4 minute read
Equipping people for God's harvest
Equipping people for God's harvest
Mel Bell is bright, bubbly and loves working as a kids’ minister at St Andrew’s in Roseville. She first led on a CRU Study Camp in 2012 and has served on at least one CRU Holiday Camp every year since then. We chat to her about why she keeps coming back each year and why she believes training is crucial.
CRUview: How did you become involved with CRU?
Mel Bell: One of my youth leaders co-directed a CRU Study Camp and I went straight into leading on that team when I finished high school. I just loved the atmosphere and loved having a hundred-something non-Christian kids sitting and hearing the gospel! I moved from leading to directing pretty quickly and was privileged enough to be able to hand over that Study Camp to two co-directors that I’d trained up. Now I focus on speaking at camp. I just love it.
CV: What do you think it is about CRU Holiday Camps that helps kids follow Jesus?
MB: Nowhere else would you get at least 5 days and 4 nights to invest into building genuine relationships. Kids experience a type of Christianity that they often haven’t seen before. They might attend chapel and associate Christianity with an old-school rigid kind of thinking. But on CRU Holiday Camps they meet these leaders who just want to love them, care for them, help them think through their lives and live it
I haven’t seen God grow His kingdom in the North Shore in such drastic ways other than on CRU Holiday Camps. It’s been amazing to see so many kids put their faith in Jesus on the camps I’ve been on… and I’m just one person who’s attended CRU Holiday Camps for a finite amount of time!
CV: You’ve attended a number of VOLT Volunteers Training Days as a CRU Holiday Camp leader and director. Can you share some thoughts about them?
MB: VOLT prepares you for leading on CRU Holiday Camps. They’re useful for literally anyone serving on the camp - new leaders, junior leaders, senior leaders, seasoned leaders, directors… whoever it is, they should be investing in VOLT – that’s for sure.
As a director, it was such a great help for me to have access to training that wasn’t hinging on me, or my experience, or my wisdom, or anything like that. As a leader, the skills and wisdom you receive are just unparalleled. You have people who’ve been on 20, 30, 40 camps and they help us grow in our knowledge and skills for serving on camp. What better way to spend a Saturday than worshipping with brothers and sisters, hearing the Word, and learning some really practical skills to help you lead on camp!
CV: How has your VOLT training and your involvement with CRU Holiday Camps equipped you in your walk with God?
MB: One of the most helpful things I was trained in was how to share the gospel and have those gospel conversations. It has served me a thousand-fold already. But beyond that, I learned how to run a team, how to run a game for rowdy Year 12 kids, and lots of other practical things like that.
Also, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is just to have utter dependence on God. There’s nothing like being on day 3 or 4 of camp, hitting a wall, and having no strength left! I don’t think I knew true dependence on God until I directed a CRU Holiday Camp. We should be that dependent for every breath, every moment, every day. Camp was such a good reminder that it’s never about my strength or my skillset - it’s always for God’s glory and by His grace.
CV: What is your hope for CRU?
MB: My biggest prayer for CRU is that we would run more camps and reach more non-Christian kids, but that it wouldn’t be at the expense of great volunteers, quality teams and well-trained people. Whenever I get ready for a CRU Holiday Camp I’m reminded that God needs to provide the farmers for the harvest. The harvest is here but we need workers, and if there’s ever a challenge in CRU Holiday Camps it’s, “Where are the workers? We need more.”
CV: What is your hope for the next generation?
MB: I think I’ve tasted spiritual revival at CRU Holiday Camps and my heart’s desire is that we’d continue to see this revival amongst young people and that we’d see entire camps saved. My prayer is that God would use this ministry even more to reach the next generation… to help replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh and to just save people.
CV: Finally, what do you hope for yourself?
MB: I pray that God would show me what He wants me to invest in. I could spend my time doing a billion things and some of it could just be fruitless. I’m trying to work out where God wants me, what He wants me investing my time in, and how best to serve Him in His kingdom. That’s my daily question, I guess!
