There are two campers who have been coming from a church in New Jersey for the last couple of years that I’ve been able to spend some time with in the coffee shop while they’re here. During these conversations I’ve been able to get to know what they do for the other 50 weeks of the year. I asked them how God is working in their life, about their walk with the Lord after being baptized, how their school plays were going and how hard conversations with their friends went. One of the guys asked “how do you remember that about us? There are so many kids that come to camp and you remember specific things about our life.” Honestly, I don’t know how I remembered specific things from their life. I’ll lose my sunglasses on my own head.
We may not know in the moment why the Lord has us in conversations with people or why He keeps one-off conversation logged in our brains but we know He has a plan. As believers we are called in the great commission to go and make disciples. We commit to faithfully share the gospel with young people here at Hume. We’re a camp, not a church. Discipleship looks different for us because of the temporary community nature of camp. We do for the few in the moment that we want to do for the many in the daily. Youth pastors, small group leaders, or volunteers do the heavy lifting of daily discipleship with the students that come to camp.
Madie and I often joke with our youth pastors that we are spiritual aunts and uncles of their students. We get to affirm how much they’ve grown throughout the year and encourage them while they’re here with us at camp. My hope in sharing this story about the two New Jersey campers is to encourage you. No conversation or relationship is too small for God to use for His plan. Step faithfully into the call of discipleship. We are all called to make disciples, to build up and encourage people to pick up their cross daily and follow Jesus.
Pray for spiritual bumper to bumper (a cross to cross!) traffic jam of young people who are daily committing/commuting to follow Jesus here in New England.
-Jake Tuttle, Assistant Camp Director at Hume New England
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