Well this week I had the opportunity to go on another Daystar Church camp, and this week was camp KidJam. The camp is for the elementary aged kids, and this was my third time as a leader for the trip. Twenty five students went and six leaders went along, Pastor Allen and I were in charge of the ten boys on the trip. It was a blast, right from the start and didn’t stop. After we arrived and loaded up the rooms, we went to the first main session of the camp. We were all put on a team, made a team cheer, and came up with a team name (ours was red candy apple bacon, by far the most original name). After the session we broke into our church groups where we split into small groups. I have only just recently started leading with an elementary small group on Sunday mornings, so I was a little nervous with a group this young. It ended up going very well thanks to a lot of praying beforehand. Afterwards we went to late night, which is filled with crazy games and is just an overall great time. I was chosen for one of the games, I then had to have marshmallow fluff put all over my face and one of our student threw mini marshmallows at my face for them to hopefully try to stick. I didn’t win, but I still had a great time doing it.

The next day was the first full day of activities. We began the day with our lovely cafeteria with smiling workers (sarcasm), and then we were off and running. The kids were able to go to their desired tracks that had been chosen prior to arrival to camp. During this time the leaders were able to receive training from one of the lead directors of 252 Basics, the curriculum that is used on Sunday mornings. The training was incredible, it was for small group leaders and even though it was directly for elementary small groups, the material was still beneficial for all aspects of any next generation small groups. It was so cool to have God show me new things and ways to improve how I do small groups now. It was also very cool to have God give me an even deeper passion to help the next generation. Over the past year as being a high school small group leader, and now an elementary small group leader, God has really been speaking to me on how important it is to be invested in the next generation.

The next day was very similar to the first, but at the jam session, the teacher gave the salvation message and in small group we were able to share our stories with our kids and really invest in them. It was amazing, after I shared, a couple of the boys wanted to give their story and wanted to know more about the themes that we were talking about. After all of the fun that happened that night, all of the boys met up in one room and Allen asked if anyone had or wanted to make a decision for Christ, one of the boys spoke up and said he had made a decision during the jam session and my heart was overjoyed to hear that. It was so humbling to be there at that moment and see how much God works, even in some of the youngest people.

Looking back at the week it was so empowering to know how much our small group leaders mean to the children that they see every Sunday. I just love how simple things like having fun with the kids can change the course of someones life forever. It was also incredible to see God work through the kids, even when they are so young. It reminds me of what 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” It’s such a powerful statement because it is so true. Its so important to invest in the next generation, so elementary, middle and high school, they all need guidance and someone to speak life over them. It’s also so important for the leaders to be equipped themselves, in order to partner with parents and be another voice of truth in their life. Its so vital that we prepare students to have an authentic relationship with God and that they always make the wise choice in life.

It’s so good to look back at a trip like this and see how Gods moves in the lives of others. I cant wait to see them on Sunday and I am so excited to see what God has in store for me in the future in regards to the next generation. Thanks for the read, talk to you later.
-Joshua Thomas

Well I have had probably the most incredible week. Last week I was privileged enough to help plan and go on the Vert (Daystar Church youth group) mission trip to Charleston, South Carolina. God did some amazing things and I thought it would be fitting for me to record some of the amazing things that I was able to witness and experience and share them with you my dear reader. Well to start things off on Monday of last week, twenty three students and nine wonderful leaders came to Daystar with bags and excitement, all ready for a fantastic week of serving. Some of the students I knew very well, being in my small group or having been in Vert with them as a student before, but many of which I barely knew the name. We got the bags in the vans, loaded up, and set off. My van was filled with all guys and we drove off listening to “let it Go” from the film Frozen. I have to be honest when I say that I was quite nervous before hand, this was my first time going on a trip as a leader, and not only that but I had helped with the planning. Luckily I had been praying for great things, and had met with a dear friend of mine a few nights before who spoke life over my fears. The original plan for the first day was to arrive at our host church, Riverbluff, then proceed to the Dream center at Seacoast church. Unfortunately we missed our time at the Dream center, but they were gracious and said for us not to worry. So Seth Tanner and I met with our host Church, and they were so kind and gracious for having us stay there. That first night we went to the Well, which is Seacoast church’s college ministry, and we met with Stephen and Nicole who many of the students knew and who used to be at Daystar. The first night was filled with great worship and really set the tone for the trip as a whole.

The next day was off to a great start, everyone was eager with excitement about our service opportunity and just very ready to take on the day. We arrived at the Dream center and were tasked with fixing up a local high school football field. This included trash pick-up around the field, re-organizing equipment rooms, and bathroom cleaning (shout-out to those that did that). It was so cool to see students step up and volunteer to do something even when no one asked, I never once saw a student trying to just sit back. Every student saw how important the job was even when it seemed like pointless task were given, they all understood the weight of what they were doing, a very rare trait to find. The next day we served at the Dream Center itself, and my group went to the field to make final clean up bits. It was so humbling to serve the people who help change lives every day, and fix up a facility so more people can come to receive prayer and help in their hard times. It was so incredible to make such a difference like that, and have students understand and act with leadership in helping others.

Thursday was when it all got real, very real. I woke up feeling terrible, my stomach hurt, my head was spinning, and I felt strong spiritual attack on the students. I felt as if something was trying to stop us, its hard to explain, but it was a real attack. I asked my parents for prayer and then myself spent the breakfast time praying against Satan. God was very faithful and filled me with a fire to face the hardship head on. Then it was time for daily worship, and my heart broke for the students, I began to pray over the attack on myself and for those who were under attack themselves. Seth then asked me to pray over the students during worship, and I did. I don’t really even remember what I said, but it wasn’t me, the spirit used me to speak over everyone. It was very humbling to be completely weak physically and mentally, but have the spirit renew me. From then on, I was fired up and so were the students. We were going to be serving at our host church, and everyone was again eager to help out. My team was tasked with dumpster clean up duty, and they all are super awesome because we had to deal with gross poo water and cockroaches.

At the end of the week we had a time of worship and celebration by going to the beach and walking through downtown Charleston on the fourth of July. We had a time to worship and sing on the beach which was something I’ve never done, and was really encouraged by it. A few people even joined us on the beach while we were singing and prayed for us as well. The rest of the day was filled with fun and a time of laughter. The trip was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had, it was filled with life change. Throughout the week I was able to pray for and have students come to me with struggles they faced. These struggles were not small issues but very real and tough trials they have to face, and I am still praying for them, nor will I stop. Many students who are normally reserved stood out and talked about their issues and how they were experiencing God’s love. It was a time that truly showed the presence of God, and I was so blessed to have been a part of it. I am so thankful for every single one of the students and leaders, and I am so thankful for the opportunity Vert ministries has been able to have to create events for life change to happen with students. I will be leaving in two weeks for the Elementary camp Kidjam and I am so excited to see the life change happen again. Can’t wait to do it all again, thanks for reading.
-Joshua Thomas

If you’re reading this, you have stumbled on onto my blog and have stayed around to see what I’m all about. Well this is something I thought would be a fine thing to do, something to keep my brain active during this summer. The purpose of this blog is just to show anyone who wants to know what I’m doing and what I’m learning through life. I’m not a crazy wise guy, or someone who has accomplished a lot, I’m just a nineteen year old college kid trying to find his way through life.

So what am I about? I’m a person who enjoys weird things, which is where the title of this blog comes from. I love comic books because they make me think, the always looks fantastic, and they have fun and bizarre stories. With b-movies I love the crazy goofy nature of them and being able to joke around while watching them. Finally hot tea, I love it, it helps me relax and I love the flavor from trying different teas. These are things that inspire my creative side and allow me to have fun and enjoy life. I love sharing these weird interests with other people, and I just enjoy the ability to be creative.

I’ll use this blog as a way of sharing my interests and what I’ve been doing. Over the summer I have a list of projects that I will be working on, and I will use the blog as an update on those things. For me they are quite huge tasks, things like, writing a book, work on comic illustrations, and diving into doing more with painting. This is a new thing for me and if you feel like sticking around, fantastic, and if you don’t, then whatever! I just want to share what I’m doing and what I’m learning in life. So join me!