From June 11-15, 85 middle school and high school students took part in First Free’s Summer Camp. Counting staff and volunteer leaders, the group numbered 104. The camp venue for the fourth straight year was Expeditions Unlimited in Baraboo, Wis.

We spoke with Meredith Domanico and Brenden Nelson about the trip. Meredith is First Free’s director of Student Ministries and Brenden is interning this summer.

You offered a deal where First Free students could invite their friends to come along for free. Did that happen?

Meredith:

This is the second year we’ve been offering Friends Go Free. If a student invites a friend who’s never been to a retreat or camp with us, they get to go for free. This year, we had 19. Which is a huge jump. I think there were only three or four last year.

What story from the week sticks in your mind and says, this made it all worth it?

Brenden:

Thursday night was a night of prayer. It was the Holy Spirit at work. It was not planned. None of it was. But one of the worship leaders called us down to kneel if we felt led to do so. I was going to kneel once I knew what I was going to kneel for, down at the altar.

And when I opened my eyes before I went down and knelt, all the students were knelt down in front of me. Leaders were praying for students, students were praying for each other, and it was so cool to see Holy Spirit at work.

Meredith:

It was really powerful. So many times in life, we don’t sit in the presence of grief or we don’t sit in the presence of pain or we don’t sit in the presence of discomfort. And students feel it’s like, Oh, OK, we’ve had two songs now. And then it’s the message and then it’s small groups.

So it was really trying to teach the students: As you worship and things come up, that’s not for no reason. That is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Many times some of those things are hard, and so they don’t want to sit in that. It’s like, How do we just rush to the next thing? And then there was just this moment when the band knew my vision for that—these are moments that we want to sit in. Holy Spirit wants to do something in these moments.

That’s not how people often learn to deal with those kinds of moments and feelings.

Meredith:

Right. We’re taught to shove those emotions down. But you know, in that moment … there was one girl in particular who was a Friends-Go-Free. Her dad had passed away five months or six months earlier. And hers was the cry that you heard the most. She was just wailing. In her leader’s arms as well as the arms of her small group. I don’t know what grief is like for her at home. Sometimes a loved one passes away and all the pictures get removed. We don’t talk about that, because when we talk about it, we start to get emotional. We don’t want to feel that pain. But we need to process that.

I mean, nothing was solved. Everything was the same. But she was able to release. And at the end of it, she felt peace. And that’s the peace of Holy Spirit just pouring that out. It wasn’t hers to carry. Grief is hard. The Lord wants to carry that for us, and come alongside.

It was cool to see growth in our leaders and growth in the students who they were leading, to see them have small group or even just some hard conversations. And then to see more of my veteran leaders really stepping more out of their comfort zone.

I had one leader say, “You know, I’m really impressed by the students and how they’re worshiping.” Because students always worship differently at camp than they do on a Sunday morning. The band moved around a lot, walking around the stage. At first (this leader) was like, “Why are they walking around as they sing, and not standing in one spot. But then I thought, How freeing is that? And then I thought to myself, Why do I not do that? Why am I so rigid?”

Tell me more about the band.

Meredith:

They’re called Yadah House. Juan is a friend of (Contemporary Worship Leader) Eric Curry’s from Indianapolis.  

Brenden:

I think it was beneficial having a worship band who worships differently than us, for us to see that they worship the same God we do, and their worship is different. They’re more expressive. And so it was good that there were a lot of new things that happened at this camp. We got to hear testimonies from the worship band, and from the camp guides as well. So really hearing other people, as well as being able to share within our small groups. That’s always a given. We’re always able to share. But I think with this camp, we were able to listen more and to receive more from those who were serving us whether it was the band or the camp guides.

You mentioned they were really expressive.

Brenden:

Jumping around with hands up in the air, kneeling when they felt it was appropriate. If there’s a line that just calls for surrender, they will kneel. So they won’t just speak the words or sing the words. They will almost act it out and allow their worship to engulf all of their being in that moment.

I think sometimes our worship can be too external. We look way too much to the band. During one of the songs, Juan said, “Stop looking at me.” Because a lot of times when we worship, you look at the people leading the worship. We all do it. But he said, “Close your eyes and look to the Father in this.” So although they were expressive, they were authentic. And it was really good to see their difference.

No one can predict or prescribe what God’s going to do during these weeks. But after the fact, what makes you look at it and say, this was a successful one?

Meredith:

One, that they are inviting their friends. Meaning that they have found something that they trust and feel comfortable in, something that is church, and that they will bring their unchurched friends to. So that’s huge. That’s the first part of seeing them minister or evangelize to their friends.

I think another one is just the conversations. I’m meeting with a student today who was stirred at Summer Camp and she really wants to serve. She doesn’t have the capacity to be on my student leadership team, but still wants to do something. She was also somebody who shared a God story from the stage and she’s never done that. And so just watching her take those steps of courage among her peers, I feel like it’s at camp where they will do something different that they haven’t done—whether that’s raise their hands in worship, whether that’s kneel in worship, whether that’s getting behind a microphone and sharing a God story, whether that’s opening up in small group, whether that’s having a leader pray for them, whether that’s having a student pray for them. They’re more open to … conquering some fears. They’re more apt in that environment to take those steps.

And as they build that encouragement, that strength, they say, “OK, wait. If I can do this, if I’ve experienced God in this way, then maybe I can have the courage to experience him or to reach out to him or find him in school” and so forth. I think it just gives them this opportunity to exercise their faith and grow in their faith among their peers, and among other people who are there to hopefully do the same thing.

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One of the things I appreciate about you, Meredith, is that you have a heart for students who are on the fringe in youth group. Tell me about how that looked during that week.

Meredith:

I felt the Lord speaking to me, probably a few weeks before Summer Camp, and there was one student he just kept bringing to mind. This student is a little bit more on the quiet side. He is going into his junior year, and I have a group of sophomores and juniors who hang out, but he’s always kind of on his own. And so I was intentional about praying for him for camp. I just felt Holy Spirit saying, You need to talk with him.

And I’m like, What? Why? And I felt Holy Spirit say, You’ve been in this role for five years and this kid has been a part of your ministry, and you have no idea who he is. And that’s not right. You need to know him, and he needs to be known by you.

So, the first day we got there, my gaze would always be brought to him. I always know that’s how the Lord speaks to me. And so I’m like, All right, fine. If I’ve got some time, God, I’ll talk to him.

The first night, I’m making rounds to the cabins. And I’m by the boys’ cabins, and the one I see walking back to their cabin is this young man.

I’m like, “Hey, dude, where are you going?”

He was like, “Yeah, I’m going back to the cabin. I just want to get my shower in early before the rest of the guys come back.”

I said, “Oh, that’s smart.” And I’m thinking, Well, I guess it’s not tonight, God. And so I went back to my cabin and I was showering, and Holy Spirit was just like, You’ve got to go. You’ve got to go tonight. You learn how God speaks to you, right? And so it was unmistakable that I needed to talk to this boy.

So I went to their cabin and asked him to come out. I said, “You’re not in trouble.” I sat down with him and said, “I’m going to tell you something and it’s going to seem odd. But, you know, this is this is how the Lord works in my life.” And I told him everything. “I don’t know you and I’m so sorry that you have been in this ministry and I haven’t taken the time until now to get to know you. And so I want to get to know you.”

And for the next 45 minutes, we sat out there and we talked. And I don’t take any credit whatsoever. If this was on my accord, this wouldn’t have happened. … At the end of the conversation, I said, “I think the Lord wanted me to get to know you, and to apologize for that, and for you to know that you’re seen by me. But bigger than that, I believe that the Lord has put you on my heart, because he wants you to know that he sees you and that he values you. And that though you may be sitting on the sidelines, that you matter and that you’re important.”

What did he say?

Meredith:

“Thank you.” I think he was just shocked. He didn’t know what to say. He said, “It’s OK”. And I said, “I appreciate that. It isn’t, but it’s OK now. You’re a cool cat. I’m sorry it took me so long.”  And then I prayed for him.

I asked him if I could share that story at our recap night. He said, yeah, it was fine. I shared it for two reasons. One, that even a 50-year-old youth pastor has growth. God speaks to us. There are things that we need to step into even as we continue through life. We never stop being refined by the Father.

And two, I wanted those students to see him. He’s important in this group.