CFL KIDS' CAMP 2009

It never ceases to be amazing the volume of volunteers that make Champions For Life Kids' Camp such a success. The picture above are the volunteers from week 1. This is doubled week two to make a small army. We took 62 children the first week, followed by 61 children the second week.

In the words one of our campers:
"It is so so so much fun. It helps me with my problems. "

In a letter to God another camper wrote:
"Thank you for helping me forgive and forget the past. I love you Jesus, you are my super hero!!"
Below is the campfire where we ask Jesus to burn the pain of our past memories. The campers took time to write down their pain on a piece of paper, rip it up and place it in the pot. We then ask Jesus to burn the pain of the memories of our past, while we symbolically burn the papers in our bonfire. One young boy described it as "God tickling his heart"
We had many wonderful new additions to our camp this year. The owner of Michelle's shoe store came up to camp, measured every child's foot and fitted each one with a new pair of shoes. One boy was drawing a Nike sign on his shoe earlier in the week to make his shoe look better so you can imagine his thrill to get a new pair of shoes. Many of the girls wanted to wear their new shoes with their formals to their birthday party. Another addition was our princess party and boot camp. While the boys were taught how to be a soldier of the Most High God, the girls learned that they are all princesses because they are daughters of the King of Kings. Below is a picture of our princess party.
In God's word pure religion is described as this: to remember the fatherless. Each and every year this camp grows through the faithfulness of God. We are so grateful to the hundreds of volunteers that are willing to lay down their life for one week to love a child. The fruit of this endeavor is tremendous. Many of our staff and volunteers follow up throughout the year and keep in contact with these campers, encouraging them and speaking into their lives.

CFL Kids'Camp

Sunday we head for camp. Champions for Life Kids' Camp is our camp for foster children and children in dependency care. The first week we are taking 62 children and the second week we are taking 64 children. Please keep these children in your prayers, that God will do a miracle to heal their broken hearts and reveal Himself to them as their Savior and Redeemer. God is the father to the fatherless. We want them to know that they are created by God and He has a special purpose for their lives, giving them hope for a future. Two weeks, two separate groups of children. Please keep these 126 children and the volunteers in your prayers.
"My favorite part was when I threw all my pain in the lake."
(The lake of forgiveness)

CFL Returns

Champions for Life Kids' Camp will continue to be a part of our home mission's project. We have over 24 churches represented in our community that volunteer at this faith based camp. This camp is specifically designed for foster children and children at risk. Most of these children have been through very painful situations in their home life. These children learn to realize that they were created by a loving God and that He has a specific plan for their future.

CFL training is starting back up again. 20 new volunteers are now meeting once a month to train for the CFL 2009 summer camp. They will join the other 100 returning volunteers in June.

Here are some pictures from previous years at camp. There are many special moments where the children get specialized attention. Moments matter at this camp.

Children, who were forced into growing up too soon, come to camp and are encouraged to just have fun. They learn that there are adults whom they can trust. They also learn that they have a God who will always love them unconditionally.

There is a special moment where we write down our bad memories of the past. As we burn these memories, we ask Jesus to heal the pain of our past.

Sometimes the life of a foster child is very unstable. As they move around a lot, their birthday is sometimes forgotten. Therefore, we have established each year to have a birthday celebration where each child receives a personalized birthday cake, presents, and love for whom they are.

Please keep these children, some with horrific backgrounds and stories, in your prayers.