What Summer Camp Meant to Me

This morning I’m up in Nashville visiting our students at M-Fuge summer camp. Besides brushing up on my ultimate frisbee skills, I look forward to hanging out with them and building some relationships outside of the church building.

Growing up, summer camp was absolutely pivotal to my spiritual journey. I went to camp every summer I could as a teenager. Always to the magnificent Jenness Park, the mountain air combined with the beautiful scenery seemed to help me connect with God better.

When I was sixteen, I felt God calling me to ministry while at a Centrifuge camp. I had struggled with the idea for years, but at camp I knew that ministry was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. At eighteen I attended my final Centrifuge camp as a student. While there, I felt God calling me to short-term missions, a commitment that would lead me to Africa after I graduated college. Those two pivotal decisions were made at camp. Summer camp will always be special to me because of that.

As if that weren’t enough, there’s one more incredible reason I have fond memories of camp: I met my wife at camp. In 2001, Robin and I were working as Centrifuge staffers at Ridgecrest in 2001. Because staffers weren’t ‘technically’ allowed to date, we ‘technically’ didn’t even notice each other until the last day of camp. Ten months later, we were married.

I’m a huge fan of camp because of what it’s meant to me. Pray for our students as they’re at camp this week.