The Amazing Front Three Rows in Church

The influence of Twin Rocks Friends Camp runs deep in the lives of so many people. This realization hit home for me last Sunday as I sat in the fourth row of our small, rural church. I became distracted from worship when I began observing the people in the three rows in front of me. As I glanced around, it dawned on me that Twin Rocks Friends Camp has had a tremendous influence upon this small sample of people. In those three rows sat:

•  Nine children and youth (ages 5-14) who combined for an amazing 68 camp or retreat experiences at Twin Rocks (you'll be pleased to know that I did my detailed calculating after church). Two of the kids had been to Family Camp every year since birth; several had attended multiple weeks of Day Camp; and between them they had also attended Girls Camp, Boys Camp, Tween Camp, Surfside Camp, Samuel School, and Junior High Jamboree.
• Among the adults, three had attended Twin Rocks camps as kids; two had been to a men’s retreat; one had been to Sabbath by the Sea; and two of the couples had attended Couples Conference multiple times, including one who had previously told me: “Couples Conference saved our marriage!” 
• Some amazing grandparents are raising two of the kids, one of whom has been to Twin Rocks camps six times, the other 10! 
• One of the youth is the only person in his family to attend church. He’s attended four Twin Rocks camps.

What a blessing it is for Twin Rocks to come alongside parents and grandparents to provide Christ-centered teaching to their kids and grandkids. What a joy it is to see how the camp’s ministry impacts a church such as mine.

As I contemplated Twin Rocks’ integral part in the success of my own church, I realized that a similar scene plays out every Sunday in numerous churches in Oregon and southwest Washington – where dozens of people point to Twin Rocks as a place where marriages have been strengthened, family bonds have been forged, and kids have come to Christ.

It’s fun to work at Twin Rocks.

Fantastic Friends of Twin Rocks

This month I've received some wonderful notes from Twin Rocks donors. What a blessing it is to hear how deeply people connect with Twin Rocks.

Note #1:
Background: For four summers (2004-2007), each week we sent a list of summer camp names to volunteer residents of Friendsview Retirement Community, asking them to pray by name for specific campers at Twin Rocks that week. It was a wonderful way to ensure that all of our campers were recipients of prayer. Little did we know that one Friendsview resident would take this assignment to a whole new level. I'll protect her anonymity, but here's what she wrote me this week:

Each of those years I prayed for each [camper], but also kept praying for past attenders, adding to it the new names from each year. During those four years I received 40 names to remember in prayer. I'm still praying for those 40.... It's a joy to do that. Many of those are now married and having jobs, others continuing studies. It is such a joy to pray for them, even though many I never knew - except their name! Thank you for those names you provided. Some day we'll meet in heaven!

Note #2: 
Paul Meier (pastor of East Hill Friends Church in Kent, Washington) wrote:

I sat in my office this morning adding up all the time Charlene [my wife] and I have spent at Twin Rocks in over 40 years of ministry in NWYM [the Friends Church]. We have spent over a full year at Twin Rocks being fed and housed, being inspired, playing, counseling, and vacationing. Our times at the Camp and Harbor Villa have all been special. Thanks...for all you do.

These two notes describe a deep love of Twin Rocks and an amazing depth of care for the camp, its campers, and its ministry for Jesus. Pretty cool!

Carry Me Back to Dear Old Twin Rocks

In 1925, shortly after Twin Rocks Friends Camp was established (1918), a Summer Conference Song Book was published, with about 40 songs from our camp's early years. They are full of wonderful frivolity, and give a glimpse of Twin Rocks in its infancy.

Here are two of my favorites (please note that in those early days, Twin Rocks was the site of only one week of camp each year, held each August and referred to as "Conference"):

CARRY ME BACK TO TWIN ROCKS
Tune: Carry Me Back to Old Virginny
By: H.N. and M.E.B., Springbrook, Ore.

Carry me back to dear old Twin Rocks;
There's where the live young Friends should all pack up and go.
There's where we sing Saturday eve by the campfire;
There's where the waves gleam in sunsets golden glow;
There's where the boys are so brown, brave and handsome
There's where the cook is an angel, so they say;
There's where the girls are so merry and gladsome;
There in God's great out-doors swept by ocean spray.

Chorus:
Carry me back to dear old Twin Rocks.
There's where we all can learn of more service to be;
There's where we gain strength to meet all life's burdens;
Out at the Young Friends Conference by the sea.

Carry me back to Twin Rocks Conference.
There's where we were in days of Nineteen twenty-four;
There's where they teach us the plan of Salvation;
There's where we meet the friends we've known before;
There's where the classes are all so inspiring;
There's where the songs are about our redemption;
There's where we meet new friends from every quarter;
There in God's great out-doors swept by ocean spray.


OUR CONFERENCE HOME
Tune: Maryland, my Maryland
By: Hazel Newhouse

This is the place young friends love best,
Old Twin Rocks, our old Twin Rocks;
Our conference home far to the west;
Old Twin Rocks, our old Twin Rocks,
Beyond the bay of Tillamook,
Out there on Ocean Lake we look;
Oh fair it is our shaded nook:
Old Twin Rocks, our old Twin Rocks.

The ocean has a stirring call,
At the beach, down at the beach.
A fishing go, come one and all
At the beach, down at the beach.
A bathing in the ocean blue,
A boating on the lake with you,
A hiking in the morning dew,
At the beach, down at the beach.

At His command we will "launch out";
Conference, at conference.
Let down our nets, we will not doubt.
Conference, at conference.
In one short week of work and play,
We try to seek the Master's way,
And this shall be our dauntless lay
Conference, OUR conference.

Much has changed at Twin Rocks since 1925: 40 buildings today versus one then, 120 acres today versus three then. But I'm amazed by how consistent the purpose of Twin Rocks has remained over the decades: Encountering Jesus Christ on the Oregon Coast.

A special thanks to Sharon Hayden, whose family holds a long and close connection to Twin Rocks Friends Camp. Last week we received a donation of three of these wonderful song books from Sharon. Thanks, Sharon!

The Desire to Please You

Three mornings this week, Jamie Johnson sent Surfside Campers out to enjoy a "Solo Time" with God. In addition to recommended Scripture passages and reflection questions, Jamie encouraged campers to pray a wonderful prayer from Thomas Merton's "Thoughts in Solitude."

It gives me tremendous joy to know that our high school campers have been praying this prayer this week:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude" (copyright Abbey of Gethsemani)

Nazarene Youth Upon the Cornerstone

For the last four summers (and 11 of the past 13), youth from Nazarene churches across Oregon have congregated for a week of summer camp at Twin Rocks.

It's a familiar scene, where groups outside the Friends denomination rent the camp for their own programs. We provide the food, meeting rooms, play fields, lifeguards at the lake, and clean cabins to sleep in. The renters bring their own cabin counselors, worship leaders, camp pastors, and recreation directors.

We love these partnerships, and enjoy seeing God at work. This morning I sat outside the Meetinghouse and listened to Clint Tafoya, a youth pastor from Colorado, speak to the 175 Nazarene youth and staff gathered inside. He shared from Ephesians 2:19-21, reminding campers that true meaning in life is found by building our lives upon the "cornerstone" of Jesus Christ.

What a joy it is for me to hear God's message proclaimed at Twin Rocks, even across denominational lines.

Servant Leaders

SLP Staff Members 2011

What a joy it was yesterday to hear members of our Servant Leadership Program (SLP) summarize the past five weeks to their parents. The SLP is made up of 10 high school students who serve Twin Rocks in a wide variety of ways: as junior counselors to elementary age kids, as behind-the-scenes workers in the dish room and elsewhere, and as "campers" learning to grow deeper in their faith with Jesus Christ.

Here are a few words I heard yesterday at the conclusion of the 5-week program:

• About Counseling at Girls Camp:
  "We gave several girls a Bible of their own and got to show them how to use it. We spent cabin times showing the girls how to find things in the Bible."
  
  
• About Counseling at Boys Camp:
  "God didn't need me, but he showed me that he was happy to use me in the kids' lives."
  
  
• About the SLP community:
  "I had no idea how much of a family we would become."
  "Even when we were working through something difficult we found joy and saw God in it."
  "I really got to know people on a deep level."
  "I didn't expect to be so attached to these people."
  
  
• About Relationship with God:
  "Most rewarding? Being able to look back and see how much I've grown in my relationship with God and as a person."
  "It was an atmosphere where I was really encouraged to grow in my relationship with God."

In follow-up to these comments, a couple of parents stood and shared:

• "I'm blown away by how much he's grown in five weeks!"
• "I can't thank you enough."

I'm deeply impressed by these 10 young people - by their maturity, by their willingness to serve campers and one another, and by their strong commitment to following Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful for Interns Scott Bay and Emily Smith who spent hundreds of hours preparing for and implementing the SLP program.

Post-It Note Prayers

Some of the "Post-It Prayers" from Tween Campers

Last week at Tween Camp, we had 240 middle schoolers in attendance - an all-time record. During one class taught early in the week by Associate Director Joseph Thouvenel, campers were encouraged to write a prayer to the Lord on a post-it note and place it on a window.

After class, I wandered over to the windows to peruse the prayers. I was amazed by the depth of the content displayed in the prayers. A few made me laugh, like the one which said "Please help camp to be more fun than it is now." Others made me hurt for these dear young people. Several caught my attention:

• Help my mom get well so she isn't in pain anymore.
• I've been confused about my life. My friends have been telling me to do the opposite of what my heart is. I just really need guidance.
• Heal my heart.
• Dear God, Please be with me and my friends back home so that we can see each other and begin talking again. Amen
• To stop making the same mistakes.
• I pray I survive this week.
• For me to listen to God more.
• Please help me become more confident in myself. And help me not let my fears of not being wanted hold me back.
• Dear God, Can you help my mom not get thrown out of the house that she is in?
• This week I pray that God will reveal that I am unique in my own special way and I don't have to be like everybody else.
• Help me get more friends!
• I hope my parents do not get divorced.
• Dear God, please help me become the person you want me to be.
• God, please help my attitude towards my family.
• To have clear/clean skin.
  
• Help me to really enjoy reading my Bible.
• I would like to be strong enough to overcome my homesickness.
  

Perhaps as you read this, a few of these prayer requests capture your heart. If so, maybe you can take a moment and say a prayer to the Lord for the person who wrote that prayer. Thanks!