What's my experience?

My experience in Christian Camping? 

Some of you are probably wondering why in the world I am writing a blog about Christian camping? I mean, it's not like it's this huge trend that everyone is dying to be a part of or anything. Some of you have probably never even heard of Christian camps. In this post, I'd like to share with you all my passion for Christian camping. First, let's start out by talking about how I was introduced to the Christian camp scene.

How I became a huge fan

When I was in middle school and high school, my youth group took a group of teens and adult sponsors down to a Christian summer camp in North Carolina. Every time I went to camp with my youth group I had the time of my life. Also, God would use those weeks to convict me of sin in my life and help me get on the right track with Him. I do not know where I would be spiritually without those weeks of camp. Ever since those days, I have decided that I want to be a part of that kind of ministry for the rest of my life.

How my dreams became reality

This past summer my dreams became a reality. I was accepted to work as a counselor at the Wilds of New England. Simply put, this last summer was the greatest summer of my life so far. Not only was it a blast to hang out with the teens every week and minister to them, but also the Lord stretched me in ways that I did not want to be stretched and taught me so many lessons through careful study of His Word and through the preaching of His Word.

The dream continues...

This coming summer I am going to have the opportunity to be the videographer at the Wilds of New England. I am so excited about all the new things that God will teach me and also for the opportunity to serve the campers behind the scenes to the glory of God. 

My passion

Now that I told you my passion for Christian camping and how I got involved hopefully you can see why this is such an important topic to me. Christian camping is a unique opportunity to break down barriers with young people and reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the praise of God's glory.

A Snapshot of Christian Camping

Ask the Expert 

Today, I had an awesome opportunity to skype the program manager from The Wilds of New England, Josh Prather, and ask him some questions about Christian camping. If you like what you hear, then click here to check out the website for The Wilds of New England. 

Josh and his wife Marcie at TWNE

Here are the questions I asked Josh and his responses.
 

Q: How long have you worked in camp ministry?

A: I'm going on my 4^th year in camp ministry now.

 

Q: What is your current position at TWNE (The Wilds of New England)? What does that entail?

A: I am currently the program manager. Basically, I am in charge of the scheduling for what campers do when they are here for a week of camp, as well as adult camps. It involves getting activities lined up and figuring out what the schedule of games, free time activities, and other activities ready to go. 

Josh, doing that program thang!

Q: Why are you in camp ministry? Why are you not pastoring a church, youth pastoring, preaching oversees, or in another type of Christian ministry?

A: For me personally, when I came to Maranatha (Baptist Bible College), I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do. I did know that the Lord was calling me into some kind of full-time Christian ministry. Because of recruiters who came to the college, I started working at the Wilds in 2006 and continued there for a few summers. I just fell in love with camp ministry and the Lord just opened the door for me to work in camp ministry full-time.

Q: What makes your camp (or Christian camps in general) different than any other camp? What kind of things do you do?

A: The program and outlook, with most good Christian camps, like Northland, the Wilds, and Ironwood, boils down to their ministry statement, what they are going after. What we do with program is not just to have a fun time at camp. It is centered around God’s Word and seeing lives change through God’s Word. The activities and free time are all structured to breakdown barriers. They are structured to build unity and to be done well. So, I think it boils down to the program and  the focus being different.

 

Q: How do you make listening to preaching 3 times a day fun for the kids?

A: How we pick the speakers is huge. We have a wide variety of speakers who preach at camp. Because we know there are a wide variety of churches, preferences, and people, we have a wide variety of speakers too. But we are specific on who we are picking too. We are picky in the sense that we want speakers who will connect with the kids. The preachers that do the best preach and then go hang out with the kids. If he can connect with the kids, it's going to be a good time. Also, program is big. The services are all different. Chapel is more personal with the speaker, the evening is more formal and meditative, and the Christian life seminars are just real practical, which makes them all very different, We mix it up with variety in speakers and in services.

One of the speakers, Rich Tozer, connecting with the campers by joining in for one of the games at TWNE.

Q: What is the big deal about Christian camping anyway? What is your burden for Christian camping?

A: It’s a unique setting. It's not where you are every day, like church or home. You don’t know it well. Summer camp is like 3 weeks of evangelistic meetings packed into one week. It's intense Bible for one week. Also, it's out of your comfort zone in what you know, and saturated with the Word of God. Distractions are set aside, so basically you are forced to either reject God or move forward spiritually.

 

Q: Why should a parent of a Christian child send their child to a Christian camp? What about an un-churched parent (or un-churched child)?

A: For a Christian, it's a week to get away from distractions, totally saturated with God’s Word. It's instrumental in changing lives.

For un-churched, at our camp we do reach out to the community with a significant discount. We want them to at least see it as a safe place to send their kids where a lot of good things are happening. Most parents want their kids to at least have a knowledge of the Bible and Jesus. This is a place where they can have fun, stay safe, and where they will get the Bible. We want to build the trust factor with the parents and get the parents on the campsite, even for an adult camp. We want to see them presented with the gospel and maybe even saved. Then, we want to plug them into a local church.

 

Q: Are these camps only for kids?

A: Our primary focus is summer camp, but we do want to reach out to the adults too because they send their kids. So, we do this through fall camps like ladies’ retreats, men’s retreats, couple’s retreats. It's not just for the kids. We can use the same principles on the parents that we use on the kids. There can be a major spiritual growth at their different levels.

 

Q: What is the primary goal of a Christian camp (or specifically TNWE)?

A: Our mission statement sums that up: using the unique benefits of Christian camping, we serve people by presenting the Truth of God with the love of God so lives can be changed to the glory of God.

Our overarching goal in the activities, cool beans, sweetshop, office, follow-up in counseling, and everything is doing things in an excellent way. The referees aren’t making things up and the video is done in an excellent way. We want to accomplish everything with a spirit of excellence to give the glory to God.