What does it look like when the next generation chooses to follow Jesus?

At our Camp IDRAFOJE here on campus just a few weeks ago, we saw students and young adults serve tirelessly giving up sleep, stepping out of their comfort zones, caring for campers, carrying burdens, solving problems and doing it all with joy.

As Children’s Pastor Jessica Lee reflected after camp: “They talked the talk AND walked the walk. It could have been said, ‘I’d rather follow Jesus than sleep in my bed, doom scroll, sleep in, or be a consumer. I’d rather follow Jesus than stay in my comfort zone, focus on what I need, or be mediocre with my faith.’”

It’s a beautiful reminder that discipleship isn’t just something we teach … it’s something we live.

Read Jessica’s full reflection below (she actually wrote this to the parents of those who served) and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how God worked through our students and leaders at Camp IDRAFOJE.

Thank you for sharing your kids with us this week. Thank you for trusting us with them and for praying them forward. I know without a shadow of a doubt y’all were praying for them. I wish you could all be flies on the wall and that we could have a live cam channel where you could watch your children serve. What a joy it is. I have the deep privilege of seeing them at their best.

Camp is a lot. The days are long.

The campers woke up before 6:00am on Wednesday morning because the sun was up, and leaders didn’t get any cracks at sleep ’til after midnight. We had morning meetings at 7:30am each day and KP was up before then to start prepping for breakfast. The kids were serving all day everyday. KP was serving, bussing, washing, cleaning and repeat. Rangers, deputies and sheriffs were on 24/7 taking kids to the bathroom, answering questions, correcting, pursuing, leading by example, forgiving and navigating all the tension points of being with kids all day long.

Camp takes all of us to our limits and highlights how finite we are. We all had hit the wall moments where we ran out of steam and begged God to help us move forward.

The name of this camp—IDRAFOJE—is symbolic. It takes the first two letters of the phrase “I’D RAther FOllow JEsus.” And that was so apparent this week. They talked the talk AND walked the walk.

It could have been said—I’d rather follow Jesus than sleep in my bed, doom scroll, sleep in or be a consumer. I’d rather follow Jesus than stay in my comfort zone, focus on what I need, or be mediocre with my faith. I’d rather follow Jesus than anything else. Even if that meant picking up trash, carrying a kazillion objects from one side of campus to another, having sore feet, getting woken up in the middle of the night, getting bug bites, or eating cold food because you gave the best food to the campers.

It was so inspiring to watch them because they modeled how cool it is, how full of joy it is to follow Jesus.

The teens worked hard but they also played hard and laughed hard. So much joy in community and core memories made. For many it looked like FOJE 2.0. Same hype as when they were campers, but with more responsibility. God is so good to not only allow us to serve him, but to give us belly laughs and joy along the way.

As a parent I loved watching two of my kids attend as campers. It was so good for them. But being on the other side now, I would argue that I love Camp IDRAFOJE even more watching my child serve at it.

It’s so good for her heart. I love that she gets a chance to declare with her whole being that she would rather follow Jesus. I love how counter cultural it is. I love that she gets to be surrounded with a cloud of other believers and that they can sharpen each other. A “bottle episode” where for 5 days what these kids have in common is more important than their differences.

And for me to watch a whole fleet of young adults declare that they would rather follow Jesus with their words and sacrificial attitude is too much to watch without crying.

Camp IDRAFOJE is only possible (besides God, of course) because of your courageous kids saying yes to Jesus. I’m so proud of them. So thankful for them. Well done parents. I know parenting is messy. Sometimes we all doubt if anything we are doing is sinking in.

This week was a testimony of God’s goodness in their lives and I just wanted to say thanks and brag on them. Heaven is going to be more crowded after this week and that’s because of all of your difference makers. Thank you.

While y’all can’t witness the magic on campus, here are a few glimpses of your kids serving, along with a few other tidbits that fill my heart with all the goodness. Also I’m fully aware of the partial sentences. My brain is tired so this is just a low key informal conversation with my friends :). Solidarity.

God is on the move,

Jessica Lee
Children’s Pastor