Christopher Long: THE BIGSTUF DIARIES (Pt. I)

Me and my buddy
"Mad Dog"
preparing to embark
on an amazing
summer journey.

Two words continually have popped up

over and over throughout my recent

spiritual walk — "weird" and "crazy."

In 2006 I was working on a national concert tour — scoring drugs and chicks for legendary rock stars. By 2010 I had landed at my kitchen table, sitting with a knife to my wrist — drowning hopelessly in a deep, dark state of depression. However, my life soon became transformed. Long story short, in 2012 I now enjoy an active role at East Coast Christian Center in Merritt Island, Florida. Hmm, that certainly is "weird." And at (almost) fifty, I found myself last week heading off to serve

as a youth leader for some "crazy" sort of Christian teen summer camp deal.

This is installment #1 of a series chronicling my personal experiences — the sights, the sounds and the (frequently disturbing) smells from a "crazy" week — eating, sleeping, playing and worshiping with a busload of wacky teens...

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For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7

Loading the trailer and boarding
the bus at ECCC, headed
to BigStuf in Daytona Beach!

As a newbie in the field of ministry, I didn't have the slightest clue what to expect when ECCC youth pastor Bryan Moore "encouraged" me recently to attend the 2012 BigStuf summer teen camp/conference in Daytona Beach. But I had faith that the experience would be life-changing.

During my childhood summers at Lake Whatchagottahava back in 1973, we slept in either cabins or tents -- neither option provided air conditioned comfort. We spent the week living in the wilderness. Spiders, snakes, mosquitoes and other outdoor pests were constant concerns as we fished and swam by day, and toasted marshmallows and sang campfire songs by night.

The daily sunrise view from our Daytona hotel balcony.

I soon learned that BigStuf would be an altogether different experience. "Camp" lodging for the week would be at a luxury (air conditioned) high rise hotel located on Daytona Beach. Our days would be spent attending Christian-based pep rally-like conferences and frolicking in the surf, sand and sun. "Camp fire" sing-alongs would be replaced by high-energy rock concerts featuring the biggest names in contemporary Christian music -- held nightly across the street from our hotel at the air conditioned 8,000 seat Daytona Ocean Center arena. The last time I was in this venue I was worshiping at the feet of Paul Stanley during a Kiss concert in October 1992. In June 2012, I'd be praising Jesus Christ. Hmm, "weird" indeed. But despite my relatively newfound spiritual awakening, I'm still a rock and roll guy at heart -- one who has difficulty dressing myself. So imagine my surprise when Pastor Bryan informed me that in addition to being a youth counselor-type, hanging out mentoring the ECCC crew, I'd more specifically be serving as a room leader, responsible for the safety and well-being of four teenage boys. I found this proposition to be both hilarious and "crazy." And I had to ask myself, how on earth was this all going to play out?

To be continued...