We’ve heard it said that ‘word-of-mouth is the best advertising’. With so much thrown at us through various forms of advertising, a word-of-mouth endorsement from a trusted friend is worth a little more than it used to be. As we pray for and look forward to our CFO camps, retreats, and events, a constant prayer is “Holy Spirit, who might we invite?” As you pray, we hope this blog will inspire you in describing The CFO to those with whom you feel led to share the experience.
“Expectations are just planned disappointments.” Now there’s a bold statement! After all, aren’t we supposed to have expectations? Don’t expectations set the bar in some way? Shouldn’t we be clear about what we are asking people to get in to or to accomplish?
At my first CFO Camp, an elder camper greeted me and said, “Welcome to CFO! Expect God!” and left it at that. It took me a few camp experiences to figure out there is a difference between expectation and expectancy. In an early CFO camp brochure, Glenn Clark wrote…
It is impossible to indicate the exact course the spiritual orchestration at the Camp Farthest Out will take before the members of the group come together. Out of their individual needs and out of God’s Divine Plan for them we shall expect the message of each camp to be born.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a wise way to operate. But, what Glenn knew was that expectation has to do with our own will, and expectancy has to do with God’s will.
Here is another bold statement: I have never been disappointed at a CFO camp. This is because there are no expectations about what a particular CFO camp experience should be. Yes, there is a program we follow, but the purpose of the CFO Daily Program is to help open our whole being to whatever the Holy Spirit has for us, not to tell us what to believe or experience. We are to prepare, show up, and “Expect God!” In that expectancy God’s message for that particular camp is made known in a way that reaches each individual camper right where they are. Yes, we are to “expect.” But in our expecting, we are to trust all things to the Holy Spirit’s doing. This is expectancy. If we have any attachments to our own will our expectancy becomes expectation. And where those expectations are not met, the disappointment begins.
When Glenn Clark envisioned the Camps Farthest Out, he wanted to create a place where people from all walks of life could come and EXPERIENCE the Kingdom of God, here and now, rather than sit around and talk about it. Glenn knew that when we experience something we understand it better. He also knew the daily program he proposed would be a chance for people to practice expectancy by letting go of expectations and trusting that the Holy Spirit would indeed orchestrate the camp and meet each camper at their specific place of need, in that time and place.
Throughout the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, people’s encounter with and experience of Kingdom living at the CFO spread around the world, and now Camps Farthest Out retreats and events occur across eight regions globally. While this is certainly a cause for thanksgiving, it is important to note the CFO movement would not be where it is today if Glenn Clark or others clung to expectations of what God SHOULD do. Rather, an expectancy of what God WILL do led to the forming of a belt of prayer around the world.
In attending camp we encounter God and each other. Those encounters, if we fully enter into them, have the potential to bring about friendships, healings, spiritual growth, and much more. But we don’t know the specifics all the time, and that’s OK. At CFO, we simply expect God, and God will be there with blessings far beyond our expectations. – DB, CFOI Coordinator