This summer, I had the opportunity to work as a staffer for Green Country Camp in Disney, Oklahoma. Throughout the majority of my life, I've attended kids as well as youth camp, and never walked away disappointed. As a camper and a junior sponsor, the impact God had to offer those weeks always got to me. After seeing a few of my friends work at the camp as staffers, I considered applying, and on the first week of June, I began my summer-long journey as part of the GCC staff.
The term "servant" is defined as, "A person who performs duties for others". As a staff member, it was our obligation to not only assist in running and cleaning up the camp, but to serve the kids as well. I wasn't completely sure about what our duties would include at first, but definitely had my eyes opened to how difficult it can be at times. Each day, we'd be up at an early hour, and asleep at a considerably late time. At the beginning of each week, we'd have to set everything up, ensure each cabin and hotel room was clean and stocked with paper goods, and clean up whatever mess would appear on the campgrounds, and at the end of each week, we'd haven't take everything down, and do another round of cleaning. After about a week or two, we were used to the usual routine, and even got things done a little bit faster, but it was all worth it for the weeks ahead of us.
Altogether, we had about five camp weeks that were associated with Craig-Mayes Baptist, four of which were for kids and one for youth, two non-associational kids camps, a camp for 4-H kids, a rock-crawling camp known as "Crawl for Christ," and a day camp for children under the qualifying age for kids camp. Our theme this year was based on dirt-track racing, titled "Full Throttle," and our memory verse was Philippians 3:14, which states, "I press on towards the goal to win the prize which God has called me Heavenward in Christ Jesus," which means that's Christians we're supposed to advance towards our goal without any hesitation, and achieve it, as well as the prize is has to offer, once it has arrived.
Each week, we'd have a guest speaker and worship leader or band. The people who were selected each made a lasting impact on the campers, and even the camp staff. They took the time to get to know the campers, and got well acquainted with the staff. We'd also have some youth groups volunteer to be in charge of recreation each week, and they were a great help to us as well, especially whenever it came to having to clean up the dining hall after each meal. For youth camp, we had the ETBU Rec Team as our volunteer group, and they were a blast to have around. They got along well with the youth and staff, always had clever games for the campers to play, and were willing to share the love of God at all times. The energy and excitement the kids had to offer was tremendous each week, and it was exciting to see how God would move through the words of the speakers, the songs from the worship leaders, and into the campers' lives as well as the camp itself.
Since my parents have been associated with CMBA ministry for many years as former youth pastors, I recognized a few of the sponsors that attended the camp, and even some of the speakers and worship leaders. It was wonderful to get to see so many people that have supported and been part of my family for so long! In addition to this, my home church, Adair First Baptist, sent a group of kids to the third week of kids camp and the youth camp.
If you haven't yet, as a former camper, junior sponsor, and summer staffer, I recommend attending GCC at least once. Allow God to do whatever He needs to do in your life because it will be great.
It's hard to believe that the summer has come and gone so fast, but I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to be part of the GCC staff team. To the campers who attended camp this year: continue to pursue the goal that Christ has set for us. Make an impact wherever you go, and never be ashamed of the gospel.
To my fellow staffers, Morgan, Staci, Justin, Jake, Brett, Aaron, Stephanie, Mishael, Colton, and Kaitlynn: it was an absolute pleasure to get to work with all of you. To Jon and Jennifer Parker: thank you so much for allowing me to serve this summer and for the support you've given each of us on the staff team. I can't wait to see or hear about what God has in store for each of you, and what He will continue to do in your lives.
Lacey Franklin
