Hello everyone,

Well it has been a wild and crazy week!  I just got home a few days ago from SpiritUs 2009. The weekend went great with a balance of missions, fellowship, and worship like I have never seen before at a camp.  This was the first year that we intentionally added a missions day to the schedule.  On Saturday morning, the campers raised enough money for and worked to package 20,000 meals.  If you add those numbers to the meals done the first weekend, the total number of meals prepared for Stop Hunger Now was 38,090!  Praise God! Later that afternoon, each youth group ventured to different areas of Brunswick County, NC to participate in local mission projects.  53 projects where completed on that afternoon which included home repair, yard work, environmental cleanup, nonprofit thrift store assistance, senior adult ministry, food ministry, church repair, and Fort Caswell beautification.  The youth at ORUMC helped in a community garden in the Wilmington area by picking vegetables, weeding, and planting.  We will be posting pictures from the weekend on the SpiritUs site very soon.  I will post that link when the pictures are available.

On Sunday the youth were able to participate in many different fun activities such as basketball, putt putt, volleyball, kayaking, sailing, swimming in pool and ocean, jam with the band, and hanging out in the game room.  These events brought the youth closer together and provided a time of relaxation and fun.

Throughout the entire weekend the worship was top notch.  The theme of service and missions permeated all that was said.  Shane Claiborne led the services with his radical messages of loving the least of these.  He challenged the youth to take the words of Jesus seriously.  The worship band Hudson made it clear that they were there for God’s glory and not their own.  Their musical talents and message provided an avenue of worship that made it easy for the youth to experience God’s presence within the sanctuary. Visit www.hudsonofficial.com to check them out.

Praise God for a great weekend!