My Standing Stones 2018 Journey

MAN! I can not believe Standing Stones 2018 happened two months ago. What a two months it has been. I still been living in the moment of camp. This year, our theme was "Now What?", having to answer the question, what happens next after we leave Standing Stones because all of us will be on a spiritual high, and we want to keep that going and use it in our local churches. "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received from others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks they very words of God. If anyone serves, they should to so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV)

My travel to camp was a long 12 hour drive from North Carolina to Hannibal, Missouri to Hannibal-LaGrange University. The back aches, the snores from fellow riders and the scary stories were some of the sacrifices we made to make our way to Standing Stones 2018. Now, at Standing Stones, I had the honor to be a Group Leader for the second year. This year, I got to lead Group 6, again! WHAT A GREAT GROUP OF HUNGRY PEOPLE! (Not literally) I love each and everyone of my group members. Each one of them brought a unique sense of style to the group, and I love that. More importantly, they all wanted to learn and grow! Each member brought a style to the table the first day we meet, and I knew that we did not to be separated from each other after camp ended. From the talks in morning devotions to group reflection at night, we spend about 75% of camp with each other, building relationship with people from other point of the United States. Everyone of them have potential to be something in their local church, and they are still young! While being a Group Leader, I also had a Group Leader partner and her name is Bella. She is one humble woman! I can not give Bella, enough credit on leading our group. She is smart, she is humble and she someone who also took the time to invest in our kids. While Bella and I were leading our group, we also had a mentor who looked after us and helped us out, Hanssen. Our kids loved him dearly, and Bella and I did too! He took the time to invest in our group, his fellow group leaders and his track. I can not give enough credit to both Bella and Hanssen for leading our group of kid in #Gr6up . To Bella, Hanssen and my children in Group 6, I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU! You have a special place in my heart, and I can not wait to see you all in the very near future!

Now, before I attend Standing Stones this past year, I had a lingering question I was looking for an answer too, "Did I want to continue to serve as the Youth Leader at my local church for the next two years?" I have started praying about this since the beginning of 2018, because I knew that October was going to be coming up very soon. I prayed, I dove into the word, and I played out my pros and cons. I still had no answer! Registration comes around for camp, and I said, "I am going to invest in looking to find my answer. I need to sign-up for workshops and a track what will help me find what I need to answer." I sign-up for my workshops and my track, and I had set a path of find my answer. I knew I just still had to invest in my question while waiting for camp to come around, I continued to pray and read my Bible. Standing Stones has arrived, I see my group, I see my youth children, fellow leaders and fellow churches spend time each other and help each other grow, but I was determined to find an answer, because its now July, and I need to give an answer to the council soon. Attending my track and my workshops through-out the week, gave me a new prescriptive on what I need to be looking for. I needed to be looking for "Why do I want to continue?" Now, you may be thinking what?! What do you mean??? It means, that in His will, my time as Youth Leader is not over! He still had work for me to do in the youth group, but He wanted me to find out why I needed to still serve; and for the longest time, I thought why did he flip the script on me? God did not flip the script on me, it has been the same script since day one. He wanted me to find out why I needed to continue being the youth leader at my church so I can serve Him and give Him the praise. God works in mysterious ways! I always knew the answer to my question, it was a matter of why, not, do i? I looked around at my group children, my youth children, and my fellow brothers and sisters in my workshop, and they were just like me. Then it hit me like Goku hitting me with a kamehameha, my purpose to continue was to build our next generation of leaders at church. God has placed me as the youth leader to help them in their lives! I was the one God has used to take the next step in our church and to take action in our next generation. My job was to make sure they take their proclaimed faith seriously! God did have more in store for me, and I was blind like someone sprayed mace in my eyes. My next two years, it was clear to invest into the next generation as they will be the future leaders, but it was my time to lead them, so when it comes time, they will be able to lead their next generation. It a simple domino effect!

I believe this past year at Standing Stones, was my best year at camp. With my small group (Group 6), my Group Leader partner Bella and our mentor Hanssen, and setting a goal to further myself in my walk with Christ, I was able to take more out of this year than any other year I have attending Standing Stones. With the theme being "Now What?", I can truly say that I have some thing in store for my local church and my youth group! Stay Tuned!

-Kaleb Ly, The King of Aces-