This is awesome. Because the 4th of July falls on a Tuesday and my leave starts on Wednesday, tomorrow is my last day of work. We usually get four days off over Independence Day, and this year is no different…which is awesome, and means my 17 days of leave have ballooned to 21. If only I could take off early.

Excitement abounds, for Wednesday morning I fly out to Portland, Oregon from Norfolk Airport at 8 AM. Sucks that I have a layover in Dallas for about two hours (I HATE TEXAS), but oh well. I will be getting into Portland around 1:30ish next Wednesday. I can’t wait. I haven’t been to Rainier since Christmas ‘04, but I haven’t been to the Oregon Coast, Beacon Rock, Seattle and a bunch of places Aftan and I are going to hit up, since before I graduated high school. It is amazing how time flies and my going back to my home state is long overdue.

Anyhoo, still waiting for someone to post something good in the forum…..

Every year around this time, the Church of God of Prophecy holds youth Summer Camps in each of its states. Virginia’s youth camp concluded last week, and now it’s Washington’s turn. I mention these two states because Virginia of course is where I currently live, and Washington is where I grew up.

As a camper, I enjoyed the fellowship, the worship, and the altar ministry. Some of my best memories while growing up, happened at Millersylvania State Park’s Environmental Learning Center in Maytown, Washington during the last week in June and the first week in July. I received so much from the Lord, made lifelong friendships, and got to show off my now non-existent basketball skills. Plus, it was one of the only times throughout the year I saw each one of my church friends in the same place. What a wonderful experience!!!

Now I find myself sitting here in Virginia, too old to be a camper, and a few years removed from my time in Washington state. I treasure my time there, and I want to do what I can to help others create the same memories.

I can’t do that this year — I’m not actively involved in the camping ministry until I separate from the Air Force. But every year when Camps roll around, I always spend extra time in prayer for campers and leaders in each respective state’s camp.

Lakeside sent ten youth to Senior Camp this past week, and three worked in the camp as staff. It was so neat to hear reports of how the Lord blessed mightily at Camp Lowman. Last night at Life group, Krista Lankford shared how tough it was as a group leader to minister to each kid’s needs. How true…it’s so different when you’re a camper for years and when you’re called, the glorious burden of being a group leader presents itself.

My only camp staff experience was 2004, worked in Washington’s Winter Retreat. It was then that I experienced firsthand how much of a spiritual toll being in leadership takes. Not only are you dealing with your daily duties as a staff member (in my case, it was a “roustabout” — basically the errand person for the camp), and ministering to the campers at the altar, but you’re also praying up for yourself, guarding your heart and mind, and engaging in serious spiritual warfare.

As tough as it is, the job is great — you get to see kids turn to Christ, be healed of physical and spiritual ailments, receive their calling, etc. It’s so awesome to see what the Lord does during Camp. Not only are we ministering to kids who need to touch heaven, but we are seeing the future camp staff, church leadership, and spiritual mentors receive from the Lord.

With that being said, during this week, pray for two Camps being conducted as we speak. Virginia’s Junior Camp is in progress right now, and Washington’s Senior Camp kicked off yesterday. Pray for the leadership of each camp and pray for the Holy Spirit to have His way, and kids to go home changed forever. Pray for Shelly Symonds as she directs Washington state’s camp. Call out names of the staff and campers you know and hold them up in prayer each day, each time you think of them.

Camp ministry is the single most effective ministry in the COGOP today, and the atmosphere is electric when it rolls around. God bless everyone who has been, is currently, and will be involved in Camps this year!

Halo fans, rejoice. If you’ve got an XBOX 360, get ready for the third installment in the Halo game series. Paul Thurrott, who writes the site WinSuperSite.com, has some screenshots and other resources related to Halo 3, which is scheduled to be released sometime in 2007. Below, I’ve got a bunch of links and resources to keep you Halo fans happy so you don’t have to search for it all. Looks interesting, I must say, for a guy that never really liked Halo all too much until I bought a cheap copy of the game for PC…and installed it on my Mac running Windows XP (the benefit of having an Intel Mac).

It’s also interesting to note that there’s one major, major, MAJOR change in Halo 3…something sounds screwy with Cortana. And looks screwy too…to your left is an official Bungie storyboard photo that shows her screaming out in pain from something. I don’t even want to speculate…though it is intriguing and does give rise to the question: is Master Chief going to have to go it alone in Halo 3? We’ll find out.

Halo 3 Article (Wikipedia)
Xbox 360 Games Screenshot Gallery 40: Halo 3 (WinSuperSite.com)
Xbox 360 Games Screenshot Gallery 41: Halo 3 (WinSuperSite.com)
Halo 3 Trailer From E3 Expo (Microsoft)
Halo 3 “Behind The Scenes” Trailer (Microsoft)
Halo 3 Image Press Kit (Bungie.net)

Ok so it’s not so happy if you’re a U.S. soccer fan. The U.S. team finally scored a goal of their own volition, but still lost 2-1 to Ghana. They looked okay for a few minutes here and there, but most of the time it was just a game of cat and mouse, just waiting for the opponent to make a move. Unimpressive World Cup, and one to forget…but really, you have to admit the U.S. was in one of the toughest groups out there with Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. Kinda weird, but the worst U.S. loss was to the Czech Republic, 3-0…and the Czechs didn’t even beat anyone else in the group so they didn’t advance either. Sucks for the States, but if you’re into soccer, the upcoming rounds are for you….time for the best teams out there to face off in the round of 16.

More good stuff going on later today. In an hour and a half we have a softball game against some other team, I forget who. I just want to play some softball….we’ll have to see how my back reacts. I just hope I get to pitch. I’ll be bringing my camcorder to capture some highlights.

Not much else going on except for working, eating, and sleeping over the past few days. It’s been boring, but each day that goes by brings me closer to Oregon — and more specifically, seeing Aftan for the first time in four years. I can’t wait for that.

I have been researching some stuff related to the Brownsville Revival lately. (If you don’t know what the Brownsville Revival is, click here to read up on it.)

I used to really believe this revival was an authentic move of the Lord. Now I’m not so sure anymore.

The Pensacola News Journal had a series of reports in 1997 documenting what many of their reporters had seen happen at Brownsville revival meetings. They write of people being pressed and prodded into giving money during the offertory, Steve Hill breaking his promise to stay until everyone had been prayed for, ministers failing to pay their taxes, and more questionable activities.

While no one is perfect, I seriously question this and other events widely regarded as moves of the Lord, such as Benny Hinn’s “This Is Your Day,” Kenneth Hagin and the RHEMA ministry, and other ministries in which the leadership does not have FULL ACCOUNTABILITY to its members/patrons/whatever you want to call them. Not only this, but these ministries have serious ties to the Word of Faith doctrine, which is not Biblical and misleads thousands of Christians each day (Why is it not Biblical? Put Jesus in the shoes of one who would follow the “prosperity doctrine,” and you’ll quickly find the WOF teaching completely negates each of his messages he preached in the four Gospels).

Don’t get me wrong. I am sure there were people healed left and right at these revivals, and there were many saved. Praise God for that. But all the wrongdoing that has been exposed needs to be repented of by the leadership and organizers.

I simply ask, where is the accountability when it comes to big-name ministries? Are we being misled by a feel-good gospel?

I wish to see the day when we as Christians stop being manipulated, and seek for greater discernment that the Holy Spirit gives to us.