Thursday, July 12, Day Four of Manchester Explorer Camp

Every day begins with the little things like loading all of the gear needed for the day and filling coolers full of ice to keep drinks and lunches cold.

Monica Stewart led the younger girls in making foil pictures depicting some of "the things God made."

 The children heard lessons each day from 1 Timothy 4:12. The girls wrote the Bible reference on the back of their foil art. Monica used the opportunity to show the girls where to find it in the Bible and allowed them to read it there.

Burney Johnson told the Christmas story and enlisted the help of some "sheep."

Burney and more of his Christmas story "actors."

Dan and Koyla Edwards and their group of young boys showing off their muscles!

Leslie Edwards taught the girls how to read a compass and then let them practice before they hit the orienteering course.

The older boys learn gun safety with some target practice.

They learned the proper way to hold a gun.

And not to be outdone by the boys, the girls got their own gun safety lesson.

They got to keep their targets as evidence of their skills.


 

Hitching a ride back from orienteering.

Dan teaches water investigation.

Water microscopes are used to look closely at the "creatures" found in the pond.

Gotcha!!!

Wednesday, July 11, Wet Day!!

This day was called Wet Day! After the singing and Bible story, Burney Johnson and Dan Edwards, along with helpers, led the kids in many games. We broke for lunch and covey groups. While these camp activities were happening, others were filling water balloons, setting up kiddie pools for water kick ball and slip-n-slides, to, well, slip and slide!

Then the craziness, fun, and a whole lot of laughter began. Pictures tell most of the story. 400 water balloons were thrown and burst within three minutes. When out of ammunition, Dan and Roger Johnson resorted to picking up a kiddie pool with the sole purpose of getting Sam, one of the campers, wet. They almost got him.

Dan says that he has two goals to accomplish when working with kids--1. Plant the seeds of the gospel of Christ, and 2. Have FUN! Both were accomplished on this day!

When camp was over in the afternoon, our team, along with several kids and Pastor Jon Taylor, drove up into the White Mountains through Concord (I found out that the correct pronunciation of this town is CON-cerd, slurring the last syllable). We enjoyed walking and seeing the beautiful sites of this area. We ended the afternoon trip eating pizza just off Lake Winnipasaukee.--Leslie Edwards

A Summary of Tuesday

After registration, names, and games, each morning we settled down to sing with Burney leading and Roger playing the guitar. With the help of Bresca, a CTR choir member, we sang rounds of "Father, I Adore You," "Jesus Lamb of God" and then "More Precious than Gold." Burney taught the opening Bible study on God's creating the world, God saving His people in Egypt by parting the Red Sea, God saving His people through a young boy named David in a fight with Goliath, God saving His people through sending His Son to be born (we celebrated Christmas in July with a pageant and carols, too!), and Jesus feeding the 5,000. His Word was declared.

The children were grouped by ages into small groups that we called "covey" groups. Monica Stewart led the older girls' covey and Carter Stewart led the older boys' covey. They taught through 1 Timothy 4:12 using testimonies, games, and good times of sharing to show how young people in Christ are to set an example in speech, conduct, faith, love, and purity.

Dan led the younger childrens' group and taught them Bible concepts through the stories of a little girl named Juli-with-an-i. It was so neat to look over the grassy hill and see the three groups quietly listening after lunch in the shade of the trees!

Of course, each day had our activities. Snakes and archery and crafts filled Monday and Tuesday. It was always fun to hear kids say, "Oh, No! SNAKES!" but soon see them touch and then hold a snake. Of course not all the adults liked the snakes. One Cov Pres adult was not too sure about the snakes, but calmly took it when handed to him. One of the pictures showed his caution with them as he clearly was outside the circle holding the snake!--Leslie Edwards

Tuesday Afternoon, July 10

There were more door hangers to distribute, so this afternoon, the team spread out in the neighborhood around the buildling Church of the Redeemer is buying. Some of the folks from CTR joined the Cov Pres team in this effort. "The kids were running up and down the streets delivering hangers fast. It was crazy!" said Dan Edwards. "We thought we had 500 hangers but discovered we had distributed almost 1,000! That surprised us!" According to Dan and CTR Pastor Jon Taylor, some meaningful conversations took place as the hangers were distributed. Jon said they talked with a few people who said they were looking for a church home. They have now been invited to CTR!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Burney Johnson is great at leading kids of all ages in games.

It looks like sometimes the KIDs lead Burney in the games!

And if the games grow old....

before Burney's back gives out, there is more fun to be had!

Today the little girls learned all about archery and what it means to hit the mark.

Burney and Roger Johnson led music in the pavilion.

The boys got to meet the snakes and...

try their hand at archery.

Lois "B" Callen introduces Carter Stewart's group to her snakes.

Monday, July 9, First Day of Explorer Camp

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.