Camp Christian is located under an hour outside of Columbus and is run and maintained by wonderful staff. My flight landed in OH a little after midnight on the 4th of July and three wonderful Ministry Associates volunteered to pick me up and help get me settled. The Camp director was also a wonderful resource throughout the week and always checked in to make sure I had everything I needed.There are probably 10 or more church camps held throughout the summer and I am amazed at how smoothly every thing ran! Our camp, CYF Week 2 (two-two-cachooo) had a little over 50 campers, relatively small for their standards, but my biggest camp yet this summer. The Director and Assistant Directors did a great job at making sure everything went well and were so welcoming to me!
I was continually impressed with the level of involvement and interest the campers showed about our curriculum and in my Peace and Justice workshops. There were two classes, The Will of God and a Study of the Book of Job. I helped to lead a class on the Will of God and I was a little nervous about that because I am not a biblical scholar. I don’t know God’s will, so how was I supposed to teach it?! But, it went so well! I was able to learn right alongside the campers and it was very interesting to hear and learn about other perspectives in regards to why things happen and if God has a hand in those events.
I also had the pleasure to lead a workshop to the same group of campers each day about different peace and justice issues. We made a labyrinth and talked about finding inner peace, we discussed topics about finding peace in our immediate world and finally, more broad topics of peace and justice. We also made Peace Cranes (paper cranes) that I get to take to General Assembly for Disciples Women, who will be collecting these birds with prayer requests and concerns on them.
Finally, I led a whole group workshop on Hunger and Poverty and had the help of the wonderful Chrissy Stonebraker-Martinez and Blaine Kuss to explain advocacy and solidarity. Their help and former peace intern experience was invaluable and I am so glad that I was able to work with them and learn about their experiences!This was a very moving week for me and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many interesting, involved, and motivated Disciples. All of the counselors and staff were terrific leaders and I had a very memorable week at Camp Christian!