Those were the words sung by the King’s Kids choir in Arabic and Hebrew all through the camp
Another successful King's Kids summer camp has now come and gone.
The traveling road show - King's Kids Summer Camp 2004
Started on Monday, August 2nd, at St. Margaret's hostel in Nazareth.
Throngs of kids from all over Israel (Nazareth, Natanya, Shefa-Amer, Jerusalem, Hadera)
as well as Palestine (Beit Jala, Beit Sahoor), both Arabic and Hebrew speaking together with a few foreigners (American and German), swirled around the check-in table in the courtyard on that first day, checking in and getting the keys to their room.
By late afternoon, kids, camp counselors and leaders, approximately 55 altogether, were set up in their rooms, and the camp was off and running.
Rehearsals for our choreographed, evangelistic song and dance performances began immediately, and amazingly, within only a few days, the kids had learned their parts.
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In between rehearsals and play times, we worshipped God together (in Hebrew, English, and Arabic!), and then listened to intensive teachings given by the camp leaders on such topics as prayer, the characteristics of God, the Father Heart of God, reconciliation, purpose and destiny for the believer, and more...
When you teach kids, you always wonder at the back of your mind whether they were listening or not, especially on days when they have worked hard, played hard, and stayed up late the night |
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| before. But the kids were plainly listening. On the third evening at St. Margaret's one of the leaders spoke about how God is love. At the end of that talk, we hada time for the kids to really be quiet with God for about ten minutes. God really used this time to deal with a lot of hurts and pains in their hearts, for many kids began to weep, and to pray for each other. Ministry time that was supposed to last ten minutes lasted an hour!
On Friday, we had our first performance at a nearby hospital. Beforehand, we had what we call Heart Preparation, a time to get our hearts right with God so that our witness about Christ would come from pure hearts. This involves each individual confessing sin to God and resolving conflicts with other people that may have happened during the day.
After that first performance, the camp moved on from Nazareth. We rode by bus to the camping area at Tabgha, the town on the Sea of Galilee where tradition holds that Jesus performed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. While the girls got to stay in the air conditioned dormitory buildings, the guys got to have the camping experience, staying in the tents and un-air-conditioned dormitories.
After another couple of days filled with rehearsals, worship and teaching, plus swimming in the outdoor pool, we gave two more performances. One was given for the Benedictine monastic community there in Tabgha. Later on that evening, we gave a second performance for the other campers there at Tabgha. Many of the parents also came to watch their kids perform. After the performance we said goodbye to the younger group of King’s Kids and carried on to our outreach with the older ones.
Sunday morning, we packed up again and headed out for a day at the Dead Sea. It was fun, yet extremely hot. Later that afternoon we went on to the Baptist Village retreat center near Tel Aviv, where we were for four days. On our first full day there, fifteen of the kids and leaders went off to do a mini-performance in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem |
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Performing in the Old City- Jerusalem
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A number of evangelical churches in the area had pooled resources to put on a Kid's Day with music, clowns and other fun things for the enjoyment of local children. The crowds really enjoyed the King's Kids performance. In fact, one lady told that as soon as we got on the stage to start, she felt the presence of the Holy Spirit descend on the place! |
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The next evening, we had a unique opportunity to witness the love and glory of Christ in the streets of Tel Aviv. Working in cooperation with Dugeet, a Messianic Jewish evangelistic organization in the city, we performed in Dizingoff Square, where many of us were able to have good conversations with people about the gospel. We were also able to pass out many invitations to people for free cups of coffee at the coffee house which Dugeet runs in Tel-Aviv. A very successful night!
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We gave another performance at the Baptist Village itself, to which again, many family members of the kids were able to come and see what a great job their kids were doing.
During our stay at the Baptist Village, we took the kids down to the banks of nearby Yarkoan River for a time of sharing about our encounters with people in Tel Aviv, and also a time of ministry to those kids who are in the midst of difficult family situations.
Again, as on the third night of the camp, many tears were shed by the kids in tough situations, and there was much ministering to one another in prayer and encouragement.
The last few days of the camp, we came to stay at the Finnish School in West Jerusalem, where we had more times of teaching and worship. One special happening here was a series of two very intense question and answer sessions on the subjects of relationships between boys and girls. The kids had a lot of questions, and we were able to talk about a lot of
important issues relating to this subject.
Finally, on the last night of camp, last Saturday the 14th, we gave one final performance. After that, it was time to pack up and say our goodbyes to one another. Late in the evening, everyone had exchanged contact information with one another, and packed up their luggage on the bus going back north to Galilee.
All in all, a very successful summer camp that we look forward to repeating next summer. | |