 | | Camp challenges kids on rope courses. Courtesy Camp Qwanoes. |
One of the many thriving camps in B.C. is Camp
Qwanoes, which reports last year’s attendance as their largest ever:
3,447 campers. They report 1,700 campers making first time commitments to
Christ over the past two summers, with over half of the campers coming from
non-church backgrounds.
The following is a selection of quotes from campers
and helpers, to give some sense of the life at camp:
• “Last night we had such an amazing
discussion – there were so many lives changed. My guys were crying,
praising God, pouring out in emotion. I wish you could have heard their
stories down at the beach.”
• “I had a camper who came to camp knowing
something in his life was missing, and he was filling that void with drugs
and alcohol. At the middle point of the week he decided to live his life
for God. At the end of the week, we presented him with a Bible – and
it never left his side.”
• “I didn’t know life can be like
this. There is so much weight off my shoulders.”
• “I’ve known about God for a long
time – but two days ago I became a follower!”
• “One of my boys said: ‘When I grow
up, I want to turn into a man – a real man – one that loves
God.’ He does not get to hear about God at home. He’s an
orphan, and he wants to now know his heavenly Father.”
• “During the first night, we asked our
girls who they thought God was. Many didn’t know. One said he was
God, and one said: ‘He’s a man and he’s dead now.’
We talked about Christ, about who he was, and why he died. That it was
because he loved us. When she heard this, she did not know what to say. At
the end we gave campers the chance to pray, and she decided to.”
• “One of my campers started to get tears
in his eyes last night. He asked me: ‘What about my mom and sister? I
want them in heaven with me!’ I explained that God has chosen him to
be a light in his house. I said that he can share the light of Jesus in his
family now.”
• “All of the kids in my cabin became
Christians this week; they went 180 degrees. Many are from my home town,
and they have no church. I’m going to ask them to come with me to
church.”
• “Yesterday, I overheard a homesick girl
who was talking on the phone with her mom. She said: ‘There’s
just something exciting every night. I can’t leave. They keep doing
it every night! And there’s even a carnival tonight!’”
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• “All my girls are from my town. I
actually served them this past year at Red Robin, where I worked.
“They left a necklace as a tip. I kept it.
I’ve been praying for them since. Now I’m their counsellor! I
had been praying for them since I served them that day. I had never seen
them before.”
• “I had a girl in my cabin, who became a
Christian last year. At the end of Q-Town last night, she started crying.
She said: ‘Last year I came to love God, but I forgot about him when
I went home. How can he forgive me?’ I got to share with her about
God’s forgiveness and love.”
• “I can’t believe that Jesus loved
me that much, that he’d actually die for me.”
• “This was the best week of my whole life.
Can you be my counsellors forever?”
One counsellor shared: “Seven of my campers live
only 10 minutes from my church. They said to me: “We’re going
to go to your church.” None of them had attended a church before they
went to camp.
Finally, a mother shared the following at a family
retreat:
“I came three years ago, for the first time. I
brought my kids. I had a good time. But in terms of religious contents,
I was really a skeptic, so we remained separate from it. This year,
though, something transpired here.
“I think it had something to do with the
collective sense of serving. It really touched me. There was an embracement
that hap-pened . . .
“There’s a re-igniting that’s
happening within me – from when I was a child, when the best time of
my week was going to church. But this shifted in my life as I grew.
“There’s something here in this place. A
sense of collective belonging with people. I want to thank everyone.”
April 2009
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