I'm finally beginning to process some of my thoughts from the three nights I spent in Ngaruawahia at IGNITE 2014, the national youth camp of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand (WMCNZ). This might take a few blog posts because my attention span is completely shot, so bear with me.
I came away from IGNITE 2014 on a high. And I was surprised, because it wasn't the "camp fever" type of spiritual highs that I was used to from all my years of being a good church girl.
No, it was a very refreshing high. It was a high that would have more longevity than the other camps--particularly youth camps--I've been involved with in one way or another.
Every component of the camp struck me as well thought through with intentionality and theologically reflection. Perhaps the biggest thing that impressed me was that there was a lot of thought put into connecting the students back to their home church environment so that there can be as much follow up as possible by their youth pastors/leaders and home church.
Hats off to Rev. Joanne McKinnell, Rev. Amber Livermore and their leadership team. I've been in on some of the struggles they've had and continue to have moving forward from here, and they would say it's not quite where they want it to be yet. But to borrow the words from dear sage and mentor, Ann Smith, "Focus not on how far you have to go, but how far you've come." With only eight short years of an event history and the amount of personnel they had pulling off all the various pieces, this camp has already surpassed the level of excellence that can be achieved at this stage in the history of WMCNZ.
On a more personal note, what amount of respect I already had for both Jo and Amber have just been majorly upped because they don't simply talk good theological reflection--they also put good theological reflection into bite-sized, age-appropriate portions.
To borrow a Tongan phrase, "Malo Sisu" (Thank you Jesus)
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