I am back in the 225, the BR, or that dirty red stick. Whichever you prefer, I am here and will be back here for at least the next four months. I am not saying that I am up and out after that time, but I know that I will for sure be here for that long. I graduate in December and then grown up life will surely kick in as I job hunt and do all those types of things.
I had a blast at camp this summer and learned so much from my time there. The transition back home is always strange and full of processing of what the Lord has done at camp. This time is no different. After many days of thinking on some stuff, I think I am starting to get some of the things the Lord taught me.
When you are at camp, obedience to the Lord's calling in our life to make disciples is almost automatic. We are at camp to make disciples and share the gospel, so we do. College students that are passionate about the Lord come to share Jesus with others day after day, regardless of how unbelievably tired they are. I got the cool opportunity to focus on pouring into college staff rather than campers this summer. I still spoke to many campers about Christ, but my main mission field this summer was college students. Like I said earlier, this process of discipleship really was not optional in a camp setting. I led a group time every morning, counselors came to me when they needed me, and it was my job to hold them accountable to a standard of excellence. This is one of the things that makes the Pine Cove camp environment so unique. I did life with these people, and all we were focused on was sharing the Gospel.
Now that I am home I have school, friends, job stuff, a phone, sports and a million other things that have my attention. So the question is, how do I come home and actively obey Christ through disciple-making when I am not in an environment that fosters it?
I really do believe that making disciples is something that all Christians are called to do. Regardless of circumstance or difficulty, we were told to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19 ESV) I think that it is critical for us to understand the difference between disciples and coverts. We are not called to show people Christ, get them to accept Him and leave them. We are called to make them disciples of Jesus Christ. A disciple is someone that is a student of the person that they are following. They learn how to make themselves replicas of Jesus through the Jesus they see in another person.
It is also important for us to know that as Christians, obedience to the word of God is vital. The Bible says to make disciples, so we must do it. Jesus asked God to take the cup of His wrath away from Him, but God chose not to. Jesus, being God, humbled himself and became OBEDIENT to death, even to death on a cross (Phillipians 2). Jesus was God, and had the power of God, but chose to hang on a cross for us. He chose not to save himself. That is a perfect picture of obedience and how we should live our lives. We should consider ourselves nothing and obey.
While I have been in youth ministry for four years and working at Pine Cove for three summers, I can honestly say I have not consciously made an effort to disciple others. I do believe that I have shared Christ with many people and helped them grow in their walk with the Lord, but with not as much intentionality as I might have liked. God has made the picture much bigger this summer and made me realize I need to get on board.
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