I am a church camp junkie. Over my 20 plus years working at church camps I have learned a lot about setting your chapel speaker lineup. Here are some words of wisdom to set your lineup!
Sunday Night
– This is your leadoff hitter. He will
set the tone for the whole inning. If he
strikes out it will affect the entire week.
He must get on base or you risk the chance of having the campers
dreading coming to chapel time. If at
all possible make sure he uses at least one video clip and tells several
stories. Prayer over this speaker, “As
Ecclesiastes 6:11 says, ‘The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does
that profit anyone?’ We ask You to use
(insert speaker’s name here), his few words, and his several funny stories to
reach these campers. Amen.”
Monday
Night – This is your #9 hitter. He is usually
on the team for his defensive ability. He
has a great attitude and is willing to do his part on the team. Sometimes the coach will tell the #9 hitter
to crowd the plate to possibly get hit by the pitch. This is a great spot to allow your missionary
another opportunity to speak or if you are feeling very liberal, maybe your
dorm mom could even share her “testimony!”
Hopefully your Monday night speaker will crowd the plate and maybe get
hit by the Holy Spirit. Prayer over this
speaker, “Lord, we know You used Balaam’s as…donkey to speak so we ask You to
somehow use (insert speaker’s name here) tonight. Amen.”
Tuesday
Night – This is your #2 hitter. Find a hitter who handles the bat well for the second spot.
Make sure he can bunt effectively, take a pitch when a base runner is trying to
steal and make contact during a hit-and-run play. For camp you need to find someone who handles
the Scriptures well. He needs to advance
the theme of the week and begin to challenge the campers towards a
decision. Prayer over this speaker, “Lord,
tonight we present to You (insert speaker’s name here). He is a worker who does not need to be
ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Use him.
Amen.”
Wednesday
Night – This is your #3 hitter. The #3
hitter in baseball is usually the most consistent hitter on the team. His job is to get on base so the cleanup
hitter can smack him home. At church
camp this is your set up guy. His job is
to start moving the campers towards a decision.
Sometimes if you pick a really good speaker, he might even get a few
decisions himself! Prayer over this
speaker, “As John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, please use (insert
speaker’s name here) to prepare the way for many decisions in Your name. Amen.”
Thursday
Night – This is your cleanup hitter. The
fate of the whole game rests in his hands.
He is one of your better hitters, but most importantly, he’s a prolific
run producer. For church camp, this is
your most dynamic speaker and a prolific decision producer. If he can’t get the girls crying and the boys
sniffing, he has failed miserably. The
ultimate fate of your week of camp in the history books comes down to this
speaker. Prayer over this speaker, “In
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the
dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I pray these words over
(insert speaker’s name here): Preach the word; be prepared tonight; correct,
rebuke and encourage, but mainly correct and do a bunch of rebuking. In the almighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ
whom these campers really need to accept tonight, amen.”
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I hope you smiled as you read this random post. This was not a serious piece! This was inspired by a dean of a High School week who asked me to speak...on a Monday night!
tory
