January 31st marked the end of 2009 and also the last day of “the Challenge” Youth Camp, an event organized by the Association of Baptist Churches (ABC) and held at Baptist Village in Petah Tikva. The camp targeted youth in grades 8-12 and was overseen by camp director Matt Altman and his wife Jillian, youth ministers currently working with the ABC.

The theme was taken from the book of Hebrews and was intended to encourage youth to commit to a more radical and challenging faith. Fadi Hanna, Child Evangelism Fellowship Director, was the main speaker. He asked students to pledge themselves to increasing their faith during the New Year through different aspects, whether it is daily quiet time, reading the Bible or sharing their faith with someone new.

During the four day camp, the teens were divided into three teams and competed for points which were earned during recreation and by memorizing Bible verses. The Roman Road was the major set of Bible verses that students were required to memorize and earned them the most points. The Roman Road is a set of verses used as an evangelism tool when sharing with unbelievers. Recreation was organized by Randy Green and involved “crazy rec” with unheard of games that had campers very entertained.

Campers were also divided by gender for one hour each day for discipleship led by Rani Espanioly for the boys and Hannah Espanioly and Amy Braddock for the girls. Shadia Qupty and Rania Qupty also served as team leaders and helped with translation. Adam Page worked as a team leader for the boys and a team of American volunteers from Arkansas worked in the kitchen and dining room. Samuel Basha worked as dining room overseer and ran the camp kiosk. Peter and Jane Knott worked in the kitchen and also helped with the camp kiosk.

Rani Espanioly, Shadia Qupty, Yousef Joubran and Adam Page led worship during the week. Alpha Team from Nazareth led a special worship service in the middle of the week. On the last day, Anna Green, daughter of Randy Green, sang a solo of “How Great is Our God.” At the end of the week, several decisions were made among the campers to recommit themselves to their faith this year.