Inspire, Fall 2001

decisions while at camp." Bill added,"The most obvious change is to witness the transformation of staff members who have dedicated themselves to service. You can literally watch the change in their Christian maturity. They grow through their labor together, sharing together, and rejoicing together in ministry. They gain more and more confidence in the power of the Lord to be used in His service." Bill shared,"One example is the testimony of a boy who was encouraged to go to camp by his pastor in 1984, my first summer at Skyview. His name was David Mullins'96.Afew years later, David applied to be a staff member because he wanted to give back to Skyview what was given to him by his counselors. Coming from an unsaved family, he called Skyview his Christian home.After a couple of years as a staff member,he went to Cedarville, where most of his counselors came from each summer.Then he came back as a counselor and grew in his abilities and confidence in the Lord.In his last year on summer staff, he was an intern and summer program director to be used in impacting the lives ofcampers.Three years later he was called to be pastor of our local church." What is it that makes Christian camp so uniquely successful at reaching youth? Ken Rudolph,renowned youth speaker, said,"Camp isolates a teen from 'culture crutches'like TV, computer,and music.They can take the week to focus on spiritual needs. Taking them out oftheir comfortzone is key to getting them to focus on spiritual issues." Camp Patmos' Executive Director Lynn Rogers'54 added,"The influences on young people today through television, MTV,CDs,drugs,and wholesale promiscuous sex are very, very powerful. When they are in our Christian camp environment,they have to leave behind those other influences. This then gives them a special opportunity to respond to the Word of God,and many,many, many ofthem do." Alisia Carlson,a 13-year-old camper who attended Camp Cherith in Ohio,said that getting away from the day-to-day influences indeed helped her focus."It allowed me to think about how my life is going since I could step away from my usual routine. I got to meet new people—some who helped bring me closer to the Lord and others whom I got to witness to." In response to why camp was more conducive to spiritual enrichment than church youth activities, Alisia said,"Because you're there every day,so you're constantly being exposed to Christian fellowship rather than weekly youth group meetings. When you live in a cabin, you get close to your bunkmates and so you talk more and get into other teens'lives, whereas when you just see them on a weekly basis, you don't get as close." "Camp is relationships. I view camp as a small-group discipleship week," added Norm."Each counselor is given a group ofcampers with whom they must build relationships 14 Fall 2001