The Power of Serving 

Our church – Portage Community Chapel – first came to Camp in 2003 when my wife and I were counselors before we were married. It wasn't until 2004 that a week-long team came. This group was mostly Jr. High and High School teens with a couple adult leaders. They came through the summer of 2006. Now that I am one of the pastors at this church, I felt that the Lord wanted us to begin serving camp again back in 2009.

We brought a team for a weekend that fall and again in the spring of 2010. In the summer of 2010 we returned for another week-long trip during autism week to serve the Lord through the ministry of CEH. This team was composed of senior high students and a handful of adults.

The Lord has kept us coming to camp to serve. I feel that God has used people with special needs to show many people many things. Yet the most powerful thing that I have found is the ability to show someone the Love of Christ in real and practical ways. This is not about feeling good that you did something good, and then going home and talking about the good you did. What it really is all about is seeing a need in someone else and putting your own needs to the side in order to meet theirs. This is the gospel being worked out in real time. That Christ came down from heaven and put His own rights aside to serve us and die for us... when we do this (as one camper...Ron Queen... once said 'you look like Jesus.') I can't say I've learned a more valuable lesson from the Lord through people with special needs than that.

One experience that I feel may help others in seeing the value of serving the Lord is this. One of the things we stress the most about serving the Lord is that we must enter in that service with the right spirit that is united with Christ. We do this through prayer, repentance, and worship. During the week of camp I wasn't 'impressed' with my teens as much as I was impressed with what my Lord was doing through my teens. Having guys show love to campers, gals serve in the kitchen with smiles, and with little exception all of them serving with the right heart. This is not because I have 'good' teens but because I have a good Father who will use anyone who yields themselves to Him. The power of serving is always Christ and He desperately wants to be at the center of our lives and service to Him.

~Pastor Jimmy, Portage Community Chapel – Ravenna, Ohio