| By Michael Wacht LEESBURG
— The Florida Conference’s Summer Camp ministry continues to grow and adapt so
it can present the gospel of Jesus Christ in new ways. At the same time, it’s
maintaining some traditions that continue to make the camp experience special to the
campers.
“We still have some of the traditions that were begun here in
1948,” Assistant Camp Director Alex Shanks said. “But we do new things each year
to help the kids experience God.”
Austin Goodell, a senior-high camper from First United Methodist
Church in Dunedin, said the new activities keep the experience exciting. “It’s
not boring,” Goodell said. “Every year, we get to do new stuff—a new theme,
new games, new preaching.”
This year’s summer camps began June 4 and end Aug. 4. The theme
is “Phil A. Voyd Expeditions 2: Surviving the Storm,” and the curriculum was
written to teach kids about surviving rough times in their lives through faith in Jesus
Christ, Shanks said.
Goodell attended his sixth summer camp this year and decided to try
something new, an interpretive dance class, instead of basketball. “I wanted to do
something different, fun, and find God in a new way,” he said.
Goodell said dancing was also a learning experience. “God is
using me to show other people a different way of expressing his word.”
“Workshops” for senior-high campers was also added this
year, according to Shanks. The Workshops were classes on spiritual disciplines, including
prayer, service, worship and the Bible.
“We’re giving them tools, so when they go home, the camp
experience can continue,” Shanks said. “The high-school campers are at an age
when they need specific training. These are things the campers can learn and take with
them and continue to grow in their relationship with God.”
In his workshop on worship, Kalon Stiggins, a student at Florida
Southern College, told campers that worship is a discipline, just like learning to play a
sport or a musical instrument. “You have to want to do it and you have to work hard
at it,” he said. “To get good at worshipping God, you have to be in worship on a
regular basis.”
Stiggins helped campers understand the difference between corporate
and individual worship and how traditional and contemporary worship help different people
worship God.
This year’s camp experience also focused on campers’
parents through “Campparent,” a special section on the summer camp Web site.
Approximately 300 digital pictures of camp activities were posted daily so parents could
share their children’s camp experience, according to Warren Willis, a camp team
member who maintained the site.
“It’s their window to the child’s experience at
camp,” Willis said. “A lot of parents send their kids to camp and get to hear
about it when the kids get home, but now they get to see it.”
The site was also a benefit for parents of first-time campers.
“…it’s great to be able to see their kid on the Web and see they’re
doing well,” Willis said. “It helps the parents’ home sickness.”
Willis said the Web site had received more than 5,000 visits by the
end of the sixth week. The site was password protected to preserve the kids’ privacy,
and the team made “a conscious effort to get each kid on the site at least
once,” Willis said.
Despite the new activities and learning opportunities, many campers
say the worship and praise times are most meaningful to them.
Jackie Azis, a member of a Roman Catholic church in Jacksonville,
attended the senior high camp with friends from Trinity United Methodist Church in Palm
Beach Gardens. She said she really enjoyed the freedom of morning praise time and evening
chapel services. “You get to burst out in song, praise and dance,” she said.
“The music is great, and the people are really, really friendly. What the minister
says really touches the heart.”
Allison Schild, a senior-high camper from First United Methodist
Church, Coral Gables, said her favorite part of camp is that “this place is holy
ground.”
“This is my fourth year here, and I really feel a peace and
serenity every time I come,” Schild said. “The first year I came, I made a
commitment to Christ, and that makes this place very special.”
Another tradition is the Wednesday night commitment service. Campers
hear about different types of Christian commitment from a guest speaker and are asked to
complete a commitment card. Copies are sent to their local churches so pastors or youth
ministers can follow up.
“The card has a place to check if they are thinking about going
into full-time Christian ministry or want to be baptized,” Missy McClellan, the
high-school team leader and a student at the University of Florida, said. “Follow-up
in the local church is very important.”
Alex Kovacs, a middle-school camper from First United Methodist
Church, Ormond Beach, said his commitment was to pray for other people each day and
“to ask Jesus to come into my heart and wash my sins away.”
“About a year ago, I was doing a lot of sins and was not close
to Jesus,” Kovacs said. “Then I went to the [United] Methodist church and…I
enjoyed being with God.”
|
