A God Encounter at Jr High Camp

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you."

John 15:16

This is continuing the series I have been doing on God Encounters. My First Encounter had to do with God establishing a relationship with me. God used that encounter to lay a foundation of who He is in my life so that my faith in His existence and in His love for me would never be shaken. I believe this is where God always wants to start. 

This God encounter that I am writing about today had more to do with God's call on my life. When I was 12 years old I transitioned from the Children's Church to the Junior High in my church back in Portland, OR. I remember loving the praise and worship with the Junior High because we joined the rest of the youth for Praise and Worship and they had a full band. We then started talking about Youth Camp and I found out that the Junior High pastors had decided to have their own youth camp, separated from the Senior High and I remember being disappointed. Right from the start I had decided that the praise and worship would be boring because there were no instruments and it would be sung accapella. 

I don't remember a lot of details from that Junior High Camp but I do remember one worship service very clearly. We did the camp at my Junior High Pastor's house which was out in the country, outside of Oregon City, OR. We camped in tents on his back yard and we had our services in his shop and I remember the presence of God coming down in a way I had never experienced before in that shop. 

God shattered my lack of expectation and came down in a way that I never would have imagined, despite the accapella worship. 

It was also in that worship service that I first heard a very specific Word from God. This Word was very general and to this day I am still seeing more and more specifics being revealed but the Word has stuck with me to this day. 

At 12 years old, I heard God speak to me that I would be a preacher, a teacher, and a writer.  

Though the specifics of my calling are still being revealed to me, I can also attest that this has come true. I have had the opportunity to preach in several countries, teach in discipleship schools, and I have two published books on Amazon (not to mention this blog). I still believe there is more for me that God has prepared but as I keep searching I will continue to be faithful with the platforms He has given me. 

This second encounter was due to the faithfulness of my leadership. If they had not followed the leading that God had given them and had combined with the Senior High Youth Camp, which would have been easier, I may have been distracted by the band and the music, and not had the same experience with God. I definitely would have missed an important lesson that God can work through any situation.