Crosstrainers Update from "Coach" Emma Gringhuis (Bible Teacher, Summer 2024)
This summer I had the privilege of being the bible teacher at CrossTrainers, the day camp at James North. There are so many stories I could tell about what the Lord did this summer at camp.
On Fridays at camp, we had testimony days. During the bible lesson portion of the morning, the campers got to hear from different volunteers and staff at the church about how their relationship with God started, and how they would want to encourage their younger self to continue to grow in their faith. The hope behind this time was to spark conversations between campers and leaders/volunteers throughout the day about having a relationship with God, as well as serve as a reminder that the God we had been hearing about all week is doing beautiful things today and these campers can also experience relationship with him. These testimony days led to some beautiful conversations between campers and staff about what it looks like to follow Jesus.
A boy who had grown up coming to camp began to volunteer this year. He has a deep love for the Lord and already knows he wants to go into ministry one day. This boy was able to help out with a few of our bible lessons by sharing at the end how these passages have impacted him as well as being able to share a few of his own insights. He also got to share his testimony one Friday and this was such a beautiful moment. It was clear that his story impacted the kids, and it was so cool to watch the campers realize that they can have a relationship with God now, they don’t have to wait until they’re older. This young boy was someone they had gone to camp with last year, and now they got to hear him share what God has done and continues to do in his life.
During the first weeks of camp, at lunch, there was a camper who would always want to chat more about the bible lesson. She told me she was thinking lots about Heaven and Jesus, and she had told me previously that she was thinking about starting a relationship with God, but she wasn’t ready to make a decision yet. During one of the last weeks of camp, she put her hand up at the end of a bible lesson and told me that she was ready to give her life to Jesus. Later that day we were able to have a conversation about what it means to follow Jesus, and we prayed together.
We also were able to hand out many bibles to different campers. One boy in particular who wanted a bible would bring it with him to camp every day. In his free time between activities, I would walk by and he would be reading his bible in a corner. During bible lessons, he would always have lots of questions about what passage we were talking about and the passages he was reading on his own.
This summer at CrossTrainers it became clear to our staff and volunteers that the Lord is at work in the hearts of this next generation. Join us as we continue to pray for the kids and families who were impacted at camp this summer, that their relationship with the Lord will continue to deepen and grow beyond their time at camp.