Surprisingly still a few days since camp and some people (mostly a handful of adult counselors) are still upset over all the shaving cream at camp. People, it’s called camp. This is the only time when kids can cut loose and bend the rules a little. In years past I have seen much worse pranks that what I saw at Mt. Juliet’s camp. Get over it! Move on. Let go. It’s time to focus on the more positive aspects of camp rather than some silly little shaving cream incident. I’m talking about the friendships that were made, the bonds that were strengthened, the lives that grew closer to God. We have souls to save. We can’t let any high school prank stop us.
We’ve had 4 baptized since our camp with probably more on the way….either a revival or domino effect is taking place (probably a little of both).
It’s time to rate each of the camps I went to this summer. The abbreviations is as follows:
TCC – Taylor Christian Camp, Holland, KY
MCC – Maury Christian Camp – Camp Leatherwood, White Bluff, TN
SMBC – Short Mountain Bible Camp, Woodbury, TN
MJ – Camp Meribah, Centerville, TN
Best food – TCC – only once did I have to fix myself a sandwich
Runner up – SMBC for their high school pizza for lunch one day.
Not so great – MJ – Pizza Bites and salad for lunch? Come on….kids don’t eat salad.
Funniest Skit – TCC – “Hey Big Spender”
Runner up – MCC – “Toast”
Best Prank – TCC- Rolling the tractor tire to the main cabin porch
Most Controversial Prank – SMBC – Chinese Flag on the flagpole
Best Swimming Area – MCC – water temp was just right. Could have been a bit less crowded.
Runner up – MJ – if we didn’t have swim with our shirts on. Lifeguards were probably thinking “Who are these mennonites?”
Camp Most Steeped in Traditions – MCC – same skits year after year
Biggest – SMBC – so big in fact that I feel as though campers are starving for attention and are falling through the cracks. 230 campers does not make for a good camp.
Worst Cabins – MCC – pretty much just shacks
Worst Bathrooms – MCC
Coldest Cabin – MJ – I’m sure we had the air down to at least 65 degrees some nights.
Most spiritual camp – MJ
Not so spiritual – TCC – I felt it could have been better focused on God
Best Fun Activity – TCC – world’s longest slip n slide
Honorable mention – MJ – Drive In movie for kids who hadn’t seen drive-in movies before
Best Entertainment – MCC – Jerry Elder and his guitar
Best Singing – SMBC – 300 people does make for good singing.
Best waterfight – MCC – just because of the waterballoon launcher.
Sentimental Favorite – TCC
New favorite – MJ

I went to VBS at Corinth Church of Christ in Portland today. Everyone seemed to enjoy the camp video that I brought, however it lasted a little too long…or else people’s attention spans aren’t that long.
I did ask Phil about doing camp with the Portland churches. He said that he’d rather have Mt. Juliet to do camp by themselves. I can understand this point of view. Then again, if MJ were to go to TCC with Portland, the camp would pretty much be filled up. Somehow I’d like to get all the people who I became friends with over the summer at various youth camps…to one camp by themselves. But I know this can never happen.
I’ve come to realize that while we have some campers who are very spiritually motivated, we do have a set of young people at camp who are very exclusive toward other people outside of their group. It is a real shame. I have heard from multiple sources that these people are snobs toward others in the youth group.
When did I feel closest to God this past week? On the last night of camp, parents of the younger kids tend to show up for skit night and then take their kids home. This left about 20 or so campers left (mostly high schoolers). After a late night baptism we came back to camp and went to the air conditioned chapel. During this time we went around the room and each told what we enjoyed about camp and what we were taking back from camp. I said I enjoyed the late night cabin devotionals and that I was taking back friendships with me. Afterwards we turned off the lights and sang several songs. My voice was wearing thin, so for a large portion of it I just listened. For the last song and prayer we got into a circle, put our arms on the shoulder of the person next to us. Somehow all barriers had been broken down. This was true worship.
I should have some more pictures of camp up by tomorrow. All of my other pictures are on Kevin’s computer. Kevin should have a picture CD burned for me by tomorrow.
At church we have an automatic phone tree which dials the number of members to play a recorded message. The message can be anything from announcing a gospel meeting or a reminder to bring a potluck dinner for some special event. The problem is that sometimes it is utilized too much. We’ve gotten phone tree announcements for youth group activities and other events that just don’t pertain to us. This past week while I was at camp, several members got phone calls from the phone tree at weird hours of the night. We got one at 4AM Thursday morning. I’m not sure if those operating the phone tree really know how to use it. I feel as though there should be a phone tree policy…i.e. what events should be announced on it and when it can be used.

Back from Camp Meribah. Let’s see…. Here’s a rundown….
Took the kids to a Drive-In movie Sunday night for Stuart Little 2. I inadvertently parked the church van in front of some people who asked me to move it. Man, that church van is hard to drive. Thunder and lightning was crackling all over, but we managed to miss the rain. By the way, I want to suggest a solution that would remedy Stuart Little 3….rat poison.
We found a black snake Monday morning. One of the kids was stupid enough to try to pick it up, in which case the snake bit the kid. No problems….it was non poisonous.
The passenger side window on my car broke while at camp. When I was out at Dickson on Tuesday it gradually started going down. Just my luck is that there was a massive rain storm that day. So rain did get into my car. I’ve already had the driver’s side window fixed twice and the passenger window fixed once. It is a constant problem. I’m going to ask VW to make mine manual windows.
Some of the adult counselors seemed to think the shaving cream had gotten out of control. There was one incident in which the high school boys raided the high school girls cabin. It was over the top and took a bit of cleaning up…..shaving cream all over the floor….pillow feathers everywhere…..etc. However later on, the shaving cream continued. This time it was harmless….shaving cream on the ground….and also as prop on skit night. Some counselors have forgotten what it’s like to be a kid. They are still looking at things from an adult perspective. I see no harm in having shaving cream on the ground.
Being at camp pretty much confirmed to me that Camp Meribah’s facilities aren’t all that great. There’s a huge tin roof gym/kitchen which is not air conditioned. Being in there just gave me a headache since the echos were just so loud. There were very few decent places to have classes at. A plus was that the cabins had air conditioning and were kept very cool at night.
We have some very good kids at Mt. Juliet. I was in a cabin with 3 other adult counselors and 14 boys aged 9 to 12 years old. I was very surprised to find them reading their bibles with little flashlights after lights out. I never saw kids motivated like that before. We have some very spiritually mature kids for being only 12 years old. They love to worship God and are trying their best to get to heaven.