PRAYER WARRIOR

Today we celebrate the Summer season of Camp with Salmon Bake II. We already have over 200 people here at camp and we expect at least another 75 who will come between 2:00 and 8:00pm. Weather reports tell us that dinner will have a comfortable temperature of 68 degrees. If you are still hoping to come, please click this button below and complete the registration form.

Are you looking to serve at LBC again this summer? We anticipate a very large camp during Family Camp II. For the little kids younger than 4 we anticipate around 25 campers. If you would like to come for the week and provide extra help with the Summer Staff, please email Daniel Jensen (dcm@lakesidebiblecamp.org)

Boys Camp II has started (formerly called Sr. Boys). Plans today had to change due to the wet weather. Campers worked on making paracord bracelets and built shields in preparation for the water balloon fight on Thursday. The bike track and the mountain bikes got more use today with the rainy weather. At the same time, we’re grateful that the rain let up for the majority of the afternoon free-time. This week we have 79 campers and almost 2 cabin leaders per cabin. Please pray that God would help each of these boys to become true followers of Jesus.

The girls have played all week. We have much to be thankful for. The campers mostly go to the nurse for a band-aid and their meds. We had one day with rain, but on all the other days the girls have enjoyed the sunshine. Our speaker and director team really enjoy leading these girls and helping them understand the gospel. Thank you, God for bringing this wonderful team of volunteers to serve at camp this week.

·We have 6 cabins full of girls who are all learning about Jesus this week. Our speaker is Janis Schlepp from Christ’s Church in Federal Way, and she has spoken at Lakeside for many summers now. She always brings great skits and creativity to her messages. The stage is full of props; the walls covered with posters. As Janis takes them through Mark’s gospel, her mission this week is to tell these girls the truth about their Savior. He is the Creator. He’s always existed. He shows us the Father. He is greater than all. He’s the promised Savior. He’s the Son of God. These girls have much to learn as we all do about the true identity of Jesus Christ. Pray with us that this week will once again be a spiritually productive week for these camper

It’s the end of High School Camp. We have had a great week. Though it was not the full camp we wanted, it was a spiritually effective camp. We have many reasons to give praise to the LORD. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

There is no better place for a teen than at High School Camp at Lakeside Bible Camp. Yesterday many cabin leaders reported that their cabins were full of campers from Christian homes. They also reported many were still searching to understand the meaning of their own faith. Still a few of these teens have yet to experience the saving work of Jesus Christ upon their life. Many of the teens consider themselves Christian, but consider themselves open to other religions (scary). We plan to constantly feed them with the solid truth of the gospel from God’s Word. Our hope is they will walk away knowing with certainty that Jesus truly is the Son of God. What would it be like for the World if by the end of the week God unleashed 50 teens 100% sold out for the mission of Jesus. …We hope, and we pray for radical change in our culture. Please LORD, let these campers be part of what is means to transform the world for the Kingdom of God.

It’s a blessing to surround the boys with such a wonderful group of guys. I’ve reflected this week about how important it is to change the world by raising up the next generation to love the Lord. If we wanted them to be carpenters, we’d tell them to become apprentices and surround themselves with people they could model after. We want the boys to grow up and become men who are faithful to God’s Word. So it really is a wonderful thing to be able to surround boys with examples that we want them to follow.

We’ve had a great week at Family Camp I. This week included a Salmon Bake on Wednesday and fireworks over the lake on Thursday. Tonight the campers wrap up their last night together.  The campers have been learning to value others above themselves. Please pray that as they go back to their normal life, they would continue in the strength of the Lord.

Pray for marriages to be healed. Pray that our speaker, David Cotrell. Pray for his endurance and clarity of mind. Pray for his ministry impact this week. Many kids and teens from Family Camp eventually come back to serve on Summer Staff. Maybe it’s because of the impact that the Staff make on them during VBS. Pray that our Summer Staff would have a great week serving these kiddos. Pray for the Salmon Bake on Wednesday. We’re expecting several visitors to camp. Pray for their travel safety. Pray for the weather to be spectacular during the dinner at 6:00pm. If you want to come, please sign up here. This week we are introducing the “On Your Mark” patch to the families. The hope is that kids would see mom and dad memorizing Scripture with them during the week. Pray that God’s Word would be sown in these families.

Tomorrow Girls Camp II comes to a close. Though the week has been challenging, we are grateful that God came through in so many circumstances to sustain, protect and provide. This week is especially challenging for the cabin leaders. They have spent many hours this week talking to campers on 1-1s. They have fought the fight well this week. We’re grateful for their efforts to maintain their focus on the ministry at hand. Please pray for safe travels for the campers as they head home.

Girls Camp II (formerly Sr. Girls) is for campers who are 10-12 years old. This demographic is at a severe disadvantage against the false naratives presented by the World. Social media platforms wuld like to convince them to question their genders and have them seek a personal image that God didn’t design for them. Schools are a hotbed for the war against the truth of God’s Word. At LBC we preach a gospel that is different than the pleasure-seeking messages of the World. Please pray for the spiritual battle at hand this week.  Pray that our speaker, directors, and cabin leaders would be used to shine a light on whatever is true, right, pure, and lovely. Pray that these campers would fix their hearts and minds on the Author and Perfecter of their faith.

Our Summer programs come to a close tomorrow. This week we had almost 110 campers for Family Camp II and another 140 who joined us for the Salmon Bake on Wednesday. We’ve enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces at LBC, including a few new ones. One conversation I had on Wednesday was with someone who had seen the camp from the public dock, but hadn’t experienced it personally. This was her first summer sending her kids to camp, so she signed up for the Salmon Bake. We hope we made a good impression. Pray that the influence of the Salmon Bake would bring people closer to the LORD.

Jr. High is an important age for teens to figure out what they believe and why. In today’s culture teens are faced with all kinds of pressure to conform to the patterns of this world. That is why our speaker for this week, Lydio Banana, chose to speak through the book of Daniel. It’s a book where the characters face pressure to change and become like the Babylonians around them. The book gives us stories of how Daniel and his friends chose to fear God above all else. Pray that these campers would lean forward in chapel to hear about God’s Word and focus on what matters.

We’ve reached the midpoint of Boys Camp II. Today’s schedule includes man skills. The cabin leaders are teaching these boys how to change a tire, how to rescue someone in the water, how to fix a broken toilet, how to give someone a handshake. What have I enjoyed watching this week? I’ve enjoyed seeing the cabin leaders bring and utilize their unique interests. One of the cabin leaders loves to mountain bike, and he connects with the kids at the bike track. One enjoys music and he connects with them using instruments. Another enjoys drawing. Another disc golf. I’m grateful for the variety of interests God instills in His people. 

The girls are alive, with the sound a singing! We are blessed this week to have Patti Craig leading the girls in worship. Usually when I share with people about LBC, I tell them about how we share the gospel with kids using the messages of the speaker, the conversations with cabin leaders, and the memorization of scripture for patches.

Our speaker for High School Camp is Dan Jester, who is now the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Burlington, WA. We always love having Dan come and speak because his heart to reach the lost is so evident. He is teaching the teens about the Songs of Ascent (Psalm 120-134) and helping the teens understand how the tabernacle points us to Christ. As I spoke with Dan this morning, he’s encouraged to have already had some amazing conversations with campers. Pray that Dan would have many more conversations this week and the Gospel would make it’s eternal impact for some of these campers.

Boys like to have fun. When the boys have fun on the boat and the waterslide, it seems to cure all their longings for home. There is at least one boy this week who is struggling with homesickness. Pray for him and others to have similar moments of great fun, as we hope it will calm their anxieties about being away from home for the first time. Our speaker, Nathaniel Buss from Shelter Cove Church in Modesto keeps the boys engaged with questions all through his messages. Pray that these boys would clearly hear the gospel message.

Family Camp 1 started with a blast of the shofar and 124 campers. We expect more than 60 extra people to join us for the Salmon Bake. (You can register here). It’s a full week and we are happy to see the camp full and families enjoying this wonderful place.

We had 32 girls this weekend at LBC led by our directors Jen Amrine & Cyndi Edvalds. Those two make a great team as they coordinate crafts and games to connect with the campers. Even though the weekend camps are short, there is still a chance for an impact. After reading through the camper surveys it was evident as to what was meaningful to these kids:

One question we don’t need to ask of Mary when we get to heaven is what she thought of herself. It’s clear from her song that she considered herself a servant of God. She also didn’t identify as more holy than others. She identified as a sinner in need of a Savior. In some renditions of the Christmas story, Mary gets exalted. Yet even she would resist those claims. Her situation is just like all of us who were born in a sinful state.