When Did Christian Camping Begin?

In Matthew 14 we read the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand men plus the women and children. He had been teaching them most of the day and as evening approached, the disciples said that the crowd was hungry and needed something to eat. He told His disciples to have the crowd sit on the grass in groups of fifty and then He took five loaves of bread and two fish, prayed over them and fed them all. Perhaps this was the beginning of Christian Camping.

As the Director of Spencer Lake Christian Center, I often look at the crowd of people here and wonder, Do we have enough food to feed everyone? Christian Camping is always a challenge: Will the program meet the needs of those attending? Do we have beds for everyone? Do we have enough staff on duty? How are we going to pay for the repairs on the furnace? Where is the best buy for sports equipment?

As leaders and even as parents, we must learn to trust Jesus to take that which we have and meet the needs that we are facing. After Jesus prayed over the loaves and the fish and fed the crowd, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

I just read that it costs about $204,000 to raise a child from birth through age 17. It is one of the largest investments that we make in life. One of the best ways to protect that investment is to send your child to camp.

Trained leaders provide important spiritual objectives which create a desire, will, and abili ...