God's foreknowledge and plan

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As I look back over the past 8 years of the ESBS, it's obvious to me that God has been behind the scenes accomplishing His purposes and plans for the ESBS the whole time.  I wanted to share some mileposts along my journey with the ESBS that remind me that God knows what He's doing.

In 1999, when I was 19, Sarah Helser (a fellow Lurecrest summer staff member) gave me the following painting.  She said it represented a word from the Lord.  She said:

 "God will reveal His nature and character to you and teach you who He is.  The primary way He will do this is through His word.  He will pour Himself out to you through His word, and as you drink it in it will overflow to others around you." 

 This picture was given to me 2 years before I ever learned of the SBS program, and 7 years before I became a part of the ESBS.  Pretty cool.

When I was 20, Ken Helser, Lurecrest camp pastor at the time, came up to me and said "I saw a mental picture of you and your wife and two children coming out of the walled-off (a building at lurecrest)."  In 2000 no one could have known what that would mean.  In 2011, when my second child was born, the ESBS was using the walled off as our dining area.  God knew that would happen.  The day we brought Luke to camp for the first time, Julia and I asked the students to gather around the door of the walled off and take a picture with us, as we celebrated a plan that God had on His mind for 11 years.

As I look forward to a future that is unknown, and as the ESBS enters its last year at Lurecrest I am reminded that God knew exactly what he was doing when he created this program.  He knew who would be involved with it (right down to my 2 year old son), and he knew exactly where it would be (right down to the building) and He knows where the ESBS is going.  

Tom

ESBS director

A new season for the ESBS

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After a long process of careful planning and prayer, we're excited to announce that beginning June 2015, the ESBS will exist as its own non-profit entity, and will no longer be a division of Camp Lurecrest Ministries.  We will be hosting the upcoming 2014-15 ESBS at Camp Lurecrest, but will no longer host schools there after the completion of the 2014-15 academic year. 

            We are incredibly thankful for the many wonderful years the ESBS has enjoyed at Camp Lurecrest, and we will forever remember these years as formative years for the school.  With thankful hearts we look forward to a new season for the ESBS, and we’re excited to follow God towards a new location to host the school in 2015-16.

            Please pray with us as we begin this season of discerning God's leading for the program, and as we prepare for another great ESBS year right here at Lurecrest this fall!

Tom Phillips
ESBS Director
tphillips@camplurecrest.org

Tuition Need

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We are fast approaching the final quarter of this year's ESBS, and I'm excited to announce that we have very strong interest in the program for next year already, with students already accepted and planning to be here in the fall.  We're excited about what God is doing in this year's school and what he's planning for next year!

As we approach the 4th quarter, one of our students is still in need of the bulk of their tuition figure for the 4th quarter.  We are moving as a community to be a part of meeting this tuition need.  Id like to ask you to consider joining us as we give towards the need.  We're working towards raising $1850.

Please contact tphillips@camplurecrest.org if you're interested in participating in giving, and thank you so much for being invested in what God is doing at the ESBS!

Tom

The Worn Spot

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This is solid gold...written by Ellen Stark (second year ESBS staff):

"I have always despised and rejected the classroom floor. You don’t realize, until you have to clean it, that it’s nearly impossible to clean. Wood, cut into tile-size shapes with nothing filling in the cuts…this classroom that is surrounded by gravel and red mud quickly creates an extremely dirty floor. And you have to vacuum every. single. crack. And no matter how much dirt you suck up into the vacuum, there’s always more.

Hate, frustration, apathy…any negative emotion you can think of, I’ve probably felt it for this floor.

But there is one spot that I’ve realized I love. The most worn down part of the entire building is right by the door. No finish on it, no stain, nothing – it has been worn down to bare wood.

And I wish that I could preserve it. Why? Because it speaks of what this classroom has been to so many people. It screams the change this building has played a part in creating for so many people.

The classroom.

In the summer it’s known as the “Hensen Haus” (no, I did not accidentally misspell “house”).
In the fall, winter, and spring, it’s known simply as “the classroom”.

Two different groups of people. Two different atmospheres. Same building. Same Gospel. Same Jesus.

The building has one distinct smell. None of the other buildings on campus have this smell. Nowhere else I’ve ever been has this smell. Is it dirt? Grease? Mold (I hope not)? What is that smell?!

In my heart and mind I realize that I’ve come to associate this smell with learning, turmoil, and peace. It’s the smell of security, stability, and simplicity. There’s not much to boast about in the classroom. To anyone who doesn’t love it, anyone who holds it to the standard of “real schools”, it looks like a worn down, crooked, smelly building.

But if the classroom could speak, it would boast Jesus.

If the classroom had a voice and a soul, it would speak of the riches gained by 8 groups of people. No money, nothing visibly impressive, but vast riches unseen.

If the classroom could talk, it would tell you of the late nights, the early mornings, the thousands upon thousands of paragraph titles, the tears spilled inside and out, the heart-wrenching grief, the silent joy, and the sudden pause of typing fingers for a mind to reflect. Laughter, bickering, iron sharpening iron…this classroom has seen it all!

It’s seen the all-perfect, all-knowing God make whole so many broken and needy people. Needy because they are so very much in need of Him. It’s a room full of struggle and laughter.

This classroom has depth. And beneath the smell, behind the run down look of the place, there is beauty.

There is no grand way to finish this post. Nothing concisely, perfectly said that I can write because the story of the classroom is not grand, concise, or perfect. Much like its people, it is crooked, well worn, beautiful, and loved. One day, hopefully not too soon, I will leave. It’s inevitable.

And the room I’ll miss most will be this room."

newspaper features ESBS

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The ESBS was featured in the Rutherfordton newspaper today.  Check out the article here

http://www.thedigitalcourier.com/x318371790/Training-the-church