Kablaam 2007, Pirates of the Carolinas, our ninth Kablaam, was our best yet! We had a special treat as Sonny and Carolyn Sessions (The SWAMP) joined us for the weekend The God of Heaven gave us a tremendous weekend from start to finish. On Saturday, the weather was “perfect” and the setting was “alive” with the “joyful noise” of 150 middle schoolers and approximately 100 volunteers. Kids from Charleston and Greenville, SC; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville, and Jacksonville, NC; as well as the East and West Regions of the Triangle church converged on the Pavilion and ball field areas for three hours of non-stop play!

Preparations for Kablaam began in early June as volunteers met to plan and coordinate the organization of this grand event. Based on the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy, the Pavilion was turned into a pirate ship and the games were loosely based on the pirate motif. As the set – up progressed on Saturday morning, the volunteers could feel the excitement building. At 3 pm the middleschoolers began checking in and meeting with their team leaders.

There were 16 teams with two team captains per team. Each team was designated with its own color “T – shirts” and quickly involved in “pre – Kablaam” games in the gravel parking area. At 4 pm, there was a blast from a homemade cannon (created from scratch by one of the Triangle teens) signaling the beginning of Kablaam. As the “Kablaamers” streamed into the Black Pearl they were welcomed by Captain “Barefoot” clad in pirate’s attire and then treated to a raucous skit of similarly clad pirates highlighted by some “incredible” sword – play. After brief instructions, the games began, and for the next two hours, the teams rotated through as series of seven game stations, with station eight being the cotton candy and snowball refreshment center.

By the time we stopped for a pizza dinner at 6:15, the Kablaamers had “walked the plank” and crawled through mud pits; staggered about blindfolded through some of the ickiest veggie goop ever mixed while being powdered by starch; dropped from a zip-line into the “safe zone” or among the “sharks”; sprinted together as teams in search of treasure….well, you get it, by the time we stopped for dinner, our Kablaamers were the dirtiest, happiest, and weariest bunch of kids we’ve seen, well, since the last Kablaam!

Sunday morning we had a tremendous worship together at the West side building with fellow out – of – town Kablaamers who had stayed with host families on Saturday evening. We were treated to a 10 minute video of highlights from Saturday’s event and Sonny preached a powerful lesson from the book of Daniel on living by conviction.

God, indeed, blessed this year’s Kablaam. Just as he has always done, he moved the hearts of a 100 plus brothers, sisters, and friends to create and execute a stellar event through which unity was strengthened among churches and memories to last a life time were created for young people. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! to our awesome God and to everyone who had any part in putting together this wonderful weekend!

Love,

Ben and Beth Weast