Summer Camp and Your Calling
Like other youth workers, my students love going away to summer camp. We have a camp that our church supports so many of them go there and they sing the praises of Lakeside. Other families in our church return to the camps of their childhood and they take their teens with them. Our church families attend 5-7 different camps over the summer. They return almost glowing from excitement because of what they experienced with God, other believers, and God’s creation.
I love what happens at camps; the bonding, the dynamic worship, the excitement and more. Despite all these great things, I don’t think I’d ever be able to minister at a Christian camp.
A few years ago a friend discussed the possibility of me joining his ministry team. This ministry hosts camps around the country, during the summer for Christian students. The idea was very tempting. I would be able to give 8-10 talks and master them by giving them everywhere I went. My family would be able to travel with me, driving cross-country (no private jets, this isn’t a televangelist’s ministry), and be with me during the summer. The worship team would always be dynamic. There would always be a big crowd of students and we would almost always deliver a life changing experience.
It never was officially offered and it was tempting but not for long. I realized that it’d be a fun ride but that it wasn’t the real world. Great things come from camp experiences but they are a short season in life, they are not life itself. I’d rather deal with the grunge work of day to day church ministry than the mountain top experiences that we associate with camp. Church youth ministry often isn’t glamorous but it's impact will last much longer because we provide a long term relationship during the times of broken hearts, stupid mistakes, questioning faith, out right rebellion. We’re also there during the times when they take what they’ve learned at camp or church and share their faith with their friends and that friend comes to faith.
Work is difficult, whichever work you may be doing, but I hope that you keep your eyes on the prize that God has set before us. Don’t be discouraged in the day to day grunge of your calling but be glad that God allows you to serve students and see lives changed, both in your church and at camp.
I love what happens at camps; the bonding, the dynamic worship, the excitement and more. Despite all these great things, I don’t think I’d ever be able to minister at a Christian camp.
A few years ago a friend discussed the possibility of me joining his ministry team. This ministry hosts camps around the country, during the summer for Christian students. The idea was very tempting. I would be able to give 8-10 talks and master them by giving them everywhere I went. My family would be able to travel with me, driving cross-country (no private jets, this isn’t a televangelist’s ministry), and be with me during the summer. The worship team would always be dynamic. There would always be a big crowd of students and we would almost always deliver a life changing experience.
It never was officially offered and it was tempting but not for long. I realized that it’d be a fun ride but that it wasn’t the real world. Great things come from camp experiences but they are a short season in life, they are not life itself. I’d rather deal with the grunge work of day to day church ministry than the mountain top experiences that we associate with camp. Church youth ministry often isn’t glamorous but it's impact will last much longer because we provide a long term relationship during the times of broken hearts, stupid mistakes, questioning faith, out right rebellion. We’re also there during the times when they take what they’ve learned at camp or church and share their faith with their friends and that friend comes to faith.
Work is difficult, whichever work you may be doing, but I hope that you keep your eyes on the prize that God has set before us. Don’t be discouraged in the day to day grunge of your calling but be glad that God allows you to serve students and see lives changed, both in your church and at camp.
Originally appeared in Interlinc's YLO (Youth Leaders Only) Spring 2004
posted by Len at 2:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home