I think this is 10 years of doing camp with my students as a student pastor. The first group of kids that I took are no longer kids. Even the youngest of them are 25 this year and the oldest are turning 30. If the math isn’t working for you it is because I missed two years since my first year… thank you COVID. I love camp more now than I did when I started. My love for camp when I started was based on own experience as a camper and on my excitement as a young leader traveling with my students. Now, my love for camp is based on my experience watching and shepherding students through moments of genuine transformation and experience of God.
At camp, many of my students have experienced their relationship with God with an intimacy they did not even know was possible. They experience what Paul talks about in Philippians 3:8, “Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (NLT). I get to witness and guide students as the rest of the world fades away and Christ becomes their whole world.
I have witnessed students experience loss at camp and still find joy in Christ. I have seen students living in abuse, neglect, sin, fear, and every kind of hardship you can imagine experience God, a real, interactive relationship with God. I have witnessed students commit to a lifetime of ministry or mission work. I believe that camp creates space for these experiences and so… I love camp.
There are some dangers of this kind of revival/camp experience. It is easy at camp because it’s all around you; but as soon as students return home, the world hits them like a truck and Jesus’ soft voice is drowned out by the cacophony of the noise of the world. Even if 95% of students experience events like camp and DNow in this way, it think they are worth it. They provide opportunities for students to have their own “crossing the Jordan” moments (Joshua 3).
There are some things that you can do to help students. You can help both their camp experience and their return to the “real world.” Everyone reading this can pray. Pray for our students this week. Pray for their small group leaders, the worship leaders, the camp speaker, the camp staff, and our student ministry staff.
Parents, there are also somethings that you can do to help your students when they get home. (1) Affirm their experience, don’t trample on their excitement. It is easy to blowoff or downplay their experience at camp based on our own real-world experience. Try to engage with them in enthusiastic, undistracted conversation instead. Listen and help them find ways of memorializing their experiences for posterity and for reflection in days and weeks to come.
(2) Channel their camp excitement and energy, don’t let it die off. Many of the students come home challenged to begin or deepen a regular devotional time. Their leaders at camp are holding them accountable for that time at camp and there is time for it built into their schedule. Help them by guiding their reading, holding them accountable, and making space for it in their schedule.
Many of them will also have a desire to serve or do ministry when they get home. Again, channel this desire rather than letting it die off. Help them find a way to serve either in our own student ministry or some other way. Talk to them about how they want to serve, talk to them about their gifts and talents and when appropriate, connect them with us for those conversations.
(3) Follow up intentionally rather than letting camp be a one-week event. Do whatever you need to do to set remind yourself to bring up what they learned and experienced days, weeks, and even months later. Put appointments in your phone if you need to, but make sure to continue the conversation with your students. When they get home, help them right out the top things they learned and some goals based on those things. Find ways of keeping those goals before them.
I love camp. I hope and pray that our students will come home energized and renewed. Please partner with us this week in prayer and follow up with our students when we come home.
