More than Overcome

Tents of Mercy Congregation and Humanitarian Aid

Kiryat Yam, Israel

SUPPORT NOW!

In 2007, the first *Reshet camp took place. Birthed out of a shared vision between Tents of Mercy and Beltway Church in Abilene Texas, it was the pilot version of what would prove to become a pillar event in the lives of our children. That year Katya Morrison, of blessed memory, and Pastor Randy Turner began a friendship and partnership that soon turned into a finely oiled camp machine – annually housing, feeding, teaching, entertaining, praying for and loving on children for the whole last week of July. Many different challenges were met along the way and overcome by patience, generosity, determination, creativity, teamwork, and most importantly the Grace of God!

Generations of children and counsellors from our network of congregations and hundreds of Texan volunteers have passed through the “waters” of the annual Reshet children’s camp. Every summer the kids wait impatiently for camp to come. For thirteen years the sleepaway camp happened like clockwork every summer, except for 2014 when rockets were flying near our normal venue near Tel Aviv and we had to hold day camp in our congregational building in the Galilee instead. Despite the kids’ disappointment in the alteration of the plan, God brought redemption and blessing that year as we had the privilege of hosting children from the south of the country whose homes were under rocket attack.

In the COVID lockdowns of 2020, camp was yet one more thing tearfully added to the growing list of cancelled activities. In 2021, we began planning and naively thought that it might happen. It did not. Our children were devastated and mourned yet another year of missing camp. All year long, the children kept asking – will we have camp in 2022?

By God’s grace, Reshet 2022 became the second pilot – the first post-Corona Reshet Camp.

After two years without camp, we decided to not only DO camp, we decided to DOOOO camp. In addition to the network congregations, and one or two local congregations from our area, we also invited sister congregations from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to send their children as well. Even with a handful of last-minute COVID-sickness cancellations, we still were full to the brim with 75 children.

All week long we talked, sang, crafted while playing the camp theme song “Heroes of the Faith” – superhero style, memorizing and internalizing the theme scripture: “Yet in all these things [trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness and sword] we more-than-overcome through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

In English, perhaps the connection needs a bit of explaining, but in Hebrew the connection is clear: hero and overcome are in the same word family ‘gibor’ and ‘mitgaber.’ I can personally testify that the theme was Holy Spirit-led, relevant and powerful for all of us who were blessed to spend the week together: kids, counsellors, staff and volunteers alike. See pics.

(*Reshet means net or network in Hebrew.)

SUPPORT NOW!