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Being a youth director in a church is an odd job. In order to be effective you have to simultaneously do the following:

  1. Be theologically sound in your teaching
  2. Be fun 
  3. Be just strict enough so you do not devolve into chaos because of #2
  4. Build community
  5. Have enough food to satisfy ravenous teens

Even when I manage to do all the above wonderfully during confirmation class or a youth event, I will be the first to admit that only a fraction of the faith formation I intend will actually land fruitfully. Week in and week out the youth and I will trudge through catechism and Bible verses hoping to get one or two glimpses of impact before chaos erupts.
 
And this is why I take kids to camp. Some youth programs go fairly dormant in the summer. At Living Lord, we go full bore. I am busy with youth focused events for a minimum of 4 weeks each summer. Why? Because camp is where community truly forms and it places young people in space and time where they can encounter Christ. Do not get me wrong; we work on these two critical things all year in confirmation, youth group, and monthly events. I will even say I have a gift for communicating to young people well and setting up space for them to grow in their faith. But it will never compare to what I see happen at camp.
 
If you talk to my recent graduates and current high schoolers, I will guarantee most of them will site either Leadership Lab, Confirmation Camp, or Wilderness Canoe Base as being the prime experiences that pulled them into the community, we have at Living Lord. These are the 'mountaintop experiences' we talk about frequently. Even my own son who grew up inside the church would admit that the summer he served as a mentor camper and attended Leadership Lab in late high school was the moment Oliver truly connected with God. 
 
Ok Chad, but why does camp do more than all the hours you spend in youth ministry? Here is what I believe:

  1. Camp takes kids out of their 'world' and puts them in a different space where they can experience the presence of God. Some places do this better than others. Leadership Lab has perfected this over 60 years of experience. Wilderness Canoe Base does it by simply disconnecting kids form civilization and dropping them in a literal wilderness.
  2. Good camps let kids be themselves. One of my big tenets in youth ministry is that I want the church to be a place where we do not put expectations on kids about who they should be. When kids get to be themselves, they begin to see themselves as God truly sees them. This alone can be transformational.
  3. Camp challenges kids in a safe place. Canoe Base is hard on numerous levels. The supports they normally lean on are gone. It is physically challenging and literally exhausts you at the end of the day. But in that space, you have people who help you succeed in doing hard things. Lab does the same but more on spiritual, emotional and social levels. 
  4. Camps build community. Camp songs, chants, shared stories, and group jokes are fundamental experiences at camp. These create bonds that are lifelong. These things will take kids who have never met and make them brothers and sisters within days. The hardest part of Leadership? Getting the kids to leave at the end.

God is always calling to us. He wants to be in our lives daily and we can find Him at home or church. But at camp, the boundaries between heaven and earth become thinner, God's Word becomes louder, and our hearts seek deeper connection. So, despite the exhaustion of a busy summer, I will continue to give young people as many opportunities as possible to encounter God. And camp does it better.

Chad Ryberg
Director of Youth Ministries