Our students were challenged to think about what it means to “Belong,” both to God and to each other in community. Over the weekend there’s always a lot of laughter, as each worship service includes silly games that our students are invited to play. We sing and praise God together, led this year by a band called “Divine Resonance.” This was the third time we’ve worshiped with this band, and we love that some of their songs have become familiar to us!

We also heard from a speaker in our 4 weekend worship sessions, and we were grateful to learn from Pastor Drew Morrell, who serves as the lead pastor at REAL Community Covenant Church in Marion, Indiana. (Yes, we know him here at The Grove!) Pastor Drew spoke about the ways that Jesus welcomes us to belong, just as he welcomed some disciples from unexpected backgrounds to follow him. We also learned how we are fully known and fully loved by a God who continues to move close to us in relationship. As we grow in our understanding of how we belong to God, we also looked at how belonging sends us out to connect with others and invite others into a life following God. As Pastor Drew wrapped up our worship on Sunday morning, he also encouraged us with the message of how belonging is lived out in community with others.

We had plenty of time for play as well, and our students enjoyed the indoor climbing wall, the Stumpball tournament, and the giant swing. Once again, we had a number of students who ran into the frigid waters of Lake Geneva for the Polar Bear Dip! Students also enjoyed the weekend challenge of “The Game,” a multi-level game that involves finding clues and solving puzzles all over camp. Our group worked hard to find nearly all the pieces of our camp avatar puzzle and all three of the power-up pieces for the final challenge of these “Illumination Games.”

For the past few years, Covenant Harbor has also planned “Sacred Spaces,” a time where students can take part in different spiritual practices. We participated in various prayer practices that helped students see creative ways to spend time talking and listening to God. We prayed for another youth group, practiced breath prayers, and wrote down a meaningful word or phrase on a bracelet that we could take with us. We appreciated all the different ways to think about prayer, and it’s easy to see how some of these practices could become part of the regular rhythm of our youth group.

We would encourage you to find a student who attended Winter Camp and ask about their experience. Winter Camp at Covenant Harbor also comes around every year, so we invite you to consider if there’s a student you know who might want to attend, or if you might want to be a chaperone. If you’d like to give toward Winter Camp scholarships, we have an ongoing fund to help get students to camp each year. Thank you for your prayers and support for our Winter Camp experience!