I NEED HELP!!

Friends and Family,

Several months ago I set out on a mission to go to Kenya, Africa to share the love of Christ with the Kenyan youth. It is something that I believe God has put on my heart, and I have been pursuing it relentlessly. I have sent out letters, made phone calls, written blogs, and done everything I can think of to raise money for this trip. Now it's crunch time and I'm down to outright begging!!

Here is the deal:

In total, I need to raise $3200 but I currently have a need that is more immediate than that! So far I've had $500 come in, and I know there are people still planning to send in support. The cold reality right now is that if I don't have $2,000 in or at least promised by the end of this week I will not be able to go on this trip!

I still firmly believe that God wants me to go on this trip and I am sold on doing whatever it takes! This is why I am asking anyone and everyone who reads this to throw a little support my way in whatever way they can! Prayer Warriors, please lift me up in prayer the next few days. If you have a few spare bucks sitting around think about supporting me... 10, 15, 25 dollars... seriously, every bit helps! If you have a pile of cash, how about some year end giving to help someone go to Africa and minister to the youth?!

As I said before, I will do whatever it takes! I will clean your house, mow your grass, shovel your snow, manicure your landscape, sell your abundance of stuff on ebay, preach at your church.... anything except for robbing the local gas station!

Friends and Family, I know this is going to be a life changing experience for me! But even greater than that it's going to be a life changing experience for thousands of african youth! I am expecting God to show up huge in the next couple days, and in an even greater way while we are in africa! Here's your chance to be a part of something huge!!

Please respond to me @ patmosjohncraig@gmail.com or call me @ 317.627.2594 to see how you can help!

for the youth of kenya,

john craig

I'm going to AFRICA, Help me!

Three years ago, I took a job that changed my course, I became a summer camp counselor at Camp Patmos. Shortly after, I was offered the opportunity to come back the following summer as the Summer Program Director, and shortly after that God gave me the opportunity to stay on at the camp as sort of a missionary. I am currently serving as a Program Director at Camp Patmos.

It was during my first summer at Patmos that God really gripped my heart and caused me to focus on something much bigger than myself. I was blessed with the opportunity to counsel a group of guys from inner-city Cleveland for a week. It was amazing to watch these guys’ hearts change within that week, as God used me to point them toward the one true Father and His grace!

Since then, God has instilled in me a passion to reach out to the widows and the orphans. Much of my focus the last couple of years has been to reach the fatherless generation with the Word of God through the camp’s ministry. We have definitely seen the camp’s urban ministry begin to flourish and I thank God for allowing me to be a small part of that! Although, I love Camp Patmos and plan on being a part of that ministry until God calls me away, I know that He is using these experiences to lead me into full time missionary work. I believe the opportunity in December has a lot to do with that.

Beginning on December 26, 2010, I have the privilege to travel to Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya with The Tin Roof Society as we assist K-Krew (a local group who does all kinds of outreach in Kenya, including but not limited to music events and a radio station), with their New Years event, Totally Sold Out. Throughout our two week stint we will assist with a two day camp, a new years outreach concert, and check out some other ministries in Kenya. In total we will have the opportunity to directly minister to over 25,000 young people in our short time there!

I believe God is leading me on this trip in order to get a better picture of what He is doing globally to draw people to Himself. I believe this is a huge step in my life, and I will learn a lot about what’s next for me throughout this trip. The reality is that I cannot do it alone. This trip is going to cost about $3200 dollars and unfortunately, being a ministry worker I don’t have that kind of money sitting around. So God is choosing to use this time to humble me and ask for help.

First and foremost, please commit to praying for me! Pray that God would prepare the hearts of those we will be ministering to, that He will prepare our hearts, and lastly that He will provide the funds for this trip. I know He will make a way, I just don’t know how. Thanks in advance for your support.

In His service,

John Craig

Please contact me with any questions:

317-627-2594 or johncraig@campatmos.com

John Craig

920 Monaghan Road

Kelleys Island, OH 43438

All donations can be made payable to:

Tin Roof Society

Jehovah Jirah is my providah!!

Wow! How my life has Changed in the last couple of months!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I had no clue what I was going to be doing after October!
Well, it's after October and all I can say is that I am more blown away by the Lord and all He does! He continues to show me what it means to live a life fully surrendered to Him!

As I waited on the Lord the last couple months, He reaffirmed to me, in many ways, that He's got me right where He wants me! I went a little more than two months without a steady income. But just as soon as a financial need would arise, God would provide! He provided some landscaping jobs for a couple people in Marblehead, and even better some opportunities to share Christ with some people in the community in which I'm staying.

That's right, God also provided a place for me to stay. There was a family in the Lakeside community who had bought a house and then had to relocate due to their job. The house was waiting to be sold, and they thought it better to have someone living in it rather than to have it sitting vacant. With the time of the year and the down market it's very likely that the house won't be sold until next summer. Therefore, I have a place to stay until we open the camp back up in April! Not only that, but the house is quite spacious so we are able to use it for office space as well.

As I said before, I really I thought that the Lord wanted me to stick around and do more work for the camp but a lot of things had to fall into place. God provided money to pay my bills, a place to stay, and now has even provide a job! The opportunity arose for me to be able to be on staff at Patmos through the end of next summer! The Lord has been so faithful to me, in so many ways! He has shown me in mighty ways that He has this whole earth at His disposal, and He will do with it what he pleases.

The fact of the matter is... I was called to give up on my preconceived notions and to follow Jesus, in faith. Many times I hear people saying, "I am pretty sure this is what God wants, but He's just going to have to make it clear to me by providing this or that." I have found that many times He's made it quite clear to us, and our asking for Him to show us one thing or another isn't really faith at all! The Lord has been showing me what true faith is: being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. If I had sat and waited for God to provide one thing or another, I can confidently say that none of these things would have come my way. By faith, I knew where He wanted me, and by faith I tried my best to serve faithfully. And it's in that place where He then provided! If you are truly seeking Him and loving Him, and He impresses something upon your heart, do it! Don't wait for all the answers, because the answers are waiting for you to come to them! It is in obedience where we receive our affirmation! This is not a call to make irresponsible, unadvised decisions, but once again a call to give the Lord your all! To be faithful, no matter where you're at! I've had several wise people around me, helping me, and praying with me through this process. And I continue to seek their guidance, because this is just the beginning. I also know that many of the people that read my first blog have been praying for me too, and I am very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life!

What am I doing now?

As I mentioned before, God really impressed it on my heart to begin a discipleship program at Camp Patmos and that is one of the things I am currently working on. The plan is to have something in place by the new year. I have also had the opportunity in the last couple of months to speak to groups of guys, young and old, about the things that hold us back from fully surrendering our lives to Christ. It has been so humbling to have God use me to help people through things that I have struggled so much with! That just shows the power of God. He doesn't use capable people, I know that there are people far more equipped, He uses open and broken people. His strength is made perfect in our weakness!

Another thing that I have been praying about is the numerous numbers of campers that will come to camp, get fired up, and make commitments to the Lord, then they leave camp and fizzle out. I know there are numerous reasons for that, but I think there are things that we can do at Patmos to help. One of those things, I believe, is making contact with the campers during the winter months, when they may not be thinking at all about camp or how God moved in their lives when they were there. Therefore, I am going to be going to as many of the churches, that attend camp, as I can. I am setting up dates at the moment to go in and speak to the different youth groups on keeping your eyes set on Christ! I am hoping to have engagements set up every week until may! I am very excited about this, and am pumped to see what the Lord does with it! I've already had the opportunity to speak to a couple of groups, and am excited to be used in this way!

Something else that I have been working on is getting some of the material that I've worked on/ spoken on in writing. I believe the Lord is leading me to write a book or a devotional of some sort... so please pray for me as the Lord guides me through this process.

All in all, I continue to see the mighty works of God's hands everyday. He has done so much in my life, and in the lives of those around me. But, I must not focus on all that He's done (He's God, of course He's going to display His power) but solely on Him! The moment I focus on the things he does, is the moment that I miss the point! The only thing that matters is that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, but is as equally loving and desires a relationship with us. The things he does aren't meant to impress us. God doesn't need to impress us, He's God. These things are meant to draw us to further understanding of Him, and as a result love Him better!

Please pray for me as I continue to seek the Lord's will...
and for crying out loud, let me pray for you!! Tell me what's going on in your life!!

Thank you for reading!

JC

What's up with that?!

Many people have asked about what's going on in my life, and while I try my best, I sometimes have trouble explaining because of how much God has been doing...



So, after being advised by someone very wise to start a blog, I've decided to do just that. This is not an attempt to promote myself. Rather, it's and attempt to promote the work that God has done in my life. My hope is, through sharing the things that the Lord teaches me, that people will be encouraged and/or understand the need to completely surrender their lives to God.

I cannot begin to explain how and why my life has changed in the last few months without first explaining how God changed my entire life.

For me it started when I was 18. After many years of wrestling with God, and running from His call, He finally got my attention through a series of circumstances. I decided to get serious, and surrender my life to Jesus. Before this, I would have told you that I was indeed a Christian, but my life did not reflect that. I was half-hearted and lukewarm. I used the name of God to make myself look good. I was not being used by God, I was trying to use Him.

From that point on God has been showing me what it means to surrender to His will, to truly pick up my cross and follow Him. He has completely rearranged my life. Things I once held dear, don't really seem to matter. God has given me an eternal perspective, and I try to run every situation through the filter of, "does this matter in eternity?".


The biggest area in which He has really switched around my priorities (mainly do to the fact that this was the area where my priorities were the most out of line) is the area of career/schooling choice. To make a long story short I began college with the idea that I would study Criminal Justice, go to law school, then make lots of money and have everything I ever wanted. Over the last several years I have struggled through school as God has completely transformed my desires. I knew very shortly after giving my life to Christ that my calling was to ministry, but I continued pursuing my degree, thinking that I would just go to seminary after school. But as each semester passed it seemed as though I made less and less progress. The only reason I was still pursuing this, is because it was what was expected. Finally, in May, God laid a heavy burden on my heart to stop pursuing something I didn't really care about, at all. That is when God really began opening up doors for me.



I have spent my last two summers serving at Camp Patmos, easily the best place in the world! Prior to this summer, I dropped everything at home in preparation to be able to do anything when the summer was over, because I honestly had no clue what was next. This summer when I first arrived to camp, I was introduced with the opportunity to work at a church in Illinois, helping them start a youth group as soon as camp was done. When first presented with the opportunity I was elated and I was sure that this was what God had been preparing me for. But as the summer went along God just did not give me a peace about Illinois. Not only that, but God really began giving me a burden for the camp and I kept seeing things that could be enhanced, and that I could help with if I just had the time! As the summer began coming to a close, I prayed long and hard about it, and asked the Director of the camp, Tim, if I could stick around through retreat season and help out. So, here I am still at Camp Patmos.


One of the biggest things God has been laying on my heart is discipleship. The great commission calls us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey His commands. Teaching is active, not just giving someone all the right answers but showing them how faith is lived out. For the first time in my life, I have someone intentionally doing just that. He has been talking to me about life as we do ministry together, and showing me what it means to follow hard after Jesus, not just telling me.Don't get me wrong, there have been several men in my life that I have seen living out there faith, but what I am talking about is an intentional thing(Ideally we would intentionally and unintentionally make disciples). It is my desire to do the same thing with young people! Here at camp, I have already gotten several opportunities to do so. I look to have more opportunities as I plan to help start a Camp Patmos discipleship program, Lord willing.


Something, that goes right along with discipleship, that has also been on my heart is the need for Christian men to step up and take charge. There are way too many of us sitting on the sidelines, cheering the team on while very few are actually playing the game! While fans are nice to have and they help create a nice atmosphere, the only people who really decide the outcome of the game are those playing. God has challenged me to step up, to stop just rooting for team Jesus. To count the cost. To get in the game, and teach young men what it means to be sold out for Christ. To wage war against the things that hold us in bondage, and teach others about their identity in Christ. God has given me the opportunity to share this message with several groups of guys, and it is my intent to share this message until the day I die. Living for Christ is not easy, and was not meant to be done alone as we see in the example that Jesus gives with His disciples.


I won't even pretend to have all the answers, but I do know that following Christ is the most rewarding thing one could do. But, with great reward comes great cost. I have completely dropped everything to be able to serve where I know that the Lord has called me. I dropped school, I dropped an awesome opportunity in Illinois, and the security that comes with having an income. Some would say that this is radical. I would offer this: Jesus is radical. Some might say, "John, you're crazy!". To them I would say, "crazy in love!". Jesus paid it all, why not give all to Him in return.


What's next? I have no clue! I have until the end of October to figure it out. I am pretty sure that the Lord wants me to stick around and still do work for the camp. But with the camp being on an island, and shutting down during the winter, I'm going to have to find a place to stay and probably a job somewhere close to Marblehead. I know that the Lord will continue to guide my path as I continue to seek Him and walk in His light daily.


Bottom Line: As Jesus calls us to do, I have put myself in a situation where I will be in big trouble if God doesn't show up and do something. I'm not a gambling man but if I were I'd be all in!!

How can you help?

Pray for me! Prayer is a very powerful weapon, God has given us the ability to talk to Him whenever we want. Would you please talk to Him about me? I would love it!

Prayer Requests: I've got no clue what I am doing after October, and don't know exactly how the Lord is going to provide, but I know He will. Pray for clarity as I seek to continue following Him wherever He calls!

Send some encouragement my way! Ministry can sometimes be very challenging and discouraging. I welcome your thoughts, comments questions, and concerns. There are many ways to contact me: you can call, you can email (craez4thelord@aol.com), facebook me, you could leave a comment here, or even send me a letter(I love letters!) here at Camp Patmos.

Last but not least, I want to pray for you! Please let me know what is going on in your life! Like I said before there are many ways to contact me! I would also love to be an encouragement to you! Let's talk about life, it's what I do!

I leave you with this: Colossians 1:16 says "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."

Are you living out what you were created for?

God Bless You and Thanks For Reading

JC