Summer Camp: -)

Jeff Armstrong is the Next Generation Pastor at Living Hope. He oversees birth through high school graduates. His job is to make disciples out of students so that they are capable of living well for Jesus the rest of their life. He is married to Kelly and they have two children Dallas and JT and they have one on the way.

I recently ran across a Top Ten List from David Letterman about Summer camp, here are 5 from the list I thought were worth mentioning:

Top Ten ways to know your kid is having a bad experience at summer Camp:

Have to toast marshmallows by laying them on the exhaust pipe off counselor's Buick.
Camp's Indian name translates to "Land of the Giant Ticks"
When you visit, proudly shows off tunnel he's digging under cabin
“Craft time" is 14 hours of making counterfeit Nikes.
You ask to see picture of his friends -- he sends photo of a stick.

Trust me; our students will not have any of those experiences at the camps we attend. This summer we have three fantastic camps that our next generation ministry will attend. All three camps are top notch and will provide a fun, safe, environment that will enable them to grow in their relationship with Christ.
Camps are unique because they promote separation from a student’s everyday hectic, media filled, fast paced lifestyle. This allows a student to focus on God’s word, because they are saturated with it from the time they wake up, until they go to bed at night. Many first time decisions for Christ, rededications, and calls to full time Christian vocation are made at camp.
On a personal level, I have made serious spiritual decisions at the camps I have attended. Someone the other day asked me how many years I have been going to camp. Since I was 8 years old, I have not had a summer where I did not go to camp as a camper, a counselor, or taking a group to camp. Every summer for 30 years, I have eaten camp food, lost sleep, and pulled pranks, or been targeted with pranks.
Please pray for our camps this summer:
Pray for our students and counselors.
Pray that God will speak to the hearts of our campers.
Pray for Ross Wellman, our interim junior high minister as he attends J Creek, July 13-17th.
Pray for Cindy Starr as she takes our children to Centri Kid the week of July 13-17th.

Finally, as many of us retreat this summer to camps and vacations, pray that we come back from our retreats, and advance….
Advance in our knowledge of Christ.
Advance with a passion to reach the lost that have not heard the gospel.


Jeff Armstrong