Church Camp Blessings

Church camps have been a real blessing to me throughout my life. I went to one when I was in the seventh grade. My Uncle (who is a year-and-a-half younger than I am) talked me into going. I asked him, "What do you do there?"

He answered, " Well, we get up in the morning and we have breakfast. Then we have something like a church service. Later in the morning, we have a class. Then, in the afternoon, we have a class. Later in the afternoon, we play softball or something like that." He only began to get my attention when he started talking about the games. Don't get me wrong, I had been saved for a year, and I did attend my local Free Will Baptist Church--My Zion. "Then we have supper, and get ready for church. Then we have church. Later that night, we play games." The only other thing that got my attention was that we play games again. He didn't tell me how hard it might be to get to sleep.

I went that first year, and I really enjoyed it. I could not explain it, but just like he said, I actually enjoyed going to the classes and going to church so much. I also liked the games and the fellowship with the other young people, but I liked the church services almost the best. It was also exciting seeing those young children come to Christ. We had a camp for all ages from 8 to 18.
I missed the next year, but I was hooked. I went again the following year, and attended every year until I got in college, and then I attended as a counselor even during those years.

One of the great thrills of my life was to later be asked to be the preacher for that same camp.

Another blessing that came from camp has had a far-reaching effect in my life. You see, my senior year in college, I met the lady who is now my wife. I knew then that I was ready to "settle down and get married," and I had a pretty good indication that "she was the one." The only problem is that she was three younger, and time didn't seem to be slipping away for her. She knew she liked me, and she liked me really well, but she didn't want to make a mistake because she "might not be sure [she] even [knew] what 'love' is."

I was the recreation director for camp that year, and I talked her into attending as a counselor. On the first or second afternoon, I was dropping all of the softball equipment out of a bag, and we had kids of all ages crowding around us. That night, she told me that when she saw that she thought to herself that maybe she did love me afterall. She would want to spend her life with someone who would love and minister to kids. That was good enough for me. Her thought that maybe she loved me only grew into the fact that she definitely did!

Then our association of churches wanted to start a camp. Since I was the one who had been asked to be on the board who also had some experience, I was asked to be the director of that first year's camp for Camp Jericho. I got information from the camp I attended as a kid, and I gathered up the schedules from two other camps I had attended. Then a good friend of mine, Glenn Dryden, who had been a director of a camp for over ten years, gave me materials from his camp also. Many of the words in our present guidelines actually came from the guidelines he gave me.

I combined all those documents, and maybe our first camp was a little overscheduled, but I think we all had a wonderful time.

Camp impacted my life in another way. Before we had dormitories, the boys and men stayed in tents. When my second oldest daughter, Ralanna, was dating a young man in which she was interested, we talked him into coming to camp, and the two of them were in charge of the recreational activities. (He had a minor in Bible College for youth ministry.) I suspected that sometime he might want to talk to me because our daughters had been taught that if a potential husband started talking about marriage, they would say something like, "Before I could say, 'yes,' you will have to talk to my Dad."

Anyway, Chip, Ralanna's boyfriend and I stayed in the same tent that week, and that was when he asked me about marrying my daughter. Since Rhonda and I both liked him, and I knew that Ralanna was very interested in him, and since we knew that he was a Christian, I told him that it would be O.K. to pursue the relationship. The whole process was really neat because he included me all along the way, even to the point of telling when he was going to pick out a ring. That was just another area where camp was a blessing.

A third blessing from camp came shortly after that. I attended an evening service during the Sr. (Older Teen) camp at Camp Jericho where my son was playing the piano and another young man, Tommy Dryden, was leading the singing and playing the guitar. I knew Tommy. He is the son of Bro. Glenn who had given me the guidelines for his camp. I had even spent some time at Tommy's school where I answered questions from students about science and mathematics. He and I worked through an elective College Math course together. He was an O.K. kid as far as I was concerned, but I did not know much more about his spiritual commitment. Well, anyway, at this church service at camp, he gave his testimony. He was so open and honest that he impressed me in a whole new way. I went away from that service thinking, "There is a man who loves God!"

Later, my youngest daughter, Rita Beth, got interested in Tommy. Things progressed. We talked, and he and Rita Beth continued to pursue their relationship with each other. Now he is my son-in-law. He had both my, and my wife's, blessing to pursue the relationship; but he did not know that he really won me over that night at camp.

Church camps have impacted my life, and the life of my family, in a great way.

I Just thought I would give this testimony since we saw each other at the camp volunteer meeting this afternoon, and since both of you will be helping in camp this year.