Last week was one of the greatest weeks of the year – church camp. Seven of the last twelve years I have been privileged to have a small part in a week at Reelfoot Youth Camp sponsored by the Bishop Street Church of Christ in Union City, TN. This year we had a tremendous week of camp with 43 kids, 15 counselors, 2 full-time cooks, and a host of help who came in each day to help with things in the kitchen and craft room. I don’t believe there was a single person there (staff included) that did not have a lot of fun and that is such an important aspect of camp. But while it is important that we all have fun it is obviously not the most important part. The most important part of camp is the time we spend studying the Bible and exalting God in worship. Five such periods take place each day. The mornings always begin with a flag raising which includes a brief devotional period. Then after breakfast the campers break up into three different groups by age and spend two 45 minute sessions in Bible class. Before lunch we always have a short chapel led by our young men. Then in the evenings there are the nightly devotionals and then cabin devotionals just before bedtime. These are all great opportunities to break away from the otherwise busy parts of the day and refocus our minds on the true purpose for being there.
One of my favorite parts of camp, though, are the memories. This year was special for a couple of different reasons. One was that we had so many friends who were able to take the week and come to help in some capacity. These are people with whom we typically get to spend little time throughout the year and so their presence made the week a highlight. But the foremost reason that this year’s camp was special was because it was the first year Kenadie was able to go with us. No she’s not technically old enough to be a camper but when both of your parents are going to be there all week it doesn’t leave a lot of options. She did surprisingly well throughout each day between sleeping in a big bed to handling the late nights and early mornings with relative ease. I look forward to the next many, many years of spending time together at camp making memories and growing spiritually as a family.
As you can probably tell church camp each year holds a special place in my heart as it probably does in many of yours’ as well. It is such a valuable opportunity to impact the lives of young people not only for the rest of their lives but on into eternity as well. I remember a few years ago hearing Ronnie Hayes (preacher at the Adamsville, AL church of Christ) say that church camp is like the revival meetings of the past in their ability to leave a long lasting impression on a number of people all at once. In my experience I believe that is exactly true. If you’re not otherwise engaged come join us next year, July 14-19, at Reelfoot Youth Camp to begin compiling your own reminisces from Reelfoot!
-Andy Brewer