What A Weekend!

This last weekend was incredible at New Song! It started Friday with our men's camping trip up at Sunset Campground - Union Valley Resevoir. I have not gone camping since I was a kid in Boy Scouts and so I was somewhat unprepared for the adventure, but it was great! I slept on a rock without a mat and didn't bring a flash light so I had a rough night, but the food and fellowship were great!

Over two dozen guys went up for the weekend to spend quality time with God, hang out together, laugh at stories around the camp fire, and encourage each other. (The plan is to repeat this camping trip the last weekend in September every year, so mark your calendar now).

The highlights for me included being able to spend a couple of hours with God sitting by the lake. For the past few months, my devotional time has been spent reading through the Psalms. Sitting there at the lake, reading through the Psalms and listening to music helped me really connect with God and get break. There is something encouraging about getting away from my normal routine that gives me perspective and a chance to look at what's going on under the surface in my life. God really seems to encourage me the most when I can be still and just listen to his voice.

On Saturday afternoon, we all went shooting at a target range that we set up in a field near our campsite. For about four hours we shot clay pigeons, targets, Pepsi cans, and tree stumps. We had a collection of about a dozen different guns to shoot (pistols, shotguns, a ruger, a mauser, etc.) I don't get to go shooting very often and it was a blast! The best part was just sitting around talking with the guys and laughing together as we hit (or missed) targets. What a blast!


On Saturday night I had to drive back down the hill to prep for Sunday morning's message and so I missed the last campfire. It was encouraging to see all of the guys come down the hill and make it to church to join us. On the way down, Ben Brown and I stopped at In-N-Out Burger where Ben ate his first double double. Ben is from Michigan where such amazing things don't exist. Ben also shot a gun for the first time on Saturday at the range. We were pretty suspicious of that fact though after he hit 20 out of 25 clay pigeons with the shot gun. I only hit 12. Ben attributed his expert accuracy to playing video games. Guess they are good for something.

On Sunday, we got to celebrate with baptisms! God is good! I always get excited watching people make a public display of their faith and get baptized! One of the things I pray for our church is that someday we see people get baptized every single Sunday. The Bible says in Acts that "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." I pray that would be true at New Song and we would see the results every week through baptisms. Take a minute today to pray with me that God uses us to make him famous and see people baptized every Sunday at New Song!