Every fall for the past ten years I’ve taken teenagers to this little camp in Hillsdale, MI for a Vineyard retreat called “Cloud 9”. There’s really nothing special about the camp. In fact the camp itself is a little old, and the food is well, camp food. I was a little mad this year that there was no bacon for breakfast! How can you have camp without bacon? And the camp is even on bacon road!
Ten years… that’s a lot of kids, and lots of drama, and a few problems. But all of that pales in comparison to the numerous Jesus encounters these teenagers had at cloud 9. Every year I’m amazed at how Jesus meets with these kids in a real and tangible way. Sometimes it’s during the worship. Sometimes it’s something the speaker said. Sometimes it’s during prayer. But regardless, it happens. As I’ve talked with these teenagers years after cloud 9 I’m always amazed when they say cloud 9 was spiritual milestone in their life.
And this year it was no different. Friday night the band cranked it up, and another cloud 9 retreat was kicked off, and throughout the weekend teenagers encountered Jesus and was changed by the good news of the gospel.
So, what makes this little camp so special, and why does Jesus show up year after year? In all honesty, there really isn’t a secret formula. We don’t try really hard for him to show up. All we do is leave space for him to work. That’s it. We lead some songs, teach for a little bit, and then get out of the way, and every year we are amazed.
I don’t know what’s going to happen to cloud 9. This may very well be the last year. Sure another retreat might spring up in its place. But regardless, the lesson I’ve learned from cloud 9 is to get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to work in kid’s lives. And when that happens, they are changed forever.
Thanks for a great 10 years cloud 9!