What Really Happened at Music Camp?

Let’s not kid ourselves and try to cover up what is as plain as day; truth is that whenever there are church projects for young people and teenagers, many of them just go for the fun and socializing. They really do not much care for the project itself and what they will get out of it.

It’s true! I was a teenager once, and that was the case many times.

Now, with that in mind, I will now share with you what I saw among the teenagers and children at the NCC Music camp that took place in July in Moriah Heights, California. Here are three highlights that just surprised me.

The first one happened as I was walking up toward the building where sectionals are held. As I walked past the boy’s tents, I caught a glance of this cute little boy sitting at the edge of his mattress reading his Bible. My tracks stopped cold in that moment. I mean, you expect to see little children running around, playing hide and seek or running after a ball; but here he was spending his free time in the most profitable way.

The second incident happened as both the choir and orchestra were gathered at the big building after rehearsal. It is time for worship. But it so happened—as it often does—that almost everyone was late for practice, including little old me. Because of that, the conductor had to end the practice much later in order to make up for the half hour we lost. After practice was over, Brother Zic announced that worship would be skipped since it was way too late and he did not want everyone falling asleep in worship. Then suddenly, a girl next to me just sighed, looked at me with disappointed eyes and said, “Ah man! I was really looking forward to worship.”

And finally, what do teenagers do in the wee hours of the morning? Yeah, you guessed right, they sleep their heads off. And that is basically what one expects to see at 6 a.m. But when I saw a young girl studying her Sabbath School lesson at that hour, I was just overjoyed.

You know something, this music camp was unlike any other. I was really blessed by it and inspired by hearing the experiences and testimonies of other young people who shared during morning worship. As I looked at all these youth, I was convinced that these are the kind of people that will finish the work. Will you be among them? Will I be there? I pray that we all will be there. And like Chris said one morning, “If God did that for me, imagine what he could do with you.”

Yes, imagine what He could do for you and for me if we just allowed Him into our hearts. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).