Today was a slight change-up from David Nasser. For the remainder of the camp teaching, we will be led by Darren Whitehead of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. His words and message today were fantastic.
Traditionally in church camps and youth evangelism events, this question is usually asked: "If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?" While it is useful to reflect on this question and important to know the answer, Darren flipped the question around and posed a new one: "If you didn't die tonight, how would you live?" He talked on the concept of righteousness and justice and how the two go hand-in-hand. When we are declared righteous by faith in Christ, we are reconciled to God. This is a vertical understanding of what happens at the point of salvation. But there is more. Justice the horizontal occurrence that says: "Now that I am saved, I am called to help set things right in this world."
Darren's call to our students was to be a part of something that matters, namely, the church. The church is called to shine in the darkness and be beautiful in the midst of ugly tragedy. The world should gasp, just as an audience does with a bride in her procession, at the beauty of the church. We are called to do great things for God, yet so often we view the Christian faith as a lifestyle of not doing things and avoiding sin. We get to do greater things in life because of the Gospel.
Darren encouraged us with a greater vision of the kingdom of God and challenge to step up and change. We all yearn to be a part of something that matters.
