7 Reasons to send your kids to camp this summer

Summer is a time to make memories. It’s the perfect time to go camping with your family, hike, try new cultures, and go kayaking. But there’s one part of summer that kids and parents alike look forward to – and that’s camp!

I remember the first time we sent our kids to camp. They were 7 and 8 and I was nervous. I knew that there were adults overseeing things, but teenaged cabin leaders made me wonder how secure and safe my kids would feel. I was the kind of kid that was always unsure about new environments, and my first camp experience was at a much older age. This camp was only 2-3 days, but I still wondered if they would be homesick, and even wondered if I’d be homesick for them.

In the end, all of my concerns were unnecessary; they had an amazing time and couldn’t wait to go back. I also enjoyed the time it gave us to focus on ourselves, which is something that we haven’t done for a very long time. It is definitely something we want to keep up, even when the kids aren’t at camp.

I’ve been speaking at camps for over 7 years now, and I’ve seen some incredible things happen in the lives of the kids there.

Camp, Your Child’s First Taste of Their Own Faith

There is something deeply and wonderfully special about camp.

There are the incredible experiences and friends, the opportunities to try out things you could never do at home and even the awesome spiritual lessons, leaders and mentors that kids encounter.

But there is something more!

Speaking Life – A New Year’s Challenge for a Family Mission

As many of you know we had an incredibly busy summer. Only being home for less than two weeks all summer was an adventure, but it was also kind of hard on our kids.

As much as they got incredible experiences of being at different camps and doing things like sailing and rock climbing that others may never be able to do, they were worn out and tired by the end.

Melissa and I understood, we were missing home too. We needed to think of a way to bring our children into the experience of serving and ministering to others

A Summer Almost Beyond Words

Imagine a summer filled with amazing weather, tons of camping and driving all over BC… for some of you that sounds amazing, for others not so much.

Now that I have had a week or so to process our summer, I can honestly say that it was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Watching the eyes of a child light up at the reality of who God is to them, that they are His child and they are forever in His family and in His arms. Seeing people, for the first time in their lives, grab their bible and inhale every word as if their very existence depends on it.

Hearing the stories of families, both heart warming and heart wrenching as they open up, as they recognize that through our transparency, they aren’t alone. Hearing bursts of conversation mixed with tears and prayer in cabin groups after presenting the gospel and sharing Jesus’ sacrifice with teens, and hearing camp after camp describe the sheer mass of bibles that were given out at the end of the week, to kids who don’t have them and most often don’t come from homes with faith or church background.

Is there anything better than a summer filled with joy, transparency, community and the Holy Spirit working in the lives of children, teens and families and marriages alike?

The only thing better for us is the tangible reality that God allowed us to be a catalyst as camp speakers at 5 camps over 6 weeks of the summer.

We estimate a total of over 400 campers and an additional 2-300 staff and volunteers that we were able to minister to through our speaking, sharing, counsel and relationships.

We did this in an incredible number of different contexts like marriage, spirituality, leadership, sex and dating and more.

I won’t lie, the summer was exhausting on a lot of fronts, speaking over 10 times a week for 5 of those weeks was stretching and enthralling all at the same time.

We are incredibly blessed and honoured to be tools in God’s hands and to be able to see first hand the direct and immediate impact of what God is doing through us.

To those praying for us, thank you! We desperately needed it, and God showed up, your prayers were answered!

For those supporting us financially and in other ways, thank you so much for enabling us to be used in such incredible ways, we couldn’t do it without you.

Sincerely,

David and Melissa McVety

Camp Bob and a Thirst for God’s Word

Our third camp of the summer was “Camp Bob” which is a strange name I know, when I tell people that where we went they usually end up with a look of confusion on their face. Then I mention that it’s because the lake that the camp is on is called “Roberts Lake” and everything is right with the world again.

Camp Bob is a smaller camp and it’s considered “rustic” because it has outhouses and cabin-like tents instead of cabins. At first I didn’t realise that the tents they used were anything more than a tent we would bring ourselves but they were much better than that, set up on wooden platforms and built for use through the entire summer with thick aluminum poles.

In any case, Roberts Lake is beautiful, deep and clean and almost entirely private.

It was a full camp of about 50 or so kids and there were a number of things that struck me. The tent leaders were mature and incredibly intentional in their discussions with the kids and deeply capable. They also had an incredible culture of encouragement, each day an encouragement partner was drawn from a bucket that you would leave a note for. The staff were also very intentional about laying hands on me as a speaker when the week started. It was a deeply rich environment, which was probably helped by the size of the camp itself.

Speaking throughout the week was fantastic, every morning the tent leaders would share encouraging moments from their discussions and events from the previous day,

One of the most thrilling things was watching kids respond to Jesus, and like previous weeks fall in love with God’s word.

One girl whose name was Aleah, couldn’t keep her eyes on anything else. Everywhere I would see her around the camp she would be reading her bible. Every time I would speak she would come to me and ask where it was that I had referenced so she could read it herself. That same longing seemed to go throughout most of the camp as it seemed like almost all of the campers (that didn’t have them already) wanted bible’s of their own.

Watching her was an incredible reminder of what I can so often take for granted when it comes to reading my Bible. I have the opportunity to read this incredible love letter and message from God, with nothing standing in my way. It’s not an obligation but an opportunity. Thank you Aleah.

One of my greatest honours of my summer is hearing the chorus of voices praying to receive Jesus. Stepping out in faith and speaking out loud words that confirm their commitment to and acceptance of Jesus. It is a beautiful sound that I hope each of you has the chance to hear one day.

I’d like to share with you a portion of an encouragement note I received during the week;

“You might already know this, but God is using you in incredible ways to impact people of all ages. I’ve never seen someone lay out the gospel in such a simple, yet deep way, never leaving anything out, all the while keeping these kids engaged. It’s a true gift God has given you and it’s awesome to see you.”

I can’t tell you how much a note like this means to me, its so easy to get lost and wonder if you’re having any impact at all in the midst of speaking – God used this to encourage me to keep running the race and keep doing what I’m doing.

Thanks again for reading and even better, praying.