Youth Leadership Training:
From Hilltop to Cedar Lake

by Lisa LaLonde

I had the privilege of being involved in the last two CFO Youth Leadership Training camps. The first was at Hilltop CFO in Quarryville, PA in July of 2001. The second was this past July at Cedar Lake CFO up in the mountains near Big Bear Lake, CA. While they seemed on the surface to be two versions of the same training experience, it did not take long to discover they were separate adventures and very distinct from each other. The Hilltop experience was about passion. It was an incredible feeling to be immersed in a youth group whose passion for the Lord could not be contained. The strength of the program there was not even about the training tips – but the amazing feeling of connecting with young people passionate about the Lord. I left that “training” experience empowered in one specific way: I knew I could be a youth leader because God was doing it. That’s all! I went home and with that confidence turned my little CFO youth group upside down. Youth worshiping in the front rows? Youth at Morning Meditation? The passion didn’t stay at Hilltop, it spread, as it should have, and touched other home camps.

Then I came to Cedar Lake, this time as a leader. Col. Bo Bottomly and Daniel Klopp were presenting their training programs, and my job was to lead eighty young people in worship – “Their kind of worship,” was my directive from Bo. That suited me fine, but what I was not prepared for was something different than the “passion” of Hilltop. At Cedar Lake, there was something stirring in these kids, so deep and rumbling that I could feel it but not put my finger on it. I felt that if I succeeded in touching it, it would explode out of control. It was an underground river, relentlessly chasing its course to find an outlet. It had someplace to go, and was going there fast. That’s when I saw the difference: if Hilltop was about passion, then Cedar Lake was about purpose. These young people have a purpose, and they’re going there fast. Even opening the doors to worship for them was an exercise in letting go of any control over the river. They would race past me into the arms of the One they truly love, the only One they were seeking after. They were in hot pursuit of Him. Even Bo said to me at one point, “I am having to let go of control of this thing….” We both looked upon it with some amazement.

I could fill volumes about how the Lord used a week up in the mountains to keep CFO alive – to keep it from “dying of old age” as has been said. I could tell you about the amazing programs that Col. Bo and Daniel presented, how full and rich and practical they were, about the night missions which taught the youth about teamwork, communication, problem solving in the dark, and ultimately about their own leadership styles. I could tell you about the outpouring of creativity with this group of young people: songs written, singers and musicians encouraged, poets discovered, quiet people finding their voice, lives changed forever. If that’s not leadership training, I don’t know what is.

So how do we measure the success of this program? What are we trying to do, just keep CFO alive? No, the programs are trying to keep up with what the Lord is already doing. There IS something happening in today’s youth. The Hilltop youth were so passionate that it did not stop after camp. Thirty of them returned home to Russell, Canada and changed their community. Jabez Day. Street outreaches. Weekend retreats. Worship. When passion gets hold of young people, step back and watch them change the world for Jesus. Even the Hilltop camp itself saw a return of youthful passion: last year’s trainees taking leadership positions, leading worship. The plans for next year’s Hilltop camp include the idea of youth as lamplighters. Passion!

As for Cedar Lake, many of these youth are already heading out into leadership positions. Some are leading worship, some are heading up youth programs, some are writing songs, and some already accepting Dan’s challenge to get involved in CFO internationally. Purpose? Absolutely, and going there fast.

What is there to say about the next phase, June 2003 and the upcoming Youth Leadership Training CFO camp in Black Hills, SD? Will it be different? You can count on it, but it won’t be just growth spurts from what we learned from the last two camps. It will be its own experience, because that’s really what each CFO camp is about. God meets us as unique individuals within the life-changing environment we know as CFO. These training programs are working because they are not separate from the whole CFO experience. Youth are discovering not the CFO “program”, but the CFO experience. Should you try to make it to the next Youth Training camp? Col. Bo has this to say: “Everyone is a youth leader. We all have youth in our lives.” Even if your CFO has a healthy youth group, you should join us. This river is going somewhere – and fast! See you in Black Hills, SD!

© 2002 Cincogatos Productions
Published in the CFO Fellowship Messenger October 2002
Also published in Camps Farthest Out: The Journey: Past, Present and Future: Celebrating 75 Years of Living Prayer. Austin MN: Macalester Park Publishing, © 2005

Youth Leadership Training: From Hilltop to Cedar Lake

Youth Leadership Training:
From Hilltop to Cedar Lake