Familiar Yet Different.... I Love Redberry

Summer camps hold a special place in my heart, and probably none more than Redberry Bible Camp. Love it. I spent 8 summers there as CIT, Camp Counsellor, Advanced Team, Program Director, and then Associate Director. I have so many memories of those summers that are fun to think back on.

I had the privilege of being the camp speaker at Redberry this past week. I have done some camp speaking a few times over the past few years, but not since having my sweet little bundle of,,,,, energy!!! It was a 3-day camp with 120 campers in attendance and I did have Jett at camp with me. Mitch dropped us off and helped us move in, and then he was able to come back to Redberry for the last night and day.

When I walked into the opening staff meeting, I was surprised to see how few faces were there that I recognized. I tried to picture some of them 10 years younger; I thought it might help. There was an unofficial reunion there, though. A former Associate Director and his wife (Bryant and Lynette) were volunteering at camp while their two girls were campers. It was great to see Tim and Kelsie (Site Manager) along with their three girls, too.  There were a few campers at camp who are children of former staff members. It’s crazy to think how things are coming full circle!

Sarah Jane even made it out on Thursday with her sweet girl, Olivia. That was a funny experience as she and I reminisced about our time at Redberry. I couldn’t look back on camp memories without thinking of Jane! She and I spent much time together working there and we even shared the job of Associate Director. It was funny because, there we were looking out at a very familiar place, yet we have grown up and changed so much. We were both holding our babies, feeling much older than the last time we would have stood in that same spot together.

Jane had come along as a chaperone for a group from Appleby Drive that came out for the day to use the facilities and experience camp. Dana (another good  friend who worked out at camp for at least one summer) was leading the group.  She was busy keeping them organized, but it was fun to see her there, too.

It was great to spend time with Jeff and Jenn (the Camp Director and his wife) and Jetty had fun playing with their sweet little Maelle. Jenn and I enjoyed taking our kiddos in the pool after lunch each day.

It was a great week to be at camp. Every day was around 30 degrees and the rain only came at night or early morning. Aside from the gazillions of feasting mosquitoes and relentless horse flies, it was near paradise.

When I have thought about the role of a camp speaker, it’s difficult to not feel overwhelmed. I believe that it is my responsibility to share a clear gospel message in a way that these kids can connect with; and I don’t take that lightly. I believe that God has gifted me in the area of teaching and I love connecting with a group of kids. Truthfully, though, I don’t always feel that I have the gift of evangelism and when it comes to sharing the “meat and potatoes” of the gospel, the crucifixion and resurrection, I get nervous. I am SOOO thankful that I am not responsible for changing the heart of anyone. I leave that up to the Big Guy.

Only about 40% of the kids that come to camp are from church homes, so many of them know nothing or very little about God and the bible. I really felt like I needed to start at the very beginning of the bible, Creation and the Fall, so that kids could hopefully come to understand WHY we need saving. I emphasized that sin is a major problem because it separates us from God. We talked about what sin is and why separation from God is bad. 

Later, we also went over the fact that there is NO possible way that we can get to God, solve our sin problem, on our own. We talked about who Jesus is, what He stood for, how He was different from others, what He taught, how He NEVER sinned, and how He was the key ingredient to God’s master plan to save us from our sin. When it came time to share about how Jesus died to take away our sin, I believe God gave me the words to say, because I was very nervous about that talk. It was around the campfire, and I was blown away at the focused attention the kids gave me. I believe that’s not to MY credit. My prayer is that they really “got it”. I know some "seeds" were planted, some for the first time, and I praise God for that.

For our last chapel session, I focused on what it looks like to live a life that honors God. We talked about changes that happen in your heart, and how even though we’ll always wrestle with sin, our desire will be to live as Jesus did.

During the closing program, I gave a short overview of the things I talked about during each chapel session. It was interesting to see the faces of the kids’ parents. I could see in their eyes and I could sense that this Gospel message was foreign to some of them. My prayer is that God may grab a hold of them through their children.

Many things change as time passes at Redberry Bible Camp. The faces in leadership are definitely different (and younger), but I am thankful that the passion remains the same. There was, there is, and I pray that there always will be a desire and a passion to see young people grow closer to God, whether it’s hearing the Gospel for the first time, making a first-time decision to follow Christ, or deepening a previously established relationship with Jesus. 

***I realize that there is not much scenery shown in these pictures, but I was trying to avoid taking pictures of other people's kids. I do not feel at liberty to display photos of the campers.