07/16/2026
CIY Move Day 4 – The last Full day
Everyone is still here, and we are still going to stuff! The group held strong, with 19 people at spiritual formation (morning quiet prayer time) this morning at 7am. Morning session rom Jim focused on Ephesians 4:1-6. Today’s theme was that Kingdom Workers are Changed. He told us that there was 1 imperative verb in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians, and 40 in chapter 4. He told the kids that these are bossy verbs, telling us that we need to change. He told us that people change the way they walk, based on who they are walking with, and if we spend enough time walking with Jesus, we will change the way we walk to reflect the way he walks more. He had us all say and focus on the words, Unity, One, and All in Ephesians 4:3-4. I encourage you to read that one for yourself and do the same. If we are all walking with Jesus, then we are united as one, and all walking the same. We are easily united over sports teams, and high school mascots, but there is something much more substantial for us to unite around!
Today was extended rec time, where we skip a meal on campus, and go off campus to explore and have fun for the full afternoon. Today we picked up Jimmy Johns and ate it at a park at Garden of the Gods. After that, we took the cog rail train ride up to the summit of Pike’s Peak. The kids really enjoyed their time away from campus. The ride up was great, with plenty of scenery and wildlife. The group was lucky, and even saw a black bear on the side of the mountain just a hundred yards or more away! They had some time at the peak to explore, take pictures, and hang out with friends.
Back on campus it was time for the themed fancy night. The kids were amazingly fast at getting ready and over to our chosen picture spot. There was plenty of time for pictures before dinner, with mountains in the background, and even with the UCCS mountain lion sculpture in it as well.
Evening session was from Ephesians 4:22-30, and 5:8-14. He talked about how we get ourselves into terrible situations, just 1 choice away from Jesus at a time. Our choices are either towards transformation or destruction. Sometimes when we are around certain friends, we may not be willing to discuss our faith the same as with others. But when you sign up to be a follower of Jesus, he goes everywhere with you, you can’t just put him on a shelf sometimes. He talked about how we may have a fear that obedience to God would somehow be a lesser life than the direction we are already going.
At the end, the kids popped a butterfly cutout out of their journal, and pinned it to a large letter, that at the end was on stage spelling Changed. Each of the leaders were also given cards to fill out for each student Monday. We spent the weak filling out our card for our 4 students. Words to help them in the future, and the card we provided them fill the void that the cutout left in their journal.
Keep praying for the group tomorrow. We will have our last session in the afternoon, and starting part of our drive home after dinner tomorrow night. There has been a lot of conversation about change, and about how we can build community and accountability. Pray that these students follow through on those things, and find what they are looking for.
