"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (Ps. 107:1, 8)
Yes, indeed, the Lord's goodness and mercy certainly pursued us this year at the Heidelberg West Youth Camp! The transition to a new and improved campsite, located in south Central California, (sierrachristiancamps.org), proved to be very beneficial to the overall camp experience, both for our wonderful, enthusiastic campers and our faithful and hard-working counselors, pastors, and cooks!
We had a total of 82 folks up at camp, with a few visitors who came and helped out as they were needed. Our camper count was up from last year by seven!
The theme of this year's camp was "Loving God's Word." The pastors each taught a morning lesson and an evening follow-up lesson. Although we did not have our traditional camp worship services this year, all the pastors agreed that this teaching format was more profitable for all involved. I do believe that the campers also found this new format to be very helpful in understanding and retaining the lessons that were presented.
The Activities Director, Mr. Todd Crabtree (Grace Reformed, Bakersfield) provided all of us with the perfect amount of things to do! From the "Dye Wars" to the night-time frisbee games; to the "make your own tie-die T-shirts"; to the archery and foosball games; to the 60-degree swimming pool extravaganza; to the free-time, and volleyball games, and even the flubbed-up treasure hunt, I think that everyone had a great time!
Of course we feasted like kings and queens under Heidelberg's own Pamela "Adeen" Spitzer! Along with her excellent kitchen help (Cheri Spitzer, Marann Jones, Bonnie Williams, and Julie Kirschenmann), all of the tasty dishes were truly enjoyed by one and all.
The H.W.Y.C. Talent Show on Thursday night was good enough to rival any ole' "So You Think You Can Dance" or "America's Got Talent" television program. I prefer the talent of our young folk any day of the week! (Except for some dance moves by certain adults!)
For any who are able to make it up for an evening during our nightly hymn sing with Pastor Emeritus Vernon Pollema leading, well, let's just say you're in for an absolutely wonderful spiritual high! The words of sound wisdom from pastor Pollema and the beautiful singing by our young men and ladies is certainly a foretaste of that joy we shall know and experience in heaven!
We have a lot of things to work out and fine-tune, but overall, the Lord was surely kind and gracious to us as we made our maiden voyage into this new campsite and this new format for the camp.
Yours truly appreciates all of the hard work that all of the volunteers exercised in a loving fashion throughout the camp week. Parents, keep on teaching and leading your children in the ways of the Lord. Continue to support the work of your ministers, elders, deacons, and Sunday school teachers in their respective callings, for the labors that you are engaged in are indeed reaping a spiritual harvest of godly fruit in the lives of your children and in the very life of the Reformed Church in the United States! Thanks again to everyone who helped in any way to make this year's camp a success! May the Lord continue to ‘reform' and conform us evermore after His will, and in the image of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Paul H. Henderson (Ye ole' Director)
In African context, opportunities to come on the air and broadcast the Gospel on FM stations arise quickly and sometimes disappear just as quickly. Our Medium Wave broadcasts aired from the powerful transmitter of TransWorldRadio in Parakou, Benin (a relatively stable West African country), offer our French speaking listeners throughout West Africa an opportunity to stay tuned without fearing a sudden interruption of our programs. We are thus very thankful for this stable medium. However, as long as opportunities arise for our programs to air on African FM stations (generally much liked and followed by local listeners), we will explore them.
