The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought it was part of the ritual."

After the christening of his baby brother in church, little Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy blurted out, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, but I want to stay with you guys."

Hi, Glen Hope this reaches you in time. It's no secret. I have heard one horror story after another from young adults who had youth camp experiences that went something like this: DYD brings in "youth evangelist" who wears everyone down for 3 nights. On night 4, there is an altar call for Spirit baptism to which many respond. The prayer methods used to bring people through to this experience include mimicking gibberish syllables, having a group of others scream at you in tongues, and keeping you at the altars until your physical strength is gone and the choice seems to be Spirit baptism or death. The upshot of all of this is that some kids go home without having the experience feeling like second rate citizens. Those who do receive are often perplexed by why their more godly friends did not. All in all, lots of kids are traumatized by the highly stylized, pressure-cooker environment that focuses on body counts instead of empowerment for mission. This finding was a total surprise in my interview research. While the sentiment may only be from one group of kids, I have heard similar stories time and time again. At least some of the adult resistance to Pentecostal doctrine I've located in my studies is actually rooted in adolescent trauma, not in theology. Application: the DYD needs to guard youth camp with her/his life. It is a spiritually forming experience for young Pentecostals, not just a youth event. E -----Original Message----- From: Glen Davis Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 1:23 PM To: Creps, Earl Subject: Youth camp Earl, You mentioned once that there's something that youth pastors consistenly do wrong at youth camp that has apparently scarred an entire generation of emerging leaders. I'm speaking briefly at a youth camp tomorrow. Are you willing to let me in on the secret? God bless, Glen

Religious Ritual

In order to see who is the most holy, they decide to bet on whether they can each convert a bear to their faith, and they agree to meet the next day to compare results. The next day the priest goes first - he's a little bruised and scratched and his clothes are a little torn - and says, "I prayed over the bear and sprinkled some holy water on him, and behold! he was baptized into the faith and became a Christian." The minister stands up - he has one arm in a cast and a big claw mark on his face - and says, "Brothers, I brought the bear down to the river and dunked him in the water until Satan came out of him and he was saved!" They both turn to the rabbi, who's in bed in a full body cast and his head wrapped in bandages, and in a weak voice he says, "In retrospect, I shouldn't have started with circumcision."