SERVING AS THE SUMMER STAFF COORDINATORS AT MARANATHA BIBLE CAMP
Over the last couple of summers, we have been serving at Maranatha Bible Camp in Maxwell, Nebraska. What started as volunteering has led to a more formal partnership with the camp. This summer, we have taken on a significant role as the Summer Staff Coordinators for the camp. As camp coordinators, we have been responsible for hiring high school and college students to fill all of the summer staff positions.
Additionally, we are onsite at the campground for the summer camp season in order to provide spiritual leadership, training, and discipleship for these young adults. In essence, we will be the campground pastors and shepherds for all these staffers throughout the summer.
For the remainder of the summer, we will be focusing our efforts locally on building community, disciplining others, and extending the truth of the Gospel.
- Continue Scrolling Down to Learn More or to Make a Donation -
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL
CAMP MARANATHA
$1,775 of $2,000
WE ARE TRUSTING GOD TO FAITHFULLY PROVIDE THE ABOVE AMOUNT THROUGH GENEROUS PARTNERS, LIKE YOU, IN ORDER TO HELP US ACCOMPLISH ALL THAT GOD HAS CALLED US TO DO FOR OUR SUMMER 2023 MINISTRY VISION.
THANK YOU!
ABOUT OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL
While the camp provides our summer lodging, most meals, and a small weekly stipend, we are on our own to raise additional funds to offset our summer ministry expenses including additional food, travel, and furnishings for our housing.
Your gift is tax deductible.
Thank you.
CAMP MARANATHA
PEOPLE AND PLACES WE WILL BE SERVING
KRIS CHEEK
Executive Director
Kris has a background in youth ministry and sports evangelism, church planting, and administration. We enjoyed cultivating a friendship with him and his wife, Natalie, last summer. We share some of the same friend connections in Colorado where he once did some church planting.
NATALIE CHEEK
Associate Director
Natalie is an associate director at Maranatha alongside her husband, Kris. Homeschooling the family’s three children, Taylor, Jocelyn, and Kristyn, is one of Natalie’s many passions. We enjoyed her hospitality last summer and look forward to spending more time with her and her family.
“Get Away, Quiet Down, Hear God Speak, and Make Life-changing Decisions.”
Team Building Activities at the Low Ropes Course
(Above Photos) Josh & Jill have led a number of experiential training times for the Summer Ministry Staff Team in order to help them grow spiritually and bond them as a team this summer.
Team Building Activities at the Low Ropes Course
The photos above were taken at during our first weeks of staff training preparing the team for all God wants to do in their lives and spiritual walks this summer! Hudson volunteered over the month of June, getting a chance to try out many of the jobs around camp. Isaac worked as part of the Summer Staff Rec team, helping with paintball and various other outdoor activities throughout the summer.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR GOD TO PROVIDE $2,000 TO OFFSET OUR COST FOR TRAVEL, FOOD, AND LODGING FOR OUR SUMMER OF SERVING AT CAMP MARANATHA.
(Please indicate in the notes if you would like your donation to be applied specifically toward Maranatha.)
A fervet fellowship of believers is the foundation for strong, growing communities.
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
shared life experiences
HOSTING COMMUNITY MEALS
Over decades of doing ministry, some of our most fruitful times and best spiritual conversations have happened around a dinner table. An intimate meal has the potential to be welcoming, comforting, and disarming, creating space for real conversation and a deeper connection to happen. Last Spring, we invested in a wood-fired pizza oven for our backyard with the intention to create a fun and inviting eating experience. Since then, we have hosted a multitude of pizza nights for neighbors and others in our wider community. We have already seen these dinners go a long way in building community and being a catalyst for us to invite people to other ministry-related activities, Bible studies, and community groups that we lead through the Oikos Project.
“There is a spiritual thing about food. It’s the magnet that brings people to the table. Through food we connect to our roots and to each other.”
-
We may not reflect on it very often, but food plays a central role in all our lives. Food can also be pivotal in how we understand and connect to our spiritual journey - from the fruit that caused the Fall in the Garden, to Jesus' pronouncement of the New Covenant during the Passover, to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb which we will one day experience in Christ's Eternal Kingdom - it provides a powerful platform from which we can relate to each other and to our Creator.
-
There are many records revealing that practicing a communal meal was part of the weekly habit for the Early Church. Eating together and inviting others to join has been a central Christian practice since the beginning of our movement. Jesus was often found eating with (and feeding) others during his earthly ministry. He was both celebrated and ridiculed for this.
-
“It is through the daily practice of the table that we live a life worth living. Through the table we know who we are, where we come from, what we value and believe. At the table we learn what it is to be family and how to live in responsible, loving relationships. Through the table we live our neighborliness and citizenship, express our allegiance to particular places and communities, and claim our sense of home and belonging. At the table we celebrate beauty and express solidarity with those who are broken and hungry.”
– Chef Simon Carey Holt, Eating Heaven: Spirituality at the Table
WE ARE LOOKING FOR GOD TO PROVIDE $1,000 TO OFFSET THE COST OF HOSTING THESE MEALS. A GIFT OF $100 WILL COVER ONE DINNER WITH 10-12 GUESTS.
(Please indicate in the notes if you would like your donation to be applied specifically toward our hosting of shared meals this summer.)
SUPPLEMENTAL APPEAL
IN NEED OF REPLACING AGED AND DAMAGED VEHICLES
In March, when our family was returning from a trip to the mountains in Jill’s SUV, it started making loud grinding noises as we were exiting the highway on the final leg of our journey home. As Josh was backing it into the driveway, there was a loud pop and jolting. He got it into the driveway, but there was a trail of dark fluids leading from the road into the driveway. There was a failure between the transmission and transfer case. After diagnosing the problem and waiting on parts for over a month, we got her vehicle fixed, but it was an expensive repair. We decided to go ahead and sell her vehicle and planned to look for a replacement after our return from Nebraska.
Then, on May 9th, two weeks before we were preparing to leave for Maranatha, our community was hit by a massive hail storm that lasted about 45 minutes. Our neighborhood in particular was hit really hard. Some of the hail stones were over 2 inches in diameter! As a result, our two remaining vehicles took a beating. One was completely totaled and hauled off. The other one, Josh’s truck, we are deferring any action on until July so that we could use it for our summer travel needs. So, we are waiting to determine if Josh’s truck is salvageable after our time in Nebraska. Additionally, our house and property sustained some significant damage.
While we have a good insurance plan in place for all of our vehicles and property, we were not anticipating the major repair and subsequent sale of Jill’s SUV. These sudden and unexpected events have put us in a position to replace these vehicles which are critical to our livelihood and ministry activities.
WE ARE ASKING FOR A LOVE OFFERING OF ANY AMOUNT TO HELP US RECOVER SOME OF OUR RECENT LOSSES AND AID US IN THE PURCHASE OF NEW VEHICLES AT THE END OF THE SUMMER OR EARLY THIS FALL. WE THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING GIVING TO US IN OUR TIME OF NEED.
(Please indicate in the notes if you would like your donation to be applied specifically toward helping us with the purchases of new vehicles.)
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
OUR SUMMER MINISTRY OVERVIEW
MAY 18
LEAVE FOR MAXWELL, NEBRASKA
Travel to Camp Maranatha
MAY 18-30
SUMMER STAFF TRAINING
Lead two weeks of intensive training for the camp’s Summer Staff Team : : Teaching. Discipleship. Training. Activities. Preparing campground for the summer camp season.
June 1-30
MARANATHA SUMMER CAMPS
Leading the Summer Staff Team : : Serving and engaging with the staff and campers – Teaching at Weekly Chapel times. Training and Coaching Staff. Running & Coordinating Camp Activities.
JULY 2-
Aug 4
RETURN TO ERIE, COLORADO
Unpack from camp, rest, and prepare for hosting local ministry events : : Practicing Faithful Presence.
AUG 5-6
MARANATHA BANQUET
Summer Ministry Celebration : : Return to Nebraska to help set up for the Summer Staff Banquet to celebrate all that God has done at camp throughout the summer and close out the summer program.
