Cowden's Colorful Crosses

Cowden teens (below) and their colorful, meaningful crosses (L-R): heaven, sin, Jesus’ blood, salvation and growth.

This summer at Cowden Camp (Gateway Conference), Pastor Roy Abbott of Moundford FMC (Decatur, IL) led the teens through a series of lessons on the cross — teaching that brought about a revival of sorts. Abbott had the teens paint a cross representing each message’s focus: heaven, sin, Jesus’ blood, salvation and growth.

• Monday's cross was gold — symbolizing that we can be with Jesus someday.

• Tuesday's cross was black, embellished with ugly rocks and splattered dirt — symbolizing sin’s cruelty and the intentions of evil.

• Wednesday's cross was red, adorned with a crown of thorns, nails and strips of cloth — symbolizing Christ’s supreme sacrifice. (The teens drenched this cross with red paint, adding the words love, mercy and grace in red letters. When one young man stepped back and noticed the red paint on his hands, he realized anew that his sins had put Jesus on the cross.)

• Thursday's smoothly-sanded cross was white
— symbolizing Jesus’ blood washing us white as snow.

• Friday's cross was green — symbolizing that growth requires our humility, effort and obedience; God does the rest. (Zach Davison, 18, sensed God’s call and requested to paint the day’s cross. He set it in a large, greenery-filled flower pot.)

“It was amazing how the teens, without words, jumped at the invitation to express their view of Christ’s sacrifice for them,” says Abbott. Recalling Wednesday in particular, he adds: “When they raised the cross, its red paint was dripping. Everyone paused and listened, thinking about the blood dripping off that cross for our sins.”

The teens shared their crosses daily with the rest of camp. “Saturday found us coming home to put into practice what God had taught us,” says Abbott. “Now we must live out the calling that He has on our lives.”