Why Send Kids to Camp This Summer?

This week, we are taking a risk by starting an article that we ask you to complete.  Our pattern so far has not shown great response to these articles, but this one might generate some latent passion.

We believe that our summer youth and kids camps can be strategic to your church.  Here are two major reasons.  But there are many more.  Please help us finish this article by commenting at the end with your reason.  Testimonies are also welcome!

1.  The spiritual needs of our children are not being met.
 

Sunday school has waned, and few children’s ministries fill in the void.  As parents no longer see the priority of another hour in church on Sunday morning, our churches scramble to have a spiritual impact on our children in the short time they are with us.  Even with the best of teachers, we do not have enough devoted time to make disciples of the next generation.  And, honestly, the fact that parents don’t make their children’s spiritual development a high priority indicates that it is not happening at home, as well.

2.  God speaks to campers.
 

It is not the hallowed location, but rather the change of location to seek God.  It is the time set apart to hear from Him.  It’s the total immersion into Christian community, with the corporate goal of life transformation.  The large number of salvations and consecration testify that God shows up.  I am always astounded by the number who hear God calling them to serve him full time, and then they re-direct their lives to pursue that calling. Granted, one doesn’t have to be at camp to hear from God, but at camp they are hearing from God and coming back changed.

3.  (It's your turn.  Please add your reasons for sending kids to camp by commenting below…)

Harris Campbell, Assistant District Superintendent

The Gospel and Abortion

On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (SOHLS) we remember the 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions that legalized the killing of unborn children during all nine months of pregnancy. Since then, 56 million innocent children have lost their lives to abortion, 71,503 in Florida alone in 2013 (by County). By the age of 45, one in three American women will have an abortion.

In John 8:44, Jesus exposed Satan's intention with regard to human life. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning...," later adding, "The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy" (10:10). With these words Jesus identified the agenda of man's arch enemy (Gen. 3:15).

As pastors, SOHLS affords us an opportunity to apply the Gospel to abortion by declaring that the unborn are created by God in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26, 27), and affirming the personhood of the unborn from the moment of conception (Jeremiah 1:5)…  

by exposing the guilt of shedding innocent blood and proclaiming the full pardon available through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Genesis 4:10; Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:14).

by responding pastorally to the post-abortive who bear the trauma, guilt, and shame that inevitably accompany child killing.

by leading God's people to live a "pure and faultless" religion as we "look after orphans and widows in their distress," there being no greater distress  than the orphan abandoned to death by their parents (James 1:27).

And, by challenging God's people to love "your neighbor as yourself," responding with Good Samaritan acts of compassion and mercy to those at risk for abortion in their community (Luke 10:37).

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them" (James 4:17).

(See Pastor John Ensor's message: "Leading Well: A Pastor to Pastor Talk About Abortion" and resources at The Church for Life).

Jim McGarvey is an SED official worker who has served in significant ways within the pro-life movement.