Midweek Moment

This past Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the dedication of the new lodge at our United Methodist youth camp in Leesburg. This newly renovated lodge, Barnett Lodge, sits atop the space where it's predecessor was located, for the past five plus decades.

I have many, many wonderful memories of time I spent in that lodge when I was a young boy. I remember playing games in the fellowship hall, buying candy at the canteen, and rocking in the rocking chairs overlooking the lake. I love our youth camp and the wonderful life-changing events that take place there. In fact, camp is where I accepted Jesus Christ into my life for the very first time.

So this past Saturday, we all gathered to dedicate the newly renovated lodge. By the way, the new building is gorgeous! There are now meeting rooms for small groups, adequate office space for the vital support staff, and more dining halls to accommodate the growing number of campers.

But more than all of that, was the purpose for why we were there. All of us had memories of camp. All of us have seen first hand the power of camp. All of us love that camp. As we were sitting in the fellowship hall for worship, our host, Rev. Bill Barnes, spoke to us about the cloud of witnesses. He spoke to us about the saints that had gone before us that made sure camp happened, that worked to give the Holy Spirit a place to move, as well as the people that had served so faithfully to give young people a place to sit with God.

It is so vital that we as believers continue to instill our faith in the next generation. It is extremely important that we speak out about our faith, live our faith publicly, and that we are always willing to spend time with others and tell them what our faith means to us.

So my challenge for you this week is this. Look for teaching opportunities. Be in prayer about ways you can volunteer your time and wisdom so the next generation is not left with a vacuum of faith stories and lessons. Maybe you volunteer with a civic organization like Guardian Ad Litem or Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Maybe you give of your time and talent to help create and build a children's program here at Druid Hills. I just encourage you to reach out. Teach what you know, give of your knowledge. You all have wisdom to give and lessons to impart. Be bold in that and help influence the next generation for the building of God's Kingdom. Together we can empower the next generation be a cloud of witnesses ourselves.

Blessings,