Hey, welcome to another episode of dwell on these things. My name is David. I'm the podcast administrator here at dwell community church. Today's episode features a recording back from July with camp directors, quest Shannon and Shane Coulter to register for camps or more information on Epic or blog camps. You can go to dwellcc.org slash Epic to get information on both those camps. If you want more podcast episodes, you can go to dwellcc.org slash podcast. And for any related content, go to dwellcc.org. All right, here's a summer camp recap featuring Shane Coulter and quest Shannon hosted by Brian Adams. Welcome to dwell on these things, a podcast by dwell community church in Columbus, Ohio, where we hear stories and examples of how God is moving in the church at dwell and around the world. Welcome to dwell on these things. My name is Brian Adams. My role here at dwell is to oversee our student ministries. And today with me, I have the directors of our high school and middle school summer camps, Shane Coulter and quest Shannon guys were recording this just a couple of days after camp ended. How are you holding up? Have you recovered? Uh, getting there still a little sick. I don't know if you can hear it, but yeah, uh, getting better. No, we, we both have a one-year-old daughter. So after the wife, having the kid for the week, you get home and we're on 6 AM duty, so no, we're definitely not recovered. There's no rest. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. Well, uh, you guys did a great thing running this camp and, um, these, these, these respective camps. And, uh, it was a really fruitful week for both of your guys' ministries. That's really, that's really exciting. Now I know, you know, I many years running Epic and, uh, I know from personal experience, how difficult it can be to encapsulate an entire week of camp into a few words, but you know, the best of our ability, why don't you guys just sum up some of the main spiritual highlights that you guys saw this past week? Yeah, I would say that, um, one of the really encouraging things about Epic the last couple of years is seeing in our high school ministry, that's really shifted where most of the ministry are kids that didn't grow up in the church, they didn't grow up believers. And so a lot of the investment the past couple of years is trying to help these students to develop more of a steady, stable life with God, choose to follow God for the long haul. That was really the most encouraging thing about camp this year is, um, there's a real sense that a lot of these students are deciding that they want to follow Christ seriously, they want to give over a lot of different parts of their life. And so in a lot of ways, camp was, uh, at least from my vantage point running it, it was the most boring year I've ever had, which was phenomenal because the career students that we brought, they wanted to be there with good spiritual attitudes, they wanted to learn. And, uh, so we just had really fruitful teachings, discussion, devotionals, everything, the students just seemed to be really locked in. So that was encouraging this year. I think that's a similar thing too, at the camp that we go to. I mean, we've been going back to the same camp for several years now. And so the staff there just really knows what we need and just are on top of things. And our leaders kind of know the routine and how things are going. And so, yeah, it's just, it, in a lot of ways was a very smooth year. I think people back here in Columbus praying for us the entire time. Like I feel that every single year, you know, there's kind of like a, uh, I camp where it's just like, you're like, all right, I don't think anything could really go wrong in a sense. And I just think that the palpable power of prayer. Well, yeah, it was, that's awesome. Really good. And, um, you know, like you said, Shane, the very, our church's demographic in both middle school and high school is changing dramatically, very, very unchurched, which has always been true here, but, uh, to an even higher degree, a higher percentage of our church, of these ministries is people from unchurched backgrounds. And, um, I heard that the final tally was at 32 students came to Christ last week, which is amazing. Praise God. And we're seeing just a remarkable movement of God's spirit. We're seeing so many of these kids come to these camps, but not just come to like, you know, be crazy, be social, but really to engage with spiritual content, coming to Christ. Like you mentioned also many students deciding to follow God with their lives, give new things over to him. So what do you guys think, uh, what is it that these students from unchurched backgrounds really love about Epic and blog camp? Like, what is it that stands out so much that leads students to want to come to Christ and devote their lives to God in a new way? I think one of the biggest things is the lie that like following God and living your life for God is not fun. And I think that's one of the greatest things about these camps is the refutation of that lie that Satan projects is like, if you go off for God, you won't have a good time. It won't be exciting. And I think these camps, it's like you build real friendships, you get to see God transform people's lives and like, and that's exciting and that's fun. And, um, they just get to have a lot of fun. Like we did boat races this week and they made boats out of cardboard and duct tape and a plastic bag and we raced them in the water and people are screaming and cheering and it's just awesome. There's so many things like that throughout the week that are so much fun and so exciting. And, um, I just think that's one of the things that like really helps kids like want to follow God as they see that, oh, this is a fulfilling and joyful life. Like what Jesus says in John 10, 10, it's like, I came so you could have life and have it to the full. And I think that's really what happens at these camps is, is they get to see that lived out. I think a lot of it's probably the encouragement that comes from spending a week living with people, all your time with them, you're, you're praying together in the evenings, they get together in the cabins and share testimonies and they pray and they wake up and they do devotionals and they get in the word. And for a lot of these students, I think they see their peers that are just completely in love with, um, getting filled up by God's love and sharing it. And it starts to become believable that this really is a lifestyle and that there's a joy to it that you don't get to experience in the rest of your life. I mean, it's like they come to home church normally on Sundays. They're at CT on Tuesdays, but then for a lot of the week, um, you know, they go back to their normal life and I, and I think it's hard, it's hard to trust that the things we describe in our teachings are going to be worthwhile, that they're true, but then they get to camp and it's just palpable that these people are living this out and it's good. And again, that, that sense that like, if you choose to follow God, you're not giving anything up, you know, really, he's just giving you back a lifestyle of love. I was talking to a couple of students after our 4th of July party. Um, and they were, um, getting texts from their friends back home. You know, these are like senior students and they're getting texts from some friends that aren't at camp and they're back home getting drunk in their parents garage on the 4th of July with four friends in a dingy garage. Like, oh my God, so fun. Meanwhile, our students, like we had this unbelievable teaching on Psalm 22 from Doug where a number of students came to faith and then we threw this party for the 4th of July that was, we worked with Amanda Hoyt who helps run the community festival to throw just a Gen Z, Gen Alpha dream fest. It was like an influencer, uh, you know, 500 people on the side of the lake, beautiful sunset, all the, we had all these snack machines, icy and cotton candy and popcorn, and we, we, we got a big construction light tree from some construction company in Seymour, Indiana. So the whole lake front was lit up at night. People are playing volleyball and they're going down the big slide. And, uh, it was just like, you know, for a couple hours, everybody, you know, they're all taking pictures and hanging out and there's just a sense of real joy. And, um, I talked to a number of students afterwards that just felt like God was, um, impressing on them in that moment that He had just given them such a good life. They had so many friends there that love them that, uh, you know, and they left that and went back to their cabins and talked and prayed and shared stories. And they're texting friends that it's like, you know, getting drunk at home alone. Yeah. When you're following God, He's not, He's not taking anything from you. He's just giving you back an incredible, joyful life. So I think that's a lot of what these students get to experience spending a week with their peers at camp. Yeah, that's really cool. It's awesome. It is, um, a very experiential, you know, week and to get students, especially students for the first time, getting to be around other believers for a week and to learn what it looks like to read the Bible, to pray, to hear some of the best teachings they're ever going to hear. Uh, let's talk about that actually a little bit. I think that'd be great to hear about it. Cause you know, we, at these, at these camps, you guys have some of the very best teachers we know come out there and give some incredible teachings every year. I can think of several that are my favorite teachings I've ever heard at Epic. And so, um, you know, Quest, you guys did a series this year on the Exodus. Uh, you know, what is it about? I know you guys will do this every couple of years. You're talking about the Exodus. What do you think it is about that story that stands out to middle schoolers that's impactful to them? I think there's like several things. One, like just God's power is so like clear in that story with the plagues and just seeing him move in a powerful way, but also his compassion and care for hurting people, uh, cause the Israelites are enslaved and suffering and just how he goes in and rescues them. It's just, um, I think a lot of our students can relate to that, like that they're hurting, that there's difficult things going on in their lives. One of the leaders I was talking to a student, like was like, um, kind of losing it emotionally and stuff like that. And later talks to the student is like, Hey, what's going on? You seem off. He's like, I don't want to talk about how I feel or whatever. And he comes to find out that like, um, a family member of his, like was killed on the 4th of July, like a year ago or something like that. And it was bringing up those emotions. And so I think a lot of our kids, they're going through like real suffering, real hard things. And this is actually relatable to them, uh, the suffering that they're going through and how God rescues people. And then also just, um, how God really wants to use people in a powerful way. I think the story of like Moses and just how he's terrified and scared is very relatable to most middle schoolers. They're like, who am I do? My friends like me, they're going through an identity crisis and actually starting to think about who they are and where they fit in the world for the first time, which is normal. And I think Moses is fears and worries are very relatable. And ultimately God's response of like, Hey, no, it's like, uh, I'll be with you and you can do this as is really, really cool. And even like our testimonies that we have after the teaching, like one student was sharing about how he moved and started going to a new school and like took a risk and they had like nine different people come out and like several people received Christ at camp. Um, uh, and like one of their friends received Christ like before that. And it's just like, God is moving in this powerful way. They're going to experience that and see that and lining that up with these teachings of like Moses and being used powerfully by God, I think is, is really exciting and really cool for a lot of our students. That's awesome. I believe that. Uh, Shane, you guys did Psalms was the first time for Epic to go through the Psalms, a very powerful, emotional, um, you know, book. So, so walk us through that. What was it like this year? We chose the Psalms again with some of what we described. We've got a lot of students that, um, even if they've come to faith, the idea that God is accessible, that He can be both things that He's sovereign over everything, but He's also personal and accessible, it's difficult, especially to develop that personal time with God, to realize you can approach Him in prayer, in the word that was one of the big goals of camp this year was to just try to help these students to see that, um, you can be in lockstep with God. And that's really the big thing that the Psalms tease out is they draw out how incredible God's nature and His character is. So it kind of zooms out and shows how big God is, but it also zooms in and shows how personally involved He wants to be in your life that paired really well with the devotionals we did. Uh, for a lot of these students trying to give them an experience of reading some Psalms, discussing through it, working through a passage and realizing like, I could actually sit down on my own when I get back from camp and read the word every day. And, uh, for a lot of students, I think that became more tangible that that's something that they could actually do. So the series went really well. Um, a couple of highlights. Yeah. Doug gave a great teaching on the cross that was really powerful, really somber. And a couple of students came to faith afterwards. We have Raj out of camp pretty much every year because he waves a magic wand. He gets up there. And in the first minute, it's like, uh, his voice box is warming up and he sounds like a little terrified gravelly puppy that like is talking at one decibel. And every year I'm petrified that this guy is going to give a terrible teaching because he's praying and he starts talking just kind of like this, but his voice is really just revving up. And he taught one, uh, Psalm 139 and, you know, by the end, he's just drilling in how God formed you in the womb and loves you more than you can imagine. And for some reason, the, the students, not for some reason, because he's, um, he's a warlock, he's the man, but the students really connect with him. And, uh, after a lot of these teachings and the conversation students would have, you, you sense just a lot of gratitude. Um, God saved me from so much. He's given me so much. He wants to be so good to me. And, uh, I really tried to emphasize in my teaching the idea that if God is this way, if he's this good, the only thing that we could do would be to share that love with people. And it sounded like a lot of students left camp with just the sense that, um, I had an incredible experience of how good God is. And I really feel like I need to share that with my friends. So that was awesome. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. I heard, I heard very good reviews of that, of that content that you shared there. So that's awesome. Um, so like you guys mentioned too, camp is just, it's super fun. There's just, there's just things happening all the time. And, um, walk us through, um, you know, people get to see snippets. We have these highlight videos you guys put out every year where they get to see some of the things that happen, but, but walk us through like your favorite one or two activities that happen every year that you really enjoy. Every year we have like, well, it's funniest videos that we do. Yeah. Uh, and we have like, the quality has definitely improved over the years. I was watching ones from like years and years ago with like some kids that are like about to be in college now that you probably know a lot of them. Uh, and they were great, uh, back then, but like even better now, like the editing, the videography, everything was really, really good. And so we were even watching those in my home church last night after the camp and laughing a bunch, and so I think that's one of the biggest highlights for the students because they get to be in the videos and then we, we play all them. We play the top three every year and then we recreate one of them and it's awesome. So that's really fun. That's super fun. Let's see a couple, uh, activities this year that they seem to really like. Um, last couple of years, we've done a thing that I call the slip and sumo hamster bash. This year we double, tell us more. Imagine a hamster ball, like an inflatable hamster ball. It's not the kind that your whole body's in any role, but the kind that your feet are out. It's just your upper body. Um, this is very important so that you can still sprint. You need to be able to get low and create leverage. It's all about attack velocity and slip and sumo hamster. So what we did, so we had eight of them this year and a gigantic, I've never seen a tarp so big. Um, and, uh, we would line students up across from each other. We split them into two teams. So pretty much the whole camp's there. It's like 500 people and they're on opposite sides of this tarp, just frothing at the mouth, screaming guys and girls, we trade back and forth. There's no difference between sexes. They, the women are just as interested in creating attack velocity as the men. It's a beautiful thing. And, uh, we lined up four students in hamster balls across from each other. And then they would just run at each other. And I would count down from like 15 and whichever side had driven the others further would win. Oh, it was beautiful. And we make it, it's like a slip and slide on the tarp. So some people just fall on their face in the first second, but other people. They have the attack velocity. There were some, there were some lethal weapons. I mean, you see some, some people really get air. It's the perfect thing because they're, they're protected. Uh, in like the hamster ball. Um, if they really get rocked, they just kind of flip and end up upside down. Like we have a great video of this girl who just got absolutely rocked. She gets sent like 10 feet and she flips and her hamster ball inverts. So she's just on her head with her little feet kicking in the air for like 10 seconds until someone flipped her over. And you'd get these like four foot, 10, 75 pound girls would just go straight Ray Lewis and up end people and send them. Uh, it was so awesome. Yeah, it was. So that was, that was a really good one this year. We did a thing we called the lake launch where we made a giant slip and slide down into one of the lakes. And we bought big inner tubes, like from, uh, like, uh, yeah. And they would start at the top of the hill and run and jump onto the inner tube and shoot out onto the lake. That was really good. The 4th of July party was great. Um, we ended that with, uh, we have a, there was a girl at camp who like sings the, um, national anthem for like the Worthington parade and stuff. She was amazing. So we had her sing the national anthem and, uh, Spring Hill actually surprised us, they lied about when they would be ready to light the fireworks intentionally. So we were thinking that she would finish the national anthem and it'd be, you know, 10 or 15 minutes, people would have time to go get set up, but, uh, in reality, she's singing, she gets to the closing notes and bang, they start launching the fireworks and so all 500 people start sprinting to the waterfront. It was, uh, yeah, it was like a Disney movie. It was beautiful. What a moment. That is, that is memorable. And then the first ever running of the Ballston marathon. So like I said, we're the Ballston. So this energy drink company just sends us a bunch of free drinks and we had North CT versus South CT. It's a two mile loop around the camp and, uh, they did a relay race where students would run a 400 meter leg and they would chug a can as they ran. So the, the videos of it are just beautiful students sprinting, chugging, and they were fast. I, they did the thing in like nine minutes flat. I mean, they put down a really good time. Uh, that was great. There was much controversy. North CT. North CT won by a wide margin. Sad. Yeah, but, uh, yeah, we, we had a lot of fun. It was a good year. That's amazing. Really good. Really creative. Um, all right. I think one thing that people, uh, might be interested in hearing about is, um, obviously you get there and you have a, you have a ton to do, but running these camps takes so much work. I mean, you know, you guys are on teams of like three or four people. Um, some full-time staff, some part-time staff who are just like spending months getting ready and preparing. Could you guys just walk us through a little bit about like what it looks like to, to prepare for camp, to get there, to, to take on this like administrative load, to make sure that our students are having a great time. There's a lot of time just put into like thinking through different ideas or things that would work, that would be fun for the students and, uh, over like the months, our office kind of just fills up with different things and like supplies that we need for like the paint war and stuff like that. It's kind of crazy. I wish you guys could see this in our office. These guys' offices there, there's, there's not room to walk because of the amount of supplies that they have in there. Yeah. Brian and I will have a meeting and he has to go sit like in the corner on some boxes or something like that because it's, it's so full. We have these poor, you know, adult ministry administrators that are trying to plan important ministry functions and pray and yada yada, and they have to wade through a sea of energy drinks and hamster balls and stuff. Floaties. So much. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of rote admin getting in forms and working with leaders. And when you're at camp, I mean, for me at camp, a lot of it is like, I'm just getting a phone call every nine minutes from 7am to 2am dealing with different things, but I, I tell different people every year, like if I, if I start carrying myself, like this is a burden to me, you need to smack me because I have the best, you know, it's insane for me to act ungrateful for my job. Yeah. We have the best jobs in the world. There's nothing better. I mean, it's like, you know, prepping for camp. There's stuff that is hard and sometimes there's long days, but it's also like I'm hanging out with a couple of people imagining how can we make the best thing for camp and, you know, I'm on the clock talking about, is it possible? Is it even possible for us to just at the moment that the first firework goes, shoot a student out of a cannon. And you're getting paid to do this. I'm getting paid to dream the most beautiful dreams, you know, so like they're, you know, at camp, it's really busy and it takes a week or more to recover because you're just running around all day as the liaison to the camp. And it's also like offering spiritual input to the leaders. And sometimes some of the groups are struggling and need some help. And a lot of students are really, they're good kids. They care about God. They want to grow, but a lot of times they can get into funk so they can get into drama and there's something strange about wearing the camp director hat that sometimes you can step in and say all the same things that one of their leaders just said and they're like, okay, yeah, questing, yeah, that's really, I think I really need to get my gear together. And you turn and the leader's just ripping their hair out because they, so that's even a lot of the rewarding stuff is just trying to help lead the camp spiritually and give leaders input and ideas and conversation starters and stuff like that. Well, I think even like us, like, I don't know if you had a conversation like this, but like Kelsey and I were like just hanging out this weekend too, and right after camp and it just aligns so much with our values and what we care about. And what's important is like, we got to see 32 kids come to Christ, um, and to see kids decide to live for something that actually is going to matter into eternity. And so, yeah, it is a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of effort on the front end to prepare for that. But I mean, even I was just thinking about this, I was standing up at like our awards night that we do in this forum, this, this stadium stared room and like kids are cheering and screaming because they memorize the word and they're getting to go to Cedar point and we announced the winner of camp and just it's, it's the energy and stuff like that's just palpable, partially because they're in middle school and they get excited about things, which is awesome and really, really cool. And ultimately you're just sitting there and you're just like reflecting and you're like, it was totally worth it. And the time, the energy I'm pouring out for this, yes, I am really tired. Yes. I have lost my voice. Yes. Uh, you're like kind of at the end of your rope and like really, really tired, but it's, it's, you, you've done the Lord's work and it's, it's really exciting to see the fruit that's coming from definitely at the end of your rope. If a stray 11 year old came along right now and asked you a stupid question, they would be in danger. I mean, there's so many, that's the worst part about being the camp director is everyone feels licensed to ask you 14 bad questions a day. Yes. And so you're constantly like, I'm just trying to get a biscuit at breakfast and I'm getting bombarded with 30 children asking me, how do I drink water? Uh, that's, that's the worst part. If humans were incapable of asking questions, question mark, if, is it possible, we will research before camp next year, being a camp director would be easy. It would be much easier. Yeah, man. I couldn't agree more. It's, it's, um, with the, with how worth it, it is maybe is what I'm more about there. Um, uh, it, yeah, it is so much work. I just, I, yeah, I think back on my years doing this and I just feel like, um, you know, you like, yeah, you put all the work in and you reflect as your, as it's over and you're just like, there was nothing I would have rather done. No, it's just so worth it to make an experience for these students where they get to have such a, such an enjoyable time and, and, and to play a small part in what God's doing there is, is, is a remarkable privilege. and one of the best things is doing it year after year, getting to see a lot of these students. Um, I'm seeing them every week at CT and kids that have really powerful realizations that camp and change and make decisions for God. One of the most encouraging things is that for many of these students, it's not just a flash in the pan, but, um, years later, they're still following Christ. They've made major changes. So that's one of the biggest things is you, you do it for long enough and you get to look back and half the people in the ministry have made major movements towards God because of camp, um, that helps to remind you how worth it, it is. And so necessary. And these are the future leaders of our church and to know that they're getting to have formative spiritual experiences in these camps is, it's remarkable. So they play a huge role. So yeah, I was even talking to some of our, um, I guess like college students now and they were talking to me about how they still remember the scripture, like Ephesians two, eight, nine, and things like that, that they memorized six, seven years ago at Blowout Camp. And yeah, I think the ripple effects of what we're doing here, it's, it's, you can't even like, I guess, fully analyze or quantify the value of these camps because a kid designed to put their faith in Christ and they lead somebody in the college community to Christ that ends up being a sphere leader and like, uh, a powerful teacher for God 10 years from now, it's like, we don't know when that's going to happen or how that's going to happen. And I just think it's cool to think it's like, we get to see some of the fruit now, but it's like, that's like a small foretaste into what God's doing. If you go around and pull people in college now up into adult ministry about their experience at camps, um, everybody's got so many people have a story, uh, for years at Epic, we would always have Gary be the closer for our series and he would just descend upon camp and give these absolute bangers every single year. And, uh, that was really formative for me as a, as a junior in high school, um, me and a guy I co-lead a college group with, we were in the same high school Bible study at the same Gary teaching. And, uh, he just ripped the roof off the building with the teaching about how God's our father. Um, and, uh, in different ways, both of us that night decided that we wanted to hand our lives over to Christ. And now we're co-leading a home church together. We've both got young daughters planning to raise families that love God. It's going to be really exciting to be with the Lord someday and just get to hear all the different ways that he impacted people's entire lives, eternities because of these camps. Yeah. Awesome. Well, one last thing I wanted to mention is, um, you know, the, the, the church at large plays such a role in these camps happening. Quest, you mentioned this a little bit, like there's a huge, huge need for financial assistance for many of our students. There is a, uh, large undertaking in prayer, uh, which, which we see every, you know, there's, there's a daily prayer meeting. There's a huge prayer list. We have tons of people across the church praying for this trip. Can you guys just walk us through a little bit more like how these provisions from the church impact your guys' camp? Yeah. Uh, from the financial side, I mean, if, if you came to our camp the past couple of years and see the students that we're bringing, it might be a majority, half the camp are in a spot where they couldn't possibly experience something like that without significant support. And you see it, they get to be in that space and do some of these activities. And, uh, you know, I, I have a golf cart at camp, so I drive kids around all the time and get to talk to a bunch of different ones. And every single year I end up talking to a kid who tells me that he's never, uh, been outside the outer belt, you know, outside the county, let alone gone out to another state and experienced all these things. It's, uh, it's really incredible how much people have bought that vision and every year decide on top of all of the different ministries that they support to say that we're going to shell out and help keep sending students to camp. We really felt that this year because inflation caught up to our camps and the price skyrocketed and, uh, people answered the bell, you know, we didn't have any students that weren't able to go to camp because of fundraising. And that was a massive undertaking that this church took people support and prayer, um, Kira Williamson has been helping us the last couple of years collecting, she gets prayer updates from every group before camp and, uh, people pray through them by name this year for Epic. It was almost every single student who came into camp, not yet having a relationship with Christ, people prayed for, and almost every single one of them came to faith. That's true for blog camp too. Yeah. That's awesome. And, uh, each day she collects prayer updates and sends them out and just hundreds of people pray. And she's on every detail. She records answered prayers. Um, and because of that, we're sure that there's hundreds of people pulling their way back home, praying for us. It's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Thank God for Kira. Man. That's been a great, that's been a great, she's on it. She's militant. No detail slips her eye camp too. Yeah. She taught blog camp while being Sauron. Yeah. That's incredible. It's just like, you look at this doc she made at the end of the week and, uh, everything's highlighted so many prayers answered. Um, yeah, it's pretty special. Yeah. You want something encouraging to do, go through that document and just see how God answered all those prayers. It is remarkable. Everything that God did last week. When you get to see it all compiled in one place, it's, it's, it's quite the sight. Um, that's awesome. Well, um, you guys have anything else you want to say about camp? It was a great, it seems like camp just keeps getting better. Um, and, uh, this year everyone who was involved had this palpable sense that God just loves these students. He loves them so much. And it's such a good thing to get a week every year where you're immersed in hundreds of people that are sensing that thing that, that God's love is just so present with us right now. Right. Right. It's amazing guys. Well, now it's time to rest up, recuperate. Um, you know, before we know it, camp season will be back upon us again. So, so thank you everyone for tuning in to another episode of Dwell on These Things. Um, see you next time.