Check out pictures of
Boot Camp 08 and Shine 09

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Shine 09 Update The excitement circuiting the room was growing with every beat of the drum and every riff of the guitar, feeding the energy until those standing there thought it just might blow the roof. The crowd was jumping, their hands were raised, their mouths open in adoration. It wasn’t a concert.  They weren’t there to worship some rock star.  No, this was not Australian Idol.  The teenagers gathered in a holy mosh pit were there to meet their Creator, the God of the universe, the only one truly worthy of such adulation. This is how it continued at AFCM’s Shine09 youth camp.  For four days, the 62 youth who had toiled to raise money and driven long hours to get to a conference center in northern Sydney, shunned the darkness they were forced to experience in their day-to-day lives and, instead, soaked up some Son-rays, determined to leave camp not enlightened only on the inside but shining on the outside, faces radiant with the light of Christ, ready to set the world ablaze with their passionate love. “In all meetings and gatherings I have ever attended, I have not seen the Holy Spirit move as powerfully and as purposefully as He does during this camp,” said Chris Tabone, youth leader from Freedom City Church.  “His presence and anointing are so tangible, and it is an amazing sight for any youth leader to witness their youth engaged in true worship with their Creator.” The speakers at the camp included Ben and Aubrey Bayliss, Brendon and Cathie Clancy, Tim Patterson, Jim Newton, MaryAnn Mansu and Ben Evans from Feed the Hungry, Youth Activate’s corporate sponsor.  Every session was life-changing. “I came to camp with a lot of emotional baggage, but on Wednesday night I felt God just take it all away, and I feel so free,” said Daniel, third year camper. Young adult leaders, most of whom had been to camp before, were chosen to lead elective sessions on children’s, guys’, girls’ and music ministry and leadership.  Each elective group made a presentation on how they would plan and develop an outreach based on their particular elective.   The campers were divided into tribes for entertaining games each afternoon.  The tribes, bound together by war paint and coloured garland, battled for bragging rights in ultimate Frisbee, tug-of-war and other mind and relay games. The tears that were shed as the campers packed up to return to their lives in the secular world would have been classified as tears of awe and reluctance more than sadness or distress.   “The presence of God was just incredible, and I am starting the change in my life today so that I don’t shine just for Jesus, but I shine just like Jesus,” said Katie, third year camper. There is something unspeakable that happens in the hearts of those who cry out to God with such intensity as there was at camp this year.  Many of us may not be able to define it quite yet, but as the year goes on, the things that were imperceptibly planted within our hearts will begin to reveal themselves, and we will all become twinkling city lights, glowing in the darkest places of our world. Sponsor Youth Activate Now!