The Living Church of God conducts several camps in a number of countries around the world. This article will focus on the Teen Summer Camp program held in the United States at Camp Lazarus, located in Delaware, Ohio.
Unless we know our purpose for being, we cannot expect to successfully meet our goals and fulfill our objectives. The following short story entitled “Straight and Steady” helps to illustrate this point:
“When I was a teenager, a local farmer hired me to help him complete fall plowing. My first day on the tractor was disastrous. As I watched the plow turn the soil behind me little did I realize that by the time I reached the end of the field, the row was noticeably crooked. Toward the end of the day the farmer arrived to survey my work. The crooked rows prompted him to give this advice. ‘You can’t plow a straight row if you continually look back. You must keep your eyes focused straight ahead.’
“So it is with life. Plowing our way into the future is powered by meaningful and specific goals. Focusing on the past, what lies behind, will prevent us from effectively pursuing our future. Goals provide the direction for us to focus our energies on what lies ahead” (Speaker’s Sourcebook II, Glenn Can Ekeren, p. 177).
Why do we have summer camp? What are our goals and objectives? Take a look at what you can expect if you sign up for summer camp in 2013—and how you can plan to get there.
Seven Reasons To Have Summer Camp
Reason 1: Camp provides an opportunity for young people in God’s Church to get together with their friends. Camp is also a great place to make new friendships with others of like mind. It is good for young people in the Church of God to build strong friendships with each other. Camp provides a unique opportunity for this to occur. Many lasting friendships have traced their beginnings to summer camp. One of the main reasons that young people come back to camp, year after year, is to get together with friends. This social aspect is a major reason to have camp.
The majority of our young people are scattered. Many attend congregations where there are few, if any, others their age. Camp provides the youth in God’s Church an opportunity “to get to know one another.”
Many parents see the value of getting their children involved in Church activities, including (and even especially) summer camp. They will drive hundreds of miles and spend a considerable amount of money and time to provide their children the opportunity to attend these Church activities.
Parents are concerned with the kinds of friends their children spend time with. It is not wrong for our young people to have friends outside of the church; however, generally speaking our best friends tend to be those of like mind (Amos 3:3).
In the long run, it is our hope that our children will build friendships with those in the Church, date within the Church, and marry within the Church (2 Corinthians 6:14–18). God is pleased when this happens. Camp is not a place to “date” (whether you are a staff member or a camper) but it is a great place to meet people, and a place where many lasting friendships begin. We do have marriages that trace their beginnings to summer camp!
Reason 2: To provide physical activity! God created young people to be active! Unfortunately, many young people grow up in a sedentary setting. Camp provides an opportunity for physical activity. Sports like canoeing, orienteering, volleyball, flag football, softball, swimming and water polo allow campers to be physically active. One of our goals is to promote a “healthy and physically active lifestyle.”
The faculty and staff are dedicated to running the highest quality programs possible. Each activity director carefully constructs a course outline and lesson plans for each activity. A qualified, trained and experienced staff provides hands-on training during each class period. Station-work, drills, and game situations are employed to accomplish maximum results in a minimum amount of time. In addition, adequately staffed activity areas provide an unparalleled camper-to-staff-member ratio for individualized training to occur. Needless to say, there is not much down-time, and campers are kept continually active.
Reason 3: To help campers learn new skills, and to challenge them! Many campers have never been in a canoe before. Many have never camped outdoors overnight. Many have never been in a dance class. We hope to provide opportunities for campers to do new things and learn new skills through a program of well-organized and varied activities. For those who have been a part of the camp program for some time, camp provides an opportunity for them to perfect or fine-tune their skills. For those who have not, camp provides a number of new and exciting opportunities.
The overnight canoe trips on the lake at Alum Creek State Park, located just four miles from Camp Lazarus, Ohio, provide campers and counselors with the opportunity to practice the strokes learned in class over a six-mile stretch of lake. They get to camp overnight in tents, to cook and eat outdoors, and to participate in a number of challenges such as starting a fire without matches, a canoe slalom course, a slingshot contest and a canoeing IQ test. Before returning to the main camp, they enjoy breakfast by the fire, an outdoor Bible Study and a mile-long paddle to the beach at their put-out point.
Other activities include riflery and archery on state-of-the-art covered shooting ranges, with new technology and equipment. Certified and qualified activity directors and members of their staff help to ensure that these activities are fun and safe. Camp also offers public speaking and dance classes. Additionally, baking and jewelry-making classes are offered for girl campers. This last summer, the baking class was taught by two “professional bakers.”
Camp should be challenging! The faculty and staff set high, yet attainable standards. We all strive to get a balance while setting expectations that will stretch campers’ minds and abilities.
Summer camp also provides opportunities for those who are musically talented. Special music is featured each morning and evening during camp. A choir performs each Sabbath, and the entire camp attends the annual “Talent Show” one evening near the end of camp. This year, 22 acts were featured on “An Evening with the Stars”—and what a spectacular evening it was!
Reason 4: To help campers overcome their fears. We all have perceptions regarding what we can or cannot do. How often in life do we pass over opportunities due to fear? At camp (and on the Adventure Trips) we hope to provide campers with the opportunities to face and overcome their fears.
People have all sorts of fears. At camp we encounter campers who have a fear of water, fear of heights, fear of animals, fear of the dark, or fear of speaking in public—just to name a few. The activities offered are designed to help campers conquer their fears. An enormous amount of patience, perseverance and resourcefulness must be exercised by the faculty and staff in accomplishing this goal. We strive to be positive and encouraging while chipping away at these phobias. We understand that conquering fears may have a powerful and far-reaching impact on their lives (2 Timothy 1:7).
Reason 5: To have fun! Camp is a place where young people can have good clean fun in a safe and organized environment. If camp is not fun, it is not worth having! The Scriptures show that Christ came that we might have life, and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). In Tomorrow’s World we read of boys and girls playing in the streets of Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:5).
One of our mottos is: “Work hard, play hard, and live life to the full!” Young people are instructed that they can do anything they want to as long as it fits within the confines of God’s law (Ecclesiastes 11:9). On the other hand, they are warned that anything that involves breaking God’s law is not real and lasting fun. These are more of the values we strive to promote.
Reason 6: To provide daily, biblical instruction via Bible Studies or Sabbath Services on a variety of topics of particular interest to teenagers in God’s Church. At summer camp we begin each activity day with Bible Study. What better way to start the day’s activities! These Bible Studies provide opportunities for instruction and also for the campers and staff to ask questions and give input. Because we are dealing with the young people at camp, these Bible Studies are designed to cover topics of particular interest to young people in God’s Church. We are, after all, a Christian camp! And we are not uncomfortable talking about the things of God. The instruction we give applies in real life. The better job we do in relating to young people—and speaking to them in a manner to which they can relate—the more effective we will be.
Of course we also encourage campers and the members of the faculty and staff to find time for personal prayer throughout the day.
Reason 7: To train leaders. To prepare a people to rule with Christ. Camp provides a “hands-on” opportunity to serve the youth and to learn to work with others in a unique training environment. Although summer camp is for young people, older members of the faculty and staff can benefit greatly from the experience as well! The benefits afforded those serving at camp cannot be overlooked! Camp provides an opportunity for members of the staff to teach, to encourage, and to lead by example.
We are preparing to rule with Christ. Camp provides hands-on experience in leadership training. What a wonderful opportunity to teach and to serve! We are always on the lookout for talented adult staff who love kids, enjoy hard work and are dedicated to upholding Godly principles and values in word and action.
Although our youth programs will never take the place of the parents, we can support parents in their efforts to teach and uphold God’s way of life. Camp can be one more positive experience in the life of a young person. It is our hope that they will look back on their camp experience with fond appreciation, with camp having positively affected their lives.
What About Our Mini Camp Program?
A Mini Camp has been designed to help those parents with small children who come to serve at camp. This year, 20 children ages 12 and under came to camp with parents, brothers and sisters who were either campers or were serving as workers at the camp. The Mini Campers had a full schedule of activities, accompanied by a rest period each afternoon. The younger ones were separated from the older Mini Campers during portions of the day, and were given additional rest as well as activities more suitable for them. From 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, the older Mini Campers participated in a variety of activities before returning to their parents.
Families are encouraged to come to camp, and the Mini Camp program is designed to help make this possible. At the same time, the Mini Campers are able to experience many of the same activities they will enjoy later as campers—just on a smaller scale. For example, the Mini Campers shoot BB guns at riflery class while the teens shoot 22-caliber rifles. The Mini Campers shoot smaller bows with shorter draw length and easier draw-strengths while at the archery range, and at the pool they learn how to float and swim and hold their breath while under water, while the campers learn and perfect their strokes. These are just some ways in which activities are adapted to suit the Mini Campers. Parents, just because you have small children, do not let that keep you from applying to serve at camp.
How You Can Attend Summer Camp
If you are a young person and would like to attend camp, or an adult who would enjoy serving at camp, now is the time to begin planning. Some scholarship money is available for campers, many congregations help to pay the tuition costs for Church youth in their local area, and others send money to help whoever is in need. However, we encourage campers to work hard and save at least a portion of their own money so they can afford to attend. In general people tend to appreciate the things they have had to work hard to attain. There are a number of things that you can do to raise your own money for camp. Some include: fundraising projects, cleaning houses, washing windows, shoveling snow (in some parts of the country), raking leaves, or caring for animals while people are on vacation. Members of the local congregation, or even neighbors, are willing to pay for these services, especially if you are willing to do a good job for less than the going rate. At the same time, you will be learning the value of hard work and how to “close the deal” while pushing yourself to accomplish tasks—the value of which cannot be overestimated.