I've had the awesome opportunity to attend as well as serve on the leadership committee for the camp we like to call Exodus TCU. I don't think that anything else could have impacted my freshman year like this weekend did, and I can't thank TCU enough for that.
Exodus is a weekend retreat for freshmen and transfer students designed to get them plugged into a church in Fort Worth. Four years ago, I was part of the inaugural class of Exodus campers.
This weekend, I finished my last one ever.
It's a weekend that has greatly impacted my faith, my friendships, and my path in college. I've been a camper, a counselor (kind of, long story), and a treasurer on two different leadership teams. I can guarantee you that this year's camp was the most stressful one I've been to, but I can also guarantee you that it was the most rewarding.
- A lumberjack, a chick, and a sock monkey walk into a camp site... bad joke?
The people pictured above with me are Harrison and Meredith. We were blessed to be in the same small group all these years ago (GO JERICHO), and they've been blessing me ever since. Seeing their growth in love for Jesus and the people around them has pushed me to do my job better and love Him more.
- #leadership2k14
These three people are some of the most incredible people I know. If you don't know them, get to know them. They're the reason camp worked so well last year and one of the reasons why this camp is such a blessing. They're encouragers, laughers, co-workers, Jesus-lovers, heart-pursuers, and warriors on this dark campus.
It's so easy to label Texas Christian University as a biblical campus, but you'd be wrong. Campus is dark. It is hard to be a Christian on campus, if you're doing it the way that the Lord desires. The religious community is only 10 percent of TCU's population. It is so easy to stay in that bubble, but it is not what we're called to do.
That's one of my favorite parts of this camp. We all come from different walks of life, wanting to know more about our Father. We have leadership, campers, and counselors alike who didn't love Jesus when they came to this campus. We have biblical scholars, those who don't own a Bible, and those whose Bibles are collecting dust all sitting in the same room. Our goal is to be a resource and trampoline for campers to get involved and live on mission in Fort Worth, and this diversity allows us to do just that.
This is this year's leadership team. I love these people with all of my heart, but this year was hard, y'all. This was the hardest year, but the most rewarding. We drove each other mad (I apologize for that), but we all learned so much that we can't be bitter about it. We used our struggles to fuel the fire that Jesus set in our hearts for these campers and the legacy that we're leaving here.
This camp couldn't have happened without these beautiful people, and I wouldn't be the same without their constant love and pursuit of me despite the issues and arguments we had. We aren't perfect, and camp wasn't perfect, but Jesus is, and that's all we need.
These are our beautiful seniors. Some of us attended Exodus as campers, and some hadn't heard about this camp until applications were almost due. That's the beauty of our job and the Kingdom. We are leaving a legacy for these campers, and I hope to come back in four years and see how much has changed, what has remained the same, and how God will work wonders in the future seniors that I met this weekend as freshmen.
This is Exodus. Identity. Abiding. Purity. Community. Mission. This is the future of our campus, and I can't wait to see how Jesus works in their lives. Can I get a GO FROGS?
