After CampSample

Here’s a list of Basic First Steps for following Jesus: 1. Talk to your leader right now – while you’re still on the bus or in the van or car – and make a plan for when you’ll meet to keep talking and learning about Jesus. Put it on your calendar. Set an alert. Don't forget. Make it a priority. 2. Start reading your Bible. On this app, you’ll find some Reading Plans from Young Life. You can read them with your leader and friends. If you didn’t get a Bible at camp, and if you don’t have one at home, ask your leader to help you find one. Until then, you can read on your phone. (But seriously - be sure to also get a real Bible with real pages. It really does matter and make a difference.) 3. Write down what happened at camp – what you heard, what you thought about, and what you learned about God and yourself. Put it someplace safe. Read it every few weeks to remember and remind yourself of God’s love and your new life. 4. Get a journal (or notebook or pad of paper or stack of paper or whatever) and start writing down your thoughts and questions about God and following Jesus. Talk about them with your leader(s). They may not have answers to all your questions, and that’s okay. They’ll look for the answers, and then you can learn together. 5. Be part of a small group with a leader and other people from camp. Remember, this is a family life, not a solo life! 6. Find a church. Some of you might already go to church. If so, keep going. And do it with an open heart and open mind, ready and willing to listen and learn and meet people. If you don’t go to church, or don’t know about any churches in your town, ask your leader or friends or your parents (or maybe even a friend’s parents) about this. Jesus-followers don’t go to church in order to earn God’s love or to score points for “being a good person.” They go to church because God loves when his children gather together, because it’s good to know other Jesus-followers, because church is a good place to worship God, and because church is a really good place to learn about God. (Read Day 4 for some thoughts about leaving camp and heading back home.)