Downtown San Diego: Feeding and Speaking to the Homeless

As mentioned in the UC Davis blog, I am so passionate on Philippians 2. I was blessed with the opportunity to speak at a homeless shelter in downtown San Diego and I chose to speak on this. I also shared a part of my testimony.

 

Afterwards, people came up to me, thanking me for sharing. It was a blessing to hear their stories and where God was leading them.

One lady, Ivette, totally shocked me with her story. In mine, I talked about forgivness. She said it took her a while but eventually forgave her sister-in-law who took her four year old kid and mummified and killed her.  Ivette tahnked me for the work I did in Romania to serve kids who aren’t loved because this world needs it. Ivette now wants to be a missionary to serve kids around the world—I told her to do it! To get plugged into a local church and they can help support you.

One dude was PDA’ing it up with his girlfriend literally the whole time we were there. When I was serving coffee—I got a chance to talk to him. In my message, I talked about how our generation needs to MAN UP—there are too many boys out there—and we need to respect women and take responisblilty. I could tell this vibed with him. He opened up to me and told me a relative of his wasn’t treating his brother right even though she proclaimed to be a Christian—I told him there’s a lot of people who talk but don’t back it up and all we can control is how we react and make sure we’re doing the right thing for that’s the only thing we can control. He told me of a situation where he found out one of his ‘homegirls’ was raped. He was doing meth with the guy who raped her and then beat him up to death. He was charged and went to jail. I commendemd him for that passion of wanting justice and the rage he had—I wouldv’e felt the same exact way—I absolutely hate seeing that sick stuff go on. But I told him how important it is to control those emotions and ultimately forgive, as hard as that is to do at times. Then we will truly feel free. And they stopped PDA’ing after a while—I could tell the conviction they had because they were def all up on each other in this homeless shelter, man.

Oh, and I need to mention that while we were serving food, a fight broke out between two men. We needed to break up the fight and sent them both outside. After speaking with a big dude who works at the shelter, he told me that the devil is so present there. When you bring the Word and love of God to people, the devil will do anything he can to distract and fight that off. We literally saw that with two dudes fighting.

Lil Isaiah! Man, what a blessing meeting this little dude. I hope he clings to that Bible for the rest of His life. 

 

University of California, Davis : Lives Changed, People Healed, Incredible Week

You know, looking back at my life—I know I’m twenty-one years old and that is considered young to most people—not to my campers, by the way, at UCLA—they didn’t even know who N’SYNC was!! That makes me feel way old, along with one of them sharing a story and they referred to a person as older, ‘like you, Charlie, around your age’. --__--  --I am realizing more and more that this life is not about me but about others. These past two weeks, culminated with my experience last summer in Europe doing sport ministry, have showed me truly what it means to serve others. You are tired from getting barely any sleep, hungry, thirsty, hot from the beating sun—complete exhaustion—yet you need to keep pushing through, knowing that the week isn’t about you but about these kids you are there to serve. It seems so crazy at the time—waking up at 7AM, leading, coaching, eating with, being with your campers all the way until 11PM—while all at the same time making sure they’re safe. And then repeating that process the very next day. As crazy and as tiring as this gets, it’s literally nothing compared to how Jesus served us. One of my favorite passages of Scriptures—what I used to preach on this past Friday—that God revealed to me last summer is in Philippians 2: 1-18:

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”

If we all did what it says in verse 5: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” –this world would truly be a much better place to live in. How many times do we go about our days thinking about me, me, me—how am I going to get entertained, what am I going to do, who can I meet that will be my spouse here at this camp, what can I get out of this—we all think like this in some way or another. But, serving at camps, I realize and have learned that IT”S NOT ABOUT ME. He will provide the energy I need and He has EVERY time. God will provide a woman for me and I think a lot of times guys go into summer camps intentionally looking for one and focusing their attention solely on that. This should not be our focus, guys. That is not even on my radar when entering camps because my one-hundred percent focus should be on serving God and these kids. As men, we need to be the leaders and not mess with girl’s hearts and let them focus on the kids they’re counseling as well.

What if we all had this same mindset? All looking to Christ Jesus as the ultimate example of how to treat others and be in relationship with one another—whether that is friendships, family, dating relationships, marriages—any relationship with another. A Holy God came down from His throne to take on literally the form of a “servant”, or slave, all out of love for us. Wow. This really is the prime example of how we should love one another. Our culture is surrounded by people going day-to-day concerned with self. A lot of us are in it for ourselves: ‘what’s in it for me?’ ‘how can I be entertained today?’ ‘how can he or she please me or serve me?’ ‘when do I get my turn?’ –are we not? True joy is found serving others—and if we all were to have this mindset—the world would truly be a better place.

So: UC Davis…

The difference between here and UCLA was the number of campers attending. 200 campers came to this camp and there were 30 huddle leaders here compared to 80 at UCLA. So, this was on a smaller scale compared to UCLA but still a huge camp. Especially considering this was the first year the UC Davis camp was run. We did this camp because of the location for high-schoolers in northern California to be able to come out to camp (Davis is near Sacramaento). Since it was the first year running this camp, there were some learning curves obviously, but overall it was absolutely amazing!

Man, shout out to my boy Alex Riopelle! A couple of weeks before the camps began, we were in need of huddle leaders, including a baseball huddle leader. Being in the camp office, I jumped on this opportunity and called up Alex, knowing he played ball in college. It was such a blessing that God provided a way for him to get out here. He flew in to San Diego and Josh, Lisa, Alex, and I all got into Lisa’s dad’s new Ford F-350 to road trip it up to Davis. What a long drive. It took about ten hours overall and we had a long stop in the middle of the trip. We were in the middle of nowhere and it was time to video call in to my internship class back at Oakland. Facetime wasn’t working with a girl in class back home, so we kept on trying to get it to work on the road. We finally saw an exit and stopped at a Denny’s to Facetime to class from a laptop. We got to a hotel in Davis—with other huddle leaders who were there early and we all stockpiled into a couple rooms—15 dudes in 2 rooms—to crash for the night.

In the morning, we made our way to Davis. I was exhausted still from UCLA camp, so my main prayer was asking God for ENERGY. Huddle leader training was for the first couple days. What I loved about this training was it was a lot more laid back and intimate. There were only thirty of us—so we all eventually felt like family—looking out for one another.

What I love about FCA camp is that we have huddle leaders at camp who are college athletes and head coaches who are head coaches currently in college or high school. The requirement as well is that those in these positions have a solid faith. This surrounds the high-schoolers with quality coaching in their sport while at the same time having strong examples of college kids living for Jesus and coaches implementing Christian values, as well as Biblical teaching at program during the night. Huddle leaders are trained two days in advance of each camp in order to be properly equipped for leading Huddle meetings through Bible passages and also to prepare spiritually—by praying and giving the week to God. This training was especially good for me. We had some quiet time to reflect and give the week to God. There is so much peace and rest we can receive by going to Him for help.

When the kids all came, our job was to be hype and get the campers excited for camp. Once they all came in, I met my huddle for the first time. Five of the eight on my list showed up. I knew every one of them were each here for a reason. Miguel, Robert, Robbie, Noah, and Nathan. Huddle 15. At first, I was thinking of how amazing my huddle was at UCLA and that there was no way this huddle could repeat that. I realized that this was a completely different situation and what I had at UCLA was great—this would just be new memories with a different huddle. 

In the huddle meetings, a lot of them were quiet at first. Throughout the week, I truly saw God transform their lives. I’ll start with Miguel. Miguel was one of our best players on the lacrosse field. He showed promising talent that I told him would really get him somewhere in college. He was a very quiet dude and I could sense when having our Huddle meetings he had very little ‘Christian’ experience in his life. The other boys opened up their Bibles and found the passage easily, I could see out of the corner of my eye he didn’t know where certain passages were. I prayed about this and from the bottom of my heart wanted God to do a mighty work in this group, and especially in Miguel. I prayed and gave the situation to God. He did His thing as I stepped aside and let Him work!

When leading the Huddle meetings, I would give a brief background and context to each passage we went through, as well as let them know what page number it was on—in order to not make Miguel feel left out but to bring a certain cohesiveness to the group. After the first night of program, Miguel said in our Huddle that it was awesome—that he used to go to Catholic church as a kid but hasn’t gone recently. He said when he gets home he wants to go more. From that moment I knew God was doing work, showing Miguel His relentless love for him.

I pulled Miguel aside and told him to not feel left out of the group, whenever the boys in the group would give some extravagant answer—they are just at a different stage in their faith and that’s okay. I encouraged him to share because his answers were real and genuine. I asked him if he ever heard the gospel. He told me he never did. This surprised me because he went to church as a kid. So, I sat down with him on the stairs in the UC Davis dormiratory, opened the Bible, and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Miguel for the first time. I told him about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, that it’s an amazing journey—it’s not going to be perfect and there will be valleys we face but we know we are living forever in Heaven with God and we’re living with a purpose—the joy of living for Christ is incredible. Since I knew he had some Catholic background, I made sure to tell him that this faith has nothing to do with what we have done—we cannot be saved by our good works because of our sinfulness. But that God loved us so much He sent His son to die for us that we may have eternal life. All we have to do is accept this greatest gift in the world, repent of our sins, and commit our lives to Jesus. God loves us that much—it’s a relationship with God and works come out of that love—works alone cannot save us. He was diggin’ it and I told him that I’m here, as well as the other leaders and staff in case he ever wanted to talk anything through. Later on in the week, he opened up more and told me that he was raised by his mother. He met his dad one time but his dad lives in Texas with his wife. His father had an affair and was seeing Miguel's mother. Once Miguel was born, his father left back for his marriage in Texas. Miguel grew up not having a dad--that pivotal male influence in a boy's life. This week God showed Miguel His relentless love for him and that he has a true Father in Heaven.

Our speaker for the camp was Tom Randall. He’s from Detroit—whaddupp!!—and did mission work his whole life in the Philippines, adopting 51 kids there. He played pro basketball in the Philippines as well. This man is right up my alley—sharing a lot of my passions: faith in Jesus, the Philippines, basketball, from Detroit! It’s cool how God works—I went up to him after program one night and he told me he’s making a team in the Philippines this December and will be in contact with me. Barret led worship with his wife. They both are from Hawaii and we worshipped God ukelele style this week—it was different and really cool.

One night of program, Tom invited anyone who wanted to ask Jesus to come into their lives to come forward. The whole time I was praying for Miguel. Kids started to come forward and at the very last second, Miguel went forward to PUBLICLY PROCLAIM HIS DECLARATION OF BECOMING A BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST! The feeling I had is indescribable. I was truly amazed at what the power of prayer can do. That night, Miguel was full of joy.

(I know people have problems with alter calls and some may consider this was one—I have as well in the past because I truly believe that someone who is born-again is moved by the Holy Spirit and convicted—not because their friends stood up to make a decision but a one-on-one thing with God.) But, after being at these two camps, I saw the intentionality behind this whole week. These camps were planned a year in advanced, with much prayer and making sure it was all of God. The huddle leader trainings were focused on leading these kids Bilblically, pointing to the Bible and the TRUTH—not just some watered-up message. FCA camps share the Truth. I believe God truly blessed the work of His servants and is raising up a generation that humbly seeks His face and truly saved the lives of hundereds of campers this week—including Miguel! Amen!

I encouraged Miguel strongly to get plugged into a Bible-believing church back home and also surround himself with solid friends who love Jesus. I told all my boys this—how important the body of believers is—in encouraging, edifying, building each other up, and also keeping each other accountable. Also, to pray and read the Bible daily in growing in their faith. These are all so important take home points. These kids have an amazing time at camp experiencing God, yet what happens the moment they step down in their home town?  Back to reality. Back on the grind. It gets tough because a lot of their friends aren’t going to like this new-found believer of Jesus and there will be flack from people. Friends are going to want to go out and party and get drunk and high and look at porn and sleep with girls…the only way you can stay focused on Jesus is looking to Him each and every day for strength—He speaks to you through His Word—dig into it! I mentioned that there are so many different denominations out there because of what man-made ideas put on top of the Truth. At the end of the day, it’s important to hae theoliogical stances but it doesn’t matter what denomination you are: The bottom line is that we need to follow Jesus Christ with our whole lives and repent of our sins. Pure and Simple.

I, of course, shared Matthew 5 with this Huddle after what happened at UCLA! I had us all make a pact to stay pure and flee from sexual immorality. I gave them a list of Bible verses to help them in their walk with purity and will be sending all my boys a copy of “Every Young Man’s Battle”—a book that helped steer me in the right direction in my commitment to stay pure throughout high school and college.

Nathan always was encouraging to the other guys and could tell he was strong in his faith only being a sopohomere in high school. I told him he was going to be a pastor someday and he told me he was very encouraged by my testimony and that it IS possible to remain pure for your wife, even throughout difficult circumstances. So, I was stoked about that—again confirming my favorite verse: Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God showed me in a very real way how the circumstances I’ve faced in life have all been for a reason. I was able to be transparent these past two weeks and encourage younger dudes because of the work  God has done in my life in saving me from very difficult situations. At the time, it sucked obviously—But I knew it was for a purpose—and I was able to see a little of ‘why’ by being able to share it with these boys.

The other guys: Robbie, Robert, and Noah all were chill dudes and now are going home stoked to grow in their faith! We all got Miguel and the other lacrsosse guy who was in a different huddle, Alex, a shirt from the FCA store and wrote them each a note (Alex said he would frame the note) to welcome them to the family of JESUS! It’s a celebration! Party time!

There are many stories that came from the Huddles that would take up a novel to write and I would love to talk more about this in person—so hit me up and let’s grab coffee!

I was the only lacrosse huddle leader—lax is still gaining popularity on the West Coast. There were six lax players overall.

Davis was amazing. Thank you for your support. Because of it—hundereds of campers etiher rededicated their lives to Jesus or accepted Christ for the first time. Lives were truly changed. One of the huddle leaders, Jess’, foot was healed simply after some of the guys prayed over it. I saw transformation within one week. I know God can transform you life within a moment.

UCLA FCA Camp: A Week to Remember

Wow.

I really cannot put words to describe how incredible this past week was, other than simply: wow.

I did not know truly what to expect. Yeah, I'm a veteran when it comes to camps, being around them ever since I can remember (shout out to UPBC!) From Michigan to Italy to London to Wales to Romania, I've seen how different camps are run and have always had tremendous experiences through each camp. Yet, at the start of this camp, I had my doubts and was nervous, as I knew I would be assigned a group of about 8 high school boys and didn't know if they would listen to anything I had to say at all. This also was different from the many camps I have been to, due to the fact that this was a pure athlete camp--with serious athletes from all different sports to hone their game. Whereas the other camps I was at didn't focus on good coaching necessarily. 

The first two days consisted of huddle leader training. What I absolutely loved about all this was the intentionality the staff put into planning and implementing this training. They realize the huddle leaders (counselors who lead a group of 8-10 boys or girls in high school in their respective sport) are the 'heartbeat' of camp. They are the ones who are hanging out with the kids the whole week investing in their lives and leading them in the huddle meetings, opening up the Word of God. 

Arriving at UCLA, I was tired and out of it. At the end of training, I was hype and so ready to minister to the boys. This week I really wanted to step out of the way and let God do His thing. If this were to be a successful week changing lives, I would need to completely surrender to God, come in clean without anything that would comporomise what I would be teaching these kids, and let God totally use me. I could absolutely not try to do this on my own. Something I shared at one of the huddle leader meetings, in front of everyone, that God placed on my heart was Philippians 2:5: "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus". I encouraged fellow huddle leaders to serve each other this week, look for ways to not think about oneself but to serve our teenagers and when we go back home to our friends, family, and whomever God places into our lives. This week was not about us but about Jesus and the only way we'd be able to do that is looking to Jesus as the prime example. He came down from His Holy throne to serve sinners and take on the form of literally a slave, giving Himself up for us. If we all had the same mindset--that IT"S NOT ABOUT US--our relationships with each other would become so much better and our week would be great. I also said that guys may look to LeBron James as an example and girls may look to Reese Witherspoon (I know, random) as an example but the ONLY example we should look to in how to live is Jesus Christ.

We had a dance party/SpikeBall matchup on the fourth of July to get to know each other better and just celebrate before the campers all showed up. Man, I love to dance and have a good time so this was so much fun for me. I broke it down on the dance floor to some Gangam Style, Wobble, Katy Perry/Carly Rae Jepson, Thrift Shop, some country line dance...oh yeah, I'll dance to anything and tear it up. Met some cool peeps as well who love Jesus...

 Anthony plays football for Whitter College. Toba played soccer at Robert Morris. Frankie plays soccer at San Diego Christian.

I remember the night before, begging God that He would use me this week radically and that He would save souls...and that He would help me to lead my boys the right way, the way He would. When my campers came up and we first met, I laid down my expectations--that respect was huge for me. As long as they respected the camp, other leaders, and each other, we wouldn't have any problems. They all agreed and then we headed to Drake Stadium to take a camp-wide picture:

Camp picture with some fellow HL's. Ty and Christian play football at Citrus College. Lorenzo's from Compton and playing ball at Morehouse. Mack played ball at Princeton.

Before we took the picture, we had time to spend with our huddles and I rememer not really knowing what to say to these incoming freshman in high school boys--if I should be more strict, more cool, or what. But, when that thought hit I just surrendered that to God and He took over totally. I told them that we were a family. God placed us all here for a specific reason and that if we want to do well in our game, just like any champion team, we needed to develop team chemistry. They were on board with that from the start. Ever since then, they called each other family. 

Josh, Trevon, Stephen, Noah, Jack, Connor, Shane

Nicknames I gave them: Steve Harvey, Swag City, Shawty, Vanilla Ice, JackJack, Big C, Sox

Wow.

Again, without getting into too much detail because I want to respect what was said in our huddle--that it stays within Huddle 29, as we all keep each other accountable in our walks with Christ--this group truly was an encouragement to me in my walk with Christ. Right from the start--we knew we were family. It was the hardest thing ever for all of us to leave UCLA yesterday, back into the real world. Our conversations were genuine, as we talked about what the boys were struggling with back home, what persecutions they were facing either in their homes or at school, and action steps to bring with them back home in how to grow in their faith and tell others about the relentless love of Jesus. We hung out together, I coached them in basketball, we hooped together, we ate together, we all had fun, and we just bro'd out. I was just there as the facilitator to make sure they didn't do anything crazy--but I knew they wouldn't because that's the kind of kids they are--very respectful of me--so I just let them have fun, while at the same time bringing it back to being serious when we talked about life and while we studied the Bible. I told them to go back home and look to His Word as their GPS in life...that no matter what they go through, no matter what anyone may say about them...that this book is their guide. So, cling to it, underline it, study it...

We talked about anything and everything and made a pact to stay pure. I told them that no matter how immodest girls dress and no matter how luscious their words may be--to not use that as an excuse--we need to be MEN and take responsibility. I can't wait to see how God will use them throughout high school.

I shared my testimony the first night to them. I was completely transparent and vulnerable--not leaving out anything. I could tell how much they appreciated that and how much I gained their respect for the week because of it (it takes men to admit weakness and let Christ use Him through that). I told them I'm not by any means perfect but that I'm here to encourage you guys...that we are all on this same road and I may know a couple more things but that doesn't mean anything...don't take what I say or what anybody else says as the ultimate authority--look to Jesus as the perfect example of how to live your lives as men. 

(Note: Please come up to me and ask me in person for more stories of the incredible things that happened at camp. I can't share some of the stuff online but would love to tell you all in person.)

Man, these dudes were great. Some of them are going back to broken homes, so it's all God that He helped me get one of them hooked up with an area representative in the city where he lives to start an FCA there because they need student leaders! I'm so stoked that he has that opportunity to help him in his faith amidst a broken family. It reminds me of my encouragement from FCA in high school and how much God used that to help me while I  was going through rough times with family.  

God totally put His hand upon this camp. And I know it is because of how much our leadership staff and huddle leaders wanted to let God use us. A lot of us were nervous but the theme that it is all God's work, we just have to trust Him and let Him use us--ran a current theme in each of the huddles. Over 600 campers came:

Seeing my boys worship our amazing, Holy God was an increidble thing. 

The BEST part about camp was that 6 of my boys re-dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ and one was SAVED! I had us all huddle around Josh and we prayed for Him, rejoicing, welcoming him to our family as brothers in Christ and prayed for this new journey as a follower of Jesus Christ. He is now made new, the dirt has been washed away, he has been made clean in God's eyes and is now fired up to live for Him. AMEN!!! C'mon now. 

If I came all the way over here to Cali just for that--more than worth it. 

Pray for Josh and all the boys as they venture into this new chapter of their lives in high school--that God would keep them strong amidst temptation and will grow daily in their walks with Jesus.

Along with many other conversations, I shared with them how our life is so short. I had them visualize a rope that went all the way to the ocean. On this rope, I had them picture me marking in red sharpie a very short line on that rope. I told them that mark on the rope is how short our lives are comared to eternity. When trials come in high school, look at the fact that this world isn't what we are living for. We are living vertically-minded, all for our KING! To remember this joy they are feeling. That, yeah, you may be satisfied for a little while in lusting, getting with girls, doing certain things, but that is all so temporary. I told them to HOLD ON and remember this joy they felt this whole week as a family--to encourage each other daily when they are back home and keeping each other accountable. I also will be sending them the book, "Every Young Man's Battle" when I get back home, as it was such an encouragement to me to stay pure at that age--and shaped my views of purity through a Biblical standard for life. I told them that how can a young man stay pure in today's crazy world?!! Cling to Jesus! He hates when us men lust--so much so that in Matthew 5:28-30, in the Sermon on the Mount, He said: "But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!" Right after I shared this passage, Josh had this shocking look on his face. He told us that right when I shared that verse, he was texting a girl and was about to say yes to her asking him if he wanted some inapropriate pictures of her. So, they were bout to be 'sexting' as I was leading this huddle. This was absolutely crazy because he showed us he typed the text 'sure' about to recieve these pictures. The Holy Spirit totally convicted him and he showed us that is exactly what he was about to text back. The whole huddle was going crazy--then he texted back to this girl-- READ MATTHEW 5:28-30! BAM! Ahhhhh!! That is GOD right there. He had me share this passage of Scripture (which wasn't even in the devotions we were going through) at this exact time. It was a real-time example of how in the world can a young man stay pure in this day and age? Go to God's Word to help you literally! Josh said this was now his testimony he was going to share with everybody and will look back on when times get hard in the battle of purity and when girls tempt him to do stuff. And, of course, what a great example for the rest of the huddle as well. God is so good. Jesus is so passionate on us being pure. I then shared this song with them that they vibed to: 

 

I shared the story of the apostle Paul and the persecution he faced. How he came from Saul to Paul. God loved him relentlessly. The theme of the camp was: relentless. God loves us relentlessly. It's nothing we can attain. In fact, we don't deserve His love at all. All we need to do is accept His amazing Grace and Gift, repent of our sins, and surrender our lives to Jesus. I told them to look to Hebrews 11--the hall of fame in the Bible; and also to those in the Bible as examples of learning from mistakes and how to carry out God's calling: "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20 

I had them memorize the camp-theme verse: "But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and obtain life." -Hebrews 10:39

We will be strong. I am confident these boys won't be boys much longer but men after God's own heart. Please join me in prayer for Josh, our comedian and the one who brought life and joy to our group; for Noah, our cool cat, and vocal leader; for Jack, our knowledgeable and jack-of-all-trades, multi-talented dude; for Shane, our quiet leader, leading by action, and well-articulated, smart individual; for Stephen--where height means nothing and heart means everything, who reminded me a lot of myself--never stopping smiling; for Connor--keeping us accountable and on track, who desired to be present fully wherever we were; for Trevon, who is fully relevant to this world and I know will be in the heart of the locker room as one of the dudes, yet different because the light of Christ is shinging magnificintely through him. THANK YOU to an incredible home church: Woodside Bible. Your support and prayers made a huge impact on this camp. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Everyday, I realize how blessed I am to be a member of an incredible Jesus-loving, service-focused, Bible-believing, strong community-centered church. This is what being a church is all about:  "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together andbreaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." -Acts 2:42-47

HUGE SHOUT OUT to Gigs 4 Good. Man, Nich and Morgs--you're my boys and thank you for your support. Love you, fam...check out their organization at: http://gigs4good.org/ and facebook.com/gigsforgood . They're all about "Helping others help others". AMEN!

Huddle 29 is reppin Gigs 4 Good out here in UCLA on John Wooden Court!! 

I'm just trying me best to be a vessel for His Kingdom. It's all for Him! "I may be weak, but your Spirit's strong in me. My flesh may fail, but my God YOU NEVER WILL!"

 Les Steckel, president of FCA

Coaching on John Wooden Court: dream come true.

Let's go, men! Our generation has too many boys...let's not shrink back and be destroyed but be of those who have faith and obtain LIFE! MAN UP! 

God bless,

Charlie

Gloria!

Walking into CVS on College Ave. & El Cajon Blvd. by campus there was an elderly black woman, with missing teeth on a motorized scooter. She looked frail and her clothes were tattered, yet she had this warming presence about her. As I approach the doors, she gives me a big grin, saying "Hi". I say hello back and she asks me for some change to buy food for her and her grandson. I tell her I will be back with some food. After I make my purchase in the CVS, I come back outside. I give her a Gatorade, telling her to stay refreshed and hydrated on a crazy, hot day like today. I also give her sweet n' salty chex mix, telling her to stay "sweet & salty" haha. I tell her she has a beautiful smile and to keep smiling because it's Christ who truly provides. I walk back to the car (one of the few times I've been able to drive this summer!) and write down something for Gloria:

Dear Gloria,

Keep Smiling!! :)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

Jesus provides our every need.

Love,
Charlie

I walked back and gave this note to her.

I started rejoicing on the drive back to a coffee shop. Freestyling over a beat, praying for Gloria. Glory, glory, glory to our God. It reminded me of the classic Christmas hymn name "Gloria in excelsis Deo":
    "Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to people of good will.

We praise you,

we bless you,

we adore you,

we glorify you,

we give you thanks for your great glory,

Lord God, heavenly King,

O God, almighty Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,

Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us;

you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High,

Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen"

Gloria!!!!!

FCA Camp: The Heart of my Summer

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, dudes and girls:

Man, I cannot even begin to tell you how stoked I am for the upcoming weeks. I would describe the upcoming two and a half weeks as the heart of my summer. If you have been following along with me in this journey in Cali, you know I have encountered some discouragement along the way, some rough patches in really seeking God in why I am over here. As mentioned before, I really am one who feels the need to always be doing something with people--hanging out, going places...this summer God has taught me to:

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” -Psalm 46:10

I have learned a lot about myself and God is showing me that I am truly nothing without Him. I need to rely on Him for true joy. People will fail me, just as I will fail others. God never will. 

Through the office work, I have helped in preparing for camp to take place by answering e-mails/phone calls from kids and their parents, coaches, and staff to make sure everything is organized for camp. I also have contributed in helping my supervisor, Brian, out with updated our housing list. Since we are expecting over 600 high school student athletes, you can imagine how much housing we will need on top of that with supporting staff, coaches, and huddle leaders. This has been a great experience seeing how things are run from an administrative point of view and has helped in honing my skills in organization and the more technical side--something you all may know needs improvement ;) just look at my Malibu back home for instance--everything and anything is piled in heaps in that vehicle I tell ya.

Anyways, a huddle leader is basically like a camp counselor. We have huddle leaders who are currently college athletes who truly love Jesus and are assigned a group of high-schoolers to their respective sport to minister to and invest in their lives for the week; making sure they go to their practices and worship, along with eating with them during meals and leading them through activities and Bible studies. I am going to be a basketball huddle leader for this week and will be leaving next Tuesday to get there early. That Wednesday starts huddle leader training--meeting all the other huddle leaders and getting prepared for what will take place at camp. I am so stoked to invest in the lives of the boys I will be assigned to and lead them through what I'm most passionate about--my faith and basketball. Please pray for me as I prepare even now--that I would be ready spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally to lead...that God would use all of me--every ounce of me--all for Him. I'm excited to meet fellow college athletes on fire for Christ, for the opportunity to train in Pauley Pavillion where the great John Wooden coached, and for what God is going to do in the lives of these kids coming to camp-many of whom do not know Christ as their personal Savior. I will also be serving at the UC Davis camp in northern Cali  from July 12-18 being a lacrosse huddle leader there. I am also stoked to see what God will be doing at this camp as well!

It's all about Jesus. Pure and simple. 

Here is a promo video for the upcoming UCLA Camp:

An example of what goes on at UCLA Camp:

UCLA and UC Davis Description: