DIRT Update

32 Camps in 10 Years!
I am writing this newsletter from a rustic cabin hidden in the mountains of North Georgia (thank you  Jake). The other morning when I woke up, it was 33 degrees and that was inside the cabin! Today, as I thought about what I need to share this month, I took some time to look back through my yearly calendars, and I realized something amazing. I have been blessed to lead 32 camps since 2001. That is an average of 3 camps per year! Wow... I think I’m tired.

Camps are People Laboring with Love

When it comes to creating great camp experiences, as soon as one ends, planning for the next one has already begun. To do things right, it takes a lot of time and energy from a whole lot of folks.
I praise God for the many people who have invested countless hours into the 32 camps we have hosted. There are blessings awaiting them in heaven for sure.

Time for a Sabbatical
A little over a month ago I went to our DIRT Crew Board of Directors and suggested that we take a much needed break. I am so thankful that they agreed to remove this year’s Summer DIRT Camp from the calendar. The Bible speaks clearly about the fact that all things need rest. We are told to keep a sabbath day of rest. Farmers are instructed to give their land a rest from producing crops every seven years. This seventh year of rest in known as a sabbatical. Even regarding the duties of camps, I believe a sabbatical rest is in order. For our camps, we are already three years overdue!


There Will Be A Summer Camp

Even though we are not hosting camp, students still need a summer camp experience. So, in place of this year’s DIRT Camp, we are planning to be guests at another great youth camp. This will allow us to be participants rather than planners. I am really looking forward to just being a camper and enjoying quality time with students.

The camp we are attending is called “SIFAT” (Servants In Faith And Technology - http://sifat.org).
I have taken two groups to SIFAT in the past, and it is an amazing experience. The camp focuses on the needs of third world countries and is an active lab for developing technologies to meet those needs. Students will learn by experience as they actually live in a simulated third world village. If you would like to attend, contact me right away, and I will provide all the details for you to join us.

A New Chapter is the DIRT Crew Story
For me there is no better way to start a new year than with a new DIRT Crew. Pastor David Joyner recently asked me to come and help build a God honoring youth ministry at First Baptist Acworth. So I shared with him the vision of the DIRT Crew because I believe this is how you build a great youth ministry. A ministry that will impact the lives of students and the life of the church!

Just Start Where God Puts You
I actually got involved the last Sunday in November teaching the youth Sunday School class because they needed someone to come and help out. Once I showed up, I just kept coming and teaching. Even with only three or four students showing up, I knew God was up to something good. Each week I would tell them to just watch and see what God might do.

It was not long before a young man named Mark visited. Mark is a gifted musician who has a desire to serve. The next Saturday he spent the whole day setting up our sound system. Now Mark has already led the music in two Wednesday night youth meetings. One of the students told me that she was not convinced when I would say, “Just watch, people are going to start coming.” But seeing Mark was the evidence she needed to believe that something good just might be about to happen.

Our First Mystery Mission Project
When working with students I like to do what I call “Mystery Missions”. We meet on a Saturday morning, go and do a mission project, eat lunch together and then do something fun to end the day. There are several reasons I like this format. First, it is the “Mystery”. The students want to know what we are going to do. They are afraid they might miss out on something so they show up!

Second, I like the first several projects to be for people in the church. For example, yesterday we worked in the yard of a church member who recently lost her husband. She must have shared our mission visit with her Sunday School class and friends at church this morning. Many came to me before and after church expressing appreciation for what we accomplished. So we earn some respect from the church family which helps to create a positive support system for the ministry. All the compliments were encouraging but the best part was hearing those six students (pictured above) tell me how much they enjoyed doing a good deed for someone in need. That is music to my ears!

I love Youth Ministry!

If you want to hear an amazing story call me and I’ll tell you about DIRT Camp. Especially our worship service on Friday where seven students received Christ! Both leaders and students said they have never experienced anything like it. 
Our theme was “Supernatural” which is the perfect expression for this camp. God was in our midst and it was supernatural...


7 salvations, 11 rededications & 20 other decisions!


496 Man-hours Served on Mission Projects!

These projects included painting the house of an elderly lady, raking yards for shut-ins, serving at four nursing homes, moving a thrift store and the projects described below.


$419 Donated to Third World Needs!

Students earned $1 coins each day in competitions. On the last day we gave students the option to purchase items for third world families out of a Samaritian’s Purse catalog or they could buy candy with their coins. Only $4 was spent on candy! Now listen to this: We only gave out $282 worth of coins. The additional $141 came out of the pockets of our students and leaders!


36 Parachutes Made to Drop Hope in Columbia!

This project targets the Farc Rebels who kidnap students and force them to be gorilla fighters. Often suicide becomes their only escape. The parachutes drop Bibles, radios and hope!


Operation Beanie Babies was a Success!

67 beanie babies and 53 pounds of candy were collected to be given to children in the middle east by our soldiers in hopes of winning their hearts. Students also created 66 cards to encourage our troops.

God is Awesome!

We are so excited about the opportunities we will have at Winter DIRT Camp to touch lives around the world. You can help share the love by participating in one of the following ways...

1. OPERATION BEANIE BABIES
Students are being asked to collect Beanie Babies and hard candies to be sent to the Middle East. Soldiers give these items to the children they meet as a way of building bridges and winning hearts. Students will also be making cards and pictures, and writing letters to encourage our soldiers.

• You can help by collecting Beanie Babies and hard candies.
• You can help by creating a card or writing a letter to a solider.

2. SAMARITAN’S PURSE GIFTS OF HOPE

As students compete in team challenges they will be awarded coins worth one dollar each. At the end of the week everyone will be given a Christmas catalog with gifts to purchase and send to a needy person or family in a third world country. Gifts such as baby food, livestock, seeds and tools for growing crops, school supplies and much more.


• You can help by making a donation of dollars to give in exchange for the toy coins.
• You can order your own catalog from www.samaritanspurse.org and provide gifts.

3. PARACHUTES FOR COLUMBIA
We will be making parachutes for the sake of dropping bibles and radios in the war torn jungles of Columbia. Along with the parachutes we need to include $3 each to purchase solar powered radios, Spanish Bibles and other materials to be attached to each parachute.

• You can donate to help purchase the sewing materials needed for the parachutes.
• You can make parachutes in your home and add them to our shipment.
• You can donate the $3 per parachute to purchase the radios, Bibles and tracts.

This Christmas season count your blessings and then share them with those in need!

Merry Christmas!

10 + 10 + 10 = Praise!
I am sending this update on the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of the DIRT Crew. Last night I spent some time looking at many of my personal records from the past ten years and all I can say is Praise God! He has been so faithful and we have been so blessed to watch the Lord at work.

10 x 10 + 1 = One Hundred and One

101 is the number of precious souls that have been saved, an average of 10 salvation decisions each year! But that does not really tell the story. For example, in 2005 we only saw one person accept Christ as their personal Savior. I can remember the discouragement that year and my wondering if our ministry was missing the mark. Honestly, I thought about quitting more than once. Now if I would have quit right then, we would have missed out on the next year where 22 people accepted Christ!

2 x 10 = Sum Unknown
Over the last 10 years the Lord has blessed with many opportunities to mentor young men on their spiritual journeys. As I thought about this, I quickly jotted down 20 names that I have enjoyed a mentoring relationship with and who are actively serving in ministry. That’s the “2x10”. Two guys a year for the last 10 years. The “Sum Unknown” is the multiplication of their ministry impact!  Some were already serving in youth ministry while others were introduced to youth ministry through the DIRT Crew. (please understand I am not taking credit. I’m just giving God glory for all He has done!)

10 x 10 = Tens of Thousands

The other big number worthy of praise to God are the tens of thousands of man hours of missions and ministry. We do not have an exact number because it’s been too big to track. Over 10 years we have had many youth groups directly involved in DIRT Crew missions and ministry projects. In addition we have served thousands of hours through our camps and retreats. What a blessing to know that every hour represents lives touched and hearts changed through serving or being served.

The Number We Should Care About Most
The number I most care about is the next one! The next soul saved! The next life changed! Whether you participate through GIVING or GOING. pray that God will keep on doing what He is doing.
To God be the Glory!

As I write this DIRT Update, there are students in Atlanta at the “Four Corners” (one of our witnessing spots) handing out Big Money tracts. This morning they were serving a widow by working in her home and yard. Last week a different group went out in their area. Next week, somewhere, it is very likely another group of students will engage the world with the love of Christ. This is “US” living out our DIRT Crew creed to “Love God, Love People and Share Christ”.

Over the past ten years I have watched God grow the DIRT Crew from one youth group of twelve students to many students in multiple youth groups and locations. This ten year longevity has proven that the style of ministry God gave us is not only life changing but long lasting. We have college students who grew up in the DIRT Crew now serving in the DIRT Crew.

So have we arrived? Not hardly. But I do feel we have laid a great foundation to build on. When I see the impact of our ministry on the lives of students, I am inspired to want more. My heart’s prayer for the DIRT Crew is the prayer of Jabez... [1 Chronicles 4:10]


It is my desire to encourage more youth leaders to embrace the DIRT Crew style of ministry. I want to share all that we have learned, created and developed. I want to warn of the pitfalls and mistakes to avoid. I want to help those who have a passion for students and a burden for the world.

To see God “enlarge our coast”, we need your prayers. Pray that God would guide our journey into new places. Pray the He would open new avenues of ministry. Pray that our ministry reach would stretch beyond anything we could imagine. Pray for our leaders to have personal purity, spiritual strength and the continued commitment to the labor and sacrifice of ministry. I simply ask that every time God brings us to mind that you would send up a prayer. We are so blessed that you care.

The Mission Metroplex
For the fourth year in a row, Brian Lee has headed up a spring break mission trip. Brian is a DIRT Crew board member and youth pastor at Eastwood Baptist in Marietta, Georgia. This year Brian took his team of leaders and students to Arlington, Texas. Every morning to early afternoon they served the Mission Metroplex which consists of multiple ministry outlets including food, furniture and clothing warehouses and a medical clinic. In the afternoons they presented the “Rainbow Express” backyard Bible club at a local apartment community. During the week five children prayed to received Christ! Congratulations to Brian and his team for a mission well done.

The Liquid Highway
Another DIRT Crew board member, Chuck Carver, took his Venture Crew canoeing down the Santa Fe River in High Springs Florida. Four of the ten students are in the Juvenile Justice System. Here is a wonderful glimpse of the trip shared by Chuck in his update...

“We saw springs along the river some of which were producing twenty to thirty million gallons of water per day and so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. At the end of the day I could not pass up the opportunity to talk about  “Living Water”. During this trip we were able to build relationships with all the students and we look forward to camping and other activities with them in the future and more opportunities to share Jesus Christ. Please pray for the four guys in Juvenile Justice: Ty, Matthew, Brandon, and Jose. I hope that during this trip down the liquid highway that seeds took root in their hearts that would grow up into salvation.”

Brian and Chuck also serve as two of the primary leaders at DIRT Camp and I and so thankful to serve beside them. Speaking of DIRT Camp, I need you to keep praying because it is less than a month away! Pray for souls to be saved and lives to be forever changed. I can’t wait to see what God might do in answering our prayers and honoring your generous financial gifts.