A few weeks ago, I got to speak at Covenant Cedars Bible Camp in Hordeville, Nebraska. The weather was sunny, breezy, and in the 70’s all week. It is a wonderful camp on a river in the middle of rural Nebraska – a perfect location for a retreat from the noise and busyness of everyday life.
The Bible theme for the week was “Identity”, which explored our identity in Christ. The kids were elementary-age children and it was a fun group with whom to discuss how God sees us. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, we are his “masterpieces” (Ephesians 2), sons and daughters of God (1 John 3), and “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2).
For our response time at the end of the Bible teaching one night, we had the kids tape “Hello, My Name Is…” posters on one another’s backs. Then they went around with markers and wrote positive, encouraging words on each kid’s back – a way to lift one another up using words that God sees in them. It worked really well and the kids really got into it. They even got to write encouraging words on the backs of their teenage and college-age counselors.
