Our annual 5-day Adventure Trip with the ZEAL Middle School Youth Group from Calvary Chapel Fellowship of St Petersburg, Florida was a big hit... in fact, it was what we at GTD like to call a "God-Awesome Event!". And that's our goal on every GTD event... we don't nail it every time, but we do nail it 90+% of the time (Glory to God!). It sure doesn't hurt that the accomplishment of this goal is made a little easier by the fact that these ZEAL kids are awesome and their leadership is outstanding!! They call their annual camping adventure with GTD - "ZAMP" (ZEAL + CAMP = "ZAMP") and we can't wait for it every year! We've been soooooo blessed to host events with this youth group for 20 years since 2003!
Over the next couple of months (or next few years... these days I've just about given up on estimating how long simple tasks will take LOL) every few Mondays I will be sharing more details about GTD's approach to accomplish our goal of creating a God-awesome experience on our events. I'm calling it "MINUTIAE MONDAYS". A LOT of work goes into each group event and I think our supporters and participants would love to know more of the "behind the scenes" efforts that goes into creating a God-awesome adventure so I'm going to get into the weeds with more details about all things GTD. If you've followed our blog or social media for any amount of time then you already know that I have a hard time being brief or concise... in fact, I love sharing all the minutiae of details... all the nuts & bolts that goes into building something of value.
Our first MINUTIAE MONDAY topic is our vision and mission for each event. Every endeavor starts with a vision or goal and as I've already stated, our goal at GTD is to create "God-awesome" group experiences. To do this we have a "formula" or "recipe" that's based on scripture, wisdom, life experience, and a few years of trial & error. We call that recipe, "The 5 F's of GTD". It's sort of like five ingredients for a delicious meal. But what does "God-awesome" even mean?? It's not even in the dictionary. Exactly. I made the phrase up years ago because there wasn't a good enough word or phrase (in my opinion) that captured what we were trying to do (the essence of a fun, amazing, healthy, organic, pure, creation-based, faith-filled, total experience authored by the presence of God). There was however already a phrase in the dictionary for the opposite - an extremely dreadful experience. That phrase is called "God-awful", and I hate that phrase. Nothing God does is awful. Everything He does is BEYOND AWESOME! (Or necessary to address corruption). The "God-awful" phrase for extremely dreadful experiences shouldn't even have God's name associated with it. It should be called "sin-awful" or "devil-awful" or "fallen-world-awful". God doesn't author awful. He authors AWESOME! New words and phrases are created and added to the dictionary every year. Sooooooooo, I simply created a new phrase that attempted to "fix" a messed-up phrase that represented extreme dread and turned it into something that now represented extreme awesomeness. And so the phrase "God-awesome" was born! Will it ever make it into the dictionary? Who knows! But we have a unique phrase that we and our participants seem to like a lot... a phrase that doesn't need an explanation... a phrase by which people immediately catch our drift... and a phrase that conveys an experience that goes beyond a man-made experience. This phrase has become part of our stated goal (which includes the GTD "3-P Pledge"): "GTD Plans, Prepares, & Provides God-awesome Public and Private Group Events".
So if God-awesome events are the main meals we are cooking up then what's the recipe? What are the ingredients? Good question. Our recipe is made up of 5 ingredients that we call the 5 F's of GTD: FOCUS (on God first), FREEDOM (in Christ... not the freedom to sin, but rather the freedom from sin), FUN (the joy of the Lord is our strength... abundant life... God "provides us with everything for our enjoyment"), FELLOWSHIP (authentic relationships birthed through daily devotions, team-building, & shared experiences - both fun & difficult/challenging experiences), & FAITH (daily opportunities to engage in acts of faith... healthy risk-taking infused with Biblical relevance). Each of these 5 F's are listed in the order in which we lay them. Focus is the base layer then Freedom is established then Fun is built next then Fellowship naturally occurs, and Faith is interwoven throughout it all. When we have all of these ingredients in place then the result is a God-awesome experience almost 100% of the time. Lost souls are saved. Wandering souls are rededicated. Weary souls are renewed. Tired souls are refreshed. Growing souls are encouraged. Strong souls are reinforced. God uses GTD's God-awesome events to impact souls! GTD doesn't hold exclusive rights to host eternally impacting adventures. On the contrary, God uses thousands upon thousands of Christian-based camps across the world to impact souls for His Kingdom. In fact, Christian camps are referred to as, "The harvesting field for souls." That's why camps are one of the biggest priorities to pastors & youth pastors across the world. Oftentimes camps / retreats are the biggest event focus for youth pastors each year. God does so much good in a concentrated amount of time that 5 days can often feel like a few hours because the time flies by so fast while at the same time feeling like a few years because so much is accomplished in a short amount of time. It feels surreal many times. You can read more details about the 5 F's of GTD and much more on our website here: https://gtdbullhorn.blogspot.com/p/about.html
So there you have it... that's what God-awesome means to GTD, and those are the 5 ingredients we use to cook up a once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable, God-awesome GTD event!
Thank you to all of our volunteers, staff, participants, supporters, donors, encouragers, and prayer warriors for what you do to make GTD's God-awesome events an immense blessing to a vast number of people! God will one day reveal the eternal difference that you helped make in many people's lives through your participation in this ministry. God bless you! All our thanks and love! Now back to planning, preparing, and providing more God-awesome GTD events!
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