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A life changed by the Gospel results in a life dedicated to spreading the Gospel. Today, your student is learning that following Jesus is not meant to be hidden. Jesus calls his followers the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt preserves, enhances, and makes a difference. Light exposes darkness, brings direction, and helps people see clearly.

For your student, this is a challenge to live differently at school, with friends, ontheir team, online, and in the places where they may feel pressure to blend in. But this truth is not only for students. It is also for parents.
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Before students learn how to live with purpose in the world, they often learn what purpose looks like at home. They see what matters to you. They notice what gets your best energy. They watch how you respond when life is stressful, when plans change, when money is tight, when people disappoint you, or when following Jesus feels inconvenient.

This does not mean parents have to be perfect. In fact, students do not need perfect parents. They need parents who are honest, humble, faithful, and willing to let Jesus lead their lives. A home that shines for Jesus is not a home where no one ever messes up. A home that shines for Jesus is a home where repentance and  forgiveness are practiced, scripture is valued, prayer is meaningful, and Jesus is more than a Sunday routine.

1. Are you salty at home?

In the student devotional, your child is challenged to ask themselves, “Are you salty?” To be salty means to preserve the truth and allow the Gospel to fill your life so you can impact the lives of others.

As a parent, one of the first places God has called you to be salt is in your home.

Being salt in your home means you help preserve what is true. You help your family remember what matters most and speak life when discouragement is loud. You bring truth when culture is confusing and point your student back to Jesus when their emotions, friendships, pressure, or fears start leading them away from him.

But being salt also requires us to ask an honest question: Has my faith become something my student can see, or only something they hear about?

Students can tell the difference between a faith that is talked about and a faith that is lived. They notice when church is prioritized. They notice when prayer is natural. They notice when scripture shapes decisions. They also notice when Jesus is only mentioned in crisis or only matters when behavior needs correcting.

Today, ask God to help your faith become visible in your home. Not forced. Not fake. Not performative. Just real.

‍2. Are you shining bright?

Jesus says a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Light is meant to shine. It is not meant to be covered up.

One of the most powerful ways you can shine as a parent is by modeling what it looks like to remain connected to Jesus. John 15 reminds us that we cannot produce lasting fruit apart from him. Parenting out of your own strength can quickly lead to frustration, exhaustion, control, fear, or comparison. But when you remain in Jesus, he produces fruit in you that your students can actually experience: patience, peace, humility, wisdom, kindness, consistency, and love.

Your student does not just need you to manage their schedule, pay for camp, drive them to church, or make sure they are around good influences. They need to see you walk with Jesus.

That may look like praying with them before school or opening your Bible when you are anxious instead of just scrolling. It may look like choosing worship in your home, speaking with grace, or making church a non-negotiable rhythm because Jesus is worth building your life around.

Being light does not mean being loud. It means being faithful.

‍Pray: Respond to God's Word

God, help me live with purpose. Let my home be a place where your truth is preserved, your love is seen, and your light shines clearly. Show me where my faith has become hidden, distracted, or inconsistent. Help me lead my student with humility and courage. While they are at camp, give them boldness to follow you and a heart that wants to point others to Jesus. Amen.

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Your Hearts desire will shape your daily life.

Today, your student is learning that Jesus cares about more than outward behavior. He cares about the heart. He cares about desires, motives, thoughts, attention, imagination, and the things we allow to shape us.

This is a deeply important lesson for students. They are growing up in a world where temptation is constant, private, accessible, and often normalized. Social media, phones, entertainment, relationships, comparison, and peer pressure are shaping students every day, but Jesus does not only want to manage their behavior. He wants to transform their hearts.

As parents, today is an invitation to pray deeply for your student, but also to examine your own heart. It can be easy to focus only on what your student needs to guard while ignoring the things that have slowly gained influence on yourself.

What has been shaping your heart lately? Worry, control, anger, comparison, bitterness, busyness, distraction, fear? A desire for your student to perform, succeed, or be okay so that you can feel okay?

Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 are strong because sin is serious, but His seriousness is not meant to push you into shame. It is meant to lead you into freedom. Jesus loves you enough to confront what destroys you.

1. Guard Your Heart?

The student devotional describes temptation like a lure. A lure looks appealing, but it is designed to trap. That is exactly how temptation works. It rarely looks destructive at first. It often looks comforting, exciting, validating, entertaining, or harmless.

For students, this may look like the wrong relationship, a hidden habit, inappropriate content, gossip, dishonesty, comparison, or giving their heart to people who are not leading them closer to Jesus.

For parents, the lure may look different, but the heart issue is the same. You can be lured by control, comfort, success, approval, anger, image, or fear. You can begin to parent from anxiety instead of trust. You can begin to correct behavior without shepherding the heart. You can become more concerned with how things look than what God is actually doing.

Guarding your heart means paying attention to what is taking the throne. What are you trusting most? What are you craving most? What are you afraid to surrender? What emotion has been leading your parenting?

Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart because everything you do flows from it. That includes parenting. The tone of your home flows from the heart. Your reactions flow from the heart. Your words flow from the heart. Your priorities flow from the heart.

This does not mean you need to carry guilt. It means you are invited to surrender.

‍2. Guard Your Eyes

The student devotional also challenges students to guard their eyes because where our eyes look, our hearts often follow.

For students, this matters in a major way. What they watch, scroll through, laugh at, listen to, and repeatedly expose themselves to is shaping what they desire. One of the best things parents can do is not only set boundaries, but also have honest conversations about why those boundaries matter.

Rules without a relationship often create secrecy. But a relationship without boundaries can create confusion. Students need both. They need parents who care enough to set guardrails and love enough to explain the heart behind them.

This is also a moment to consider what your student sees in you. Do they see you constantly distracted by your phone? Do they see you comparing your life to others? Do they see you turning to screens more quickly than prayer? Do they see you consuming things that shape impatience, cynicism, lust, fear, or anger?

A parent does not need to be perfect to lead in this area. But honesty is powerful. You can say, “I am asking God to help me guard my heart too.” That kind of humility can open a door for a deeper conversation when your student gets home.

‍3. Guard The Atmosphere of Your Home

Your home has an atmosphere. It can be tense or peaceful. Hurried or prayerful. Critical or encouraging. Distracted or intentional. Shame-filled or grace-filled.

Guarding your heart as a parent also means asking God to help you guard the spiritual atmosphere of your home. When your student returns from camp, they may be excited, emotional, tired, or unsure how to talk about what happened. Do your best to create a space where they feel safe sharing.

They may not tell you everything right away. That is okay. Listen more than you lecture. Ask more than you assume. Celebrate small steps. If they confess something hard, respond with grace and wisdom. If they share a spiritual decision, take it seriously. If they say they want to change something, help them build a plan.

Camp can be a catalyst, but home is where discipleship continues.

‍Pray: Respond to God's Word

God, search my heart and show me anything that is pulling me away from you. Help me guard what I look at, what I listen to, what I dwell on, and what I allow to lead me. Give my student wisdom to recognize temptation and courage to walk away from what is harmful. Help our home become a place of honesty, grace, protection, and freedom. Amen.

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Choices matter. choose wisely.

Today, your student is learning that following Jesus is a choice. Jesus describes two paths: a wide path that many people take and a narrow path that leads to life. The wide path is easier, more popular, and often more comfortable. The narrow path requires surrender, obedience, and trust.

This is one of the most important truths a student can understand. Faith cannot be inherited. It must become personal. Your student cannot live forever on your faith, your church attendance, your prayers, or your spiritual decisions. At some point, they must decide whether they will follow Jesus for themselves.

As a parent, that truth can feel both exciting and sobering. You deeply want your student to choose Jesus. You want them to have real faith, not borrowed faith. You want them to build their life on what is true. But you also know you cannot make that choice for them.

What you can do is model the narrow path. You can pray. You can create an environment where faith is real. You can keep showing up. You can point them to Jesus again and again. You can help them recognize the difference between voices that produce good fruit and voices that pull them away from God.

1. Which Path Are You Modeling?

Students are always learning what path matters by watching the adults around them. They notice what you sacrifice for. They notice what you make time for. They notice what you celebrate. They notice what you excuse. They notice whether you choose obedience when it costs you something.

The narrow path is not just a student decision. It is a family direction.

Choosing the narrow path as a parent may look like making church a priority even when life is busy. It may look like choosing honesty when cutting corners would be easier. It may look like forgiving when resentment feels justified. It may look like saying no to something good so you can say yes to what is best. It may look like leading your family toward Jesus even when your student resists.

The wide path often promises comfort. The narrow path produces life.

Your student may come home from camp with a desire to make changes. They may want to read their Bible more, pray more, change friend groups, get baptized, join a small group, or take church more seriously. One of the best things you can do is help them walk that path with encouragement and consistency.

‍2. Who Are You Listening To?

In Matthew 7, Jesus warns about false prophets and teaches that you can recognize people by their fruit. This is incredibly relevant for students. They are surrounded by voices all day long: friends, influencers, music, shows, coaches, teachers, algorithms, and social media trends. Not every voice is neutral. Some voices are forming them toward Jesus, and some are forming them away from him.

As a parent, part of discipleship is helping your student evaluate fruit.

Instead of only asking, “Is this bad?” help them ask better questions:

Is this helping me love Jesus more?
Is this making me more honest, humble, pure, loving, and wise?
Is this leading me toward obedience or away from it?
Is this voice producing good fruit in my life?
Is this friendship helping me become who God created me to be?

This also applies to parents. Who are you listening to? What voices shape your parenting?

Are you more influenced by fear, comparison, culture, social media, or the Word of God?
Are you allowing Jesus to define success for your family?

‍3. Is Your Faith Genuine?

Jesus gives a serious warning in Matthew 7 that not everyone who says the right words truly knows him. This is not meant to create fear in sincere believers, but it should wake us up. Jesus is not looking for religious performance. He wants genuine relationship and obedience.

For students, this means faith is more than attending camp, wearing a wristband, singing during worship, or knowing church answers. For parents, this means faith is more than getting your kids to church, serving occasionally, or having Christian language in your home.

Genuine faith changes you.It changes how you speak. It changes how you forgive. It changes how you spend money. It changes how you handle conflict. It changes how you parent. It changes what you prioritize. It changes what you do when no one is watching.

Today, pray that your student would choose Jesus personally and genuinely. Pray that they would not settle for surface-level faith. Pray the same for yourself.

‍Pray: Respond to God's Word

God, help my student choose the path that leads to life. Give them wisdom to recognize what is true and courage to walk away from what is harmful. Help them follow Jesus personally, not just because of our family or church, but because they know you. Help me model genuine faith with humility, obedience, and love. Amen.

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How to pray.

Today, your student is learning from the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches us that prayer is not about performing, impressing, or saying the perfect words. Prayer is how you bring your heart to God. It is how you honor him, depend on him, receive grace, and align your lives with his will.

For students, prayer can sometimes feel intimidating. They may wonder if they are doing it right, if they have the right words, or if God really hears them. This passage reminds them that God wants them to come to him simply, honestly, and consistently.

For parents, this may be the most important day of this week. It is easy to pray for your student during camp, but God also wants to meet with you. He wants your worries, hopes, fears, questions, and desires. He wants to shape your heart as you pray.

Prayer does not always change our circumstances immediately, but it always changes us as we spend time with God.

1. Honor God's Name

Jesus begins prayer by turning our attention to God. Before you ask for provision, forgiveness, protection, or guidance, remember who God is. He is holy. He is good. He is in control. He is near. He is worthy of your trust.

As parents, this matters because worry can easily become the loudest voice in your heart. While your student is away, you may wonder how they are doing, who they are with, whether they are making friends, whether they are opening up, whether they are safe, or whether they are truly engaging spiritually.

Those concerns are real, but prayer helps put them in the right place. Do not begin with fear. Begin with God.

Honoring God’s name means remembering that your student belongs to him before they belong to you. He loves them more than you do. He sees what you cannot see. He can speak to places in their heart that you cannot reach. He is working at camp, and he is also working in your home.

‍2. Focus On How God Provides

Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” This is an invitation to trust God for today.

Parenting often pulls you into tomorrow. It's easy to think about your student’s future, friendships, grades, decisions, college, relationships, spiritual life, and struggles. Some of those concerns are wise. But when tomorrow’s concerns take over today’s trust, anxiety grows.

God provided daily bread for Israel in the wilderness. He gave them what they needed for that day. Not because he was limited, but because he was teaching them dependence.
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What do you need from God today?
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Maybe you need peace. Maybe you need patience. Maybe you need wisdom. Maybe you need rest. Maybe you need faith to believe that God is working even when you do not have all the details. Maybe you need to stop trying to control outcomes and start trusting God with your student’s heart.

God cares about the big things and the small things. He cares about your student’s spiritual future, and he cares about your anxious thoughts today. Bring both to him. Word of God?
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Are you allowing Jesus to define success for your family?

‍3. Experience God's Grace

The Lord’s Prayer also leads to forgiveness. You ask God to forgive you, and you ask him to help you forgive others.

This is a powerful focus for families. Every family has moments of hurt, misunderstanding, impatience, and disappointment. Parents need forgiveness. Students need forgiveness. Homes need grace.

As your student is at camp, ask God to prepare your heart for the conversations that may come when they return. They may share something that surprises you. They may confess something. They may ask questions. They may express hurt. They may be excited about a next step. They may come home spiritually encouraged but emotionally exhausted.

Grace will help you respond well.

God’s grace also helps you fight temptation. Jesus teaches to pray for deliverance from evil because you cannot overcome sin in your own strength. Your student needs God’s strength. So do you.

Prayer is not a last resort. It is one of the main ways you can stay connected to God and depend on him daily.

‍Pray: Respond to God's Word

God, teach me to pray. Help me honor you before I focus on my worries. Give me what I need for today, and help me trust you with tomorrow. Forgive me where I have sinned, and help me extend grace to others. Protect my student from temptation and draw them close to you. Let prayer become a normal and life-giving part of our home. Amen.

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Obedience to God’s Word is required for anyone who wants to be wise and follow Jesus.

Today, your student is learning that the foundation they build their life on matters. Jesus says the wise person is the one who hears his words and puts them into practice. The foolish person hears his words but does not obey them. Both houses experience storms. The difference is not whether storms come. The difference is the foundation.

This is a powerful final devotional for camp because your student may come home with powerful memories, emotional moments, new friendships, spiritual decisions, and fresh excitement. But the goal is not for camp to simply be a great week. The goal is for your student to build their life on Jesus when they come home.

Camp can stir faith. Home helps form faith.

As a parent, you have the opportunity to help your student build rhythms that last beyond the emotion of camp. You can help them move from hearing God’s Word to obeying God’s Word. You can encourage them to stay connected to church, small groups, scripture, prayer, and godly friendships. You can help them take their next step.

1. Know God's Instructions

The student devotional challenges students to know God’s instructions because you cannot live out what you do not know. That is true for students, and it is true for families.

A lot of people want the result of wisdom without the rhythm of God’s Word. We want peace, direction, character, strength, and discernment, but we often neglect the very place God gives those things. Scripture teaches who God is, who you are, what is true, what is false, what leads to life, and what leads to destruction.

Your student is growing up in a world filled with counterfeit truth. Culture will offer them many versions of identity, success, love, freedom, and purpose. If they do not know God’s Word, those counterfeits may look convincing. But when they know what is true, deception becomes easier to recognize.

As a parent, one of the greatest gifts you can give your student is a home that values Scripture. Not just a home with Bibles on shelves, but a home where God’s Word is opened, discussed, obeyed, and trusted.

That does not have to be complicated. It may begin with one verse at dinner. A short family prayer before school. A weekly conversation after church. Asking, “What did you read?” or “What do you think God is teaching you?” Small rhythms can build a strong foundation over time.

‍2. Follow The Intsructions

Knowing God’s Word matters, but Jesus says wisdom is not just hearing. Wisdom is obedience.

James 1:22 says not to merely listen to the Word, but to do what it says. This is where many people get stuck. It is possible to hear sermons, attend church, go to camp, take notes, and still build on sand if we never put God’s Word into practice.

Students need help connecting spiritual moments to everyday obedience.

If your student comes home and says they want to read their Bible more, help them make a plan. If they say they want to change friend groups, help them think through what that looks like. If they say they want to get baptized, help them take that step. If they say they felt convicted about a habit, do not shame them. Help them build support and accountability. Obedience is easier when it is encouraged, supported, and celebrated.

As a parent, this is also a moment to ask: “Am I only hearing God’s Word, or am I obeying it? Is there anything God has been asking me to do that I keep delaying? Is there a step of obedience I need to model for my student?”

A strong foundation is not built by intention alone. It is built by obedience over time.

‍3. We Have a Good Instructor

The student devotional ends by reminding students that Jesus is a good instructor. He teaches with authority because he is not just a wise teacher; he is Lord. He created you, knows you, loves you, and knows what is best for you.

God’s instructions are not about control. They are about love and guidance. He is not trying to keep your student from life. He is trying to lead them into true life.

That is important for students to understand, but it is also important for parents. Sometimes you can accidentally communicate that following Jesus is mainly about rules, behavior, or avoiding consequences. But Jesus is not simply giving students a list of restrictions. He is inviting them to build a life that can stand.

When storms come — temptation, disappointment, pressure, heartbreak, anxiety, confusion, failure — a life built on Jesus can stand.

This does not mean your student will never struggle. It means they do not have to fall apart when they do. They can return to what is true. They can trust the foundation. They can follow the voice of the one who loves them most.

‍Pray: Respond to God's Word

God, teach me to pray. Help me honor you before I focus on my worries. Give me what I need for today, and help me trust you with tomorrow. Forgive me where I have sinned, and help me extend grace to others. Protect my student from temptation and draw them close to you. Let prayer become a normal and life-giving part of our home. Amen.

‍Keep The Momentum Going

Now that camp is over, we want to help your student keep growing in their relationship with Jesus. Here are a few simple but important next steps for your family:

Tie your family to a Local Church
From serving opportunities to weekend experiences and next steps, there are many ways for your whole family to get connected. Fellowship Church would love to partner with you and your family, and to grow in Christ-filled community!

Bring your student to The Mix
The Mix is the best place for students to stay connected, build godly friendships, and continue growing in their faith.

Join a Bible Study Class
Bible Study Classes are a great way for parents and families to get connected, build community, and grow spiritually.

Learn more and take your next step at fellowshipchurch.com.