Winter Camp: Super Cool!

Just got back from Winter Camp earlier today.  We loaded up a bus with a bunch of super hyper preteens and drove them into the mountains a couple of hours away.  The snow tubing, hiking, archery, food and fun were all super cool!  So, being so fresh back from the trip, I thought to jot down my random thoughts about winter camp.

First, it was the first time I brought preteens to a camp.  In the past, I ran a weekend camp led by me (only staff person) and volunteers.  We usually had 80-100 preteens/leaders show up from our church.  Without hesitation, I would prefer to bring preteens to a camp than run it myself.  I spent the entire time hanging out with preteens this weekend.  Didn’t have to worry about programming of any kind.  It was awesome!  And the best part?  The programming was better than I could pull off with our team!  What a great concept!  If you’re in Southern California, I wholeheartedly recommend taking preteens to Forest Home – www.foresthome.org.  Also, if SuperStart is coming within a couple of hours of your town, buy your tickets now!  It’s not a camp, but a great preteen weekend event that accomplishes much of the same – www.ciy.com/superstart.

Camp is a great relationship builder.

Preteens often make life-changing decisions at camp.

An escape from the distractions of every day life.

Opportunity to help guide preteens through healthy ways of resolving conflict.

You often show a little of your ugly side and preteens realize you’re not perfect.  Humbling, but necessary if you to be real with them.  They’ll often show you more of their real selves too.  Breaks down the masks we both wear.

A chance to let loose and have fun. It will either bring out your fun and wild side or drive you to insanity!

A sense of beauty and wonder.  We were blessed to be at a camp site in the mountains surrounded by the beauty of nature and wildlife.  Puts into perspective the bigness and greatness of God’s creation.  Brings peace to your soul and refreshes your heart.

A worship experience.  If you’ve already got a worship team, great.  Camp will build on that.  If not, what a great worship experience preteens will have!

Renewed connection to God.

And a new experience for me this year:  hearing the word SUPER over 200 times!  The food was super good, snow super cool, tubing super fun and bus ride super long.  Not sure if that is a Southern California word or not, who knows?

If you’ve never brought preteens to camp, I hope you’re now convinced to put it on your calendar now.  Not too late to plan for summer!