 Youth: 4th-12th Grade, July 9-14. Seeds: 1st-3rd Grade July 14-16 Summer Bible Camp = increased faith life and church involvement “Life up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these? The Lord brings out the stars one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of God’s great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” – Isaiah 40:26 Camp engagement was the most frequent response among rostered ministers age 45 and younger who grew up in the ELCA. Among this group, 71% attended Lutheran Outdoor Ministry (LOM) summer camp and 60% served on LOM summer camp staff. A remarkable 67% of this subgroup agreed that their camp experiences were instrumental in their call to rostered ministry. I’m no longer in that age range, but I attended Bible Camp and served as a Counselor, Adventurist, Program Director and Site Director in LOM. I am a pastor primarily because of summer Bible camp. A quote I share with camp staff is true for me. “You can’t change a kid’s life in a week, but you can give them the week of a lifetime.” For me Jesus became more personal, more real, a relationship instead of an activity when I attended camp, both as a camper and as summer staff. I asked the St. Luke’s youth last night prior to campfire worship why youth should go to camp. Their responses were much like mine as a youth:
Above is the theme verse for the week. Just as God creates and calls forth the stars, God does so with each one of us. So I read the verse like this: “When I look to the campers, who created all of these? The Lord brings forth each child one by one and calls forth each one by name. Because of God’s great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” If you want to join in the Bible Studies, please click: HERE Know that all of you are in our prayers. Please keep us in yours. Would love to hear your prayers and your camp stories share it in the comments.
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