From The Heart (Paul)

Since a number of people have asked me if I am retiring, I think I will address the ques-tion here. I am remaining on the staff at CRC and will con-tinue to do the ministries that I

always have ex-cept for Travel Camp. I will also continue to pas-tor at Stockham Community Church as long as the Lord al-lows. Kathy and I feel that it is time

to hand off the leadership and teaching ministry of Travel Camp to Jordan and Clayton Kliewer and their wives. They

have been preparing for this transition for several years, and we feel confident that they are fully qualified to continue this excellent minis-try. Kathy and I have been leading Travel Camp for 42 years. It is far and away the most effective youth ministry that I have seen or been in-volved in. Its length, 10 or 11 days, the wonder and beauty of God’s creation, the making of new friends from different communities, and hopefully, meaningful worship, prayer groups, and Bible studies all combine to create a special

environment where Christ can impact lives. For me, teaching on Travel Camp has been a spiritual highlight in my life.

We still receive notes of appreciation from campers who were with us many years ago. Each year is unique and special, and God sends some campers who assume leadership and set

the spiritual tone for that camp. The campers get a taste of what true Christian fellow-ship is, and how enjoyable those days can be when God is the focal point. Please pray for the continu-

(Continued on page 2)

Volume 43, Issue 1

Fall/Winter 2018

Inside this issue:

FROM THE HEART

Footprints

It is...the most

effective youth

ministry that I have...been involved in.

Size 8 (Paul)

The last six months have been an incredible jour-ney. Spring is always a time of great activity as we get ready for the summer camps. There are hours of mowing lawns, trimming trees, planting flower gardens, and checking all of the equipment needed for the summer activi-ties. As the Day Camps finish, there is an intense week of getting ready for Travel Camp. I continue to pastor at Stock-

ham Community Church. There I preach, teach adult Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible

study. Other pastoral duties in-clude weddings, funerals, visita-tion, and counseling. I am hon-ored and blessed to be able to have a part in both CRC and Stockham. One additional challenge to my life in these last few months was being diagnosed with can-cer. This involved surgery in August. Thankfully, the cancer was found early and the surgery removed it. I am grateful for the experience, and God has caused it to “work together for good” in my life. I pray that God will use this experience to bring Him glory and to be of help to others facing health difficul-ties. Also, thanks to all of you who prayed for me. Your love and concern have been a great encouragement.

Size 10.5 (Jordan)

This past year has been very busy for me. In the winter and spring I had the opportunity to help spearhead bringing a Life-Light One-Day Festival to Auro-ra. With the help of many indi-viduals, businesses, and churches in the area, 11 musi-cal groups as well as BMX and Motocross stunt riders came together to proclaim the mes- (Continued on page 3)

From the Heart 1

Footprints 1

Summer Ministries 2

CRC Finances 3

From

The Heart

Upcoming Events 4

Page 2 UPDATE

Travel Camp Our trip to Canada this summer was the 42nd Travel Camp sponsored by CRC and the

final one for Paul and Kathy. It was bittersweet! For the campers, this trip provides them the

unique opportunity to travel to a foreign country. For the staff, it is a challenge to keep up with the guidelines of travel and collect all the proper paperwork to get us in and out of Canada!

Points of interest

on this trip are Devil’s Tow-

er, camping in Banff Nation-

al Park, hiking Johnston Canyon, seeing Lake Louise,

riding a gondola up the mountain above Banff, and

seeing some of Glacier National Park. The weather was beautiful except for a torrential rain

that lasted for hours the first night (thankfully we had access to a large pavilion)!

Our theme this year was “The Road Less Trav-eled.” We compared the Christian life to the pioneer wag-

on trains that passed through this area. Like the pioneers,

we hear the good news, believe it, and commit to begin the

journey of faith to a new land. We next choose the path,

gather our provisions, select a guide, join others who are

making the journey to the promised land (heaven), and

begin our journey of faith that leads to our Father’s house.

Please pray for our travel campers as they face the challenges of living in an in-

creasingly secular society. Their lives and witness is very important to their friends and

schools. Jordan & Dena Grantham and Clayton and Sandy Kliewer were handed Travel Camp

batons and aprons at the end of the trip. Include them in your prayers as they take the leader-

ship of Travel Camp in the years ahead.

Day Camps

The theme for Jr. High this year was Jo-

nah. As many of you know, the Jr. High camp does sev-

eral activities away from CRC as well. This year’s big excursion was to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. What

we were not expecting was heavy rain on our way

there. Graciously, the Southwest Church of Christ let us have lunch and our singing and teaching time in their gym while we waited out the rain. We then

enjoyed God’s creative handiwork with smaller crowds and a light sprinkle!

This year’s elementary day camps were full to overflowing to the point of both camps

having almost twice as many campers as last year!! As a staff, we thought with a few adjust-ments to the activity schedule the influx of campers could be handled but you never know until

you try it! Things did go well and we are excited about what God has in store for next summer!

Our teaching theme this summer was looking at pictures of our walk with Christ with the title of “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words.” Jordan Grantham and Clayton Kliewer headed up the

teaching while Dena Grantham and Kathy Nauman took care of the crafts. At the end of our second week of elementary camp we have an all camper picnic potluck for any camper and

their family that would like to come out and enjoy the facilities together. It was a large crowd

and a fun evening!

ing ministry of Travel Camp and those who will direct and staff the camps.

From the Heart (Jordan) Christmas season is

here!! What is the one most antic-ipated thing about Christmas for children? Presents!! This past year I have had the opportunity to continue taking some online courses at The Pillar Seminary. It has been a stretching experience getting back into the classroom and wrestling with God and His Word and striving to gain a deep-er appreciation and understand-ing. In reflecting on one of my classes, I’d like us to focus on ‘presence’ this Christmas. Consider the account where the Israelites are waiting for Moses to come back down Mt. Sinai after the giving of the tab-lets. In my mind I have always been hard on the Israel-ites wondering “How can you run after an idol right after God has mi-raculously deliv-ered you from Egypt and sustained you in the desert?” It did not make any sense that they would do that! However, if we take a few mo-ments to ponder the situation, we remember that the children of Israel have just left Egypt which was a highly religious society and one that they had been immersed in for the last 400 hundred years. That influence is not something you just “shake off” as if one were shaking out your door mat. (continued on page 3)

From the Heart—Paul (Continued from page 1)

...what was

motivating

the

Israelites?

SUMMER MINISTRIES REPORT

Page 3 VOLUME 43, ISSUE 1

Furthering Christ's Kingdom Through Christ-like Service

sage of the Gospel on the square in downtown Aurora. There were over 30 people that went forward for prayer that night, some of which were for salvation! This was followed up with the CRC Father-Son Cam-pout, VBS, and our standard fare of Day Camps and Travel Camp. At the end of the summer Greg Koukl with Stand to Reason came to Aurora for the two-day Central Nebraska Bible Conference. I helped with the planning of this and facilitated a youth event with Greg at CRC. This fall I have been in class, helping lead the Giltner FCA, and working with the youth at Stockham Community Church. I would appreciate prayer as we prepare for another season of camps at CRC and especially for the first Travel Camp without the leader-ship of Paul and Kathy! Thank you!

Footprints—Jordan (Continued from page 1)

CRC Finances Let us first thank all of you who have helped us financially for many years, and especially in the building of the new lodge. With the near completion now of the deck and railing, we are essentially done with the construction of the lodge and all the bills are paid! Hardly a week goes by without it being used by some outside group. In addition to the regular CRC activities we have had weddings, fu-nerals, seminars, church board meetings, men’s and women’s re-treats, family reunions, 4-H activities, youth groups, FCA, Bible stud-ies, and other events. As seasons of life come and go, so have some of our very faithful supporters of this ministry. We are needing to replace the support of those who have “finished their course.” If God is calling you to partner with us financially and help fill this need it would be greatly appreciated. Please pray that God would raise up the people and resources necessary for the continued work here at CRC. Thank you so much!

Men’s Bible Study The Men’s Bible Fellow-ship at CRC will start Thursday morning, Jan-uary 3rd and will be looking at the book of Proverbs. The study will meet from 6:30-7:30am and there will be light refreshments served.

From the Heart—Jordan (Continued from page 2)

Looking deeper at the Exodus 32 passage, one can ask what was motivating the Israelites? Moses, the one who led them out of Egypt, had been gone 40 days and had not yet returned from the mountain. The people were getting restless. The question to consider is why?

The word I want us to consid-er is ‘presence.’ Archaeology has shown that Egyptian religions often portrayed the location of their deity on the back of a calf. It would literally be sitting atop the calf. What did the Israelites construct? A calf! Over the course of their exodus until now the Israelites had seen and experienced God’s greatness! Could it be that the children of Israel were on some level wanting to make sure to have God’s presence with them? Where did they go wrong? They hit their ‘default but-ton’ if you will, based off of their ex-periences in Egypt, and began to wor-ship as the Egyptians by directing their praise and passions toward an object they could see instead of the invisible one true God. They had ig-nored the new guidelines the Lord had given them about graven images and thus the Lord’s anger in their dis-obedience. What about us this Christmas season? Christmas is ultimately about the present of God’s presence walk-ing, living, and breathing among us! My prayer is that our hearts will long for His presence and be astound-ed by the present that Jesus is!

Travel Camp Books! As you are reading this article, the TC Book is at the printers! It is an exciting account of how God has worked through the ministry of Travel Camp for the past 40+ years. You will read about how it all began, humorous things that happened, places visited, the bus, the food, and most importantly, how God has touched lives! To purchase your copy, please visit our website www.crcnebraska.com or mail $15 to CRC with

your address. If you pre-purchased one at the Travel Camp reunion, it will be sent out as soon as we get them.

The railing for the new deck adds a great look! Special thanks to Chad Farrall for using his talents!

The New Lodge and CRC grounds are always available to be used. If you have a gathering we can help you host, please give

us a call (402) 849-2606!

Christian Resource Center 603 South K Rd Giltner NE 68841

Cale Carlson

Paul Huenefeld Kathy Nauman

Dan Wilson

CRC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

January 1st Registration for Travel Camp opens (please print the flyer from the website and return that with a $50 deposit.)

January 3rd Men’s Bible Fellowship at CRC begins. Thursdays 6:30-7:30am

April 21st Sunrise Service at the CRC Hilltop Pavilion 6:30 am

Late March Work Day to help get CRC grounds ready for the summer camps and activities.

Watch our fb page for more details.

June 14-15 Father-Daughter Campout (Watch our fb page and website for more details)

June 18-21 Jr. High Day Camp (printable brochures available after March 1st on our website)

June 24-July 5 Elem. Day Camp (printable brochures available after March 1st on our website)

July 5 Day Camp Picnic (6:30pm)

July 16-25 Travel Camp heading to Yellowstone. *The cost this year is $575.

For more information on each of these events please see our website at www.crcnebraska.com.

NON-PROFIT ORG.US POSTAGE

PAIDGILTNER, NEPERMIT NO. 4