M3 - Merge Ministry Mostly
A behind-the-scenes look at camp and ministry leadership, told with humor and heart. This podcast offers honest conversations about Christian leadership in student and children’s ministry—sharing real wins, mistakes, growth moments, and the everyday joys and challenges of serving. With plenty of laughs and genuine passion, it’s where Christian leadership meets youth camp chaos—real, relatable, and rooted in purpose.
M3 - Merge Ministry Mostly
We are back!
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We are back after a successful season of camps. This week things did not go as planned but we finally got another podcast recorded. This week we see camp from the perspective of a staff member for kids camp and a camper at youth camp. Two great camps with a large curve ball between them. As always, if you have comments, thoughts, or questions email us at mergeministries12@gmail.com.
Welcome back to another week of M3 Merge Ministry. Mostly we have taken a break, not intentional break for the past couple of weeks. We were at camp. We had all intentions of performing, performing, recording a podcast, but it just did not work out the way we planned. And even today, we were getting ready to do one we had talked about and had an idea for, and Luke had to step out at the last minute. So today I'm joined by the one and only Levi Cook. Welcome to the podcast for the second time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm uh basically a pro this already.
SPEAKER_02Oh, a pro, huh? Yeah. We're gonna find out because we are rolling this one off the cuff. As we said, Luke had to step out for an emergency. It's been a couple of weeks since we've had a podcast, so we decided we would throw something together, put something out there, but we're gonna look at camps from Levi's perspective. Once again, um, he serves a kids' camp, attends youth camp. Uh, so we're gonna talk about the different roles and different things that he did. When Luke gets back next week, we'll go through all the happenings of camp, how it went, the good, the bad, um, and all those. So for for Levi, this year he took on a more prevalent role. I don't know if prevalent is a word, and did acting. So, Mr. Actor over there, how how what were you thinking getting into the acting part? Was it something you had to do? Was it something you wanted to do?
SPEAKER_01I didn't necessarily have to do it, but like Miss Moos asked me if I wanted to act, so I was just like, Yeah, might as well, why not?
SPEAKER_02So, in your acting, you got to wear a skirt. Chill. You did, yeah, you carried around a pink suitcase. I did. What else did you do in your acting? Um you were supposed to jump across a stage. I don't know if that happened.
SPEAKER_01We missed that one.
SPEAKER_02Missed a line there, we did. So how was that missing a line? Because you studied you did. You studied the your lines, you went over everything. What was it like in that moment when you went? I got scared. Did you skip it or I got scared? Did the other person skip it? The other person skipped it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't know it. I kind of just stood there and then we just like kind of kept going.
SPEAKER_02So it all I mean you couldn't really tell, but did you have any other mishaps? So nobody sitting in the audience knew that you that was a missed line. You did. But was there any other misses that you can remember?
SPEAKER_01Not no, not in in I did three, and it was just the first one. My debut.
SPEAKER_02Your debut. Yeah, you fumbled on your debut. Wow. Yeah. So how do you think it went acting-wise? Are you now looking to go to the Springer to become an artist?
SPEAKER_01Oh, whoa, whoa. Hamilton. But uh it's uh it's all right. I mean, I'll probably do it again next year. It's fun, but I mean, I like to dance more, really.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, that's another part of what you do. So so he's a dancer and an actor. He also does rec stuff, so we'll kind of balance the scale there. Um, so with the with the motions, what we say, if you've never been to kids camp, what we mean by dancer during the fast songs at kids camp, we have motions to the songs, and for all the way up to what last year? Was last year your first year doing that, or was it two years ago?
SPEAKER_01Ooh, it might have been last year.
SPEAKER_02I think last year was the first year. Yeah, up until last year, it was all females. So Colby, Micah, Dakota, and Mason until Mason couldn't come anymore. Um she's got too old, yep, and started doing that. We do the motions for this for the fast songs. So two years ago, we somebody did. I don't know. I don't know if who came up with the idea, but we threw Levi up there. So how was it? How do you feel about the whole motions thing? Um and being a guy and do the motions and all that.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't really care about the whole guy part, because like realistically, then it's just worship and then I have fun doing it. So I mean, really, it don't really matter. But because like none of the motions are really girly. Because like we low-key had to change some dances, but I mean it's fun, I enjoy it, and I don't really think I don't know, I don't really think the whole guy. I mean, I'd like doing it because like it makes the kids, the boys that think they're tough, yeah, that they can kind of dance to a little bit, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think it's good. It does set um kind of the tone for the for the kids. They see a guy up there doing it, and there are fifth, sixth grade boys think they're too cool for everything. Um, but also the men in the group. Um now they may look at it a little different than the kids do, but you'll also see men doing the motions in the audience. Yeah. And I think that's something missing, not missing entirely, but something we could have more of in children's ministry in general, really ministry in general, is men who were leading out who love Jesus, who will worship Jesus without what somebody else may think of them. So I think you being up there kind of sets that tone. Um and it's good for the for the kids to see, but like you said, it's not it's not about performing for people, but like that is a way to worship, and you see it as worship, then then that's what it's supposed to be. Um anyway. So you had acting, you had the motions, and then color games. You're a color game captain as well. Um once again, uh, if you were at camp, you saw that Levi's team did not win color games again. We got we we we we so what had happened during color games? Never in the lifetime of merge has this happened during Tug of War. The rope broke. Snap. My team was playing. We were we were playing, yes, snapped in half, like so. Two teams were pulling, which you probably have. I mean, the rope is old, 40 years old. Um, so it's old, but you have what we have, probably 40, 40 on each team.
SPEAKER_01I think we had oh, I think we had like 60.
SPEAKER_02Oh, was it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like 60 each team.
SPEAKER_02So 60 each team pulling on a rope, and I think it was y'all and the orange team, actually. And we say go and they pull, and probably within five seconds, you just hear a pop, and everybody goes to tumbling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was so confused on what happened. Because I was at the back of the rope, and then all my kids just went flying, so I didn't know if the other team just let go.
SPEAKER_02So then we tied it. Somebody said, Oh, we can tie it, and then you can do a double knot, and it can it will hold because it's not now on one point, but it's on two points, and yada yada yada. So we tied it, took a few minutes to tie it, and lined the teams back up, said ready go. It broke in another spot, broke again. So at that point, the knots worked though.
SPEAKER_01No, they didn't. Yes, they did. It didn't break, it didn't untie, it broke at another spot.
SPEAKER_02It did break at another spot, so then everybody went tumbling again. So at that point in my mind, I'm thinking somebody's gonna get hurt. So at camp or in church, the universal tiebreaker. So stupid.
SPEAKER_00It's literally, it's literally the worst game to ever like be created on the face of this earth ever. Ever.
SPEAKER_02Rock, paper, scissors.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, like okay, we're at color games, right? So you would think the backup game, which I don't we wouldn't have a backup game because it never happened, but like if there was to be a backup game, it'd be something semi-athletic, like maybe running or like rock, paper, scissors, tag, or like the cup game, something that those are athletic. I mean, you have to use some type of athleticism to play those games. We're not standing there rock, paper, scissoring. Well, no athleticism involved. You're standing there.
SPEAKER_02So, hindsight, looking back now, which I don't know if the rope would have held again. You could have taken a few team members and a few team members from each one and not used all 60 and used the shorter rope and did tug of war with like 10 on 10.
SPEAKER_01That's what I was trying to advocate for, but no, we did not.
SPEAKER_02He could have done that.
SPEAKER_01We did rock, paper, scissors. Um, and guess what? My team lost, and guess what? Not the two-dollar old horn or anything, but we looked pretty good out the gates.
SPEAKER_02In rock, paper, scissors?
SPEAKER_01No, in tug of we did win our first rock, paper, scissors match, though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh, so it ended up going to rock, paper, scissors, and I don't even remember who won that.
SPEAKER_01Um, I don't even want to know.
SPEAKER_02So another game we did was the balloon game, the balloon war. How'd y'all do in that?
SPEAKER_01We got targeted again because targeted. No, we didn't.
SPEAKER_02So to explain this game, hold on. To explain this game, every colored team had seven or eight balloons. So you would do a task, line up tallest to shortest, um, whatever the task was. The first team to go, the first team got to pop three balloons, any balloons they wanted from the other teams, second place two, third place one. So we would say line up tallest to shortest. So they would line up, they would sit down, so that team would then come. So they got to choose whose balloons they wanted to pop. And uh, that was the first, that was the first day, wasn't it? So there really wasn't a whole lot of like oh, they're winning, they're they're doing better than everybody else. It was purely just who we want to get out, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And they wanted to get me, Kate Grit out.
SPEAKER_02Were you the first team out?
SPEAKER_01No, actually, we weren't because we kept winning games, but literally, we didn't win the first one, three balloons gone. I'm like out the door. I'm like, I'm literally just like I've been nice. I I tried to show my Christ-like abilities at camp, you know, get the white star and Christ-like, and then you know, and then you know, just out of the gates, out of the gates, but three of my balloons are gone, and I I'm just standing there, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_02And then so did you lose your Christ-like abilities at that point?
SPEAKER_01I didn't I stayed stayed firm in my relationship with Jesus, and then that's solid, exactly. You know, learn lessons through the hardships, yes. But uh, so we can I told my team we had to lock in or we would have got out, and then uh we locked in, and I think we came in like third or something, though, for real. Well, I made I made an alliance with the green team, but then the green team did not win an alliance.
SPEAKER_02Who were the leaders of the green team?
SPEAKER_01Charlie Brentley and Charlie Brentley.
SPEAKER_02Who was the third one? I'm I ain't got a clue. Would Lily have been with them? Maybe, or was Lily with the blue team?
SPEAKER_01No, the blue team was Palmer, Ellie, and Cambry.
SPEAKER_02Oh, dang, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Well, but yeah, so I made an alliance, I made an alliance, so I didn't because we were down to like a certain amount of balloons, and the green team came in first, and we came in second. So I was like, well, if we go for this team, we can get them out, and so then we don't get each other out, we won't go for y'all, this down, the other. And turned on you? I think Brentley, it was either Brittley or Charlie agreed to, but then the other boy came up the next time and got us out. So they didn't show, they lied at church camp.
SPEAKER_02That's what they did. Dang, no Christ like star for them, huh?
SPEAKER_01At all. So yeah, we got uh targeted, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, so y'all didn't win. Orange team won the color team of the week. Got scammed again, got scammed again. Um, those leaders I think were Ethan and Levi. Lil' Levi. Levi. So they got y'all.
SPEAKER_01Um, you know what I did win though?
SPEAKER_02What was that? Staff kickball. Staff kickball. So you want to uh talk about staff kickball?
SPEAKER_01Uh wow. We're not gonna talk about my first at bat. Actually, we will talk about my first at bat because it would have been a home run. But then you know, we were playing on the slipping side.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we have a video of that. So the it was wet, it rained, and I think that was the same night we did the Christmas in July, which means we were shooting snow on the ground as well. So it's probably a little more wet and a little more slippery. So Levi kicks the ball and is running his mouth.
SPEAKER_01You know, it just went really far. I don't know if I slid. Go to the uh social medias. I don't even know what they are. I would plug them, but you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we do have a merge. I think it's Instagram or is it on Instagram and TikTok. Instagram and TikTok.
SPEAKER_01The merge merge ministries stuff is out there.
SPEAKER_02You can see me fall. You can see him. Um so the kickball game was it was not, it was competitive, but it wasn't as competitive this year because we seem to have people who don't like how teams ever get divided, which we never there's never a fair way.
SPEAKER_01There's never a fair way. I actually was the underdogs this year. No, oh yes, we win.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, not a chance.
SPEAKER_01You know how many grown men y'all had on y'all, Steve?
SPEAKER_02Who? You and you, Justin, Justin, Luke, and Brandon. Luke was an all-time kicker.
SPEAKER_01Okay, but not for real.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01He'd never played in the field. There's still four grown men kicking a kicking a kickball. What's that matter? And how you know how many grown men we had? No.
SPEAKER_02Two. Who? Matt and Luke. Oh, so we had one more. And then didn't y'all have didn't y'all have Ty too? We had one more. I don't remember who we had.
SPEAKER_01I think y'all had Ty too. So y'all had five. And not four and two is not one more either. That's two. Nice try, though. You counted Luke on hires, but not on Luke for both teams. I said Matt and Luke. You had more than that. No, we didn't. Grown men? No, we didn't. We did not have more grown men. We might have had more athletes. Like, no.
SPEAKER_02So next year, would you rather have grown men or the athletes?
SPEAKER_01We might have had more teen athletes.
SPEAKER_02The only okay. So next year, would you rather have more grown men on your team?
SPEAKER_01Grown men, because I can strategize.
SPEAKER_02Or more athletes.
SPEAKER_01Y'all didn't pull each other. Okay. Y'all didn't do y'all's defense.
SPEAKER_02I'll take the athletes.
SPEAKER_01Y'all didn't do y'all's defense very well.
SPEAKER_02We yeah. Next year, I'm picking all the athletes, and I'm gonna give you the grown men.
SPEAKER_01All right. Fine with me. I didn't have all the athletes either. That's not true. I had a Kobe. I don't even remember how my team was.
SPEAKER_02I don't either.
SPEAKER_01I remember me, Matt, and Kobe, Ed and Cade. And that's about it.
SPEAKER_02Anyway. So it was not super uh highly competitive. This year was probably more laid back than in years past.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't think uh Johnny was gonna talk to me and the rest of Cam though. Yeah, that was uh he wouldn't even look at me after we would. I tried to shake his head, tell him good game. He wouldn't even look at me.
SPEAKER_02See, we do get a little competitive. Um so there was some talking back and forth. Um, but it was all in fun. Some people uh can handle more of that, some people don't want to hear any of that. Um, but it was fun. And then the next night we went to play volleyball in golf cart lights, and we yeah, we couldn't the lights turn off at a certain time, so we didn't have lights, so we pulled up um golf carts and then the next night we played a new game, which it was pretty fun until the lights went off again. The lights went off again. That game, I don't even know the name of that game.
SPEAKER_01I think they legit called it what'd they call it?
SPEAKER_02It was something like bouncy ball. Yeah, you have an oversized kickball that you hit back and forth, kind of like volleyball, kind of like four square, kind of like tennis, kind of like tennis, all mixed into what and dodgeball because you're trying not to. Yeah, that's true too. So I think uh my team lost in kickball.
SPEAKER_01I lost in kickball and volleyball.
SPEAKER_02I think I won in volleyball. No, y'all didn't, and I won in the uh because half of y'all's team left. And I won in the last game.
SPEAKER_01Were you on my team in the last game?
SPEAKER_02You were yeah, I think I went two for three. I was three for three. No, I mean you weren't on the same. We won in volleyball. We won volleyball. No, no, I promise you we didn't. No, I promise you you didn't. I promise you we did. Half your team left. I can win without the other half of the team. Really? So anyway, back to uh things at camp. So then the last day of camp, you spoke.
SPEAKER_01I did.
SPEAKER_02How do you think that went?
SPEAKER_01Pretty well. It's looky shaking in my boots up there, but I mean were you nervous? And it wasn't really because I was speaking, it's just because the night before I was struggling a little bit during uh when I was trying to rehearse it. But I mean, I think it went pretty well. I didn't I didn't really mess up at all. I think I skipped some lines again, but I felt like I got my point across and that I did it pretty good for my first time.
SPEAKER_02So the it all kind of worked together. We so your your person that you were acting kind of messed things up along the way until they finally like understood at the end type thing. Yeah. Um, so your your speaking was kind of that of like you and you started out, you got saved when you were eight or whatever they was, and like you have grown into the person that you are, didn't always get it right, and challenge the kids to to walk that out in their faith, um, that it's a process type thing, and we're to go into love and to be different and echo God's love. So the the speaking worked with it, but the night before, like you were saying, we re-rehearsed, which it was good that we did. I mean, I know you read over the stuff, uh, but there was a lot of things in there that we took out. I won't say a lot of things, there were some things that it didn't flow as well the way that it was. So we were going back and forth. And how many times did you run through it?
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness. How many times did I get all the way through it? Maybe three times. How many times did I run through it? Probably 20.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So then this was the first time you've ever let's say, like the acting and the speaking is different. Like the acting, you have scripts and you like have lines that you read and all that. Like this was an actual message, so to say. So it's a little different of like you trying to teach. So this was the first time you've ever done something like that in my life. And so the first time you've ever spoken in your life was in front of 625 people.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Goodness. I don't really know how that happened, but yeah, that is also.
SPEAKER_02If you want to uh see what that was, I think that's also out there in the Instagram world.
SPEAKER_01My Instagram.
SPEAKER_02Is it on yours?
SPEAKER_01Go follow me.
SPEAKER_02Go follow Leva. So, but I think yeah, you did a good job for the first time jumping up there in front of 600 people and speaking.
SPEAKER_01I didn't just talk too fast.
SPEAKER_02You did. Um, but that comes with I mean, that's part nerves and things like that, but over time. So next year we look into next year. Um just got done this year. Yeah, I know we're already going on. So would you be interested? So you said the acting you would possibly do that again. Yeah. What about speaking? What if we gave you uh every morning or every night speaking part?
SPEAKER_01I think I could do it.
SPEAKER_02But is it something like you're looking like, hey, I want to do that, or is it like, hey, if y'all need me, I can do it.
SPEAKER_01Um I enjoyed it. I just I need more time to prepare because you low-key gay. No, you what you told me you told me I was speaking the day before we left for kids can.
SPEAKER_02I did not. Yes, you did. I told you before I promise you. Now it was a late call because we were looking and I was going back and forth.
SPEAKER_01It might have been it might have been two days because you were like, Can you're like look over this? And I read all of it. You're like, You think you speak about that old kids camping the last day? It's like I I could try.
SPEAKER_02So that would have been at least a week before you spoke. No, it was okay, maybe before you spoke.
SPEAKER_01But that's a week. I don't you how long you prepare for your messages? A year. Y'all have a whole planet weekend.
SPEAKER_02No, that's not really. I don't plan out every single message.
SPEAKER_01Okay, how long do you prepare for your messages?
SPEAKER_02Uh, I mean, I've I've Oh really? I had a time. Oh, do you? So anyway. Um so yeah. So we'll give you some more time then. I appreciate so that was kids camp. I think kids camp went well. Oh, you also did the shave and cream fight. Did you do both shave and cream fights or just one?
SPEAKER_01I just did one because I had to go. What did I have to do?
SPEAKER_02Did you have to practice? I think so. Rehearse. Practice. Um, so yeah, shaving cream fight is always fun. It's literally you just run around and push it.
SPEAKER_01I got it in my eye again. The minto, not the minto. What's it called?
SPEAKER_02The minto one that hurts.
SPEAKER_01Menthol? Yeah, that one. I don't know why. Why do y'all bring why do the kids bring menthol shaving cream? Just bring regular shaving cream.
SPEAKER_02That is true. If you do a shaving cream fight, try to get out without menthol.
SPEAKER_01Ban it.
SPEAKER_02Because it is brutal in the eyeballs. But that was fun. Uh, Christmas in July was fun. It went off well. Uh shaving cream fight was good. All the staff stuff. All in all, you'll hear about it next week when me and Luke kind of go into more of the details of camp. It was good. I think everything went well. Yeah. Staff was great as always. Um, if you're looking for something to do during the summer and you love Jesus and love serving, uh, consider being a part of staff.
SPEAKER_01Y'all.
SPEAKER_02So then we get to youth camp. Youth camp, and we won't go a whole lot into this. Uh, but youth camp for Levi started off a little showed up a little late, a little crazy. Um, you wanna tell everybody about your adventures on that Wednesday?
SPEAKER_01Wednesday. What was already in the hospital?
SPEAKER_02That's when your mama took you Wednesday morning when we were supposed to leave.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. So Wednesday morning at like 8 15. I went to my pediatrician. And so I was like, because like pre pre-camp, I was like feeling really bad, like tired, drinking a lot, not alcoholic beverages. Oh, that's good. Drinking, drinking liquid, like waters and stuff a lot.
SPEAKER_02So you were dealing with this at kids camp as in the middle of all the acting and yeah, but it wasn't really bad at kids camp.
SPEAKER_01Like, I didn't really feel tired at all at kids camp until the last day, like when I woke up the day that I had to speak, and I was like, bro.
SPEAKER_02Well, you did also not go to bed till that's also true. But anyway, but yeah, carry on.
SPEAKER_01So apparently it's been happening for like three months because we'll get to that. But yeah, I woke up at like 815, went to pre-nutrition, they tested me for everything, and then so they walked back in there and they were like, Well, you're not positive for any of the other diseases that we tested you for, but we think you got diabetes. It's like, bro. So I was like, Oh my goodness. So then they're like, Y'all, y'all gotta go to the ER, they'll take, they'll test you there, like do blood work and whatever. So we get to the ER and then they take me in there, and then they stab me with IV. Oh my the IV did not leave my arm for a smooth 24 hours. Stabbed me with IV, was pumping fluids in me, took my blood, uh, was doing tests and stuff, and they came back and they're like, Yeah, basically, well, I was in the doctor's office and they said my A1C, I know what it's called. Yep. They my A1C was reading like four higher. So their machine only goes to 14 and it was it wasn't read, so it was higher than 14. And a good A1C is like 6'7, like for real.
SPEAKER_02I thought it was like four.
SPEAKER_01No, it's like six or seven.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so your A1C, just for those of you that don't know, is kind of a snapshot of the past three months of your blood sugar. Blood sugar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, mine was like 300 for like three months, and it needs to needed to be like 70 to 160, 150.
SPEAKER_02So so yeah, so basically, if you're tracking, I got diabetes. Levi was diagnosed with type one diabetes the Wednesday we were getting ready to go to camp. Yeah, so he had to stay in the hospital.
SPEAKER_01He woke me up every hour and pricked my finger.
SPEAKER_02So they had to check his blood sugar over and over. If I mean, a lot of people know about diabetes, but basically they had to get his blood sugar back in line. Uh, he was super dehydrated while he was drinking the water and having to use the bathroom so much. Was his kidneys were trying to flush it out, and they wasn't able to keep up with everything. So y'all, they had to get all that worked out.
SPEAKER_01So then I got my diabetes, and then you got your diabetes. So then we stayed the night at the hospital Wednesday night. We woke up Thursday morning and we went to the endocrinologist. There you go. And then they had to do a whole felt like I was in school, had to do a whole like we were there from like nine o'clock to like 3 30, and they taught me about everything I could possibly know about diabetes in one day. I did get McDonald's though. But then we left there and they told me I was good to go to camp. So I was like, all right, bet. So then I went up, we went home, showered, packed, whatever, and we went up to camp. I got there. Did I get there? I got there during the worship. Was it kickoff service? Or was it the first service?
SPEAKER_02It was the night service.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. So I got there during the first night service. Thursday night.
SPEAKER_02So we went up Wednesday and set up. Y'all came up Thursday and it was the first night service.
SPEAKER_01I came in during I came in during Luke speaking. Yeah. Came in towards the end of Luke speaking and then worship. And then yeah, I got there.
SPEAKER_02Then I did camp. You did camp. So uh learning while at camp, also learning how to manage the new lifestyle and what to eat and having to do shots and all those things, uh, which we may get into more of that uh later on and how all that affects them and things like that. But camp happened. We got there for the night service, and then the first night was the disco silent disco.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, lit.
SPEAKER_02I got booed. You got booed. You got stage. I got booed at my own camp.
SPEAKER_01You got booed like six times. So kept disconnecting our headphones.
SPEAKER_02We were having uh connection issues with the program, and it was just mine. I don't know why it was just mine, but it kept disconnecting. So you're supposed to have three channels, and mine kept losing out.
SPEAKER_01So it started working again.
SPEAKER_02It did start working. I had to move away from everybody else.
SPEAKER_01And we did a Congo line.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we did a Congo line. So silent disco was always fun. That was a good time, and then that night, nope, not that night. That was the only thing we did. Then we went and hung out. So then how was your uh small group? Because y'all had uh so we split into small groups. Every kid is split, it's not but by churches. We kind of mix everybody together. Uh so you were in JD's group.
SPEAKER_01The small group was good, like the like him talking and the Jesus part of it, and like like talking to the kids in my small group and all that. Yeah, that was good. JD just wouldn't let me cheat in any of the games we played.
SPEAKER_02JD wouldn't let you cheat.
SPEAKER_01No, what not that I was gonna cheat anyway because you know Christ likes store and all that, but then how do you know he wouldn't let you cheat?
SPEAKER_02Because he told me.
SPEAKER_01First small group he pointed at me and said, We're not cheating. I was like, all right.
SPEAKER_02So JD stopped there from the beginning and he listened?
SPEAKER_01I had to.
SPEAKER_02You didn't try to. Oh my try. Try to he caught me. What were you trying to cheat at?
SPEAKER_01There's no probably everything. I actually did get away with some of it though. Love you, JD.
SPEAKER_02So um, JD was leading your small group. Uh the first day in that game was the same we did with the kids, was the balloon game, right? You were combined with another small group just because we have so many other you were with I'm trying to remember his name.
SPEAKER_01Uh Lawson? Yeah. I thought it started with L.
SPEAKER_02So you had Lawson and JD.
SPEAKER_01Double up.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Y'all wasn't cheating at all. We were locked down. Y'all were going by the rules.
SPEAKER_01We y'all made us go by the rules too. The over under game and the boy girl. Y'all, y'all were locked down.
SPEAKER_02So I wasn't out there for the boy girl. So one of the things before I got there, they did the whole boy girl thing.
SPEAKER_01And somebody went girl boy.
SPEAKER_02And somebody went girl boy. And one of the judges was not me, I was not out there, said nope on the paper, and the way we announced it was boy girl. So since you went girl boy, you didn't follow directions, you lose. Okay. I did. So they went through. Um, and then uh we got to one that was the last game, I think it was, was over under. Was it over under?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it was it your group?
SPEAKER_01It was my group, and uh, I think it was Parker and uh Laney, I think together.
SPEAKER_02So the last game, whoever won the game, I think would have uh ended up winning it all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they did.
SPEAKER_02So the game was over under. And one your team did it right, went over under. The other team went under over.
SPEAKER_01But they beat us, they got it done. And so then I heard you talk about some. I heard you like point and stuff. That's how I was looking at my I was like, just do it right, just over under, like slowly, just get it done, and then lo and behold.
SPEAKER_02So the other team finished first, and they were they were all excited, and they walked up and went to one of the people running the game, went up to the guy in the front of the line and said, I need you to be honest. Did you start off over or did you go under? And they said, I went under and they lost. I did lose my team won though, so we're good. So your team won that one, so that worked out.
SPEAKER_01We that's the game I really made alliances from the beginning. I was I was making alliances, I was cooking up, and somehow it never came back to bite me.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's good. Yeah, um, so you won that one. So then day two, we did tug of war because we got a new rope. So we were able to do tug of war.
SPEAKER_01My team got drugged.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I got drugged. Owen to drugged 0-2 off the bat. Just lost the first two, huh? Do you know who do you remember who won that? Uh I do not.
SPEAKER_01I'm not gonna lie. Uh wait. It might have been it might have been Gray, it might have been Parker and then Parker. Really? I think uh maybe. Maybe I'm tripping. But yeah, uh, we lost in Tugal War, got drugged, rope didn't break though. Yeah, it did not.
SPEAKER_02Um so you lost that one. Um, but uh in the end, but then we did wreck games. Your team did fairly well at rec games.
SPEAKER_01Uh the wet games, we lost the first one. It was a swingy rope game. Yeah. We lost that one. Uh then we went to Sponge Sodge Ball. We did that last. We went to the waterboarding game where you uh dunk the person in the bucket of water with a water relays with the hat on their head, you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_02Yes, it was not waterboarding.
SPEAKER_01I'm so glad I was not the one that had to dunk my head in the water. But then we went to that and mud pit tugle war, got drug again. We won the water cup relay though, but then that was with tug of war. Yeah, and so when we got drug in tug of war, the tiebreaker wasn't water cup relay. They wanted to do another game of tug of war. Nice, and we got drug again, yeah. And then we went to the slip and slide relay. I'm pretty sure we won that. And we went to Sponge Dodge ball and we won that. So we went three and one, I think. I think we went three and one on wet games, yeah. And we went to dry games the next day, and we were two and two. We won the trash ball, lost somehow. We have the smartest leader on like yeah, maybe we had the smartest guy, he's pretty, and we lost the color stack game, the only game that you needed to use your brain for somehow, somehow, JD. Let's come down on that. Actually, you know why we lost? Because he couldn't cheat, because he made our one of our teammates left early, so he made him come back and stand there before he could go. Wow. I'm talking about it wasn't even like early. I'm talking about a good guy. He had a boy, J. Great guy. I I had a boy tip the hat, but I mean, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02But there was another leader that uh also his team was uh cheating in one of the morning games. And the leader came up to Luke and said, Hey, I just want you to know this person on my team was doing this. We should not be, we should not get the points. So I didn't know typically after that guy too.
SPEAKER_01I uh I uh I didn't cheat in the morning game. I just watched the person that was cheating tell their person the answers. So then I got some of the answers right. Oh, did you? I did. That's not cheating. Yeah, but then we uh lost four-ball, kickball, then we won tiger ball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So then at the end of camp. What what had happened?
SPEAKER_01Wait, when I won? Yeah. Yeah, I won. And nobody in the auditorium was happy that my team won. Not a not a soul, not a single person. No two hands came together to clap for my team. I was I was baffled. Uh you know, I got up trying to celebrate my my team wasn't even excited. They just walked up there like, yeah, yeah, they were not excited.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, are we serious? Like, okay.
SPEAKER_01But I got a chain from it. So you do got a chain.
SPEAKER_02So your team won. We had a different leader.
SPEAKER_01Uh oh, yeah, Spitz.
SPEAKER_02Spiss did not win.
SPEAKER_01You know who's on the back to back now?
SPEAKER_02And Micah did not win. Who? Me, you, your back to back?
SPEAKER_01I'm going three peat next year.
SPEAKER_02Not having call me Jordan or watch. So then probably one of the watch the most uh talked about things at camp, and we'll end with this. Oh, yeah. Um, was the three-on-three basketball tournament. So we allowed the the students to well, we also did volleyball. We had a six-on-six volleyball tournament the second night. I won that one. That one went kind of that one was all right. Ended up with two teams from Epworth in the final. Yeah, I imagine. So 3v3, you could pick any three students and you could sign up for basketball. So it was you, Lex and Quincy. And then I don't remember how many teams. I wasn't there that night. We had to take Colby to there was a couple. There was a few, probably eight, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, eight or ten, something like that.
SPEAKER_02Something like that. So Levi's team was facing some junior high kids in the final.
SPEAKER_01Let's preface this. Those kids were decent.
SPEAKER_02I I mean, from what I saw, they looked like one of the kids looked like he was pretty good.
SPEAKER_01Like legit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They straight up, they straight up beat everybody they played until it got to us. Well, they beat us too, but like they beat y'all too. They straight like I'm talking about like straight up, like for real.
SPEAKER_02Like be the other ones?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So set the scene. Like, how was like from what I've heard, stands were full.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we were deep, but I mean it wasn't a bleach grid. There was stands all around the basketball court. And I'm I'm getting there and I'm like, all right, we're finna play the basketball. You know, it is what it is. They're explaining the rules. I turn around, we gotta audit, we got a stand full of people. So I'm like, all right, like pressure's on, gotta lock in. So then, you know, I mean, they were a little like chanting, like you can't do that, like chant, like so.
SPEAKER_02We had referees, we had some guys, uh, which we're not professional referees, so some guys, some guys out there calling. Um, so it was legit, like it was legit. Like, we were like crowd was into it.
SPEAKER_01Camp came out to support, like they were behind them little kids, bro.
SPEAKER_02I heard it was uh college basketball atmosphere.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we were deep.
SPEAKER_02Um, so y'all jumped out to a nine nine to three lead. Playing to 10. 11. Playing to 11. Y'all were up nine to three, and then the kids started coming back. Come back of the century. They started chipping away and coming back, and it got to nine to nine.
SPEAKER_01Something like that.
SPEAKER_02And then y'all scored and went up 10 to 9.
SPEAKER_01It went to like 14 to I think they ended up winning like 15-13.
SPEAKER_02Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01Like it was crazy. We kept going back, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. But the crowd was chanting, defense, like they were lit. That kid would kept hitting threes. I'm like literally, I legit jumped for one and like tried to hit it as hard as I could, and he I was like, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02So it came down to uh the final play. Levi's team lost, the junior high kids won.
SPEAKER_00Rush the court, rushed the court, dumped coolers on them, like lifted them on their shoulders. I was like, good.
SPEAKER_02So that was a cool moment for those kids um to be able to walk away and to to win that. And then um camp went well. We worship night. Uh we had worship night again. That's seeming to be a kind of a staple for youth. Yeah. Um, oh, which we'll talk in more detail. The Saturday night power went out.
SPEAKER_00Saturday night, the power did.
SPEAKER_02We lost power for it was toasty a couple of hours, but the show went on. It would have still had worse auditorium. And it got toast in the auditorium, and the power didn't come back. It went off.
SPEAKER_01We had our own power man on staff keeping us updated.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it went off about five o'clock and didn't come on till probably 10.
SPEAKER_0110, yeah, it was right when we're getting done with volleyball.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that was an adventure. We'll get into the details.
SPEAKER_01You know, Jesus wanted worship night to happen, so he turned the power back on right before worship night.
SPEAKER_02It did. And we were able to have worship night.
SPEAKER_01So it was hot though.
SPEAKER_02So it was hot. So, all in all, successful camps this year. Uh you got to hear what it was like from Levi's perspective. Um, and I ask you this again, I think we've asked it before. Kids you serve, youth you attend, would you rather serve or attend? Would you rather be on staff or would you rather be a camper?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. They're both fun for different reasons. But like I feel like doing both. I feel like I like doing both because I get to serve and do all them things, but then also get to be like I get to be get to experience it and still be a camper while you can because you only got what two years?
SPEAKER_02More years, two years, and then you ain't gonna have a choice unless we do a college camp. And then you're then we kick you out. So um that was a recap of camps and kind of Levi's uh experience through the different camps of serving and being on staff and then going through everything leading up to youth camp um to get to youth camp and then still experience it and uh win small group of the week. Uh I wouldn't have heard the end of it. Could have had the traffecta, but you didn't.
SPEAKER_01But no, the rope broke in half.
SPEAKER_02The rope broke. Uh so that is uh his perspective with next week. Hopefully, Luke will be back and we will go into more details of camp and what it's like running it, things we dealt with, successes, um, things we had to overcome. Um, but all in all, they were two great camps. But if you have thoughts, comments, merge ministries12 at gmail.com. Also, if you want to support merge uh to help us continue to reach the next generation with the gospel of Jesus, uh you can go to our website, merge-ministries.com. There's a donate tab that will tell you how you can donate to help us continue to reach um more students for Jesus. So Levi, thanks for joining us. I know it wasn't planned, of course, um, but always fun to have you on because starting next week, you're back in school and you will not be able to be on any of these. Um so yes, that is it. So uh we will see you next week. We will get back onto schedule of posting these every week. Sorry about that, but we were in camp season, so um enjoy your week, your weekend, and Levi, enjoy school. Of course, man. All right, we'll see you later. See you bye, as we will say.