Sounds of Hope

This week on Kingdom Bloggers we are talking about summer and Jesus.   When I think of summer and Jesus, I think of camp.   The equation for that is S + J = C.   That got me to thinking that as people are prayerfully packing their children off to camp, you might like a few camp stories.   As with so much else, I have lots of camp stories. My first experience of camp must have come when I was about 6 or 7.   Our church staunchly believed in the sovereignty of the local church.   However, they had a group of daughter churches that they fellowshipped with regularly.   Eventually these churches and some other churches around the country would form the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies .   The group of churches in the greater NYC area rented a camp.   They called it Camp Challenge.   I don’t know what the history was before my first Camp Challenge experience.   I do know eventually they bought property for a permanent camp.   Thi...

I was very insecure in my faith for a long time. I’ve mentioned that I could get an award for the most trips to the altar for salvation. Here was this little church girl who was so riddled with insecurities that she was sure she was perpetually “lost.”   Several years ago, I worked in a church office in Tennessee. My official title was secretary. Like secretaries everywhere, the term didn’t fit the job description. In my case, I also filled the pulpit when the pastor was gone, including many Sunday mornings. I answered deep questions on the phone, like the day someone had committed suicide in the community and someone was worried about their soul. I prayed with people, counseled people. When a female came in for counseling, if they didn’t already have a relationship with the pastor, I counseled them. I was a lot more than a “secretary.” One of the true secretarial duties was to record data. I recorded in the official notebook baby dedications, baptisms, and deaths. I designed s...