Camp

7-30-08 – Laguna Christian Retreat – Panama City, FL - I’m in the middle of my third camp this summer with three more to go before the end of August. Some of the camps I am attending as a sponsor with our church and others I am preaching at them.
I love camp. I was called to preach at youth camp at the Pineywoods Baptist Encampment located outside of Groveton, TX on July 4, 1985. God really changed my life at that camp and at Super Summer the week before.
I’ve watched God transform the lives of hundreds and hundreds of students over the past twenty years. Earlier this summer I watched as God gloriously save and transform a troubled young man from Dallas and saw his countenance change. That is the power of the God and the power of the gospel.
Camp is great. We are able to pull away from all the distractions of the world and focus on God and His word. The saturation of God and His presence can literally overwhelm and lead people into great and wonderful encounters with the Lord. It happens all the time. Over and over again children, students, and adults are powerfully touched while attending camp.
The troubling thing about camp is that often the decisions that are made at camp seem to fade once people return home. Why? God never intended that our local churches be youth camp or children’s camp. We don’t have recreation time. We don’t do cheers to promote team spirit. We do not have scheduled quiet times built into each day for everyone. We don’t have worship services every night. So we come back from youth camp and we start the slow fade back into our old patterns of behaviors and habits. How can this be?
Is God not able to keep that which He has begun in us? He is absolutely able to keep us. [Phil 1:6] He is faithful to work out and guard that spiritual work that He has started in us, even when attending camp and coming back home.
Sadly, our churches are often more concerned with form than function. We get so caught up with rules, regulations, routines, and rituals that we miss the presence of the living Christ who touches and transforms lives. While majoring on these lesser issues we can fail to major on the issue of knowing Christ.
If we could exalt the greatness of Christ in our music, teaching, and preaching, perhaps camp highs would not fade so easily. If we could be captivated by the incredible greatness of Jesus Christ that we encourage and foster and enjoy at camp back in our local churches, camp highs might become Christian normal living.
When Jesus was transfigured, Peter wanted to stay on the mountain and bask in that glorious experience. Jesus took them back down the mountain because there was ministry to be done back there. Camp is good but there are always ministry needs back home.
It is the same with us. We have needs to meet and ministry to do once we return back home. I just received a phone call back in Paradise informing me that a lady in our church has fallen ill and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance.
Camp is good but the ministry needs are in large part back home. We have a full day left here in Panama City before returning home. I love camp but I love home more.
Camp is not a real indication of the real world. We isolate ourselves and retreat from the world. The real world does not schedule our days for the purpose of seeking God. The real world is full of real distractions but the real world is also full of real people who are really lost and without a relationship with Christ. The one great comforting thought I have about leaving camp is that the same great God I have been meeting with in Panama City, FL is the same God who is present and ready to meet me back in Paradise, TX and all points in between. He was the same God who met with me at the camp in East Texas I preached at the first of the summer and the same God who moved powerfully in my life on the campus of Mary Hardin Baylor University back in Belton, TX. He mighty to save and transform lives not only in camp but also in our local communities as well.
I love camp but I do not have to have worship bands, scheduled quiet times, and especially recreation times to make my Christian experience. I have God and He captivates and is more than enough for me.