Not a failure but a success!

For the past 43 years Ekklesia Word Ministries has been hosting an evangelistic day camp on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in the community of Point Fortin. What started with just a few friends and their children in the living room of Terrence and Carol Pierre has now grown to hundreds of campers, from babies to adults, gathering to hear a clear presentation of the gospel instead of indulging in the revelry that occurs just a few kilometers away in the heart of Point Fortin. Those who come to camp enjoy an uplifting time of worship, engaging Bible lessons, fun craft, exciting activities that reinforce the lessons taught and a delicious free lunch.

This year we had close to 300 campers!

The months leading up to Ekklesia camp were not without their share of challenges. We began planning for camp in October last year. When I started asking the persons who have volunteered to teach in the past if they would be available to serve at Ekklesia camp 2025, I got multiple "no's" before I got my first "yes". Someone who had volunteered to serve for the first time ended up hospitalized for two weeks at the end of January with swelling in the brain due to an infection. Two others who were excited about teaching for the first time were unable to come, one due to a death in the family, and the other due to having to care for a sick family member. One month before camp started the person in charge of providing our camp jerseys (collecting orders, purchasing jerseys, dropping to the printers) got into an accident where her car was hit from behind. Three weeks before camp, one of our key camp leaders suffered the loss of his pastor, who was also his spiritual mentor. Apart from coping with this loss and having major responsibilities in preparing for the funeral, he was also dealing with an injury on his foot that forced him to use crutches by the time camp came around. Two weeks before camp, we still didn't know if we would have enough funds to cover the cost of camp this year.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the car accident

But for every challenge that we faced, God gave the grace and strength that was needed to keep persevering. God provided NINE PERSONS who served as teachers or assistants for the first time this year! The young man who had been hospitalized recovered well and, although he had to work, was able to come to camp for a short while on Monday to help set up the serving stations for lunch. The car that was hit was repaired through the insurance at a reasonable price and was returned to the owner THE WEEK BEFORE CAMP! Despite those who could not have made it to camp, each class had at least two teachers and two assistants (with the exception of the adult class). By the time camp came around, we had enough donations to MORE THAN cover the cost of camp! We give God ALL THE GLORY for His faithfulness in answering our prayers! We met twice a week for prayer in the 5 weeks leading up to camp and it was amazing to see how He answered every single one of our requests regarding camp.

Last year we only had 3 guys who stayed
back late to put the school back in order. 
This year there were 13 plus some ladies!

 There were other ways that we saw God showing up in the lead up to camp. When we went to the market to buy the produce needed for some of the meals on camp, He prompted the security guard to show us favor in allowing us to park in an area normally reserved for vendors, so we didn't have to walk far with heavy market bags. As if this wasn't enough, the prices of the items we bought were cheaper than they had been the week before! On the day before camp, the internet went down at home; however we had been loaned a wireless internet device for camp so this was used to ensure that I was still able to co-ordinate all that needed to be done online. For the first time in a long time, we had the support of men from churches located in Point Fortin to help with the clean-up and preparation of the site prior to camp; thank God for these men who answered the call to serve, including the pastor who was on his hands and knees scrubbing mats!

Decorating their classroom
based on the theme for camp

The theme for camp this year was "God's Astronauts" and the aim was to encourage the campers to live holy lives in preparation for the return of Christ. The first session looked at Testing and Acceptance - what were the requirements needed to enter HASA? (our code name for heaven - the Heavenly Astronautical Space Administration) Campers were taught that it is only faith in Jesus that would guarantee their acceptance. On Monday afternoon they were taught about the Training necessary once we have been accepted by Christ - we need training to live godly in the midst of a perverse and evil world. The final lesson focused on Take off - that glorious day when Jesus would return for His children and take us to be with Him in heaven.

The teachers went all out to ensure that the craft their
classes did were in keeping with the theme and reinforced
the lessons learnt

This year the Expo Center was literally out of this world! It is at the Expo Center that the spiritual truths linked to the physical aspects of the theme are clearly illustrated. The Expo team blew everyone's mind this year with the construction of a planetarium out of PVC, cardboard and a mirror dome! Visitors were thrilled to view the following video which was projected on to the screen of the planetarium: God's Astronauts simulation  It created an indelible impression on all who viewed it, of how Jesus was launched from heaven to earth to save the world from the mess of sin that we were in, and what we have to look forward to when Jesus returns to take us to heaven. The members of the Expo team who put this video together had never done anything of this magnitude before, and we thank God for gifting them with the skills and talents needed to create it.

View from inside the Planetarium

On the first day of camp we had 376 persons, and 368 on the second day. Thanks to our kitchen team's strategy of having 3 serving stations, we were able to serve everyone in under one hour, leaving enough time for the teachers to get a break before the afternoon session. The largest class was the 13-15 year old class, with an average of 65 students! There were approximately thirty-five 16-21 year olds, which meant we had over 100 teenagers present at camp. This did not come without its share of drama, as there were 3 fights over the 2 day period, one which resulted in a young man's face getting badly swollen. There were also incidents of rudeness and disrespect to the teachers and refusal to participate in class activities. We had the support of the police as they sent a patrol when camp was closing off to ensure that there was no further violence.

We are grateful that these teens chose camp over Carnival

When camp was over and we were cleaning up, my mind started thinking back to all the negative behaviors that were brought to my attention during camp, and the thought that came to my mind was "failure". I knew that word was from the enemy, so I tried not to dwell on it, but I could not deny the nagging feeling that all the work we had put into camp was wasted. A little while later, one of the young men who was helping to clean up came up to me with a huge grin on his face and said, "Success!" I was confused so I asked him what he was talking about. He said that camp went really well and that a lot of children got saved. I thank God for using that young man to remind me that, in spite of the few badly behaved children, there were many others who were positively impacted by the Word that went out in camp, and many lives were added to the kingdom of God.

Quizzing the children to see what they learnt

Based on the feedback from the class teachers, the children understood the importance of leaving the heavy baggage of sin behind if they wanted to be God's Astronauts. In the 13-15 year old class, 13 students surrendered control of their life to Jesus over the two days of camp. In the adult class, one student indicated that this camp forced him to reconsider the life that he is living. Based on the discussions/information shared, he is going to be more serious in his relationship with the Lord. Camp was also an encouragement to the teachers, as one was reminded of the need to continue to live this earthly life with an eternal perspective. Another was encouraged to not become weary in doing good because heaven is closer than we think.

Presentation on Tuesday afternoon to reinforce the
lessons which were taught at camp

We thank God for another opportunity to share the good news of salvation with the children and adults who attended Ekklesia Camp 2025 and we are grateful to all who gave of their time to serve, those who donated cash or kind, and those who prayerfully carried us through. We are trusting God that the lives of all those who heard the Word will be transformed for eternity.