Pine Hills Boys Camp -- 2009

We have been running the Pine Hills Boys and Girls camps so long that they are now led by former campers—who were themselves at camps led by former campers!  There is a heritage of more than 25 years of building into the lives of young people, introducing them to a deep experience of the Lord, and pointing them toward a Spirit-empowered life for Jesus.  And God has blessed the campers and staff year after year! This year we faced some special challenges.  More than ever before, the camp is reaching young folks with no historical connection to The Word of God.  This is wonderful in that it extends the reach of our mission.  But it also means that campers come with less background and have to ‘hit the ground running’.  Some have no experience with charismatic life before getting thrown in the deep end at camp.  But God worked wonderfully to open kids hearts and bring them into an experience of the Spirit.

Given the state of the economy, there were financial challenges, as well.  Many families struggled to be able to afford camp.  Initially we only had 50+ boys signed up, largely because of this.  We had a tremendous response among the girls, eventually accepting 128 campers!  However, many of them needed scholarship help, as well.  Eventually we were able to make it possible for 92 boys to come to camp.  In total we extended more than $15,000 worth of scholarships, almost three times the annual amount for the last few years. 

But the investment by community families, former camp families, churches of campers and others was worth it.  Both the Boys Camp and Girls Camp leaders reported that this was probably the best year ever—and that is saying a lot!  There seemed to be a greater sense of unity among the staffs, more responsiveness on the part of everyone to the Lord, and on top of all that they had great weather!

Below you can hear from the campers themselves about their experience at camp.  Let’s keep praying for them that what the Lord began in them at camp will be sustained in the year ahead.

At Pine Hills I really experienced God and had a lot of fun.  Thanks a lot, J.

I really liked the high dive.  It was sooooo awesome.  I also liked the final battle.  I pulled liked, 13 raider flags.  I threw a balloon at Mr. Awesome, but it bounced off and I got really amazed.  I also kind of experienced God.  Not as much as last year though.  But I will still try to be good at home and talk to God all the time.  Well, that’s about it ok.  Bye.  C.

I felt God’s love for the first in a long time.

I really experienced Jesus this year at Pine Hills and that is very special to me.

I have never been so close to God in my life.  M.

I experienced God’s love for the first time.

I gave my life to Jesus and went all out for him for the first time this week.  C.

I experienced God’s love powerfully for the first time.  And I had one of the best weeks of my life.  M.

This camp was one of the most fun things involving God I’ve ever had.  I wish I could come every year but I hope that others have the same experience as me.

I heard God’s voice and learned how much he loved me.

I have experienced God in one of the most intense prayer meetings ever in one of the best weeks of my life

I have been going to Pine Hills for 3 years and this year I experienced God’s love the most.  B.

I’ve experienced God’s love in a way I have never experienced before here at Pine Hills.  Thanks to prayer meetings, I have recommitted myself to Christ Jesus.

I’ve experienced God in many ways before this year at camp, but this year was really special because I was ‘slain in the Spirit’ for the first time.  And it was one of the best experiences in my life.  M.

I spoke in tongues for the first time.   D.

This camp experience has been the best experience in my life.  I have built up my joy, confidence, (muscles), spirit and lot more stuff.  This camp is the best and I hope I can continue coming.

For the first time ever I’ve felt the will to get out of my shell.  M.

At Pine Hills I came to be the man that God wanted me to be both spiritually and mentally.  I thank The Word of God with all my heart for the great service you have done to me.  Your works have saved many souls and I am truly grateful for your undying efforts.  P.

Carol Kean -- Newsletter Testimony, June 2006

“What eye has not see and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him”                       1 Cor 2:9

When Phil asked if I would write something for the newsletter about what the Lord has been doing in my life I said “Sure, I’d be glad to.” Every time I tried to begin I was stopped dead in my tracks. I can’t do this! It hit me this weekend that what was wrong is that it is not my story at all. The story belongs to God and the faith community.

This is a love story between an individual and a people of faith. God has revealed himself intimately and powerfully through the gracious mediation of individuals, through The Word of God community, Renewal Ministries and Christ the King Parish - and I am blown away!

Can I pray with you? Have you ever thought about the fact that an offer to pray with someone might just change their whole life? Last Fall I joyfully returned to fulltime status as a student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary after a long siege of serious illness. After the first week one of my classes was moved to a newly renovated classroom equipped for videotaping.  The chemicals given off by the carpeting and the adhesive were inflaming my lungs and I struggled to breathe.

Dr. Peter Williamson, my professor for Johannine literature, asked if I would like to pray for healing. As Peter prayed over me, all of the things that had been burdening my heart were lifted off in one great act of mercy and forgiveness. Part of the prayer was about how much Jesus loves me and wants to heal me. I couldn’t quite grasp it. “Maybe everyone else, but not me. I am not a saint but a sinner.” The spiritual healing was so amazing that at the time I was not aware of anything else.

Going back in my journal I wrote:

I walked out of the seminary with a marvelous sense of lightness and literally the breath of God. I have not struggled to breathe this afternoon. I am drawn deeper into relationship with Christ and the unfolding mystery of what God has designed for my life. I am humbled in the face of God’s revelation.

I couldn’t wait for the next class period to come so that I could report back the good news of the healing miracle! “The most amazing thing has happened! I can breathe - but the chemicals in the room are still making my lungs burn.” Peter again offered to pray for healing and immediately the burning in my lungs ceased and has not returned. In the next journal entry I wrote:

I am filled with such peace and joy, awash in the quenching water of life. This sacred space, this holy ground is food for the journey. I revel in the delight of the Lord and know beyond any doubt that I am being led - where and to what I do not know but what God begins he always blesses.

I have never experienced such powerful prayer. I am healing at many levels and I am reduced to silence in the face of awe.

I am home About a month later during prayer for healing I was baptized in the Spirit and my life took a radical turn in the Lord. I asked Peter what kind of a faith community sustained the kind of faith and power of healing that he possessed. He told me about Christ the King parish and The Word of God community.

When I attended the first Mass at Christ the King my only response afterward was “I am home.” Here was a faith community whose worship was in harmony with their living faith.

Welcome to the family The next great event was an invitation to come to a Word of God prayer meeting. So many expectations of who God is and how God is had already been transformed and here came another one! I remember how amazing it was to be welcomed into the community with such incredible warmth and love, sight unseen, just because I am a daughter of the Lord! Marsha looked out for me as a sister (and she still does).

The whole community is a reflection of the Father’s love for his bride and the worship and praise slowly began to transform my life. The faith of the community is so confident and joyful in the Lord that the intimate relationship that began with the first healing prayer took on a new shape with an outward movement. In those early weeks all I seemed to be able to say was “I had no idea! I really had no idea!” The Bridegroom’s love for his bride is astonishing!

Letting God be God What God began in September he has deepened without letting up. God continues to reveal himself and manifest his glory without any merit on my part. The formerly shy and quiet woman of old, through God’s outpouring of love, will now sit beside a perfect stranger waiting for an oil change or a passenger on an airplane and start talking about Jesus.

What I have discovered through the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is that lives are transformed before our very eyes when we let God be God. Recently on a trip to Colorado I prayed with my Aunt that the Holy Spirit would lift a heavy burden from her and give her wisdom and peace. The answer was immediate and profound. While in Colorado I received a call from a friend of my mother’s that a long time acquaintance suffered a mishap during surgery and that they were on the way to the hospital to take him off life support. When I hung up the phone I immediately prayed to the Lord who knows all and can heal all that if it be God’s will “Lord you can turn this situation all around. Show your glory Lord!” Two days later she called back to say that when they got to the hospital, her father sat up and asked what everyone was doing there! 

In the powerful words of Nathan Mitchell:

If you hope to become part of God’s reign, you must let yourself be overtaken, knocked breathless, by a Presence, a Reality you can neither invent nor control. In a word, you have to open your life to the holy violence of conversion - a tumultuous experience that is liable to leave you feeling drenched and exhausted, as though the seas had seized, swallowed and spat you back alive on the shore. Newborn and salted, you sense that nothing looks the same, nothing can ever be the same.

(The Kingdom of Justice Modern Liturgy Oct. 1991): 8)

Giving is the key The living water that Jesus promised continues to gush up to eternal life. Through The Word of God community I have learned that the only way to keep from drowning in the gushing water of grace is to keep giving it away. The faster you give, the faster it comes. I have learned is that when we ask God for more (more grace, more courage, more abundance, more intimacy, etc.) that God’s “more” is far more than we can even imagine. Just when I think that I should not come before the Lord pleading for his intercession one more time, he surprises me with himself.

And this is why, my brothers and sisters, I had trouble even beginning to write to you and share my experiences. When I realized that it is all about God and you, about how you have reflected God to me and the might and power of your presence in my life, THEN my eyes were opened and my heart was able to pour itself forward in praise and honor of the one who loves us beyond his own life. And all that I can offer you is thanks, simply and humbly - thanks. Praise be to God on high!”

“I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, ...

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,

restored me to life from among those who gone down to the Pit.

...You have turned my mourning into dancing;

you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” 

                  Psalm 30

Grace abounds! The Spirit of God has blown into my life with such a mighty force that I need the community, which knows that it is all about God, and nothing about us. It is so crystal clear that it is God being God in God’s way. And how marvelous to have an avenue for genuine, unadulterated, unabashed praise of God! Thank you for your continued welcoming and encouragement.

God is calling me forth in powerful ways and I try to remember that he wants me to simply stand before him in faith and trust and confidence. It takes a community to raise each of us to holiness. I thank God for you in my life and the life I have been given through you in the Lord.     

I can breathe!

By Carol K. Have you ever thought about the fact that an offer to pray with someone might just change their whole life? Last Fall I joyfully returned to fulltime status as a student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary after a long siege of serious illness. After the first week one of my classes was moved to a newly renovated classroom equipped for videotaping.  The chemicals given off by the carpeting and the adhesive were inflaming my lungs and I struggled to breathe. Dr. Peter Williamson, my professor for Johannine literature, asked if I would like to pray for healing.

As Peter prayed over me, all of the things that had been burdening my heart were lifted off in one great act of mercy and forgiveness. Part of the prayer was about how much Jesus loves me and wants to heal me. I couldn’t quite grasp it. “Maybe everyone else, but not me. I am not a saint but a sinner.” The spiritual healing was so amazing that at the time I was not aware of anything else. Going back in my journal I wrote:

I walked out of the seminary with a marvelous sense of lightness and literally the breath of God. I have not struggled to breathe this afternoon. I am drawn deeper into relationship with Christ and the unfolding mystery of what God has designed for my life. I am humbled in the face of God’s revelation.

I couldn’t wait for the next class period to come so that I could report back the good news of the healing miracle! “The most amazing thing has happened! I can breathe - but the chemicals in the room are still making my lungs burn.” Peter again offered to pray for healing and immediately the burning in my lungs ceased and has not returned. In the next journal entry I wrote:

I am filled with such peace and joy, awash in the quenching water of life. This sacred space, this holy ground is food for the journey. I revel in the delight of the Lord and know beyond any doubt that I am being led - where and to what I do not know but what God begins he always blesses.

I have never experienced such powerful prayer. I am healing at many levels and I am reduced to silence in the face of awe.

About a month later during prayer for healing I was baptized in the Spirit and my life took a radical turn in the Lord. I asked Peter what kind of a faith community sustained the kind of faith and power of healing that he possessed. He told me about Christ the King parish and The Word of God Community. When I attended the first Mass at Christ the King my response afterward was “I am home.” Here was a faith community whose worship was in harmony with their living faith.

The next great event was an invitation to come to a Word of God prayer meeting. So many expectations of who God is and how God is had already been transformed and here came another one! I remember how amazing it was to be welcomed into the community with such incredible warmth and love, sight unseen, just because I am a daughter of the Lord! Marsha looked out for me as a sister (and she still does).

The whole community is a reflection of the Father’s love for his bride and the worship and praise slowly began to transform my life. The faith of the community is so confident and joyful in the Lord that the intimate relationship that began with the first healing prayer took on a new shape with an outward movement. In those early weeks all I seemed to be able to say was “I had no idea! I really had no idea!” The Bridegroom’s love for his bride is astonishing!

What God began in September he has deepened without letting up. God continues to reveal himself and manifest his glory without any merit on my part. The formerly shy and quiet woman of old, through God’s outpouring of love, will now sit beside a perfect stranger waiting for an oil change or a passenger on an airplane and start talking about Jesus. What I have discovered through the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit is that lives are transformed before our very eyes when we let God be God.

Recently on a trip to Colorado I prayed with my Aunt that the Holy Spirit would lift a heavy burden from her and give her wisdom and peace. The answer was immediate and profound. While in Colorado I received a call from a friend of my mother’s that a long time acquaintance suffered a mishap during surgery and that they were on the way to the hospital to take him off life support. When I hung up the phone I immediately prayed to the Lord who knows all and can heal all that if it be God’s will “Lord you can turn this situation all around. Show your glory Lord!” Two days later she called back to say that when they got to the hospital, her father sat up and asked what everyone was doing there!

The living water that Jesus promised continues to gush up to eternal life. Through the Word of God community I have learned that the only way to keep from drowning in the gushing water of grace is to keep giving it away. The faster you give, the faster it comes. I have learned is that when we ask God for more (more grace, more courage, more abundance, more intimacy, etc.) that God’s “more” is far more than we can even imagine. Just when I think that I should not come before the Lord pleading for his intercession one more time, he surprises me with himself. And this is why, my brothers and sisters, I had trouble even beginning to write to you and share my experiences. When I realized that it is all about God and you, about how you have reflected God to me and the might and power of your presence in my life, THEN my eyes were opened and my heart was able to pour itself forward in praise and honor of the one who loves us beyond his own life. And all that I can offer you is thanks, simply and humbly - thanks. Praise be to God on high!”

“I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, ...

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,

restored me to life from among those who gone down to the Pit.

...You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.”                     Psalm 30

Grace abounds! The Spirit of God has blown into my life with such a mighty force that I need the community, which knows that it is all about God, and nothing about us. It is so crystal clear that it is God being God in God’s way. And how marvelous to have an avenue for genuine, unadulterated, unabashed praise of God! Thank you for your continued welcoming and encouragement. God is calling me forth in powerful ways and I try to remember that he wants me to simply stand before him in faith and trust and confidence. It takes a community to raise each of us to holiness. I thank God for you in my life and the life I have been given through you in the Lord.

Carol K.

Finally Opening to Jesus

By Betty B. The telephone rang late one evening. It was our neighbor saying that they had found a house and were putting their house up for sale. They wanted us to know before the "For Sale" sign went up. I felt awful but what could I say. I thanked her for letting us know. The neighborhood was changing. Over the past year or so, one by one the "For Sale" signs had gone up and our neighbors had sold their homes and moved out. With each family leaving, I felt worse and worse. The last call left me feeling bereft and devastated. These were my friends and I knew that we wouldn't have much contact anymore.

The next day, I realized that I was feeling abandoned, without a friend in the world. My self-esteem was zilch and I considered suicide but knew that it was not an option. I yearned for God. But God seemed far away. I knew I had to do something. So I did the only thing I could think of to do. Aloud, alone in our living room, I said, "Okay God. I'm giving my life to you" and called around until I found some volunteer work to do.  Over the next several years I volunteered for Child and Family Services and later for the Homemaker Service which was actually a part of Child and Family Services. Over a number of years I tried to do what I thought God wanted me to do. I also became more active in our church.

Finally, my work with the Homemaker Service came to an end. Soon my church asked me to be on the Hunger Task Force that was being organized to educate our congregation to the realities of hunger in the world and to find ways to help alleviate it. My worldview at that time was "Yes, we need to help feed the world's hungry people, but only after we feed ours first." I went to the first meeting where I expressed these thoughts. One evening, between the first and second meeting, I suddenly was seeing, as through a porthole, a rice field with people in conical hats working in it and I knew with my whole being that I was seeing the world through God's eyes and that everyone was entitled to their fair share. My worldview had changed 180 degrees. I wanted to change the world, starting with my family. I wanted to feed them rice and beans, but of course they rebelled.

Then I had the worst month of my entire life, or so it seemed. I was not one to see the pastor about my troubles, but I kept having to go talk with him.  One day he asked me how come I was so involved in the world. I knew he was right but at the same time, I suddenly realized that that when I had given my life to God, it was just my outside-the-home life.  My home life was in chaos. At that point, I gave God my home life as well, and everything changed. Suddenly, the Bible, which hadn't made sense to me, suddenly opened up and became the most fascinating book in the world. I spent hours reading it and praying. I soon began to hear God loud and clear and I knew that my life had changed forever.

Still, I spent several years seeking people who knew "my language," as I thought of it. I met some wonderful spirit-filled people and enjoyed their friendship. Then I discovered some young people in my church that spoke "my language." They were part of the The Word of God community, and some wonderful friendships and relationships developed with these young people and their friends. One day we were invited to a dinner put on by The Word of God. It resulted in our becoming part of the community.

One Sunday, several years after becoming part of the community, we were at a prayer meeting at Pioneer High School. The group was singing a rousing chorus of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Suddenly I found myself crying out to God that I didn't want to be left behind. I was hearing God tell me that my salvation was in danger. I didn't know why. I asked around but nobody seemed to know either. I thought that maybe I should learn more about Jesus.  I tried reading the Gospels with this in mind but nothing happened.

Several months went by. Then my husband and I went to a denominational conference at Messiah College in Grantham, PA.  At one of the seminars, the pastor was telling how he was an illegitimate child, and I found myself sobbing and I couldn't seem to stop. Finally, a couple of people put their hands on me and I knew they were praying and I was finally able to stop sobbing. It was a very embarrassing experience. I talked with the pastor afterwards but he wasn't able to help.

Later, that summer, the Methodists were having their Aldersgate Conference in Kalamazoo, MI. The Rev. Francis McNutt (a former Catholic priest who had a healing ministry) and his wife were to be there and I wanted to hear them. So my daughter and I made arrangements to go on Saturday. We both enjoyed the conference but nothing spectacular happened. That evening, on the way home, I suddenly realized that the Lord was telling me that I was like an illegitimate child. I still didn't know why but decided I had better talk with our pastor. On the following Monday, I went in to see our pastor and told him my story. He listened carefully and then said that John 1:12-13 had come to mind—"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." RSV

I finally knew that God was saying that I had never received Christ, though I knew I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and heard God speak, sometimes loud and clear. My pastor did not offer to pray with me. I went home knowing that if l was to receive Jesus, He would have to do it Himself because I didn't know how.

That afternoon, the sun was shining so warm and bright, I walked into my living room and suddenly realized that Jesus was coming up my walk. I couldn't see Him but I knew He was there. He came to the door and knocked and I opened the door and invited Him in. That is the story of how I finally received Christ into my heart.

An encouraging word on prayer -- Billy Kangas

By Billy Kangas

“A day without morning and evening prayers and personal intercessions is actually a day without meaning or importance.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Asking “How does one pray?” is a question that has been asked for thousands of years. Just take a look at Luke 11:1 “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Even those who lived day in and day out with Jesus still had trouble understanding how to pray!

Before we get into how… I think it’s important to talk about why… there are innumerable reasons to pray. Stop and think for a second before reading… Why would one pray? Come up with a reason in your mind…

I can think of a few reasons:

Ephesians 3:14-19 – It strengthens our relationship with God

A person prays, said Augustine, "that he himself may be constructed, not that God may be instructed."

Luke 22:39-41 – Avoid Temptation

Luke 10:2 It empowers us to see God’s will

Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: “the true relation in prayer is not when God hears what is prayed for, but when the person praying continues to pray until he is the one who hears, who hears what God wills.”

and empowers us do it (look at the next command of Jesus in Verse 3)

Prayer is really practical! As St. Thomas More once prayed, "The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labor for."

Ephesians 6:10-20 - Warfare

One of my favorite quotes about prayer comes from Karl Barth who wrote, "To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world."

Requests – Philippians 4:6

“God,” said Pascal, “instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.” That’s a really cool idea to me!

One Final thought by Eugene Peterson: ““Be slow to pray. Praying puts us at risk of getting involved with God’s conditions…. Praying most often doesn’t get us what we want but what God wants, something quite at variance with what we conceive to be in our best interests. And when we realize what is going on, it is often too late to go back.””

OFF THE WALL… Prayers & Passages from the walls at The Word of God 40 Days Prayer Room 3/21-23/09

Lord, in your will is our peace. May your will be done over all our county, our country, the world. Help us to truly see your will and carry it out with your grace and strength. Praise the Lord forever. The Lord is worthy!

Our prayer and God’s mercy are like two buckets in a well. While one ascends, the other descends. – Mary Hopkins

Be willing to help those who are coming to the Lord. Our help is in the Lord who made heaven and earth.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:17

May your will become for each one of us so impelling and attracting that we think of nothing else all day.

Let your hand be over the poor and needs.

Holy God, may you protect the people of this county. Keep us from harm and provide protection from the plans of destruction that our enemies have plotted. Give wisdom, understanding and discernment to those who provide protection.

How great is our God. How great is his name. How great is our God. Forever the same.

Stand with us in our city/county, oh Lord. You are the source of the living water that refreshes our parched land.

No city, no county is so far away from you that it cannot be brought back to you.

Lord, strengthen and purify your people and their love for you that we would be able to freely offer strength, love, and life to a dying world. Amen

If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him “if I can! Everything is possible to the one who has faith”. Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief”.

Isa.61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Come Lord Jesus! Penetrate the darkness around us and in us. Let the light of your Holy Spirit saturate us and everyone in this county with the truth of your love. May truth and beauty and knowledge of your abundant mercy draw all men deeper into a relationship with you. May you be recognized as precious and entirely unique and set apart from every other god in this county.

Gloria in Excelses Deo!!

Our job is to share the gift. Our job is not to worry about what others will do with the gift.

We repent. Send us! We repent for letting fear hold us back. We repent for not fighting for you. We repent for our lack of faith. We repent for our prayerlessness.

We seek your presence -- nothing else will satisfy. The way ahead you must show, for without you, Lord our God, we will not go.

Lord, may your voice rise up in this county and block out all other voices not of you

Isa.40:3-4 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Arise, Shine. The glory of the Lord has risen on us.

I thirst

Jn.20:21 As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

Increase our thirst for you, Lord!

Col.3 to be hidden with you in God

Your name is like honey on my lips … oh how sweet, how infinitely desirable are you. Your Spirit like water to my soul. Your word is a lamp to my path. Jesus I love you.

Phil.2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

God loves us more than we can imagine. Alleluia! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

Go into the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Zech.8:6 If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of these people in these days, will it also be too difficult in my sight? declares the Lord of Hosts. We are not the measure of what is possible – God is!!