Wednesday, January 23, 2008

A Trip to Camp

A few weeks ago I received an e-invitation from the staff at Rainbow Christian Camp. Area ministers from supporting churches where invited to a late Holiday Dinner. Having been some time since I’ve been at camp I felt that it would be fruitful for me to attend. Last night was the dinner and the 90+ minute trip to Converse was well worth it.

The highlight of the night was meeting Joe Wisley. Joe is the brand new Director of Programming for the camp. As apart of his ministry, Joe and his wife Melissa are set to hike the Appalachian Trail starting in March. Their goal is to raise $50,000 to raise support for their new ministry and to fund a high ropes project for the camp. As we talked, it dawned upon me that Joe was the speaker at last year’s Spring Retreat on the campus of JBC. He made quite the impression on my students, particularly the girls (he talked very fondly of his “beautiful wife” and our girls feel apart.) I’ll be keeping track of his AT journey on his blog (once it's running) and I hope to work with him in the future.

Another highlight was the after dinner talk. Bruce Cameron talked about the importance of a sabbatical rest. He shared that the pressures of being the camp director almost caused him to quit him ministry. After taking three months away from camp and pursing God in other areas, Bruce learned the importance of getting away to reconnected with God. So convinced that his staff needed this same rest, he wrote into the contract of every camp employee to spend one hour a day, one day a month, one week a year to connect with God. This idea may seem a little radical for some local churches but it is increasingly becoming more accepted as a legitimate and needed experience for ministers. Years ago I asked my leaders if I could take a day off once amount to share in that same experience. They gave me the thumbs up but I have yet to take them up on their offer.

Another nugget of information I learned was that Rainbow now has paintball capability. It’s on! I’m taking a group in April or May.

3 comments:

Aaron said...

Rest. Sit. Very difficult to do!

Anonymous said...

Hey man. Nice site! So ge this...I was looking over your FCC page and I was checking out the pics from ICYC and you all took a picture of the van from Popcorn Christian Church...well, my dad was the minister there for 20 years and that is my home church! what a small and random world it is!

Anonymous said...

sorry, the name joe is actually joe wisley...i didn't specify!!