By Courtney Swaw
Summer Intern, Linden Valley
LINDEN — Cypress Creek Baptist Church in Martin brought a large contingent of students to this year’s Journey Camp Weekend.
And why wouldn’t they?
Last year the church saw five young people accept Jesus Christ as Savior as a result of attending the weekend camp geared toward children having fun and learning from the Bible at the same time. Of those five, four returned to Linden this year.
Cypress Creek Baptist sponsors Tina Bing and Aletha Richie recalled some deep spiritual conversations they had with the children during devotion time at last year’s camp.
The two women were excited after their discussion with the girls because they sensed the girls were on the verge of accepting Christ.
“We were about to jump out of our skin because we knew they were right there, but we could not make them make that choice,” Bing said.
As they returned from camp last year the group discussed their weekend and the fun they had when Maleigha Hernandez said, “Well, last night after we had our devotional, I asked Jesus to come into my heart.”
“That kind of started everything for everybody. We all got really excited,” Bing said.
Terry Richie, another sponsor on the trip, said he was blessed to have had a small part in seeing God work through their little van going down the interstate.
Bing said they asked Richie to pull over at the first opportunity so they could get out of the van and talk about everything. “That’s when Loagen Glover decided that he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart, too,” Bing said.
After the group arrived home, they shared the news with the congregation.
“That Sunday morning, Selena Hernandez accepted Jesus as her Savior and so did Braylen Glover,” Bing said. A week later, the late pastor’s grandson, Trent Hazelwood, accepted Christ as well, she said. “Our church was very joyous.”
Terry Richie observed that most people do not realize the impact Journey Weekend has on the youth.
“The people that bring these kids up here often don’t realize they might be the only person to teach them about Christ,” he observed.
“Trust me, the Lord will bless you in so many ways if you will just bring these kids and let them enjoy it and let them share this time with God,” he said.
