Delegation Leader NEWS

Delegation Housing Info

Posted 7/15/08
Download the Excel file with housing assignments for each delegation. There are separate tabs at the bottom for Girls and Boys housing assignments.

Check out the Adventures!

Posted 7/15/08
There are a ton of great adventure opportunities for your campers. Direct them to the website to see what activity they might be interested in trying this year!

New Look to the Sport Information

Posted 6/24/08
The sports page of the website has a new look. Easier access to all the information you need for your delegation -- rules of play, team and individual entry forms, and delegation summary sheet. Take a look!

Worship Opportunities

Posted 6/24/08
Again this year is the opportunity to have a communion experience with your delegation on Wednesday night. Delegation leaders are responsible for planning that worship experience and we encourage you to use the talents and gifts of the campers in your group. SPEC will provide the emblems to your delegation. You can sign up for a worship location at the SPEC office.

Updated Schedule

Posted 6/23/08
The 2008 SPEC schedule has been updated to reflect evening activities and worship opportunities throughout the week. Check out the link on the left to familiarize yourself with the host of options available this week.

Delegation Laundry

Posted 5/22/08
The Lamoni congregation is once again offering their services as Laundry Heroes for SPECTACULAR. They will wash team jerseys as well as two extra items per day. You’ll be matched up with a lovely person from the Lamoni community who will provide you with a distinctive basket or box in which to leave your laundry in the lobby of your dorm by 10:30 p.m. By 11:00 a.m. the basket will magically reappear, full of clean jerseys. What could be easier?

Only $3 per person (for the whole week -- not per day!) buys you freedom from laundry detail for all 5 evenings (Sunday through Thursday).

If you are interested in this wonderful service, please contact Linda DeBarthe by July 1 at lindad@graceland.edu or 641-784-6201. She will need your delegation name and the number of males and females (including staff) needing laundry service. On your arrival please have a check payable to Lamoni Community of Christ for your total bill. References available upon request!

Greetings!

Posted 5/16/08
SPECTACULAR 2008 is fast approaching (July 19-26) and we are so excited about what is on tap for the week!!  Our theme for the week "Someday Is Now!" will present many meaningful challenges to campers and staff alike.  Our daily themes will also highlight a particular direction we will take in our Spectacular journey. 
Those daily themes are:

SAT:  "Someday Is Now!"
SUN:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Walk Humbly"
MON:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Be Just"
TUE:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Create Peace"
WED:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Heal the Planet"
THUR:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Love Courageously"
FRI:  "Someday Is Now! . . . so Live Generously"
SAT:  "Someday Is Now! . . . go Build Community"  

We often look to people, things, events to make us happy.  Emerson once said, "Our first mistake is the belief that the circumstance gives the joy which we give to the circumstance." Do you catch what a reversal this is of the usual way we sometimes think?  What Emerson saw is that it isn’t circumstances that bring us joy.  It’s we who bring joy to our circumstances.  It is we who make our meaning.  Henry David Thoreau said, "Surely joy is the condition of life." We may be largely, even completely, out of touch with it, but there is deep within all of us, an unspeakable joy.  Circumstances don’t create it, but circumstances, if we will allow them to, can awaken us to it.  Even when everything goes wrong, our circumstances can lead us to an awareness of joy as our basic condition.  This is what makes life meaningful.

You are charged to be a minister for youth.   To reach out to young people who simply want to be loved.  But the catch is, for many young people, they live in a world that focuses on their flaws.  That when someone praises them, what immediately comes to mind, is a slew of arguments to prove they really aren’t that good after all.  It’s as if there’s something wrong with feeling ecstatically good about yourself.  You’re not allowed to feel that good.  

We can all probably relate to the fact that there always seems to be an inner voice apologizing for what we’re doing and how we do it--indeed, apologizing for who we are.  
Maybe that's what Emerson was talking about when he said, "Be very careful what you set your heart upon, for you will surely have it." So when you set your heart on how imperfect you are, how many weaknesses you have, how inadequate you are, how unfortunate your circumstances are--that’s what you’ll live out. Instead, set your heart on how wonderful you are, and wonderful you will increasingly prove to be.  Perhaps this is what faith is really all about.  That what you set your heart upon, becomes your meaning.

But to fight the good fight of faith isn’t easy.  In fact, it could just come down to this . . . what blocks our happiness or joy is our tendency to walk in life’s shadows.  The trick is to walk in the light.  If you walk in the light, the shadows are always behind you.

Living intensely, with all our channels wide open, takes willed surrender.  It takes giving ourselves over to the joy within.  It’s seeing every day as the day of creation.  But there’s no time to wait for "someday;" we must recognize that Someday Is Now!

We hope you sense the excitement in these words!  Someday Is Now!  Our direction, our focus, our attitude all SPEC week long will be high in energy and lived out in our community experience.  The SPEC Committee has worked all year long in preparation in providing you and your delegation an environment that we hope will allow you and your staff a unique opportunity to truly make a difference in the lives of young people.

We realize in the coming weeks you will be saddled with logistical and other issues surrounding your delegation's preparations for SPEC.  We are always available to assist you in whatever ways we can.  Our contact information along with any/all pertinent information surrounding SPECTACULAR '08 including up to the minute news/updates can be found on our website; www.cofchrist.org/spec/ 

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making your SPEC delegation a reality.  Thank you for being "the light" for so many young women and men.  Please know that you are constantly in our prayers.

Blessings always and in all ways! 
Travis, Diane & Jamie