samwise the brave

this week was our 5th wednesday gathering.  when a month has a 5th wednesday we use the day to deepen the sense of  community we share as a staff.  we usually get out of the office for a few hours.  since this month we were in the middle of camp new hope, we went out to the camp to hang with the kids from our camp.  two fun things happened while we were there.

the first was jeff selph, myself and a camper being tapped by shoe-dini (our own kevin rush) to participate in a skit after the meal.  i wasn’t really prepared to capture the whole experience.  but the great shoe-dini asked us to remove a shoe.  which we did  and then…check out this clip…

not too much later, as we thought the campers were headed out for rest time, scott hall the executive director turn the tables and invited the campers to invite us to join in on one of their songs about joe and the button factory…check out this clip…

we had a lot of fun.  given the transitions were pushing through it was good medicine for us all.  glad we did it…good memories all around.

one of the deep memories for me has been summer camp.  early on my parents sent me off to skyview over by millersburg.  then the camp was owned by former browns footballer vince costello.  a few years later my parents sent me to a church camp and literally for the next 30 years i didn’t come home.  i moved from camper to counselor to director the last three years i went.

so now that i’m pastor by vocation i’ve had the pleasure helping create the process of getting our kids to camp.  given the buys nature and the newness of our outpost we’re starting with building summer camp into the dna of our spiritual process for youth.  my hope is that in a few years we can add a teen session to our summer calendar.  so yesterday was our first day.  the campers arrived at 5:00 got checked in and then dinner.  after dinner they spent the evening building community.  it was fun to hear the laughter from the field.  several moments stood out to me last night.  the first was the “lowering of the flag”.  it was sort of amazing as thc campers assembled from having played really hard at the foot of the flag pole.  by cabin they stood there silent as our amazing program director ben shared the process for the closing each evening.  then christiana one of the amazing counselors lowered the flag and helped fold it neatly. here’s some video…

the most important part of camp is the heart of the counselors.  all these young guys and gals are amazing.  there’s more to think about but i need to head off to join them for breakfast.  i’ll leave  you from one of the “you repeat back” songs that they were introduced to last night.  if you think about it, please share your favorite memory from summer camp.