Today We Started at THE Beginning

The children heard and saw a very creative version of the creation story first thing this morning. It was acted out by our high school team members using a bag of crazy stuff they had never seen before. They had to think quickly and use their creativity. It was really fun!

Working Out of the Back of a Truck

Every day we haul our gear to be ready for camp. You never know what will come out of Dan's truck!

We Are Thankful

Some of you may have heard that just as Dan made it to the Maine state line, he was rear-ended. We are thankful that he, Lois, and all of the camp stuff they were hauling were safe. The car may be a little worse for the wear!

RAIN!!!

Rain go away! ...but no one seems to care about it now that I look around.

Great start to camp. Nearly 80 children if I heard correctly. 40 more joining us tomorrow! Team is awesome. Great God stories being reported right off the bat!

Site visit...

http://www2.portlandschools.org/ocean-avenue-school-project

This is a link to see the school where we will spend the next week. It's very very cool. Check it out, but also pray that it will be holy ground for the next week. Pray for safety. Also pray, as Pastor Dan asked us to pray, that as we share our story, we listen to the children's stories and share His story. Lots of stories this week.

Today the team had great energy and a lot of fun. Worship with CTR was awesome. CTR is just awesome...they worship and love each other with abandon.

Sunday, July 17

New Testament Reading: Philippians 2:19-30
Old Testament Reading: Psalm 37:23-26

Points to Ponder
1. In the same way Paul sent Timothy and Epaphroditus to the Philippians, Covenant has sent us to Portland. Why are we here? What is our mission while here?
2. Be on the alert today for ways to:
a. Be a brother
b. Be a fellow worker
c. Be a fellow soldier
3. Whose interests should we look out for today?

Pray for:
-- Team members Burney and Roger Johnson
-- Protection in travel for team members arriving today
-- CTR, their ongoing witness in Portland, and today's worship with them
-- Flexibility and creativity as we see our camp site for the first time
-- Children who haven't heard about camp to be invited today by a friend and decide to attend starting tomorrow
-- The storms predicted for tomorrow won't affect us

Maine evangelicals. Not mainstream.

We will post some clips later but for now I just want to share this bit of one story. We shot in front of the church where early early in our nation a spiritual fight occurred. First against the gospel, then for it, now again against it.

Note this excerpt from the current church website: "Reverend xyz impressed upon his congregation that they should be concerned more with ethics and less with theology. He had no use for the horrors of Calvinism; he denied the trinity and the orthodox doctrine of atonement, but still did not go as far as the (the current denomination that uses the building)"

It's part of the history of the area and expresses the foundation of why the area see evangelical and Calvinism the way the do. Not a favorable viewpoint.

We're not in Kansas anymore...