October-December 2016 Ministry update

We have been a little behind with our ministry update this semester, our apologies.

Here is our latest update with a review from our summer and leading into the winter season.

 

God continues to bless us as we serve Him and follow His lead! This past summer we spent a LOT time with people (over 600); getting to know the heart of individuals, camp counselors, executive and program directors, and of course campers. We also had the added blessing of serving together as a couple, and many times, as a family! It was humbling and exciting to hear about Leigha helping lead a camper to the Lord in her cabin, how Josiah took leadership in his cabin, and how all three of them took turns encouraging peers their own age at the camps we were ministering at! Here are some things that stood out to me at the individual camps this year:

 

Timberline Ranch (2x) – Timberlines passion is sharing the gospel with those who have never heard, in word and dynamic drama presentations. This year they did that with an Olympic theme teaching about what it means to win the “gold” in our race of faith.

Camp Bob – is a place for the fatherless to be loved and meet their real Father doing this particularly by growing roots deep into His love and truth.

Camp Squeah (2x)- Squeah’s intentional focus on relationships and the value of life-long pursuit of community is powerful and built up with the understanding of God as author of our life.

Gardom Lake Bible Camp – has a passion and gift for making Disciples with a perfect balance of love and challenge; their theme was “dive in” and I shared illustrations of one of my passions – snorkeling.

Pines Bible Camp – Pines is a place that expresses a love for life and joy in spirit, a place that longs to be home for everyone. Their theme was Olympic too and we taught about running the race for Christ with perseverance to the family camp there.

 

What an incredible honor it was to be welcomed and invited to serve and share in these camps, and share in their journey. Even though we did a total of 7 camps between June and the end of August (more than last year – it was a record for Dave to speak 60 times this summer!), they were slightly more spread out this year so it felt like we could breathe and prepare between most of them along the way. I will admit that even with the spread, our kids were pretty “camped out” by the end of it all.

 

Our summer ended with barely enough time to unpack, which meant we didn’t really have much time to prepare for the school year (and in some ways are still trying to get caught up). In the middle of all that Dave was moving into our new DFR office and helping with a few last minute fixes and renovations which required a LOT of furniture moving to make it happen. All of this furniture moving ultimately meant that we finally saw what was left behind. Dust, dead insects, and even termite damage have been built up over the years, and quite frankly, it is a mess so this will have to be cleaned up soon. I can’t believe no one even noticed that termites could’ve been in the area, so we should all read up on the termite signs so it doesn’t happen again because a lot of damage has been caused here. And no one wants that to occur in our brand new office, so that is going to be one of our aims once we have got the furniture in their desired place. Thank you to those who helped, we are VERY excited to finally have a place where we can be a team!

 

So, as you can imagine, the first couple of weeks of school were a bit rough. All of us felt some degree of added anxiety with Melissa in full-time school and the kids heading back as well, but we seem to have worked through the adjustment pains and are finding a rhythm now. I know a lot of people who suffer from similar anxiety problems. By using something similar to these Ardent coupons, some of you reading this may find the solution to your persistence anxiety reoccurrence, as there has been great success shown in the use of marijuana for this reason. More and more people are beginning to realise it’s benefits and purchase CBD products to help treat medical conditions, as shown in the report “Spending on CBD and Products containing THC in 2021: Statistics & Trends“. Of course, it is always advised that you speak to a medical professional before trying any new treatments as what works for one person, may not work for you.

 

Speaking of anxiety, one of our upcoming events is a workshop on anxiety at Columbia Bible College’s Educators Conference: http://www.columbiabc.edu/file/EC-Brochure.pdf on November 5^th; where we will be teaching on how to handle and reduce anxiety in your child’s life. Something that is VERY real in our culture, and something we strive to implement daily with our own kids.

 

Dave has a couple of thoughts on the topic that you can find on my blog:

 

Dave also has an article being published in November about the importance of focusing on our REAL family at Christmas time, and what that can mean for you as a couple and family. If you would like to check out the magazine where my articles are published click here:

October 20-24 – Dave will be performing a wedding in Manitoba

November 1 -Our official office Grand Opening Celebration – You are all invited                                                  3:30-6:00pm! (more details to come)

November 5 – CBC Educators Conference, Columbia Bible College

November 13 – Preaching in Richmond, BC @ Peace Mennonite Church

November 25-27-Fusion 1-day marriage weekend, Penticton Church of the                                                                        Nazarene, Penticton, BC

 

Dave is currently partnered with Northview Community Church to run an accountability and mentorship group for young adults, which meets every other week on Sunday evenings.

 

Nov. 3 – Dave launched Doing Family Right’s first Porn recovery/support group for men that will meet weekly.

 

 

1. For endurance and focus to be able to juggle all the balls we have in the air, between fixing the basement and re-doing some exterior drainage, to all of the kids’ events, Melissa’s schooling, our work here at DFR, and being Grandparents – our plate is full! We deeply appreciate your prayers AND words of encouragement!
2. For God’s continued provision financially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically. That we would rely on His Spirit for our sustenance and express His fruit as a result of what it means to abide in Him.
3. For continued opportunity to share and use the gifts God has given us. We want to be used by Him to reach out wherever He leads, with the anointing of His Holy Spirit as our hearts desire is to be His hands and feet, and lead others to do the same.
4. Stamina and focus for Melissa as she juggles her Master’s degree and all the other things involved in her life.
5. With Christmas approaching, I know…it feels WAY too soon to mention…if you can prayerfully consider either financially supporting us in a one-time donation or as a regular supporter, we would really appreciate your support and partnership. Here is a link to download our form: https://davidmcvety.com/donate/

 

 

Thank YOU all for your continued support, prayers, friendship, and help spreading the word about what God has called us to do as a family.

 

Dave & Melissa McVety (Leigha, Josiah, and Toby too!)

7 Reasons to send your kids to camp this summer

Summer is a time to make memories. It’s the perfect time to go camping with your family, hike, try new cultures, and go kayaking. Lots of people look at sites like Globo Surf to find out the best ways to do all these activities and more. But there’s one part of summer that kids and parents alike look forward to – and that’s camp!

I remember the first time we sent our kids to camp. They were 7 and 8 and I was nervous. I knew that there were adults overseeing things, but teenaged cabin leaders made me wonder how secure and safe my kids would feel. I was the kind of kid that was always unsure about new environments, and my first camp experience was at a much older age. This camp was only 2-3 days, but I still wondered if they would be homesick, and even wondered if I’d be homesick for them.

In the end, all of my concerns were unnecessary; they had an amazing time and couldn’t wait to go back. I also enjoyed the time it gave us to focus on ourselves, which is something that we haven’t done for a very long time. We were able to get back into enjoying fitness, would you believe it! After being recommended to look for some twin sets on sports websites, we decided to take the plunge and exercise for enjoyment again. It is definitely something we want to keep up, even when the kids aren’t at camp.

I’ve been speaking at camps for over 7 years now, and I’ve seen some incredible things happen in the lives of the kids there.

Camp, Your Child’s First Taste of Their Own Faith

There is something deeply and wonderfully special about camp.

There are the incredible experiences and friends, the opportunities to try out things you could never do at home and even the awesome spiritual lessons, leaders and mentors that kids encounter.

But there is something more!

A Summer Almost Beyond Words

Imagine a summer filled with amazing weather, tons of camping and driving all over BC… for some of you that sounds amazing, for others not so much.

Now that I have had a week or so to process our summer, I can honestly say that it was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Watching the eyes of a child light up at the reality of who God is to them, that they are His child and they are forever in His family and in His arms. Seeing people, for the first time in their lives, grab their bible and inhale every word as if their very existence depends on it.

Hearing the stories of families, both heart warming and heart wrenching as they open up, as they recognize that through our transparency, they aren’t alone. Hearing bursts of conversation mixed with tears and prayer in cabin groups after presenting the gospel and sharing Jesus’ sacrifice with teens, and hearing camp after camp describe the sheer mass of bibles that were given out at the end of the week, to kids who don’t have them and most often don’t come from homes with faith or church background.

Is there anything better than a summer filled with joy, transparency, community and the Holy Spirit working in the lives of children, teens and families and marriages alike?

The only thing better for us is the tangible reality that God allowed us to be a catalyst as camp speakers at 5 camps over 6 weeks of the summer.

We estimate a total of over 400 campers and an additional 2-300 staff and volunteers that we were able to minister to through our speaking, sharing, counsel and relationships.

We did this in an incredible number of different contexts like marriage, spirituality, leadership, sex and dating and more.

I won’t lie, the summer was exhausting on a lot of fronts, speaking over 10 times a week for 5 of those weeks was stretching and enthralling all at the same time.

We are incredibly blessed and honoured to be tools in God’s hands and to be able to see first hand the direct and immediate impact of what God is doing through us.

To those praying for us, thank you! We desperately needed it, and God showed up, your prayers were answered!

For those supporting us financially and in other ways, thank you so much for enabling us to be used in such incredible ways, we couldn’t do it without you.

Sincerely,

David and Melissa McVety

Camp Bob and a Thirst for God’s Word

Our third camp of the summer was “Camp Bob” which is a strange name I know, when I tell people that where we went they usually end up with a look of confusion on their face. Then I mention that it’s because the lake that the camp is on is called “Roberts Lake” and everything is right with the world again.

Camp Bob is a smaller camp and it’s considered “rustic” because it has outhouses and cabin-like tents instead of cabins. At first I didn’t realise that the tents they used were anything more than a tent we would bring ourselves but they were much better than that, set up on wooden platforms and built for use through the entire summer with thick aluminum poles.

In any case, Roberts Lake is beautiful, deep and clean and almost entirely private.

It was a full camp of about 50 or so kids and there were a number of things that struck me. The tent leaders were mature and incredibly intentional in their discussions with the kids and deeply capable. They also had an incredible culture of encouragement, each day an encouragement partner was drawn from a bucket that you would leave a note for. The staff were also very intentional about laying hands on me as a speaker when the week started. It was a deeply rich environment, which was probably helped by the size of the camp itself.

Speaking throughout the week was fantastic, every morning the tent leaders would share encouraging moments from their discussions and events from the previous day,

One of the most thrilling things was watching kids respond to Jesus, and like previous weeks fall in love with God’s word.

One girl whose name was Aleah, couldn’t keep her eyes on anything else. Everywhere I would see her around the camp she would be reading her bible. Every time I would speak she would come to me and ask where it was that I had referenced so she could read it herself. That same longing seemed to go throughout most of the camp as it seemed like almost all of the campers (that didn’t have them already) wanted bible’s of their own.

Watching her was an incredible reminder of what I can so often take for granted when it comes to reading my Bible. I have the opportunity to read this incredible love letter and message from God, with nothing standing in my way. It’s not an obligation but an opportunity. Thank you Aleah.

One of my greatest honours of my summer is hearing the chorus of voices praying to receive Jesus. Stepping out in faith and speaking out loud words that confirm their commitment to and acceptance of Jesus. It is a beautiful sound that I hope each of you has the chance to hear one day.

I’d like to share with you a portion of an encouragement note I received during the week;

“You might already know this, but God is using you in incredible ways to impact people of all ages. I’ve never seen someone lay out the gospel in such a simple, yet deep way, never leaving anything out, all the while keeping these kids engaged. It’s a true gift God has given you and it’s awesome to see you.”

I can’t tell you how much a note like this means to me, its so easy to get lost and wonder if you’re having any impact at all in the midst of speaking – God used this to encourage me to keep running the race and keep doing what I’m doing.

Thanks again for reading and even better, praying.

Gardom Lake and Committing to Jesus for the “4th” Time

Three weeks ago I spoke to a group of 9-11 year olds at Gardom Lake Bible Camp. Gardom is a camp that I have spoken at multiple times in the past and enjoy the culture there a lot.

It was a full camp and I had the opportunity to speak twice a day for the full week that I was there. The topic was “Soar” and when I got there I noticed that the camp had taken that word into the realm of space. The theme passage was Romans 8:37 ^37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.^”

Throughout the week we talked about how amazing and powerful God is, how incredible it is that we are loved by such a powerful and all knowing God who holds the world in His hands. We talked about the fact that God hears us, that He speaks to us and that we are adopted into His family through accepting God’s sacrifice of Jesus for us. We also discussed the fact that the Bible is a love letter and instruction manual for life, that God has a plan for us and that once we have received Jesus we are never alone because the Holy spirit comes to live inside of us. Through this knowledge we can trust God to catch us when we take leaps of faith for Him, we can live every day knowing that we aren’t alone and that learning about Him and learning to live for Him are vital to our continued acceptance of Jesus into our lives.

It was truly an honor because the kids sincerely and honestly responded to God’s word. On Wednesday night the Gospel was presented and kids received and chose to follow Jesus. At the last campfire on Thursday night those who wanted to were invited to come up to the fire (this year represented by a pile of rocks because of the fire ban) and add a rock to the pile as they share something that God did in them that week.

Child after child went forward sharing what they learned, how God brought them friends, and that they had received Jesus. Thank you Lord for speaking through me.

One child in particular caught my attention because he actually said that he had received Jesus for the “4^th time” in his life, and as much as that statement could suggest that he didn’t entirely understand , I took the chance to think and pray about his statement to see what God might have to say about it.

I realized that his faith and openness to share, without shame, was an incredible testimony. As much as he may not understand that committing to Jesus is a one time thing, in the same breath he is teaching me that it actually isn’t, committing to follow Jesus is a daily decision and even if that means once a year at camp for this young man, perhaps he is on the right track more than I initially might have thought.

Here are some possible reasons why I feel this way:

1. He noticed that God continues to speak and reveal himself year after year (and hopefully begins to figure out that it can be daily)
2. He is recognizing the need to commit daily (or at least annually for him) to following Jesus with His whole life. How many of us get distracted with life and the world and forget about Jesus until Sunday anyway?
3. He is acknowledging that there is no fear in sharing with the greater community of Jesus, and even more powerful is the need to share for the purpose of mutual encouragement and celebration. AWESOME!

So lets take this child’s faith and 4^th commitment to Jesus to heart and apply it to ourselves, do we need to commit ourselves to Jesus again today? Have we embraced community and shared our hearts with others? When was the last time you were quiet enough to let God reveal something to you?

May this child’s example of faith be an encouragement to us all!

P.S. I received this update from Gardom Lake that I thought I would share with you as well:

“We were blessed to have Dave McVety Speak at our main camp and our Encounter Directors were the Speakers for Up the Hill. They Shared the Gospel well and clear, the Campers knew there was a God that deeply Loved them and Sent His Son for them. The fruit of your Prayers and moving of the Spirit brought 123 Spiritual decisions 87 recommitments and 36 first time decisions. Here is a quote from one of the campers that I Loved, “I learned strategies to keep following Jesus even when surrounded by non-Christians”  Again feeling blessed to be in a place where we can freely share Christ, see kids make new friends, learn new skills and see young leaders develop. So Good!”

I am continually honoured that God would use me as He has.