TRIP 3 FINISHED STRONG & SO DID WE!!

   

Our 3rd Adventure Trip in a row finished yesterday, and the ZEAL middle school youth group from Calvary Chapel Fellowship of St Petersburg, Florida had a blast! It was our first time doing back-to-back-to-back Adventure Trips since before COVID. 3 non-stop action-packed labor-intensive adventures in 14 days, and we finished strong PTL!!! The immediate feedback that I've been getting from the pastors, group leaders, & participants has been incredible & heart warming... so much more to share! Thank you to our amazing supporters, encouragers, prayer warriors, volunteers, staff, family, and friends who make all of this possible!! And most importantly ALL GLORY TO GOD who powerfully uses camp ministries combined with His amazing outdoor playground to forever change the trajectory of people's lives! I've got so much more to share!!

 

 

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TRIPS 3 IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

 

The Annual ZAMP Calvary Chapel Fellowship Middle School Youth Group Adventure Trip is about to begin!! Entire group arrives to NC safely PTL!!

 

 

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WOW, WHAT AN AMAZING GROUP!!! TRIP 2 ENDS TODAY... TRIP 3 STARTS TMW!

 

It's hard to put into words just how incredible this youth group is... they are so much fun, they are so in love with Jesus, they are such a great example, and they are such an inspiration!!! Maybe the following story sums it up best: While we were at Turtleback Falls having a blast in God's ultimate water theme park a random stranger walked up to me and asked, "Is this a church group?" I told him yes. He said, "I thought so. These kids are so respectful, kind, & thoughtful." He was compelled to search me out and compliment their behavior. That has been our experience as well. We have been so blessed and honored to host the high school youth group of Suncoast Community Church of Largo, and we can't wait to see them again when we get home. God bless their youth pastor, leaders, & parents for raising up such incredible kids!! /// 2 trips down in our first back-to-back-to-back series of Adventure Trips since COVID... now we prepare for TRIP 3 that starts tomorrow with the awesome ZEAL middle school youth group from Calvary Chapel Fellowship. They call their summer Adventure Trip "ZAMP" (ZEAL + CAMP = ZAMP)! GTD has been hosting their summer camps for 20 years!! Can't wait to keep the tradition going!!!!

 

 

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DEVOS, EXTREME TUBING, & RAFTING DAY!!

  

Our 5-Day Adventure Trip with the high school youth of Suncoast Community Church of Largo, Florida is already off to a GREAT start!! We love this group! They are so much fun! And they have deep roots in their faith! We had a wonderful quality devotional time with a deep dive into John 15 followed with some extreme tubing down a waterfall and culminating with white water rafting down the French Broad River... what a terrific start to this trip!!

 

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TRIP 1 IS DONE... AND TRIP 2 HAS JUST BEGUN!

 

This morning the families of Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater completed their 5 day Adventure Trip with GTD... it was AMAZING!!! Thank You Jesus!! With a few hours to spare we went into town, had a celebration lunch, restocked the groceries, returned to camp to tidy up, and then the next group arrived. We are kicking off Suncoast Community Church's first ever youth Adventure Trip with GTD!! They've already slid down sliding rock, played volleyball, set up their sleeping areas in the tents, had a delicious meal, met around the campfire, and now off to bed. White water rafting tomorrow!! This youth group is soooooo much fun!!! Can't wait to see all that God does over these 5 days!! Heading back to camp and 10 miles from cell phone coverage!

 

 

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OUR LARGEST ADVENTURE TRIP EVER IS OFF TO A [FAM]TASTIC START!!

   

75 participants from 18 families of Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater arrived safely to camp in NC. It's our largest Adventure Trip ever! This is our 4th annual event with the Calvary families and it grows bigger & bigger each year. We are 10 miles outside of cell phone range so we will update sporadically throughout the week. Thanks for the prayers!!

 

 

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WE MADE IT TO NC!!! ...THE PAST 6 WEEKS HAVE BEEN CRAZY SO I'M THRILLED WE ARE BACK ON TRACK!

 

We just arrived to Brevard, NC and are about to kick off our 1st of 3 back-to-back-to-back Adventure Trips over the next 2 weeks. The past 6 weeks have been crazy with 2 hospitalizations for Dad, helping Laurie finish & move her into her condo, 5 days of sickness, moving a whole lot of stuff for the tree to be cut down, siliconing the storage container, & 7 days of reorganizing the backyard for an inspection by my new homeowner's insurance. All of those things needed to be done, but I wasn't planning on doing many of them until the fall. Unfortunately it put me waaaaay behind on getting ready for our summer trips... but Praise God and with very little sleep we pulled it all off, and God blessed us with safe travels to our amazing friend's house in Easley, SC on Wed. Jason & Heather Lazzaro put us up in the wonderful home for 3 nights where we got caught up on much sleep (thank you Jesus!!)... this morning we drove just over an hour from Easley, South Carolina to Brevard, North Carolina. Our campsite opens up at 12.30p today... we will be outside of cell phone service most of the time. Our first trip is going to be our largest Adventure Trip ever with 75 participants (the families of Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater)... this is their 4th year in a row and it gets bigger each year!! Thank you for your prayers for safety & spiritual impact!!! It's go time!!! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get here and who supports this ministry and enables us to do what we do!!!!

 

 

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WHAT A RE"LEAF"!! ...7 TRUCK LOADS OF LEAVES REMOVED!

    

Over the past few months I along with our Young Guns and awesome volunteers worked together to remove about 7 truck loads of leaves from my yard / GTD Home Base. About a year ago I bought a Lawn Sweeper to pull behind the riding mower (or golf cart)... all I can say is that the Lawn Sweeper is one of my favorite inventions ever!! In about 2 hours I can sweep up as many leaves as it used to take me about 2 weeks to rake up!! Game! Changer! I had a build of leaves over the past 2 years that was killing my weeds/grass, but now we are all caught up on leaf removal... WHAT A RE"LEAF"!!!

 

 

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