SermonStudio

Church Camp


Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" (vv. 2-7)


During the summer of 1996, I agreed to serve as one of two co-deans for our district camp for junior and senior high students. I was new to the district and had not previously worked with any of the youth or leaders. I was asked to lead the camp because of my experience in youth ministry. My partner was a minister with virtually no youth ministry experience, but he had attended the camp the previous year.

I might as well be honest; it was bad experience for me. I referred to that week as "The Camp From Hell." The camp had a history of high leadership turnover, which caused a situation where the inmates were running the asylum. I had been the dean of several camps and brought that leadership to the camp, but my new ideas didn't mesh with the local traditions. Since I had no prior relationship with these youth, I had no credibility to institute change, and with only a one-year term at the camp, my co-dean didn't carry any weight either. We had a mutiny on our hands.

One night during worship, we had a youth give his testimony. He told about dealing with the death of a friend and how his faith was crucial to emotional recovery. Now that sounds fine, but we later learned that the young man told the same story every year. The purpose for sharing the story was not to proclaim the healing nature of Christ. Instead, it was an effort to make the young girls cry so that he and his friends could comfort them and play the heroes.

We had campers calling their parents to come and pick them up because they were homesick. They were leaving and then we wouldn't discover their exodus until after the fact. In some cases, other adult leaders knew but were not passing on the information.

We had other staff issues. One younger staff member clearly stated that she wasn't at camp to help with the junior high group with whom she was assigned. Instead, she was at camp to hang out with senior high campers -- friends from her time as a camper.

Vandalism was also a problem. Boxes of feminine hygiene products were thrown into the pool, which clogged the filter and shut the pool down for several weeks. Red Kool-Aid was put into a showerhead that eventually was sprayed on one of the ladies from the cleaning crew.

The one incident that stayed with me after camp, occurred late in the week. During the time everyone was scheduled to be in a small group study session, I came across a couple of high school youth -- a young man and young woman -- sitting on a bench. Already knowing the answer, I asked them, "Where are you supposed to be?"

The tall young man responded, "Right here."

Bold defiance and I are not good friends. He insisted that his leader gave them permission to leave the group. I insisted that as the dean I was a higher authority, and there was no reason for the two youth to leave their group and be alone. They both needed to return to their small group. He did so reluctantly, but I could tell he had no use for me. He had been coming to camp for six years. It was his senior year, and he was ready to rule.

I struggled greatly with the incident and the whole week because, to that point, I had never failed to relate to youth. I had always garnered respect. At thirty, I was young enough to relate and had the experience to lead.

The next year, I reluctantly agreed to return to camp, but not as the dean. Instead I was a small group leader. This time we chose deans who had long-time relationships with the youth. Because of their history, the adults were able to reclaim the camp and set the agenda. We did away with the traditional Thursday evening dance. Several other frivolous things were taken away as we put more emphasis on spiritual matters. As was to be expected, the youth complained, but the adults were unified, and the main leaders were trusted.

The first day at camp, all the youth were assigned to the small groups that they would meet with four times a day. Guess who was assigned to my small group; the tall young man who had exchanged words with me the previous year. Both of us were concerned about spending that much time together. He had just graduated, and it was his last year to attend camp. He felt his last week of camp was now shot.

However, it turned out to be serendipitous. We got a chance to start over. We had the opportunity to get to know each and understand each other. I discovered he wasn't a bad kid. He discovered I wasn't a stick in the mud.

At the end of the week, he came to me and said something so insightful. He told me, "I figured it out. At school I sang in the show choir. The teacher always reminded us, 'It's show choir.' I finally figured out that this is church camp."

For seven years he had attended camp. He finally discovered that the emphasis at church camp was the church part. The adults gave of their time to help the youth grow in faith. That was the purpose of the week. The light bulb went on.

For three years, Peter, James, and John had been involved in ministry with Jesus. But it took the Transfiguration for the bulb to light up. With a flip of a switch, Jesus became dazzling white and they were beginning to understand who he was -- not just a prophet or a lawgiver but the Son of God. The disciples didn't fully understand, but there was enough illumination that they were starting to get it.