The Missouri Baptist Convention has enjoyed one of its largest camping years in recent memory. More than 1,600 students participated in three Missouri Super Summer camps.
“We had great weeks,” Dan Gibson, the convention’s Next Gen strategist and Super Summer coordinator, told “The Pathway.” “They went really well.”
“Called” was this year’s camp theme. Gibson estimated that more than 75 personal decisions were made, including professions of faith in Christ. Mike Fitzgerald, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Kearney, brought 34 students with to camp as he served. “We saw a lot of enthusiasm and desire to come,” he said. “Super Summer is really well run, well put together. I like how the kids get exposed to the scriptures.”
Mary Hearne was one of the students who made a decision.
“I was a little nervous this year, because it was a brand-new camp,” she said. “I wasn’t emotionally feeling the Holy Spirit move, which was weird for me. But I slowly realized it was because God was using me in a way he never had.”
Another of Fitzgerald’s youth, Ellianna Murrell, has attended church camps since she was in the sixth grade and expected another “short-lived Jesus high.”
“This year, it wasn’t the case,” she said. “Each day, I felt myself changing for the better. After I got home, I decided I needed to make some changes by stepping back from the people I usually spend time with and surrounding myself with likeminded individuals who can help me grow in my walk with Christ.”
During Super Summer, Anna Stigall felt called to full-time missions, although missions has long been a passion for her. It was a definite call, at a time she was not expecting it. She almost ruled out missions because of financial considerations, but then a message addressed this issue.
“I don’t know where I’ll be going,” she said, “but for once, the idea of the unknown isn’t startling, because I know for sure that I am called to a specific area.”
The camp schedule included morning worship, church small groups, breakout activities, large team Bible study, recreation, a large team study in the evening, followed by worship and church group meetings.
–Alan Goforth
