Work Week: Called Into Service
A guest post from Amber Lewis in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Going into Work Week at Windy Gap I honestly had no idea what to expect, I just knew I wanted to go on a road trip with my girlfriends and I wanted them to have an experience of adult friendship as we served together. I’ll tell you more, but to summarize, it was so life giving, so full of fun and so
freeing to see my friends come alive, be respected as adults and be called into service.
My favorite thing about Work Week was the transformation of my friend, Jordan. In the last two years of getting to know her, I have watched her learn how to be a friend, how to pursue, how to love. But when I met her, she was a loner. She had a couple of people she preferred to be with, but they had to be with her because it was their job. I met her in a carpool drop off. I begged her to be my friend. She hit me in the head. This routine continued for a while until eventually she came to club. We spent time together, and then somewhere in that time, we became best friends. I remember the first time I went to her parents' house and her mom told me that Jordan usually scares people away. I told her I wasn't going anywhere.
Fast forward to last summer at Carolina Point, Jordan was totally overwhelmed the entire week, (she ripped out her mouth hardware the second we pulled in). The week continued to be really hard; she refused to eat, shower, etc. She wouldn't go anywhere without me. If I wasn't with her, she needed something of mine to hold for “comfort." She did not desire to spend time with other leaders and especially other campers. Ironically her biggest fear is fire works and the program was completely based on the villian turning Carolina Point into a firework stand. She was terrified the entire week. Somewhere in the midst of the overwhelming week something changed in her though. My scared friend became bold. She read a letter in front of everyone one morning at club professing that she wanted to know Jesus. She does not like being on stage. Her desire to read this shocked me and the other leaders.
A year later, we discussed all the options to continue discipling our friends as we transition them out of our 14-22 club. We decided that Work Week would be a great next step. And the transformation that the Lord did in her life in the week we were there is unlike anything I had ever seen. She walked around with a notebook that she bought specifically for writing down numbers and names to continue relationships. She spent time with anyone and everyone in order to make friends, especially with a girl named Eva. I couldn't even get her to eat a meal with me- she was too busy meeting new friends.
She confidently pursued people. She made so many friends. For a week, Jordan was seen by others the way Jesus sees her. She was respected as an adult. She was treated like a friend, not just by a group of leaders in our local club, but by 300 college students all trying to figure out what living life with Jesus is all about. She got a shout out one morning at breakfast for "making the most friends at camp." At the end of the week her new friend, Eva, told me that this week with Jordan had changed her life. What I saw in Jordan is what I desire to see in any friend that is walking with Jesus: A desire to have community and confidence from Christ that allows us to love and to be loved.
At the end of Mark 2 the paralyzed man stands up, takes up his mat and walks. The Bible says that, "This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'”
Work week with Jordan was this to me. Praise God! I have never seen anything like this.
My favorite thing about Work Week was the transformation of my friend, Jordan. In the last two years of getting to know her, I have watched her learn how to be a friend, how to pursue, how to love. But when I met her, she was a loner. She had a couple of people she preferred to be with, but they had to be with her because it was their job. I met her in a carpool drop off. I begged her to be my friend. She hit me in the head. This routine continued for a while until eventually she came to club. We spent time together, and then somewhere in that time, we became best friends. I remember the first time I went to her parents' house and her mom told me that Jordan usually scares people away. I told her I wasn't going anywhere.
Fast forward to last summer at Carolina Point, Jordan was totally overwhelmed the entire week, (she ripped out her mouth hardware the second we pulled in). The week continued to be really hard; she refused to eat, shower, etc. She wouldn't go anywhere without me. If I wasn't with her, she needed something of mine to hold for “comfort." She did not desire to spend time with other leaders and especially other campers. Ironically her biggest fear is fire works and the program was completely based on the villian turning Carolina Point into a firework stand. She was terrified the entire week. Somewhere in the midst of the overwhelming week something changed in her though. My scared friend became bold. She read a letter in front of everyone one morning at club professing that she wanted to know Jesus. She does not like being on stage. Her desire to read this shocked me and the other leaders.
A year later, we discussed all the options to continue discipling our friends as we transition them out of our 14-22 club. We decided that Work Week would be a great next step. And the transformation that the Lord did in her life in the week we were there is unlike anything I had ever seen. She walked around with a notebook that she bought specifically for writing down numbers and names to continue relationships. She spent time with anyone and everyone in order to make friends, especially with a girl named Eva. I couldn't even get her to eat a meal with me- she was too busy meeting new friends.
At the end of Mark 2 the paralyzed man stands up, takes up his mat and walks. The Bible says that, "This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'”
Work week with Jordan was this to me. Praise God! I have never seen anything like this.
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