HOPE BRISBANE ABLAZE CAMP: RISE

ABLAZE, the Youth & Young Adult ministry of Hope Church Brisbane, held its epic event of the year: Ablaze Camp, Rise: For Such A Time As This! Over the long weekend of the 3rd to the 6th October 2014, over 50 young people came together for a time of fun, fellowship and being in the Presence of God at the beautiful Koonjewarre Accommodation & Activity Centre at Springbrook, a 90-minute drive from Brisbane. 

This year’s theme was “Rise: For Such A Time As This”, based on Esther. As a young Esther answered God’s call to rise and save her people, Ablaze Camp 2014 was a cry for the youth to rise up for their generation. This message was echoed by the daily devotion series based on Christine Caine’s “Undaunted” series which calls for Christians to be the love, to be the hope and to be the change in our world.

The evening sessions were a clarion call for the young people to rise up and stand for their generation. Each evening saw a tremendous response to that call from every individual. Like any good story-teller, Pastor Torch Leung used the first session to set up the scene for the story of Esther: the orphan that became a queen. We learned about the key characters and how the story of Esther reveals that God’s perfect will is done though imperfect people who are willing and able. Saturday’s evening session saw Lisa Leung preach on ‘Conviction’, calling on everyone to stand up for what they believe in.



The Sunday session was extra-special as the Presence of God flooded the hall during worship. Rather than move to the teaching, Pastor Torch went straight to a time of ministering. People received prayer to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. Different people shared words of prophecy to the group and everyone responded to the Presence of God. It was truly an amazing and God-filled time. Pastor Torch commented afterwards that this was the first time he did not preach before going to altar call!

The two series of workshop complemented the evening sessions. The first was the guys and girls workshop where some of our youth leaders and workers imparted Godly values and principles to every camper. The second was “Breakout”: attendees choose to join the dance, boot camp or social justice workshops. Regardless of what was chosen, everyone enjoyed themselves and for those in dance and boot camp, worked up a sweat.

Apart from being a time of tremendous life change, Ablaze Camp is also renowned for its mixture of fun and games. There is the (in)famous Ablaze Camp Games. Not for the faint-hearted, every participant brought A-game as they broke into four teams to out-compete, out-slide, out-throw and out-dunk. As becoming the tradition, Ablaze Camp Games ended with a massive water fight with slime, chocolate and flour also becoming airborne projectiles. Skit night saw everyone show their flair for the dramatic. We were entertained and often in fits of laughter as we were regaled with stories featuring the compulsory elements of a song and dance number, a mystery and Batman.

From the amazing God moments to the crazy games to the times of quiet fellowship with one another, Ablaze Camp was truly an amazing moments for every camper. Lives were transformed and a greater unity that transcended age and life station emerged from Ablaze Camp. As the convoy of cars returned to Brisbane, every camper was convicted to be the group that rises for their generation for such a time as this. We are now more convicted than ever of our ministry motto: “Discipling Generations Who Change Nations”! After all that, only one thing can be said. Bring on Ablaze Camp 2015!

Written by Trung Tang