It was the first night of camp, and a group of tough kids from the city had hardly unpacked when the leaders received word about a theft. A work crew kid was missing a wallet, $35, and a watch. The next morning, Kirk, the intern from the city, found the empty wallet in his cabin. He immediately called his guys together and hit them with the hard facts.

"Man, you guys did exactly what society expected you to do. You just proved them right. And it's a shame. Now you've got 20 minutes to produce that money and the watch, or we're all going home." Kirk walked out and shut the door. He could hear the guys shouting at one another and scrambling around inside the cabin. In a moment, the door opened again, and the toughest kid in the crowd presented Kirk with the $35 and the watch. The money was already spent, but the kids had emptied their pockets and pooled their cash.

When the staff person came to pick up the stolen goods, someone asked, "Who did it?" Kirk replied, "We all did it. We're all guilty. We're in this together." The kids were shocked by Kirk's display of solidarity. Then he shut the cabin door and started to preach.

"Let's talk about grace," he said to the silent cabin. "Grace is getting something you don't deserve. God is going to correct you, but he's going to forgive you. Jesus is going to break you, but he's going to remake you. We all deserve to go home, but we're going to get to stay." It was only the first morning of camp, but God already had the undivided attention of 17 tough guys from the city.

A few nights later, Kirk invited the work crew kid who had been robbed to come to his cabin and to share his own experience of God's grace with the guys. After the young man left that night, Kirk said, "Now I'm going to say a prayer, and if any of you want to pray with me and give your lives to God, then just do it." By the end of the prayer, 17 baritone voices had cried out to Jesus Christ.