Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
The Power of Billy's Seven Words
Discover the unexpected power of seven simple words that sparked a revival at summer camp. This episode shares an unforgettable story from youth ministry legend Tony Campolo about Billy, a boy with cerebral palsy who became the target of merciless bullying at junior high camp. When Billy was mockingly chosen to lead devotions, something extraordinary happened that left hardened hearts broken open and changed lives forever.
This powerful testimony challenges us to examine our own hesitations in sharing faith. How often do we stay silent, fearing ridicule or judgment? God isn't looking for polished performers but authentic hearts willing to speak truth regardless of perceived inadequacies. Someone in your life today needs to hear about God's love. Will you be like Billy and share it without shame? Join us tomorrow as we continue exploring ways to start your day right with purpose and perspective.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. Summer camps have been around for well over 60 years now and although their heyday may have passed, they're still very popular and every summer thousands of teenagers head off to summer camp.
Speaker 1:Now, when I was growing up, I went to camp. I loved it. I went to a camp called Columbia Bible Camp. It was located just above Cultus Lake. We did canoeing and swimming and archery and so many other things that were so much fun. I loved going to camp. My wife spent her entire summers at camp. Her parents were the camp directors and her camp was somewhat different than the one I went to. It focused on horseback riding and survival skills and crafts and finding things to eat from the woods and building fires with no matches and all of those kind of things, and that was her summer camp that she grew up with. One of the real powerful things about summer camps is they have the ability to change the lives of the teenagers who attend.
Speaker 1:I came across a story from Tony Campolo that I want to share with you this morning. He talks about a time when he was a counselor at a junior high camp many years ago. He said everybody ought to be a counselor at a junior high camp at least once. A junior high kid's concept of a good time is picking on people and in this particular case, at this particular camp, there was a little boy who was suffering from cerebral palsy. His name was Billy and they picked on him. Oh how they picked on him. As he walked across the camp with his uncoordinated body, they would line up and imitate his grotesque movements. I watched him one day as he was asking for directions which way is the craft shop? He stammered, his mouth contorting, and the boys mimicked in that same awful stammer it's over there, billy. And then they laughed at him.
Speaker 1:I was irate, but my fear reached its highest pitch when, on Thursday morning, it was Billy's cabin's turn to give devotions. I wondered what would happen, because they had appointed Billy to be the speaker and I knew that they just wanted to get him up there and make fun of him. As he dragged his way to the front, you could hear the giggles rolling over the crowd. It took little Billy almost five minutes to say seven words. Jesus loves me and I love Jesus. When he finished, there was dead silence. I looked over my shoulder and I saw junior high boys bawling all over the place.
Speaker 1:A revival broke out in that camp after Billy Short's testimony, and as I travel all over the world I find missionaries and preachers who say remember me, I was converted at that junior high camp. We counselors had tried everything to get these kids interested in Jesus. We even imported baseball players whose batting averages had gone up since they started praying. But God chose not to use the superstars. He chose a kid with cerebral palsy to break the spirits of the haughty. He's that kind of God.
Speaker 1:Isn't that a great story? God's love and power never ceases to amaze me. He will use anybody who is willing, anywhere at any time, to impact somebody else for his kingdom. Billy was not afraid to declare that he loved Jesus and, what is even more important, he knew that Jesus loved him. So he wasn't afraid to stand up in front of the others and have them make fun of him. That was the least of his worries. He just wanted to tell everybody that he loves Jesus and Jesus loves him.
Speaker 1:How often do we find ourselves afraid to be a witness for Christ, to say something, because we're afraid that somebody else might think we're foolish or they might make fun of us? God is not looking for people who look perfect or act perfect or say all the perfect things all the time. What he's looking for are people who simply will love him and let him love them and then be brave enough to speak about who Christ is. When given the opportunity, in Romans 1, verse 16, the Apostle Paul says Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. That's really what God's looking for. He's looking for those of us who would not be ashamed to declare who he is.
Speaker 1:One of the things I really love about this story is that Tony Campolo included some of the lasting impact of this camp. Years later, preachers, missionaries, said that it was there at that camp that they got saved because of the boldness of Billy. Will you be a Billy today, even though you feel inadequate and not able to? Will you be willing to declare God's love today? Someone around you needs to hear it. I hope you have a great day. My friends, share Christ's love today and we will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for joining us today and I invite you to join us every Monday to Friday, right here at Starting Right, with Danny Mac.
