Coach T's Schedule
The reason I am adding notes about my schedule here is to help other camp facilitators and mentors understand how I move throughout JAM Camp as Coach T. I use worrds like "dynamic", "fluid" and "flexible" to describe how The Creator moves me in JAM Camp. However, I understand that these descriptions do not fully convey what is happening. Likewise, this schedule example and my descriptions do not serve to fully convey what The Creator is doing in and through me at JAM Camp, but I hope they will provide some insight and reliance on The Creator's Spirit in JAM Camp and in life.
5:30am Wake, Prayer, Shower
The early start is necessary for me to meet The Creator and receive my instructions for the day. I start with prayer of thanks for The Creator restoring my soul, allowing me another day to live and experience this life. then, I hit the shower and get dressed and ready for the dsay.
5:50am Walk with God
The book of Genesis reveals The Creator as "personal" and the accounts point out that The Creator not only created mankind, but also visited mankind at certain times. One account that always stuck with me is in Genesis 3:8.
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."
The obvious image of "the Lord God as He was walking in the garden" has been interpreted differently and debated, but one thing remains clear - The Creator God is with man.
Genesis Chapter 2 reveals that The Creator interacted with Adam by presenting the animals to Adam for Adam to name them. Again, God is with man.
During JAM Camp, The Creator leads me to walk early in the morning to see, hear and experience the Creator through creation. It would bee too much to try an describe everything I experience here. So, I will mention that there is so much that we forfeit by not walking with God!
The main thing I do during this walk is listen. While I walk, I listen for The Creator in everything. I pay attention to how the different birds call out when I pass by. I listen to the crickets and the leaves of the tree blown by the winds. I listen to the traffic passing by on US-35. I listen to my feet on the different surfaces I walk on.
It's not a questioning time or prayer/devotion time. It's just The Vreator taking me for a walk. I observe more than anything. When the walk is done, I find that The Creator has given me clarity, peace and so much more - before doing anything.
7am-7:30 Devotion, Game Plan Meeting
This is quiet time for students in the dorms, The facilitators, mentors and coaches meet for devotion and to run through the day's game plan. This year (2023), students participated in the devotion.
7:30- 8:00 Breakfast Schindler
During breakfast, I help ensure the students move through the process in an orderly fashion, remind them to wash their hands and use their manners.
I usually sit away from everyone else and observe everyone while I eat. I find that much of what I observe, The Creator uses throughout the rest of the day. I don't set out to "take mental notes" or anything like that. I just eat my breakfast and watch.
8:30 -9:30 Worship & the Word SDR
I may pop in on sessions, but I am usually in "prep mode" for something I have to lead later. For example, while Worship and the Word was going on, I was prepping for the Manhood Project. I poppen in to see students and coaches in worship and then moved to Ellison to figure out how to carry out the first Manhood Project.
With The Creator, I am confident and comfortable with "just-in-time doenloads", as I call them. This is whan I don't have a script, but The Creator gives me an idea and The Spirit walks me through the execution of the ides in real time.
This time, the idea was a manhood project showing the young men how to make a bed. During the planning for JAM Camp earlier this year, The Creator gave me a vision of me making a bed and explaining the importance of it. But that vision did not include all of the "download" or all of the information for the manhood project. As I walked through the dorms 9during Worship and the Word), The Creator gave me more of the "download" and The Spirit led me in putting the pieces together.
I knew there would be a demonstration of me making a bed, but I was not sure if it would be in a dorm room. In the vision, I had the students standing around me. The dorm rooms were too small to have all the students surrounding me. So, I looked at moving to one of the conference rooms. then I had to figure out how to get a bed from a dorm room to the conference room. With the help of a few mentors, weended up placing a mattress on three desks. Then, I timed myself making the bed (military style) in the conference room. It took me six minutes to complet, starting with the sheets balled up on the floor. I used this to then block out the rest of the time for the Manhood Project. By this time, the students were trickling into the conference room, along with coaches and mentors. That's when The Spirit gave me the rest of the "download".
9:30-10:30 Manhood Project Ellison
10 Things You Can Learn From Making Your Bed
While I made the bed, The Spirit asked questions, explained the varuous benefits of making a bed, and provided spiritual insights that I did not have beforehand. That's when The Spirit gave me the overall theme for the Manhood Them of 2023 JAM Camp - "MANsge You" - A Man MANages.
10:30-12pm Fatherhood Talk SDR
1200-1pm Lunch Schindler
1pm Welcome / Camp Overview / Who Are You? Ellison Basement
We sis a recap of the welcome and camp overview. I started the Who Ar You? talk by reminding all attendees that The Creator invited us all to this place in time space to meet The Creator.
1:30-2:30 Small Groups Ice Breaker Ellison Basement
2:30 JAM Session 1 - MY BAD Ellison
3-5pm Lab Sand Volleyball Court
6-7pm Dinner Schindler
7-9pm Basketball Skills Session (we have gym till 10 if we want) LCA
9pm Evening Huddle: Worship Dorms