Camp 2010 Full Video

Baptisms Video

Here is the link to the baptisms video, which will start with the edited video with music and is followed by the unedited footage.

Camp 2010 Pictures

Click here to view all of the pictures taken this year at Camp 2010!

Friday

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Here we are at Friday, the last full day of camp. There is a full day of activities planned and part of that activity involves starting to pack up and prepare for the trip home.

The final morning devotional took place today. it is quite a blessing to hear all of the campers raise up their voices in unison and in praise to God. There is a common joy that was present during the devotional this morning.

The bible study is a continuation of our study of covenant. We have been made more aware of the covenant that God has established with us and of the love and protection that comes from that covenant.

Today is the second sweet heart kickball game for the younger campers. One of the staff members overheard the younger campers making a covenant with one another. They formed an agreement on which girl that would not pick and leave available for the other. There are several that are considering being baptized tonight and Danny relayed that the letter that have been written are full of covenant language. The teaching this week has brought a new concept into the hearts and minds of the campers.

The older campers went on the cable hike today and also went out to buzzard's roost.
The games today are championship games. One of the wonders of camp is that the volleyball and softball games are played with the highest level of Christian spirit. It is joyful to see how the counselors and older campers encourage and make the younger campers a part of the team. Everyone on a team from the most gifted athletes to the least gifted athletes are able to make a positive contribution to the team. I just can't say enough good things about how the athletic contests are conducted and of the wonderful spirit that is part of the competition.

In fact that is one of the wonderful things about camp. There is a true unity and belonging that we all experience. Everyone is embraced and made a part of camp. Much of this unity and embracing of all is led by the college and late high school age young people that the counselors and staff members.

For activities tonight we had formal night. The counselors, some of the staff, and some of the campers had formal wear that could be found at the Goodwill store. There were a variety of awards given. Also we were entertained by Wally Nelson and Johnny Carsh of the music mafia. As with karaoke night, you need to see this to understand the level of entertainment that is provided.

We rejoice because there were 14 baptisms tonight. The following people were baptized tonight: Aaron Holt, Rachel Bean, Jacob Barnes, Montana Gaines, Jennifer Rochelle, Tucker Barnes, Bethany Henegar, Chandler Seal, Jessica Moffit, Camden Angell, Jackson Elkins, Gage Bentley, Chip Linville, and Jake Linville.
We closed the day with some devotional time in the B lodge.

This closes out another year of camp. Tomorrow we will finish packing up and go home.

-Article and photos by Keith Taylor

Thursday

If you can't see the slide show, click here to go directly to the web album.




Today we were greeted with the coolest weather of the week. In fact the weather has been about as ideal as it gets today. After three full days of camp there were a bunch of weary looking campers that arrived for breakfast this morning.

After flag raising, anniversary awards were given to the following people: Jennifer Sherrill-20 years, Sherrie Murray - 15 years, Alisa Taylor - 25 years, and Frank Batson - 35 years.

One thing that happens as part of the morning devotional is that the campers from one of the boy's cabins leads a portion of the devotional time. After seeing the young men lead devotional and seeing the campers during this week I want to let you know that you children have amazing hearts. I know at times that you may wonder if they are hearing you. Let me encourage you to know that they hear you and encourage you to keep on teaching them about God.

The activities for today was sweet heart kickball for the older campers. As usual the game ended in a tie. The younger campers hiked to Buzzard's roost. For those of you who have been to camp this hike is down a smaller trail that starts at the parking lot. Also since the hike did not take all of the scheduled time, the counselors sat down on one of the benches, and had the campers sit and look at them. Then each counselor said a word in succession trying to string together a story. The campers had a blast at watching their counselors, and didn't want the time to end.

In crafts they "boon doogled". I don't have any idea how to spell this word. They made lanyards and they worked with the beads as well. Today is the last day of crafts. There craft staff wants to make sure that you do not wash the tye dyed socks with anything else for their first wash. They didn't want you to share the dye with any of your other clothes.

We had athletic contests in the early afternoon. At any one time there are two volleyball contests and two softball contests underway.

We went to the pool again tonight. The campers participated in limbo contest, a belly flop contest, a biggest splash contest, a statue contest (If you don't know what this means, ask Danny Gregg), and a basketball dunk contest.

Tonight was "When I grow up what do I want to be". The counselors shared a number of outfits representing several different occupations.

We ended the next to last day of camp with some devotional time.

-Article and photos by Keith Taylor

Wednesday

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The middle of the week has arrived. Wednesday is the day we get some extra sleep. However, even with the extra sleep, there were sure some tired looking campers this morning. The days are cooler than at the first of the week, so the being outside has been much more pleasant.

The bible lessons centered around the protection that we have from God that comes from the covenant relationship that we have with the Father. They specifically talked about the armor of God as is found in the book of Ephesians.

The activities for the day were younger camper sweetheart kickball. One of the things that is amazing to see is the fear that the younger campers have about sweetheart kickball. To illustrate this, one young man came to the field quite ill and was given permission to not play. The sweetheart game is preceded by the group of boys and the group of boys playing kickball. Once the boys got to playing the game, our young man made a "miraculous" recovery. However, once they get over the stress of picking or being picked, and the game starts, the fun of this game overcomes the initial fear that they had before the game. As with yesterday, due to the unique scoring system of sweetheart kickball, the game ended in a tie.
The older campers hiked to the bottom of the falls today.

The crafts for today were to put the finishing touches on the checkerboards that they have been working on. The rinsed out and hung up their tye dye socks. They also worked and made "Sun Catchers" today.

There were no athletic games tonight. Instead we went to the pool here in the park and enjoyed fiesta time together.

We had entertainment tonight from the following people: Larry Beard, Danny Gregg, Lisa Gregg, Chandler Seal, Frank Batson, Steve Gaines, Billy Seal, and the athletic staff. They sang quite a number of songs.

The night ended with the younger campers having devotionals in their cabins and the older campers having a devotional in the B lodge.

-Article and photos by Keith Taylor

Tuesday

If you can't see the slide show below, or it's sideways, click here to go directly to the web album.





The second day of camp has come to an end. We are now firmly entrenched in the daily routine of camp. Breakfast, flag raising, cabin cleaning, devotional and bible study.

One of the places that holds great value in the heart of all who have been a part of camp is the B lodge. The morning devotional is composed of all campers from the youngest to the oldest. It is so good to see the entire group worship together, and to see the bond that the campers are forming with one another.

The bible focused on the covenant between David and Jonathan talking about the exchange of items such as a robe that signified the covenant that they were making.

One of the things that happens at lunch is that the "golden" broom is awarded based on the cabin inspections that take place each morning. The cabin that loses cabin inspection gets the privilege of cleaning the bath houses that day.

The activities of the day consisted of continuing to work on the checker boards in crafts, as well as working on the tye dying of socks.

The younger campers hiked to the bottom of the falls today and the older campers played sweet heart kickball. Sweet heart kickball is a game that brings some apprehension for the older campers, but give that most have played before, they know and accept the routine. Once a sweet heart is selected, then the apprehension disappears and the campers engage in an hour of absolute fun. For those who understand the way the scoring is done in sweet heart kickball, surprisingly the game ended in a tie.

Tonight the theme was Christian rap star. The counselors and campers came dressed in their best rap star clothing. The evenings activity was karaoke. This was setup as camp idol night with four judges. the different cabins and a couple of individuals and duets were the performers for the evening. When all of the judges raised a red X then the performance was immediately ended and the "performers" were gently ejected from the stage. There are not words that can adequately describe the types of performances that we saw. I want to encourage you to get a video and see this for yourself. The only word that came to mind was amazing. I think if you see the performances you will be as amazed and speechless as those of us who were privileged to see it live.

The night ended with a devotional. The older and younger campers participated in a short devotional and then the younger campers went to their cabins and the older campers with to the B lodge. These night time devotionals in the B lodge are times when the campers seem to really be opening up to God and drawing closer to God and to each other.

-Article and photos by Keith Taylor

Technical difficulties

For some reason Windows Internet Explorer is having problems displaying the slide shows on the blog (like being all weird and sideways or not there at all). I would recommend downloading and installing the Firefox web browser, which you can find here. It is free, and it's actually more safe and secure than Internet Explorer.

If you don't want to do that, I will be putting a link to the slideshows for each day, which will take you to the pictures.

Monday's Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/aaron.beaird/Camp2010Monday02

Sunday's Picures: http://picasaweb.google.com/aaron.beaird/Camp2010Sunday

Thanks!
Aaron

Monday

If you can't see the slideshow below or its sideways, click here to go directly to the pictures.



Today was the first full day of camp. The first order of the day was a breakfast of pancakes and sausage, along with cereal for those who wanted that. The tables are inspected and the winner gets possession of the coveted "tiki" doll as the prize.

Once we are finished with the activities of breakfast we all move outside for the flag raising. Jeff Wilson gave us a short talk about the sacrifices represented by the flag and the sacrifices made so that we can worship freely. Andrew's Murrays cabin were the ones responsible for the raising of the flag.

After cabin inspections all of the campers gathered in the B lodge for morning devotional. The morning devotional was led by Parker's group of older boys. After a period of worship the older campers stayed in the B lodge and participated in the class taught by Brother Matheny. The younger campers went to the mess hall for classes taught by Sherrie Murray.

Both teachers talked about the covenant that God made with Abraham that is recorded in Genesis 15. They had some props they used to give the camper a sense of the smoking firepot and blazing torch that God passed through the sacrifices that had been cut in half. They talked about the covenant that Jonathan and David had with one another as well as the covenant of circumcision that was established with Abraham. They talked about how all covenants were established with blood, and how the covenants established with Abraham were the start of the covenant relationship that God has with us today.

Each day cabin inspections take place, the winners are given the golden broom. Today's cabin winners were Keri Loftis' girls and Kyle Taylor's boys.

The morning activity consisted of the hike from the top of the falls to the nature center. In crafts they worked on checker boards and started on tye dye socks.

The teams were chosen and the teams took the softball and fields with the camp spirit. The games were played in the best of camp spirit.

The original plan tonight was to have smores in the B ring, however, the rain caused the activities to be moved in the mess hall, so we enjoyed the smores in the mess hall while watching a 2001 movie that starred many of the past and present camp "stars".
The day ended wtih a devotional and a time of praise.

After a full day it is time to get to bed, get some rest and get ready for a full day of activity on Tuesday.

-Article and photos by Keith Taylor

Camp 2010 Begins!

Camp 2010 is underway! The camp staff arrived Saturday at noon and made preparations to greet 83 campers. The theme of this year's camp is 'Covenant'. The key verse for this study is:

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.”
~Deuteronomy 7:9

The campers arrived in camp and the first thing they do is go to their cabin and meet their fellow campers and their counselor. Once they get settled into their cabins, they come to the mess hall for an opening period of devotion.

After the devotional time, the campers went out and bid farewell to their parents, and then they got to see an entertaining video presentation of the camp rules.
Once the rules of camp conduct are finished, it’s time for Midgett’s madness. This is a most interesting mix of "games" that immerse campers into the camp spirit. One of the main purposes of Midgett’s madness is to help funnel the emotion and energy of the first day of camp in a productive way.

The day closed with a devotional time and the campers returned to their cabins for the night. The goal for the campers tonight is to get a good night's rest and to be ready for a full day of Monday activities.

As always we covet your prayers. We all want to more clearly understand covenant, and the covenant that God has established with us through Jesus.

- Article and photos by Keith Taylor

If you can't see the slideshow below, or it is sideways, click here to go directly to the pictures.

Camp 2009 Full Video

Check out the camp video from last year!

Last Year

Check out last year's blog with tons of great pictures and posts by clicking here.

From Friday