Mondo 09

This past weekend myself and a bus of students, leaders, and gear headed down to Sea Brooke Island to a middle school retreat called Mondo. Here are a few thoughts form the weekend.

• It was great to focus on a verse. The whole weekend was geared around Ephesians 3:20-21. This made my job as the keynote speaker to be more like a surgical laser then a light show. Plus it gave the students (theologically) something to lock onto and memorize.

• It highlighted students. In each session worship was led by a team of high school students. Each talk incorporated the stories of how Jesus has moved in the lives of teenagers told by those students.
  

• It was big but small. I've been to this camp a hand full of times for more events then i can remember. This was the first time I've seen camp at capacity. There were a bunch of students and a bunch that were on the wait list. Numbers ended up somewhere around 300 6th through 8th graders. This said we were divided up into youth groups and into cabins. So despite the big feel I believe that the time we spent as youth groups made the weekend real. This leads me to my final thought (for now)
  

• We have some of the greatest youth leaders on the planet. With my duties as speaker and Liz, who normally facilitates trips like this, being in charge of room setup and prayer stations our leaders kicked it up and went above and beyond. Like I said they are the best.
  

For our group the weekend held some really touchstone moments of young students drawing close to their savior and being commissioned to be his hands and feet out in the world. I'm sure I'll post some more pics or videos once they surface here.