Last week I heard a heartwarming story about the conversion of a young teen girl whose life had gone awry following the death of her father and a subsequent downward emotional spiral. Her heart was convicted in a dark and powerless room during a hurricane disaster relief effort by Christians from Decatur, Alabama and middle Tennessee who were ministering in emergency mode on the coast of Florida. Studying with this young woman by flashlights directed at their Bibles, these Christians changed her life for the good and they changed it for good! So there she was, last week, at Camp Moriah in Winchester, Tennessee, hundreds of miles from home. She even brought a mentor from her home church in Florida, or rather the mentor brought her. This young married mentor just may have needed the spiritual breath of fresh air more than even the camper did.
I heard about her baptism in the midst of a power-packed week of intense study and play with a group of about 30 girls at Camp Moriah, a provision of Little Mountain Ministries (https://www.1615ministries.com/little-mountain-ministries/camp-moriah). I heard her pray following my lesson about the Lord’s Supper “God, we don’t even think like we should when we are taking communion. We don’t realize. We don’t even think about how hard it was for you to give your only son for us. Help us to do better.” I love this girl and the God she serves!
I got to know a young teen who came to the camp at the behest of her faithful parents, but against her own wishes. Returning home, she was on fire for evangelism and has already reached out to ask a friend to study. I love this girl and the God she serves!
I talked intently with another girl who just landed her first job in fast food. She wanted to ask specifics about how to maintain a positive and Christ-like attitude in an employee space filled with cursing and debauchery. She was serious about this. I love this girl and the God she serves!
I got to know an amazing teen girl who made the decision to put on Christ last Tuesday night. when I was congratulating her on the best decision of her life, I found out that her grandfather was my son’s basketball coach in Jasper, Alabama. what a small world in Christ! I love this girl and the God she serves!
I ate across the table from a sweet and beautiful girl who had just given her very first devotional at the cross in the woods behind the cabins. She talked about how we have to be like children to have our place in the kingdom. I love this girl and the God she serves!
I had a six-year-old sleeping most of the week in the floor of my room (which was the church library.) This six-year-old led a song and gave a speech for the group, too. I love this girl and the God she serves!
I watched intently as women who had given up all other activities for the week, poured themselves into young women who can make homes and enable good elderships of the future, who can make the congregations they will touch stronger for souls within and for evangelism without. I watched women spend all kinds of hours in that kitchen, preparing great (best camp food ever) meals for fifty women with camp appetites. I got to know a group from Oklahome who came to watch this camp, so they could go home and launch their own version in their home state. I watched teachers teach hard things about modesty-with-flair and homemaking while showing them the joy in marching to the beat of a different drummer than this old world’s parade to ultimate sorrow. I watched 
tongues held at the right times and words seasoned with grace when needed. I watched a panel of great elders’ wives answer questions and actually make young girls dream about being leaders’ wives in the Lord’s church. These girls left camp knowing exactly to whom the Lord’s church belongs and why we have to keep giving Him the respect and obedience that are necessary when we are a part of a theocratic monarchy, rather than a denomination. They honed their abilities to evangelize and they certainly learned how the church is distinctive in a world of relativism in religion. In short, they developed spiritual muscles. I love these women and the God they serve!
I watched girls shop thriftily, prepare meals with zeal, make amazing soap scrubs, learn calligraphy, host a tea party, memorize the Scriptures and grow watercress. And they did it all while loving the learning and laughing heartily. I really cannot recommend this week of amazing girl-growth for Him enough. Can you tell I love this camp and the God it honors? It will begin on Father’s Day again next year. Mark that down!