God's presence

You know that feeling you get when you can really feel God move in the room?

Tonight (Friday) at worship the last few songs (In Christ Alone and Everlasting) I could really feel God move in the room.  I could really feel Him in the room and I felt Him there listening to 600 youth and adults praise Him and worship Him with everything we have.

Thanks to all that are praying for us.  We are having a great week.

Nathan Daugherty

Why we love camp

I'm sure that some people are wondering why camp means so much to the youth. I say that because I've asked that question many times myself, and God has recently blessed me with an answer.
We love camp so much because it gives us a time to fellowship with each other and many other people who love God just as much as we do.
It's a time where we can let things off our chest to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It helps us realize that we are not alone in our beliefs, because at school, sometimes you honestly feel like you are. It gives us a week to just get away from everyday life and enjoy ourselves and grow closer as a family, because we are, and a family shares its pains, joys, and burdens. It helps us to broaden our views of Christ, and gives us a chance to examine our lives and center them around God.
Basically, camp is our one week where we have us, our God, and northing else.

Josh Ball

This Wednesday - July 13th

This Wednesday we will continue to have our regular youth times. We will NOT be doing the same activities that we originally had scheduled.

We won't be able to do Lakeside or the field trip. Instead this Wednesday we will be working on preparing for VBS and the camp service. We will stay at the Lighthouse until we need to go over to church for "The Point".

I would also like to ask for help on future Wednesdays. After this week we have VBS. We will still have our lakeside and field trip before VBS but instead of "The Point" we will be having VBS (obviously). The week after I will be at Cedarmore chaperoning Kid's Camp. I DO NOT want to cancel Lakeside or the field trip so if there is an adult that would like to step up and help me out this week that would be wonderful. If you are interested in taking over for me, please let me know. We will not be doing a lot of heavy work at the Lakeside. We will be installing large garbage cans, park benches, and picnic tables.



With all of that being said, I also wish to ask any adult that if they are available, I really would like to have you help me out in future Wednesday activities (Lakeside, Field Trips). Everyone knows about the infamous "Toilet incedent". This obviously could not have been forseen, but it has shown me the need for more adult help on Wednesdays. Obviously I pray that nothing happens to me, but I really need another adult present to not only be there if something like this happens again, but to also help me out in general. If you are available on Wednesdays please let me know ASAP! If you know of an adult that would be available give me their contact info, or have them see me.

I hope you all enjoyed an awesome week of camp. I can't wait to share with the rest of the church how God worked in all of your lives!

Fixin' Up

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share a little about how I have seen God working in our lives this week. I (Tiffany Brown aka as Bro. Thom's wife aka Lucy's mom) have had the pleasure of chaperoning the High School Girls room along with Emily Brown.  The girls have been an absolute pleasure to be with.  We've smiled, and giggled and had some serious talks.  I enjoy each one of them.  Yesterday during their TAWG (Time Alone With God) time, one of the girls spoke out about reaching out to the middle school girls.  They wanted each of the high school girls to write a middle school girl a note and leave it somewhere they'll find it.  The girls immediately agreed that they would love to do that and started calling out names of people who they would like to write to. 
As the girls continued talking about how they'd like to connect with the middle school girls they came up with the idea of giving the girls a little "pampering" before the evening worship service. The middle school girls loved getting their hair fixed by the high school girls. They came out into the lobby looking so happy.  We took a few of them outside and did a few "glamour shots". 
I was so proud of our high school girls for including the younger ones on their own.  All of us have a want and a need to feel included at some point in time and it is awesome to see the girls living this out!
After fixing up their outside, we went to worship and talked about fixing our insides.  Pastor Rob talked about forgiveness: forgiveness for others, forgiving ourselves and how God forgives us.  God really spoke to many students through the message and they spent some time last night talking and praying over some issues that God was stirring up in them.
It is evident that God has been and is working this week.  Keep on praying!!

-Tiffany Brown

My Story

I am having so much fun at camp so far!  I have learned a lot about God and what He has done for us.  My family are believers in Christ, but we don't go to church or really know anything about God.  Last year was the first time I was ever taught how to use a Bible.  It was also my first year at camp.  But this year I realized

I want a relationship with God, and I don't wanything at home to get in the way.  I don't want to let my self have excuses.  Ialso want to tell my family about God and everything He does.  I am learning a lot from our pastor and small group leader. 

There is this thing called "The Beyond Effect" where you have a burden and a passion and put it together.  Last year I really wanted to have little girls that are in the hospital for a sickness, have a pageant show for them.  Dress them up in clothes and make up and make them feel pretty.  I really would love to do this but I need prayers and help for this.

Taylor Barhorst

I love my youth group!

I think we have the best.  We include everyone, we help people if they are sad or mad.  So I think that I have the best youth group ever.
We need to be united.  We also don't need to split.  Also I am blessed to have everyone.  But you would never ever be left out cause we all love each other.
We are a family.  I don't think that you could a better youth group to be with.  I am probably the youngest right now.  My age is 11, in 2011, and i am included, everyone loves me cause they include me so I know they love me.  Also we include smaller kids like Eli Pendley.  We let him play football with us.  We include Eli, we never stop including!

Nichole Daugherty

ACTS - Prayer

I learned a new way to pray.  The ACTS way:

A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication

Sarah Setters

Protecting one of our own

Yesterday was really hot.  I'm not just saying it was unpleasant.  It was hot, humid, and it made you feel like you were moving in slow motion.
One of our students got a little hot yesterday during lunch.  He thought he was going to be sick so he quickly ran to the bathroom.
It was awesome to see our students take action.  Our guys and girls came to his side to make sure he was okay.  We had a few boys inside the bathroom with him, and many of them outside waiting and praying for him to feel better.
This is what we should look for when we are searching for spiritual growth.  Nobody had to ask the youth to do any of this.  Our students genuinely care about one another.  Throughout the rest of the day I heard many students checking up on this one to make sure he was okay.  They didn't do it to be recognized.
We are seeing a lot of growth throughout our students.  I've seen many of the older youth step up in major ways.  We've seen students presenting the gospel to others.  We've seen students talk about difficult issues with one another.  Our students just won't give up!  Praise God!

Continue to pray for our students that they remain safe and healthy.

FYI - Ben felt much better later that afternoon.  Everything is back to normal.

TAWG - Time Alone With God

So these first couple days have been very good spiritually for me. I have already come to new terms with myself and my prayer life.


Myself and a few of the other guys have really taken time to examine what prayer is and how it is to really communicate with God. I am already working on the application and redefinition of prayer in my life.

Things are going very good so far and I am hoping that the rest of this week goes as well as these first few days and I hope I come back as a new, stronger Christian. We’ll see how this goes.

                                                                 Christopher Setters

Youtube Channel

I will be loading camp videos to this blog, but to check out all of our videos visit our new Oak Ridge Youth channel on Youtube.

www.youtube.com/orbyouth

Sorry about the sound quality and the rough edits.  We'll fix that when we get back from camp and have more time!

Reunited and it feels so good

So our youth got a little surprise this year... Mr. Curtis Bales!

He's been a part of the youth group for the past 3 years.  Unfortunately, last year after camp he moved to Grant County.

Our students were missing Curtis and camp kept reminding them that he was gone.  Little did they know that I was in contact with Curtis for the past couple of months.

So we stopped at the Flying J in Walton.  The bus stopped and I got off.  As soon as Curtis's van door opened, I heard a roar of screaming and applause coming from the students on the bus.

This video is Curtis entering the bus.  The students honored him with a "slow clap" and a big hug!

Here's a taste of what we've been up to so far!

We're here!!!

I just wanted to drop in a say that we made it here safe and sound!

I will have videos and pics soon.  We are currently having free time so a lot of our students are playing basketball and volleyball.

It is such a blessing to look out at all of the campers and see almost 30 blue shirts walking around interacting with other Christians.

Continue praying for a safe week!

Camp is just hours away...

Okay, I realize that by posting this I reveal that I am just as bad as the students.  It's 2:50 in the morning right now and I can't get to sleep.  I've tried everything I can think of but I am way to excited about camp this year.

We have 28 students attending camp.  That is the most students I have ever brought to camp.
We also have 6 chaperones (plus one driver!) that will be joining us for camp which brings our total number to 35!!!

As most of you know I had a little run in with a broken toilet that left me with 20 stitches in my left arm.  I'm feeling fine right now, but unfortunately it made it so that I couldn't drive the new church bus.  I will still be going to camp, but I just wasn't able to safely drive that size of a vehicle with stitches in my left wrist.  Thankfully Bro. Byron has stepped up and is willing to drive us down.  I cannot thank you enough Bro. B for helping us.  Please take some time to thank Byron.  Before I could even ask him, he already offered to take us down!

My injury has brought me some good news and bad news.  The bad news is that I won't be able to participate in many of the physical activities (i.e. blobbing).  I also know that we have 2 men that are more than capable to fill my place when it comes to blobbing!

The good news:  I will be able to do more on here!  You will have more updates as well as more pics of your kids on here.  Also, I have started a new youtube channel that will have camp videos of our students.  Soon you will actually get to see video of your students!

I'll try to update this as much as possible!  You can see that even though I have a slight injury I can still type.

Also a new feature...  We will be having guest bloggers this week!  You guys will get sick of hearing from me everyday so I will be picking random campers/chaperones to write a guest post from their point of view!

So now is the time to start praying!  Pray for our students, pray for our chaperones, pray for our drivers, pray for the camp workers, and most importantly, pray that God's name will be glorified this week!