So what do you do now that camp is over? You have had an amazing encounter with God, and you don’t want it to end. We want to help you with this, and have created something to help continue what God started at camp
After Camp Journal
What is the purpose of camp? For some, it is a time to reconnect with God, renew their passion, and identify their life purpose. For others, it is a first opportunity to discover God and have a relationship with Him. But what if it was possible to keep connected for more than just a week? You see God does not live at camp, He lives in you!
“After Camp Journal” is all about you continuing what God began at camp! Our prayer as you go through these next few weeks is that you will CONNECT, RENEW, GRASP, and DISCOVER the depths of Christ as never before. In a world where people are forever trying to connect, “After Camp Journal” will be your way to remain plugged in!
Simply grab your Bible, grab a journal, and set some time aside to allow God to grow you these next few weeks!
DAY 1- Plugging in to God
READ: James 1:21 – “In simple humility, let your gardener, God, landscape you with the word, making a Salvation-garden of your life.”
DO: Set aside 10 minutes every day for the next 3 weeks to connect with God. Sit the video games down for ten minutes, or turn off the TV, or silence your phone and give God your time. We are talking about the God who created the stars and galaxies… do you not think he is worth just a few minutes of our day? Like a lamp needs electricity, you need to be plugged in to God as the source of power in your life to live as He has called you to live, and to do what He has called you to do!
JOURNAL: write down the time in which you will pray for the next 21 days in your journal, and feel free to write down your experiences. Today answer this: What is God speaking to you? As you sit silently in the room, what do you hear God saying to your heart? Share your experiences with us on our facebook page! Visit our website at www.ncnsm.com and click on the facebook link, or look up NCN Student Ministries.
DAY 2- Family Connection
READ: 1 John 4:21 – “The command we have from Christ is blunt: loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both”
DO: You know what it is like to have good news; you have to share it! God shared the good news of His Son, Jesus, with us. So why not take some time to tell those you love all that God did in your life? Be open and honest with your family about camp and what God did for you, if you do so it will make the whole experience of camp that much better!
JOURNAL: What are you most thankful for at camp? What experiences at camp did you share with your family?
DAY 3- A Piece of the Puzzle
READ: 1 Corinthians 7:7 – “But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.”
DO: one of the best ways to keep your experience from camp alive, is to become actively involved in your youth ministry and church. You are part of something great that God is doing in your youth ministry, you help complete the “ministry puzzle!” Everyone has a gift and a talent, God wants us to use these gifts and to grow; and there is no better way to be stretched and grow in God than when you are being a servant.
Talk to your youth pastor about a “spiritual gifts test” to see what you might be good at doing!
JOURNAL: What are some of your interests? What area of ministry would you like to be a part of? Have you talked to your youth pastor about this? Did you ask them about a spiritual gifts test?
DAY 4 – What’s the Point?
READ: Proverbs 3:21 – “Dear friend, guard clear thinking and common sense with your life; don’t for a minute lose sight of them.”
DO: take some time to pray for God’s strength to accomplish your goals for this next year. Ask him to guide your steps and to guard you so that you may not lose sight of the goals you have. Another way to accomplish your goals is to establish a network of accountability; pick someone you completely trust and make sure you are in contact with them weekly. Ask them to ask you the hard questions to help make sure you are on the right path.
JOURNAL: Write out your goals and the steps you plan to take to reach these goals in each area: spiritual goals, physical goals, academic goals, family goals.
DAY 5 – Get On Your Knees
READ: Proverbs 19:21 – “We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God’s purpose prevails.”
DO: take time to pray for your school and your community. Pray that God would let you be a light everywhere you go and that you would be love. Ask God to flood your campus, workplace, town, and for some of us, maybe your very own home. Let God’s love and light shine through you as you pray for your communities.
JOURNAL: What is one thing you could do to impact your school, town, or even your own state? What are you praying for?
DAY 6 – Live It Out
READ: James 1:22 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
DO: Read one of the following books from the bible: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
JOURNAL: What was your favorite verse from the book that you read? What is that verse saying to you? What verse will be the hardest for you to apply to your life this year?
DAY 7 – Something to Say
READ: Proverbs 4:21 – “It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.”
DO: Show God’s love to your friends through random acts of kindness.
JOURNAL: How Can you show God’s love in a practical way? How did your friends feel and how did they respond to your random acts of kindness? What can you say to give encouragement to someone?
DAY 8- Do Something
READ: Ephesians 6:7 – “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.”
DO: Throughout the day look for opportunities to serve someone. Doing something small and simple can go a long way, and serving with a good attitude and out of love can reflect Christ in ways we cannot imagine.
JOURNAL: make a list of one thing to do each day around the house to serve others in your family; and while in prayer this week ask God to give you a servant’s heart. Ask him to help you see opportunities to help others. What is something you can do to help your neighbor, or someone outside of your family?
DAY 9 – Giving is Better
READ: Matthew 24:40 – “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
DO: Start developing a lifestyle of giving. Collect all of your loose change in a jar and each month give all of your change to Speed the Light, in order to help missionaries around the world. Selfless giving is an amazing act of character!
JOURNAL: Today while in prayer, remember to pray for missionaries and the people they are reaching, who cover every inch of God’s Earth. Pray that God would bring a change to their lives and help the missionaries to reach them. Write a prayer for a missionary and send it to them. Ask your youth pastor what missionaries you are supporting, that you can write to and pray for.
DAY 10 – Passion for Purity
READ: Titus 2:7 – In everything set by them an example by doing what is good.
DO: Be extra careful to what you watch and listen too, remember the old saying: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. In a generation where sex is being thrown at us from every direction guard your purity and your integrity, “do not throw your pearls to the swine.” (Matt. 7:6)
JOURNAL: What can I do to stay pure? What makes me struggle and how can I overcome it? Who can I talk to, to help me be accountable?
DAY 11 – Commissioned for the Mission
READ: Matthew 28:19 – Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
DO: The best way for you to reach your campus is to be Christ on your campus, have relationships with your friends and even with the kids that nobody wants to be friends with. Show your love for everyone and have a heart for God; set standard and be the example.
JOURNAL: What ways can you reach your campus? What resources do you need? Who can you team up with to reach your campus together?
DAY 12 – A Healthy Community
READ: Proverbs 21:21 – Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind finds life itself – glorious life!
DO: Reflect Christ in all that you do, even on your networking sites (FaceBook, Twitter, etc.). consider posting your favorite Bible verse on your page for others to see, or write your thoughts and reflections about camp. Use wisdom in every picture you post, comment, or update you make.
JOURNAL: What are you doing well in reflecting Christ, what areas do you need to change? Post a small testimony of what Christ has done in your life on your facebook page!
DAY 13 – Five Friends Focus
READ: Acts 22:15 – You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.
DO: Choose five friends and pray for them that in the next year they would come to know Christ; but also take the initiative and begin to invite them to church events and youth group. Let you actions and your efforts plant the seed so that Christ can make the change!
JOURNAL: List your five friends that you will focus on this year. What can you pray for about each friend?
DAY 14 – Fasting
READ: Ezra 8:23 – So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
DO: Plan to fast something today. Such as TV, music, a meal, video games, FaceBook, etc. Let God take the priority today and spend more time in his presence than usual. Remember the point of fasting is sacrificing something to show God that he is more important that the thing your fasting.
JOURNAL: record what you prayed over each one of these categories: family, friends, future. Talk to your youth pastor about this, to help you and to keep you accountable.
DAY 15 – See the Big Picture
READ: Psalm 18:21 – Now I’m alert to God’s ways; I don’t take God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.
DO: Study your local news and begin to pray for the situations you read about and the people and families that are involved in them. Pray that God would reach them in their circumstance and that they would come to know him.
JOURNAL: What came across the news that caught your attention? How did it affect you? What can you do to make a difference in some way regarding this?
DAY 16 – Do Nothing
READ: Job 11:18 – You will be secure because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
DO: We are all busy! The daily noise and rush of life has all of exhausted so take this day to relax! Even God rested when he was creating the Universe, so take some time today to rest your body, mind, and soul, and to delight in the things God himself created! Take 15-30 minutes, shut off the phone, the computer, the TV, everything, and listen. Don’t speak, but listen to what God is saying to you.
JOURNAL: Write down the experience of your restful day. What did God speak to you during the 15-30 minutes of quiet time you spent with God where you LISTENED?
DAY 17 – Commit Yourself
READ: 2 Corinthians 5:21 – How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
DO: Take time to think about your commitment to God. Was it salvation or rededication? Spend time with God renewing these decisions.
JOURNAL: How did you want your life to be different this next school year? What are some steps you can take to help you make these changes? Who can help you in your commitment with Jesus? What is a decision you need to make now that will help you in the future?
DAY 18 – Take 5
READ: Proverbs 11:27 – Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.
DO: Take a half hour prayer time and break it into 5 minute segments. 5 min. praying, 5 min. listening, and then 5 min. meditating on what you felt God speak to you.
JOURNAL: how was your experience practicing this exercise? What did God speaking to you?
DAY 19 – A Heart of Worship
READ: Matthew 6:21 – The place where your treasure is, is the place you most want to be, and end up being.
DO: Spend 30 minutes worshiping God in your room, or some place quiet. Don’t focus on praying what you need from God, focus on worship God for who He is and what is He has done. Don’t ask for anything, Worship Him.
JOURNAL: What worship did you express to God? What were you grateful to God for?
DAY 20 – No Regrets
READ: Colossians 1:21 – At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble every chance you got.
DO: Most people will never step out in boldness and do something for God; they like to stay in their comfort zone. Christ clearly commands us to get out of the comfort zone! So do something bold for Christ.
JOURNAL: Choose one of the three options and journal on what you could do to accomplish this: praying at your flagpole during See You At the Pole; start a campus ministry team; hand out the Book of Hope on your campus. Write down what you will do and place it somewhere to remind yourself.
DAY 21 – Celebrate!
READ: 1 Chronicles 13:8 – David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres. timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.
DO: set up a back-to-school party for all your friends, Christian and Non-Christian. Connect and look for ways to have conversation about God, Heaven, and faith, amongst all of your friends.
JOURNAL: Continue to pray and read daily! To continue your 21 Days After Camp, please go out and pick up a devotional! Continue to practice the “3-step” formula: read, do, journal. And continue to love God and love People with your whole heart!
