Summer Snowboarding and Sharing Jesus
90-degree weather, sunshine and Virginia are three things that you would not associate with snowboarding, however this is exactly what is happening at Next Level summer camps. Next Level summer camp is a camp run by Liberty University at their state of the art Snowflex facility partnered with SFC (Skiers and Snowboarders for Christ). What is Snowflex? It is basically soggy carpet that is designed to mimic the speed and feel of riding snowboard and skies on real snow. The camp mission is to teach kids to progress in skiing and snowboarding and it is also to a camp that teaches them about the Lord Jesus. A typical day starts when we wake up bright and early to eat breakfast. Then we go to the hill to start the morning coaching session for all the campers to learn new and exciting tricks. In the afternoon, there are fun activities for the campers to do like dodge ball, skateboarding, soccer and my personal favorite, nap time. In the evening we go back to the Snowflex facility and have an optional Bible study. Then we ride the terrain the rest of the night!
The first week of camp has just ended and it was a blast!! This year the camp was the biggest ever hosting over 100 campers last week. It was amazing to see how excited the campers were about having the opportunity snowboard in the middle of the summer. It was also very encouraging to witness many of the campers giving their lives to Jesus or recommitting to follow Him more, during the daily bible study and small group discussions we had every night. This week in general has sparked a lot of curiosity and excitement amongst the campers on who Jesus was. The majority of campers have decided to come every night to Bible study before they go out and ride the hill. It was such a blessing to see all of the guys in my cabin make a commitment that they want to follow Jesus in a more intimate way. They expressed that one way they plan on doing this was to read their Bibles consistently when they get home from camp.
Please be praying that the Lord continues to move in the lives of these kids that were impacted, that they will not just forget about what they learned and committed to, but they would continue to grow closer to Him. Lastly, pray for the staff, that we would continue to be intentional about loving the kids and that the Holy Spirit would be using us to show next weeks campers the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
-Matt Angell