Last week I was at Jr I.A. Camp. When I arrived at Oak Ridge they asked if there was anything that I would want to continue to be involved with that I would need to be gone from the church for. I told them about this camp. I have been attending this camp for 5 years. I have served in various capacities and have truly grown to love the kids. My dear friend, Billy Wayne, leads the camp. His ministry, Vision Productions, pays the way for many of the campers to attend the camp. Many of the campers are from very difficult situations and we get the chance to love them with the love of Christ for a week. It is a truly special camp and I hope to be involved with it for years to come.
In years past I served as a counselor/small group leader. Last year I had the privilege to serve as co-Camp Dean (I was the male Camp Dean and my dear friend Mary McClure, who is awesome, served as the female Camp Dean - I got to spend a night in the ER with her after she was bit by a spider on Tuesday evening, we finally got back to camp at 7am and camp kicks off at 7:45am so we rearranged some things for that morning and we each got about 3 hrs sleep and then hit the ground running!). As Camp Dean I deal with "behavior issues" with male campers, resource counselors, and lead the Jr Counsleors. This year was crazy! I was co-Camp Dean, small group leader, and got to drive the ministry's bus! Billy's ministry, Vision Productions, had a church donate a 1983 big yellow school bus and since I was the only one attending the camp with my CDL so I got to drive the beast. I found out about driving the bus 2 days before leaving for camp. I had to go and get my DOT physical the day before leaving (luckily there was no coughing necessary - lol). After driving the bus for a week on narrow, winding country roads and through downtown Gatlinburg I now have a new found respect for my father-in-law who drove a school bus for 30 yrs! The driving was not difficult the 55 screaming campers and lack of air conditioning was.
The camp was amazing. The Jr Counselors did a great job and I was blessed to serve with them. They listened to us and were attentive to the Spirit as He lead. As for my small group they were a pleasure to serve. My Jr Counselor, Lindsay, and I had little to no trouble. The small goups compete in a points competition and we won! That makes 4 out of 4 times as a small group leader that the small group I served won! That really sounded boastful but seeing the kids in the small group pumped after hearing the final score is the best and the camp is truly about them. It was awesome to see how the small group embraced what we were instilling in them by serving others throughout the week (this is what put us over the top) and by the end of the week they were serving without any prompting - so awesome!
As for the week, we had 55 campers and it was amazing to see how God moved! We were able to see 12 campers emabrace Christ as Savior and 15 others rededicate their lives! It is humbling to see Him do what only He can do! I look forward to next year and to hopefully having further involvement with Billy and his minstry here at Oak Ridge.
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