What better way to get a glimpse of the first day of Explorer Camp than to read words Church of the Redeemer Pastor Jon Taylor shared via email with his congregation. This is an excerpt:
Do you know the difference between a coral snake and a red rat snake? The kids who came to Explorer Camp today do! And not only that, they got to touch and hold two snakes (non-venomous, of course), courtesy of "B", the 88-year-old retired Alabama teacher [Lois Callen, mother to Leslie Edwards]. God gave us such a perfect day to set this week in motion.
There were the 12 team members from Birmingham, 12 adult helpers from CTR, and 33 children! They played games, sang, heard God's story of Creation, practiced archery, hiked into the "puckerbrush," enjoyed lunch together in the gazebo, and made new friends. The Derryfield Park is so lush and conducive to this kind of outreach. In all, it was a great, great day! We praise God for this dedicated, talented team leading the week.
This afternoon the team and several CTR members fanned out in the 99 Mammoth neighborhood to place door hangers advertising our upcoming move to the neighborhood. They had many positive interactions, including some who are looking for a church. We pray that God uses these investments of time and effort for his glory.
 |
| Learning to build shelters for survival in the woods. |
 |
| Burney and Roger Johnson teaching archery skills. |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Monica Stewart leading small group time. | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Dan Edwards telling the Bible story. |
 |
| Explorer Camp allows everyone to run some! |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Each day ends with an opportunity to reach into B's "Feely Box" to see what nature treasures it holds. | | |
|
|
 |
| Everyone eventually gets a turn to reach into the box, pull out an object, and guess what it is. The box is full of animal bones, shells, antlers, etc. Some of the objects are a little tricky to identify! |
 |
| After Explorer Camp ended at 2 p.m. Cov Pres team members joined members from Church of the Redeemer to place these hangtags on the doors of homes in the neighborhood of their new building. Thank you, Paul Loyless, for getting these produced for us! Pray that many become aware of and visit Church of the Redeemer as a result. |
