We are getting excited about our upcoming First Third Dialogue titled “Why Can’t My Church Be More Like Camp? The Power of Immersion Learning in Faith Formation.” We’ve only got a couple of spots left, so register today!
We wanted to start this conversation because we think there is a lot that churches can learn about faith formation from camps. We asked Mike King of YouthFront in Kansas City and Paul Hill of current president of Lutheran Outdoor Ministries and Executive Director of Vibrant Faith Ministries to be our presenters and tee off the conversion.
Here’s a conversation started by Mike….
Eli’s Transformation
By Mike King
A few weeks ago, the father of a teenage boy sent me a video of his son Eli’s baptism service. The video showed the pastor of the church conducting the baptism, speaking about the young man’s spiritual journey. The pastor described accompanying a group of young people from their church to Youthfront Camp and told a story about Eli’s deep spiritual quest to know God. He spoke about the environment at Youthfront Camp where young people are encouraged to seek God, to be still, to read scripture and learn to pray. He shared how an intense focus on God and scripture is very difficult for some people, but was not a challenge for Eli. The Pastor then surprised everyone by announcing that he had taken a picture of Eli at Youthfront
Camp. Before baptizing Eli, he showed the picture above to the congregation – and you could literally hear the grandmotherly “ooohs” and “ahhhhhs.” To say that I was a little emotional watching this would be an understatement. My heart was filled with joy because of the passion I have for young people to be transformed by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. I love this picture and thousands of others like it that I’ve seen or taken over the years.
– Mike
Mike King, President of Youthfront; Executive Editor of Immerse Journal
