to replicate the section on. They were to only paint their portion not knowing why or what it was for. When we laid them all together it worked well. You can see we have a couple of "specially challenged" painters. It's still cool to see it all come together with artisitic diversity. I got the idea from Leigh Sarti.

winter camp 08 mosh pit

I had to post this video our student worship pastor, Duce, put together from a little family friendly fun our screamo kids had at winter camp. It's early morning on the first day of skiing for the group. Many of our students are in bed after staying up late... but not the screamo boys. They decide to kick the day off with some death metal moshin. Politely I'm prompted to join the party with a gentle invitation on my door. You'll see me walk down the hallway into their room to turn down the music. I'll stretch my arms to embrace the morning in all of it's moshin glory. They disperse then regroup to fetch the camera. s/o Duce.

402

402

I'm back from our winter camp ski trip and it was pretty sick .We had two sprains, one concusion, and a couple of deep contusions. Blue Ridge was a great camp and there was so much tradition here with camping ministry. There si a picture of Billy Graham talking to teenagers at this camp and he looks to be in his 30's when this shot was taken. While we were at Blue Ridge Young Life was hosting a weekend for Clemson College students. I love watching and listening to Young Life leaders talk about kids. It's so refreshing.

Our sessions at camp went very well and I should have some pictures and possibly some session sounds here on the blog.

402 is the number of supscriptions pposts that were in my newsgator when I came back. I have a lot of browsing to do.

Here I am sneaking into a picture of some of our chicas.

winter camp talks

We leave tonight for North Carolina for skiing and winter camp. I am giving three talks focusing on these topics.

1. The omnipotence of God.

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Psalm 65:5-7

2. The omniscience of God.

Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed Him as His counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way? Who was it that taught Him knowledge or showed Him the path of understanding? Isaiah 40:13-14

3. The omnipresence of God.

'Am I only a God nearby,' declares the Lord, 'and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see Him?' declares the Lord. 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' declares the Lord.

winter camp ski trip

This Thursday our high school ministry will be headed off to wolf ridge ski resort for Winter Camp. This year's theme is "inspired." I have good medium sized group of predominately core kids. This will be a good chance for me to actually hang out with kids at camp in a more purposed way than in the past. I'm excited to see my worship director learn how to snowboard as well.

winter camp promotional videos

One of our students, Dan Suarez, put these two videos together to help us promote winter camp. Check them out below.

middle school camp

Here are some pics past to me from middle school camp. Enjoy.

young life book

We took 150 of our middle school students to camp this year and so for 2007 we rented a younglife camp in Oklawaha, FL called Southwind. I was so stoked to take our kids there because I knew that I would be able to put 15 high school kids on work crew to develop their leadership and that our staff was going to be treated awesome. They were overjoyed at younglife's approach to loving kids. I love you Young Life! Anyway, the staff let me borrow this book while I was there. I only got to read three chapters but it was such a great read. First off, I am loving old school student ministry books because people were righting more about relational ministry back then. The paragraphs describing student struggles and leadership was as fresh for today as anything else I could pick up off the shelf. I am also fascinated with Jim Rayburn, what an incredible man, visionary, shepherd, and missionary of young lives. On the back of this book is a picture of Jim and the author pointing towards acreage that would be developed into a camp. Are you kidding me? I would give anything to have been able to sit in the same room as Jim for just five minutes to hear him talk about kids. I have some chills now. Reading this old school book makes me want to go on ebay and see if I can dig up some older treasures. The very first youth book I ever read was "Create in me a Youth Ministry." I got to find that book because I gave it to a high school student long ago.

work crew (middle school camp)

Pastor Matt blogged about his week with us at middle school camp and his care over our work crew. The kids and Pastor Matt did a great job! Read about it here.

New Blogger Liz Mesa

Liz runs our drama at FRC Student Ministry and she has decided to start blogging. She also loaded up some pics of some of our camp characters this year. See the pics below! Read the blog here.

whew

We are back from our middle school camp and it was a blast. I don;t have much time to write but I needed to let everyone know that we had 32 students trust Christ at our midlle school camp and we baptized 27 of them today when they got off the bus. It was a great week of camp. More to write later.