Daily Rewind Videos From Camp
Here are the recap videos from our camp this past week. Each day Riverview put together a recap video to show at each of the morning sessions.
We are hard at work at making the RHCC recap video filled with photos, videos, baptisms, and so much more from last week as well too. When we have finished that we will let you know!
Travel Update
We just pulled out of the Dalles. According to the GPS we are due to be home at 7:10 pending no traffic.
See you soon!
Thanks Kennewick For Lunch
We just pulled out of the Tri-Cities area with full stomachs and a boost of energy. The bus is alive with conversations and laughter. Here are some pics from lunch! We are excited to come home and see all our families and loved ones.
As of now we are still on schedule for a 7-7:30 arrival window.
We will post again after our final rest stop. The only factor then that’ll be out of our hands will be friday night traffic!
On Our Way Home
We are on the bus and on our way home! We took off around 9:45 this morning which was a little earlier than originally planned. We will keep you posted on any delays to our arrival but for now we are on schedule!
How To Welcome Your Teenager Home From Camp
Here is an article that was passed along to us that is worth reading and has some great insight on acclimating your students back into their home life after being in a camp community for a week.
• • • • •
We prepare diligently prior to departure but often miss an opportunity to help our adolescent return from camp well. Here are some ideas to help your teenager maximize the positive social, physical, emotional, and spiritual impact of their experience at camp.
1. Listen attentively.
Your son or daughter will return home tired. For some the fatigue makes them excited and talkative, for others it leads to grumpiness and silence. Don’t try to drag out too much information on the ride home. The next best activity for your son or daughter may be rest.
2. Filter your questions.
Let your student guide the conversation. Pay attention to what they are saying, and also to what they are not saying. Look and listen for a few key nuggets.
3. Offer them their favorite meal.
Though camp food might be good [or it might not], your child is likely longing for something to eat that is familiar and substantial. A meal is a great place for the family to listen to their stories.
4. Temper your expectations.
Try not to communicate unrealistic expectations about responsible life change, but rather applaud any movement toward growth. This week at camp is one smaller part of a bigger and longer journey in their emotional, physical, social, and spiritual development. Your adolescent needs a fan that is cheering them on as they grow up.
5. Remember the [pre] adolescent journey.
By definition, pre-teens and adolescents are very self-focused and most of their experience at camp will be defined through the filter of “me.” Use this as an opportunity to affirm their journey of self-discovery.
6. Ask about friends.
It is almost impossible for an adolescent to separate their relationship with parents, other adults, or God, from their relationship with friends. Who did you hang out with? Did you make any new friends? When will you see them again? It is likely there will be some drama between friends to navigate.
7. Look at pictures.
Having your son or daughter show you their pictures, even if just the big camp photo, is a great way for them to share their memories and experiences. Have them point out friends and adult leaders they enjoyed.
8. Explore themes.
Ask your son or daughter to tell you what the speakers, cabin times, and solo times were about. Keep it simple and guide them into articulating one key discovery from the week. Don’t pry too much since these changes may be something they would rather share with their friends, small group, or other adult leaders.
9. Keep them connected.
An experience at camp is often a launching pad for new friendships within a youth group through Young Life, a school club, or at a local church. Maximize the partnership between you as a parent and the youth group leadership. Be sure to find a way to thank your teenager’s camp leaders. Do the extra work helping them get to the next meeting of the youth group.
Wednesday Night…
Today was a great day.
For the past few days my experience of camp has been seen through the viewfinder of a video camera. I’ve been running around from the water front, to the archery arena, to the slide, the paintball course, the high ropes course, the low ropes course, the repelling wall, the tabernacle, various cabins, and not to mention all the visits back to the water front to video tape all the blobbing that was taking place. Needless to say, we have hours of footage that I am excited to get home and start piecing together for our camp recap video. Hopefully I’ll be able to do the week justice from the footage we have captured throughout this week.
ANYWHO…I was able to set the camera down today and play…and play hard. One thing that has been a great learning experience for both Pastor Mark and myself is the role that we find ourselves serving in this year. Because the camp provides the speaking and worship, we weren’t needed to serve those roles like we have for the past several years at camp. We are not small group leaders because then we are only able to build into a select few students and not interact with the others or be pulled away to deal with “issues” in other groups. So this year Mark, Myself, and Laurie McAllister are here to serve as builders who invest into the small group leaders who are investing in our students. Because of the nature of this role, we have been able to play with all the students, sit in on several different cabins and see all the cool things that are happening during these times, and we are able to help out with our leaders when they come to us with questions or situations.
I spent most of the day down at the water front trying to keep up with the energy level of these students. They are like my dog Zoe at home…no matter how hard they play, they never run out of energy.
After the afternoon festivities we got cleaned up and headed back down to the waterfront for an amazing BBQ dinner. For the next hour or so we sat around and laughed, wrestled, told jokes, and enjoyed life with each other over some delicious cheeseburgers.
Tonight at our session Dave tackled the topic of the cross. Dave is a science teacher up here in Spokane and from what I have heard, he was either Washington’s Teacher of the Year last year, or was a runner up in the competition. He is very passionate about our King and it was obvious tonight in our session. He gave the facts on how and why Jesus is real from a scientific, mathematical, theological, and historical standpoint. He stripped it all the way down to the point where it comes down to our own will. Are we willing to follow the Truth, or turn from it and do our own thing knowing full well that Christ is real.
Our groups are currently in their small group time and tonight in lieu of a night game, the students are coming back to the Tabernacle (the chapel) to have desert and have an all-camp talent show. Looking forward to some great acts from both students and leaders. I’m sure there are going to be some memorable moments tonight and tears of laughter will be shed.
So far camp has been accident-free. Just a couple scrapes and bruises but nothing serious. Praise God for that! We did take one boy into the hospital today because he had some pretty swollen glands and wasn’t feeling good at all. So it was more of a precautionary decision, but the student is back here at camp and feeling better already.
Tomorrow is our last full day and we are going to finish strong! Be in prayer for that supernatural strength and endurance for the students and leaders who are feeling weary and tired. Pray that tomorrow will be even better than all these previous days combined together!
We will try to post pictures tomorrow morning from the past few days as well as from the talent show tonight too!
Pastor Tyler
Tuesday Night Update
The internet has been up and down here and so the updates have not been as frequent as we were hoping for. So our apologies for the lack of updates…
Today was great! The weather was a little cooler than yesterday which was nice. The weather was still up in the high 80’s, but the cloud cover made it feel cooler than yesterday.
We just finished up our evening session for tonight and Dave is doing a great job teaching God’s word to your students. Tonight we looked at corruption and how sin, no matter how big or small, separates us from God. Although the idea of sin and being set apart from God’s holiness is a well known sunday school story for many of our students, Dave did an incredible job with painting this concept in a whole new way for our students. You will have to ask your kids about “the chili dog talk” when you see them later this week.
Right now the students are in their cabins talking about separation and how Satan uses that as his game-plan, whereas God’s plan is all about reuniting and repairing. Be praying that the Spirit will guide these conversations and work on the hearts of both students and leaders as they share tonight and tomorrow morning on this topic.
So many questions about God and His epic story have been asked that thursday morning we will be having a campwide Q&A with our speaker where students will be able to ask him any question they have. It’s been neat to see the light bulb come on for many of the students and begin to question why they believe what they believe or how do they know they are saved. These are great questions that we often as adults wrestle with as well.
God is good and His Spirit is doing a great work in their hearts and it is so exciting to witness this transformation as they continue to learn to live and think like Jesus.
Pastor Tyler
The Night Is Young…
The night may be young, but it’s been a long day.
I can’t believe the 4:15 alarm this morning was actually THIS morning!
The bus ride up here was great. It was a great time of fellowship, community, and lots of movies. It was cool to see the students and leaders take advantage of the 8 hour long bus ride and use it as a time to invest in each other, rather than gripe about “how much further till camp?”. Leaders had time to go around and individually meet with students in their small groups on the bus and get to know more about them as a person, their hobbies, their family, and hopefully got a glimpse of their story that they call life.
Once we got to camp things went into overdrive. I might be off on my numbers here, but there very well could be well over 300 students here. 125 of them are from RHCC. The students had time to get settled into their cabins and explore the camp grounds before dinner.
After dinner (which was really good!!!) we had our first session in “The Tab” which is short for the tabernacle. Sixteen Cities (www.sixteencities.com) are here this week to lead the students and staff in worship and our speaker this week is a guy name Dave (last name unknown) who is a teacher from the local area who teaches science in the public schools. He did a great job kicking things off talking about God’s “EPIC” story and how it all began. He drove home the fact that God (the trinity 3 in 1) was the author and perfecter of not only you and me, but of all creation. He began to paint the picture of how we all are woven in together in God’s grand story and has really set it up for a great week of sessions and discussions.
Here are some prayer requests you can be praying for:
• Pray for our leaders as they lead these students in our small group cabin times. Last week at camp here they said that they had 50 first time decisions to follow Christ and they ALL took place in the cabin small group times NOT in the main sessions. So be praying that the Spirit will be flowing in and out of all conversations and questions that are discussed during these times.
• Prayer for continued safety here at camp. Darla Maier who is a mom of one of our students came as our camp nurse originally but is now the camp nurse of the entire camp (she knew before so this wasn’t a surprise). Be praying for her and her helpers as the tend to our students throughout the week. Often times the major sickness they deal with is homesickness. Pray for those opportunities to be Christ to those students who are missing their families back home.
• Pray for energy and strength. Like I said earlier, the night is young. We have free time, then dessert, then an all out night game and lights out won’t be until 11:00pm tonight. So pray that students sleep hard tonight so that way tomorrow morning we can hit the ground running.
Thanks for your prayers and sending your students with us to camp this year. Such a fun group and I know that as amazing as they are now, it’s going to be one large family by the end of the week!
Until next time…
Tyler
And We’re Off…
We are off to camp! However this year this adventure is a new one for everyone involved. For the past 10 years we have ran our own camp up in Yelm at retreat center there. Over lots of prayer and discussion we felt God was closing that chapter on us and opening up a new one.
This summer we are off to Riverview Bible Camp in Cusick, Washington north of Spokane.
We are joining up with other local youth groups for a week that is going to be epic. I say “epic” because that is theme of our camp this year. We will be challenged to answer the call to live out our part in God’s “epic” story.
We are excited for what God has done already leading up to this week, and for all the amazing things the Spirit is going to do this upcoming week. Be praying for our leaders and our students this week that we will be safe, have fun, and come back living more like Jesus.
678live's Blog 