Prayerline Update #3

Hello Friends of Camp Willow Run,
We hope this update finds you well and that the Lord is blessing you this summer! Things are going well here at camp and our summer is already over half way through. Since we last updated you our full elementary school week ended well and we then welcomed our first group of high school campers. High school week is always so much fun for our staff and for campers. The week is much more laid back with extra free time and opportunity to just enjoy being in this place with campers in recreation and worship/bible study. Shane Parker, the current associate dean at Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania, returned for another summer to speak. He challenged the campers to truly live out their faith in word and deed, honestly considering the realities of sin, temptation, conduct, relationships and service, while continually encouraging campers to be in the Word! The campers were also encouraged by the testimony of one of our staffers, Chase Daughtridge, as she shared how the Lord has worked in her life. She also shared a good word from the book of Hosea, speaking about how the Lord pursues His children and shows us love and mercy despite our unfaithfulness to Him!

Last week we welcomed a group of 7-9th grade campers to camp. We were blessed to have Matt Rice, pastor of the Creek Church in Cary, NC, come speak for the week. He brought with him a great enthusiasm for the Gospel, for the campers, and for our ministry. Both campers and staff were encouraged by this enthusiasm and challenged by his teaching. He was very intentional with his time here and we saw campers come to know the Lord as the Lord worked through him. The campers were also able to hear two staff members, Hannah Moore and Brant Coltrain, share their testimonies of the Lord’s hand in their lives, communicating His the faithfulness and power and love!

We are now half way through a combo week where we have both elementary school and middle school campers. This week the elementary school campers are hearing about the life of Moses in their morning Bible study times with Mrs. Harris as well as object lessons presented by the staff at night. The middle school campers are hearing from Mike Windley, pastor of The Bridge Community Church in Morrisville, NC. It should be a great week and we are looking forward to having fun with the campers as well as encouraging them in the love of Christ.

Please continue to pray that the Lord will work in this place. Pray for the staff that the Lord will be giving them rest, energy, and joy. This summer is quickly passing but pray that we would make use of the time left—serving our campers, having fun with them, loving them and speaking to them about the Lord. Pray that we would also continue to encourage our fellow staff members as our patience might grow short, that we would choose to love each other and point each other to Christ.

Thank you again for praying for us as we keep seeking to know and serve the Lord in this place.

Grace and Peace,

Stepha and Stephen