Polar Extremes

All of Me, All-Out for God

Kids, if you’re going to either the North Pole or the South Pole, take along some good secular insulated clothing and survival gear, because prayer doesn’t work.

George??!?! Is that YOU!?!?!?

Given the nature of summer camp, and the amount of persuasion that goes on there (if it’s a ‘camp with a mission’), I’d rather not subject my kid to that. There are plenty of other ways for them to learn various philosophies/theologies. Ways that do not include an artificial high from doing something everyone else is doing… that ends in a hard crash when out of the environment.

BTW, Camp Counselors go through the same high and eventual crash. Even those who stay with the church… it is inevitable. Life is not like camp. I saw some people become full time camp staff, and they kind of stayed ‘kid like’. It was sad, actually. They don’t seem to understand why the rest of the world doesn’t think dressing up and playing games is a little odd when you’re 40.

What I want to address however is the whole “camp” concept. Take a kid away from home, away from their computer or video games or television and put them in a residential situation for a week with strangers, add in lots of blue sky and fresh air, and frankly a kid can be very vulnerable. I’m not saying they are open to the power of suggestion, but they are willing to re-examine basic concepts and beliefs. It’s a time that calls for a very cautious, very careful strategy. It should also be noted that kids (and adults, too) who make “decisions” based on guilt, fear or because others are doing it don’t “stick” to either their beliefs or the organization

However, it’s also a time that also leaves some of the adult leaders, staff and volunteers very vulnerable; vulnerable to extremes; vulnerable to want to do “whatever it takes” to bring change into the lives of impressionable children; vulnerable to want to take those kids to making “next steps.”

So no matter what the founder’s intentions when starting a residential camp program, there’s no guarantee that the interpretation of those intentions by leaders, staff and volunteers won’t leave Camp Quest looking a lot like Jesus Camp.

Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with teaching kids that there is an ideological battle waging, but the problem with the battle motif is that if someone “wins” it means someone else “loses.” What happens when the kids get older and find it’s actually a lot more complicated than that?