One of our favorite things at Camp Pondo, is when a youth group encounters God together at camp, knowing they have shared an experience that has marked their lives and can go home stronger together. Today we have a just such a story shared with us from a dedicated youth pastor excited to see spiritual growth throughout the culture of his youth group!

“Our High School students had the most powerful Summer, spiritually speaking, that I have ever seen. Pondo was right at the heart of that. Our students were already growing so much before we went to camp, and Pondo multiplied that growth tenfold. At Pondo our students were overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, they worshipped their guts out, and committed as a group to bring that fire home.

On the bus ride home the group of 40 high schoolers collectively decided that they were going to come forward during worship to the front of the stage on Sunday during our main service. They did it, worshipped passionately and unashamedly, and then something amazing happened. The grown adults in our spiritually conservative and cautious-to-show-emotion church followed their lead and many came to the front too. I was blown away.

I am not exaggerating when I say this, but those students have changed the worship culture of that service. That service used to feel dead and void of the spirit. It now feels alive and filled with the spirit of God. These students remain on fire still into the Fall. I haven’t seen the “camp high” decline that usually is expected.

None of this would have happened without Camp Pondo. I like to tell people that Pondo is holy ground, because every time we go, God does something profound in the lives of our students.”

-Pastor Jesse, Summer 2021

Thank you for investing in these stories from Camp Pondo, we hope you are finding them encouraging as we celebrate all the amazing ways we have seen God move powerfully this last year. Your investment, prayer, and support help us continue to create a unique place to encounter God.

If you would like to help pave the way for more youth groups like this one to have community building breakthrough moments with God, we invite you to check out our support page HERE.

Do you have a story about how God moved during your time at Pondo?! If so we’d love to hear it! Please share it with us by clicking HERE!