2014 - Morning Star Outreach

A Look at 2014 Morning Star Camps

By admin|2020-02-17T01:07:19-08:00September 30th, 2014|Uncategorized|

By Brandon Reeves

Once again we had a great year with all of our 2014 Morning Star Camps. What God set out to do, He accomplished. Many kids lives were touched and changed at our campfires, devotion times, one on one counseling with kids, spending time loving and influencing them for Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.

This year we sent nearly 100 at risk kids to our 4 camps, 3 boys and 1 girls camp. We had enough girls to fill 2 camps but had to turn girls away because of the lack of female volunteers and finances.

The kids from our camps came from homeless shelters (Shelters Inc.), (STAND) a program for domestic violence, Foster care, and CPS. Along with other low income single family parent homes from Pittsburg, Antioch, Bay Point, Concord, Martinez and from all around the Bay Area.

Our camp directors were:Week 1, Girls: Brenda Walker; Week 2, Boys: Rob Walker; Week 3, Boys: Brandon Reeves; Week 4, Boys: Trevor Hamlin. Each camp had 20 or more kids and 7 staff members.

Our Camps theme was “Change”. Camp not only impacts and changes the kids for the gospel of Jesus, but also changes, mentors, and moves our staff for the work of the ministry. Our staff is strengthened and encouraged in Christ, some being called to ministry, but all grow closer to Christ. They have been given a passion for the hurting, hopeless, forgotten and the lost of their community.

Many of our staff are former campers that Jesus has transformed their lives through past camps. God has given them the burden to reach the lost. Our camps were very effective in reaching our community. No other ministry, program, camp, in my experience, has ever been as fruitful as Morning Star.

This year we are prayerfully in hope of adding another girls camp with God’s provision of staff and finances. I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him in Christ at Morning Star Ministries.

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Summer Camp Gives Youth Time and Space to Think

By admin|2020-02-17T01:06:55-08:00August 25th, 2014|Camp Life|

Teenagers are very special people. Unfortunately, many live in an environment of poverty, broken homes, negative peer pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, physical and mental abuse, gang influences and declining moral values.

With the ever-increasing violence, financial struggles, stresses, and fatherless homes in our communities have had their negative influence in shaping the lives of such youth.

We here at Morning Star, strive to restore character, hope and a future into this young generation. Through a variety of free programs, these teens are given help and shown that there is a way out of their circumstances.

At MSO camps, teens can get away from that environment. In a peaceful, natural setting near Bear Valley, California, teens have time and space to reflect on their lives, find out what kind of person they are or would like to become, and to think about the direction of the paths they are taking.

Through MSO, teens come to realize that they are special people and, with proper guidance, that they can have happy and fulfilling lives. They leave camp with a new start and hopes and dreams for a brighter and more promising future.

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Free Summer Camp for Those Who Can’t Afford It

By admin|2020-02-17T01:06:09-08:00July 12th, 2014|Camp Life|

Our main focus at Morning Star is to provide a free summer camp experience for those that can’t afford it. Â We understand that it’s not always easy to find the funds to send a teen off for a week and because of that it is our heart to do all that we can to make that difference. Â

Through the generous donations and fundraisers of our partners we are able to provide a full-fledged camping experience. Â We own and operate a campground facility in California off of Highway 4 near Bear Valley. Â The site is equipped with cabins, large kitchen, bathrooms with showers, campfire pit and centered around hiking trails.

Transportation to and from the campsite is provided after meeting at a central departure location for each event. Â The campers will return to that same location.

AfterÂ returningÂ from the mountain the kids come back with a new perspective on life resulting from their many experiences, challenges, and accomplishments.

Our goal is to return your teen with a change of attitude, a respect for others, and a renewed hope for their future and place in this world. Â This is an opportunity for what we hope to be one of the greatest weeks of their life.Â

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Morning Star Outreach History

By admin|2020-02-17T01:05:28-08:00February 2nd, 2014|MSO History|

Abandoned
Abandoned by his father, Mike Shaefer, founder of Morning Star Outreach Camps, was placed in an orphanage by his mother at the age of three. Without the family unit and a male role model, he quickly adopted the bad habits of lying, cheating, stealing and fighting. Toughened and self-reliant, he lost his childhood to survival.

Mike’s mother returned for him when he was nine years old. By the age of ten, still feeling unloved, he had become a victim of physical and emotional abuse.

Hardened by the lack of support and acceptance, he turned to negative behavior for attention.

After several violent acts, Mike dropped out of school in the ninth grade and had committed a number of armed robberies by the age of sixteen. He later moved to San Francisco and at nineteen, was almost killed during an armed robbery. He served time behind bars for his crime.

Hardened
At twenty-three, Mike began a ten year association with organized crime and continued down all the wrong roads. The brother of a former crime boss of the Los Angeles crime family stood as best man at his wedding. For many years he participated in countless illegal undertakings in the San Francisco Bay Area.

At thirty-four, Mike thought he had it all. He earned a name for himself as a stand-up guy in the criminal world and started several businesses making significant amounts of money.

Saved
Mike soon found himself being investigated for three major felonies. If convicted, he faced many years in prison. It was then that Mike cried out to God for help. He promised to serve God for the rest of his life if God could somehow help him out of the disaster that had become his life. In making that choice, the awesome vision of Morning Star was born.

Miraculously, all three charges against him were dropped and Mike Schaefer accepted Jesus into his life.

Understanding that God is more interested in internals than externals, he asked for and received a changed heart – a heart that desired to be a giver instead of a taker.

Inspired
With the establishment of Morning Star Outreach in 1978, and for many years since, thousands of young people in need have become Christians. These kids have been given a new start in life with renewed hope and a brighter future. Each child attending a Morning Star Outreach camp now understands the fundamental truth, the choices you make today will affect all your tomorrows. Morning Star Outreach has brought people from various backgrounds, from the business person in Danville to the youth worker in East Oakland, to work together with the common purpose of reaching young people with a message of hope and encouragement.

Mike’s goal, and the goal of the Morning Star Outreach team, is to see that kids stay out of trouble, stay in school, stay home and make the right choices.

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