Be A Hero

Corrie Ten Boom. Florence Nightingale. Frederick Douglass. Mother Teresa. Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission. Martin Luther King. Bono.

History is littered with the names of people who have made a difference against poverty and injustice. Most fittingly, some of these names belong to people who follow Christ.

YOUR TURN
Who are your personal heroes? List a few names and explain what makes them heroes in your eyes.

THINK ABOUT IT
Read Mark 6:38-44 in your Bible. If you’re familiar with this story, then it is easy to take for granted the enormity of what happened in that wilderness. So, close your eyes and imagine those five loaves and two fishes. Then, picture the big, hungry crowd gathered around Jesus and the disciples. See those fish and loaves multiply as Jesus handed them out. Take some time to sketch or write down some phrases that describe what being in that crowd must have been like.

THE POINT
With Jesus’ power, you have all the resources you need to minister to the needs of people, to be a hero. If you are willing, Christ can do amazing things through you. He did it with the fish and loaves. What more can He do with and through you?

TAKE ACTION 
Glance over the devotions from this past week. How has God used His Word to change your attitude about the world and people around you?

Is there a specific need you think God is calling you to meet or someone specific whom you need to reach out to? Commit to follow Him wherever He leads you today.

Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Mark 6, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply

Retro Friday: Wake Up!

Goooooooooood Morning Camp Ridgecrest! Every morning the boys at Ridgecrest are woken up by Reveille and Ron. Campers sprint to the two and four square courts and play until Morning Assembly. The date on the back of the picture says 1960. Does anyone remember how the campers and staff were woken up back then? Though the picture is over 50 years old, Phil still remembers the names on the back wall in that cabin when he was a camper! Do you know what cabin this is? Comment below and let us know!

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Not My Problem!

YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE. Create a top 10 list of the 10 biggest problems in the world right now.

Are you part of the solution to any of those problems? Or do you think that because they don’t directly affect you, they’re just not your problem?

 
READ MARK 6: 34-37. Ask yourself:

 What was the seemingly impossible situation the disciples brought to Jesus’ attention?

 What was Jesus’ equally impossible solution to the problem?

 How did the disciples respond to Jesus?

 How would you have responded to Jesus if you’d been in the disciples’ shoes?

 
THE POINT
When faced with a hungry crowd of people who needed food, the disciples chose the easiest solution: to let the people take care of themselves. It wasn’t the disciples’ problem in the first place. But Jesus’ response was to instruct the disciples to do something. He’s still telling us to do the same thing.

TAKE ACTION 
Take a good look around you. Who are the hungry people in your family, school, community, and world? Think about more than physical hunger. Who is spiritually hungry? In need of a friend? Ignored or overlooked?

 
What steps will you take this week to reach out to one “hungry” person in your life? List three below.

 
Pray with persistence for the “hungry” people in your life and world. Ask God to soften your heart toward them and show you how He wants to use you to meet their needs.

Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Mark 6, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply

The Well…

We so often drink from tainted wells that promise us nothing. Remember, Jesus is the well that promises us everything! Drink from the well that won’t run dry, drink form the well of living waters! Take a look at the theme video from 2012, The Well, and think back on all that you learned last summer.

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Retro Friday: Tribal Trips

Each session at camp our tribes go on one trip. This picture shows a tribe getting ready to load up on a bus from Charlotte “Queen City”. The bus is even air conditioned! Notice the boys all in long pants, even in the heat of the summer! Now we rent school buses to transport our campers to and from trips. Do you know where they are going?  Comment below if you remember loading up on a bus like this one. What was your favorite trip you went on with one of our tribes? Let us know!

Posted in Boys, News | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest Alumni and Friends, Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Retro Friday, Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply

Compassion

Milton and Fred Ochieng, brothers from a poor, remote village in Africa, dreamed of becoming doctors one day. Their father’s dream was even bigger than that. He wanted to build a clinic that would provide health care for their desperate, struggling community.

First, Milton won a scholarship to Dartmouth College. By selling chickens and cattle, his family members and neighbors in Lwala were able to scrape together enough money to buy his plane ticket to the United States. A year later, Fred received a scholarship to Dartmouth and joined his older brother there. Even though the brothers were far away from Africa in the United States, they couldn’t forget the village they’d left behind. They knew they had to do something to help their neighbors in Africa. So, the brothers began educating people about the suffering in their hometown in hopes of raising money to build that clinic of their father’s dreams. That dream became even more important when both of their parents died from AIDS.

Today, the Lwala Community Hospital serves 15,000 patients each year. In addition, they provide small-scale micro-enterprise, public health outreach, water, sanitation, and education programming to Lwala and beyond.

 
THINK ABOUT THAT STORY as you read Matthew 9:35-38.

 What do the two stories have in common?

 What are some of the things Jesus did for the people?

 According to the passage, what made Jesus respond the way He did?

 Have you ever done something for someone without gain? How did that make you feel?

THE POINT
Maybe you aren’t called to build a hospital. But God wants to use you to do His work on earth. When Jesus saw the hurting people, He was moved with compassion, and He took action to help them. What about you?

 
TAKE ACTION
Think of one person you can serve. Pray for an opportunity to reach out this week. Plan—then act on it.

“I choose kindness . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.” – Max Lucado

Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Matthew 9, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply

Cabin Construction

Howdy Howdy Folks!

Well the cabins are looking different day by day. All of the cabins on Arap hill are looking great with their new porches, and now cabin 17 and 18 are getting started on! Check out some pictures of your cabins see what you think!

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Winner of the Where’s Ron Contest

All of our current campers and staff received an over-sized color picture of Ron’s beautiful head. We had a ton of submission and and even more laughs reviewing the pictures. As promised, we did have 1 winner who will receive a $50 Visa Gift Card in the mail. Congratulations to one of our Apache’s Joseph Kelly who took Ron for a ride in a helicopter! See Joseph’s picture to the Right.

Joseph was just one of many campers and staff who submitted pictures. For your enjoyment, we have included some of our favorites below. We hope you had fun with Ron around your town. Take him with you on your Christmas vacation and be sure to take pictures. You never know when we will reward a creative picture uploaded on our Facebook page! One of you might just get a Christmas Bonus! Merry Christmas from Camp Ridgercest for Boys!

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Wrecked. Broken. Destroyed.

When was the last time you used one of those words to describe the way you felt about something? What was it? Why were you so heartbroken about it?

READ ABOUT IT
Jeremiah felt that way, too. When God revealed what was going to happen to Judah because of their sinfulness, Jeremiah was heartbroken. Read Jeremiah 8:18–9:1 in your Bible. Underline all the words and phrases that express Jeremiah’s grief over what was going to happen. Then, ask yourself:

God was broken and heartsick over the peoples’ sinfulness. When you look at the sin in the world, what’s your response?

What’s your response to sin in your life?

TAKE ACTION
What sinfulness in your own life has God broken your heart over? Confess it and seek His forgiveness today.

 
What sinfulness or circumstances in the world has God broken your heart over?

 
What steps will you take to make a difference—big or small!—in those areas this week?

Posted in Boys, Devotions | Tagged Camp Ridgecrest for Boys, Jeremiah 8, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps | Leave a reply

National Camp Ridgecrest Day!

Hello All!

Tomorrow, December 8th, is National Camp Ridgecrest Day! So what does that mean exactly?

Well let us tell you.

Tomorrow will be the day that all across America (and some other countries) we get to show our support of Camp Ridgecrest to all out friends! Basically, you can do anything you want to help you remember camp!

If you want to just wear a camp shirt and show it off to you friends, go for it. If you want to wake up to Ron’s much anticipated “Gooooooooooooood morning Camp Ridgecrest,” go for it (click here for download). Or hey, if you feel compelled to play sockwar in your local grocery store, then by all means. But whatever you may decide to do, don’t forget to take a picture of it and sent it to us at matt.stapp@lifeway.com! We want to see what you are doing around the country!

Some more examples of what to do are:

• sing a song and a blessing before each meal
• eat family style
• draw up a four square court and get your game on
• sing some camp songs
• have a morning watch with your family
• conduct a morning assembly for you family
• have a “cabin Inspection” for each room in your house

The possibilities are endless folks! Be creative and have fun remembering camp!

And don’t forget to send in pictures of what you do! (send to matt.stapp@lifeway.com)

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