Thanks Paramount - River Road Campus (Amarillo, TX) for leading an amazing week of Fight Camp 2016. Mentally, physically, and spiritually we all walked away exhausted. Your 14+ hour days; your love for kids and families; all enveloped in your love for Jesus. And Lion's Roar parents and volunteers who didn't have to give back to their school, but chose to and the difference you guys made. Friend's from a nearby church who gave of time and resources so each child could break a board to demonstrate their newly learned and honed skills. I could go on and on as it was an amazing week.
Fight Camp 2016 really did serve as a back door into people lives as campers not only learned some really cool martial arts moves, but more importantly, learned about Jesus who loves them. This is what back door ministry is all about in the urban context, or any other context probably. But the neat thing about Fight Camp 2016 is that God used a back door to become a bridge for one little girl and her dad.
You see, there was a cute little girl who attended each day of Fight Camp 2016, and gave it everything she had. Day after day parents were there watching their kids learn martial arts moves and have fun in classes ranging from; kickboxing to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, to wrestling to crafts and music, and of course, snack time. So this little girl took the initiative (we call it a God-thing) and called the dad she had never met (only talked to on the phone), nor knew what he looked like, and invited him to come watch her break a board on the final day. And guess what God arranged? Yep, on that final day when she was to break her board to demonstrate her skills there was a strange man that had not been there before. Taking a risk she asked, "are you my dad?" He replied, "yes." What an amazing moment in Kingdom life that may not have been possible outside of God's intervention at Fight Camp 2016. Healing, reconciliation, and restoration of a broken family began as a back door became a bridge.
Since that day I've been wondering how many other back doors God could turn into bridges? Is there a door you've been walking in and out of that God is trying to turn into a bridge? A bridge to Him or a bridge to others? I'll never look at a back door opportunity the same again as now I'm asking God to divinely turn all back door ministry opportunities into bridges of salvation, healing, restoration, and reconciliation.
Look for the back door this week,
Shawn
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