THE CFO DAY
DAILY CAMP SCHEDULE
“The Camps Farthest Out are dedicated to the purpose of discovering the wholeness of that abundant life which Christ promised…”
The daily camp schedule is a breathing in, breathing out experience designed to tune the whole person -body, mind and spirit- into the work that God is already doing in our midst. Through the natural rhythm of the CFO day one finds times of active participation and times of creative rest as well as a natural union of work, play, prayer, and fellowship.
“…the highest art of life is a living prayer.”
Morning Meditation
“Sleeper awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Eph 5:14
Be it led or silent, the CFO day begins with meditation.
“The morning is a good time to slow down and get the 'code' or language of God. Learn to sit in quiet before the symbolism of nature [for] the depths of heaven itself are there if you will slow down and 'decode.'"
--Glenn Clark, from a talk at Lake Koronis, July, 1930
“We are told that the only way to find God is through meditation and prayer. But there is a greater discovery which, when truly understood, makes you master of all circumstances. And it is this: GOD IS EVERYWHERE. That means He is in the 'without'" just as surely as He is in the 'Within'.”
--Glenn Clark, from “Windows of Heaven”
Group Singing
The morning and evening talks are preceded with at time of festive singing. Songs you know and songs you will know lift the gathering to a place of worship and praise.
How come the Joy?
How come the Praise?
How come the songs to God we raise?
Where does it come from? Yes, we know:
It’s the love of Jesus in our soul.
--Joel Hayden
Morning/ Evening Talk
The role of a CFO speaking leader is to share what God has done and is doing in their lives. Speakers have come to Winni CFO from all parts of the country and the world to share their individual stories of faith, hope and love. CFO speakers are unique as they are “campers first” and their talks are part of the greater camp experience.
Rhythms
Through Rhythms we honor the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. As we let go in the physical, we allow the Spirit to fill us with vitality, releasing a sense of play and freeing the part of us that is childlike to experience the Kingdom of God.
“Another discovery made at the Camp Farthest Out was that to truly pray, to pray with the greatest abandon and with all of one’s power, one should pray with all one’s being. For this reason it was early discovered that if there was to be any technique of prayer it must be a technique that would include one’s body as well as one’s mind and one’s soul.”
-- Glenn Clark, from, “The Lord’s Prayer”
“This is the goal of all TRUE PRAYER – to make the 'stretching' of the mind to see God… a continuous habit all through the day.”
--Glenn Clark, from “The Soul’s Sincere Desire”
“A prayer should be for the spirit exactly what calisthenics should be for the body”
--Glenn Clark, from “The Soul’s Sincere Desire
Creatives
Creatives provide an opportunity to express what we are receiving from God. This expression can take many forms, be it in visual art, writing, movement, etc. Whatever the form the focus is on releasing ourselves to God that we may be taught by the Holy Spirit, who guides all of our creative efforts.
“To my Father and my Mother, who taught their children around the evening lamp and before the open fire place that to see life imaginatively was to see life truthfully.”
--Dedication from “A Manual of the Short Story Art” by Glenn Clark
“When your power to love becomes like God’s power to Love, then the power to create will become like God’s power to create.”
--Glenn Clark, from “The Thought Farthest Out
Horizontal Hour
As to allow for a chance to absorb the activities of the morning, an hour of rest is set aside after lunch.
Recreation
Geneva Point Center’s grounds provide beautiful surroundings for recreation. Activities include swimming, boating, kayaking, softball, volleyball, tennis, hiking, or creative lounging
Prayer Preparation
This time of centering and reflection is led by our prayer host or hostess. It usually consists of music, readings, and meditations. It is designed to help you to enter into the special place of prayer before heading off to your prayer group.
Prayer Laboratories
Glenn Clark envisioned the prayer groups, called labs, as the heart of CFO; a growing, searching adventure among open–hearted, loving people. Active participation in a prayer lab, be it silent or otherwise, is the key to a successful CFO experience.
But the highest art of living consists of making prayer such a natural and continual expression toward God that it works itself into the muscles, and the mind processes, then, every act of our daily lives reflects the Love and Joy of Christ’s presence.
Glenn Clark, from “Windows of Heaven”
Group Singing
Evening Talk
The Nine O’ Clock Prayer for Peace:
"God gave Glenn Clark a vision of broadcasting love to the world because when people first came to camp and found themselves so bathed in love, they were tempted to keep it. God showed them that by sending it out it multiplied. This pattern can create a Belt of Love around the world."
--Ruth Robison
CFOers around the world unite in prayer every evening with the following prayer…
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me.
Amen
The pattern of the 9 p.m. prayer for peace was first used by the British during World War II. The idea had been proposed by London industrialist Major W. Tudor Pole during the dark days of the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Each night at 9 p.m. the people of the British Isle would tune in to the BBC to hear the news. The announcer would say, "This is London. This is the 9 o'clock news and this is Stuart Hibbern" (or some other news announcer).
Then the chimes of Big Ben would ring out and the nine great strokes would follow. During the chimes and strokes, an estimated two million people prayed in silence. This minute was known as the Silent Minute of Prayer.
There are many stories about the effects of this time of prayer. Examples include: A captured Nazi Intelligence officer stated, "With the striking of your Big Ben each evening you used a secret weapon which we did not understand. It was very powerful and we could find no counter-measure." Other reports were from German bomber pilots who saw hundreds of planes coming against them when in fact, there were only two. (From Hand on the Helm by Katherine Pollard Carter).
Anyone can be a part of this prayer for peace. Each night at 9 p.m. wherever you are, alone or with others, pause for a moment and pray silently or aloud. Know that you are touching base with the belt of love around the world.
Afterglow
Special Parts of the Program:
Stunt Night
Lest CFO sound too serious for you, please know we have a lot of fun. One event that always keeps us from getting too serious is stunt night.
“When God blessed us with the imagination to see harmonies and congruities and logical relationships in this life, He blessed us also with a sense of humor to see the inharmonies, incongruities, and illogical relationships – and smile. Humor enables us to think without malice or fear; rather, it transforms malice or fear by giving us diversion, change, enjoyment, to enrich our store of human experience. Thus inharmony, incongruity and illogical relationships become assets for us instead of liabilities.
--Glenn Clark, from “Windows of Heaven”
Prayer Vigil
Sometime during camp there will be a 24 hour period of prayer. This covering of the camp in prayer is a powerful experience of love and blessing.
“This morning after an ‘All Night of Prayer’ at the Camp Farthest Out people came to a number of us for a blessing. As I put my hands on their heads I asked myself, ‘Is this soul wide open for everything that God offers?... Being God’s channel to bless others is a strange and wonderful experience… It seemed to me this blessed morning that the only thing I needed to do in this world was to get started that right way every day.”
-- Frank Laubach, from “Channels of Spiritual Power
World Prayer Broadcast
At the end of each camp, all prayer groups come together to pray for the needs of the world. After a week of practicing ‘Kingdom Living,’ it is time to share that great love with the world as we prepare to step back into our lives.
“Like all discoverers of new things, we shall have to name what we discover. In one of the Camps Farthest Out we had great fun suggesting names for the golden bath of love and prayer which surrounded us all week… Many people think Glen Clark’s ‘Broadcasting Prayer and Love’ is the truest description of the beautiful experience.”
--Frank Laubach, from “Prayer: The Mightiest Force in the World”