FALL RETREAT ’19: Hunger and Thirst No More (ECC Students)

Last week, the youth of ECC had an incredible weekend retreating at Camp Wesley near Bellefontaine, OH. Our goal was to Share Life by spending the weekend growing closer to Jesus, our Lord and also each other. I believe I can say with utmost certainty, “Mission Accomplished!”

Many of you are aware that our student ministry is taking a year-long journey through the Gospel of John, and our weekend at Camp Wesley was no different. We dove deep into John chapter 6, investigated 71 verses that helped us see Jesus in ways only through the help of the Holy Spirit are we able to understand: The Bread of Life. The Bread that came down from heaven. Real food and real drink.

Yes we had fun playing dodgeball, hiking, playing card games, ping-pong, foosball, and whatever else we could find to do. We also learned about Jesus’ miracles of feeding 5,000 people and walking on water. We made communion bread that we used as we broke bread and drank the cup together. We worshiped and God responded. But there was one specific experience over the weekend that was a blast, but also in a very silly way spoke volumes to who Jesus is.

Liquid Mountaineering

Not heard of liquid mountaineering? Check out this video from 2010. It was all the craze back then! For those of you who aren’t into watching videos, it’s a video of some random people on a journey to walk on water. It’s completely fake and quite funny to watch. For many, however, when this video first came out it was believed to be real!

When I showed this video to our students, all who were between the ages of 3 and 9 when Liquid Mountaineering became a sport, they couldn’t believe their eyes! Many also thought this was real! After realizing it wasn’t, 10 of our students thought they would take a stab at Liquid Mountaineering. And of course, we have video footage of that! Please remember, it was upper 30s-low 40s outside. These kids were crazy!

Our conclusion: Wow! Water is really cold in November! But more importantly, Jesus is amazing! Over our Fall Retreat we discussed how during the Jewish Passover Feast (which is when John 6 takes place) the Jews focused on the Exodus and the miracles God performed such as manna from heaven and parting the Red Sea (Exodus 13-16). And when we homed in on Jesus’ miracle of walking on water we were blown away by the powerful message it sent to his disciples who witnessed it.

Moses led the Israelites on dry ground with walls of water parted on both sides. This is a spectacular miracle, but for Jesus… he didn’t even need dry ground! He just told the water he made to become solid ground for him! We knew there was no chance of us walking/running on water, but the reality of seeing how “impossible” it is makes Jesus all the more powerful and full of wonder!

On behalf of our youth at ECC, I’d like to say Thank You for the support and care you give to our student ministry. If it wasn’t for your support in prayer and giving in tithes these kinds of experiences wouldn’t be made possible. So Thank You for helping bring a Jesus experience to 22 youth (and 7 adults) over the weekend of November 1-3. We are truly grateful!