One Man's Journey - Marker #3 - Sarepta Baptist Youth Camp - Late 1970's

I can't remember the exact year, but I'm sure it was in the late 1970's.

It was a hot summer in Georgia. Three of the youth guys from our church, Stevens Grove Baptist, had decided to attend the Sarepta Baptist Association Summer Youth Camp. This was the same three that Rev. Edgar Crosby, the Director of Missions, had introduced to the camp one night the previous summer. Read about that here.

This particular summer, we were full fledged participating campers.

We were there with youth from other small churches within the Association for a week. I don't remember exactly how many people were there, but it was probably 50 youth or less. Since my own church's youth group was very small at that time, this was a huge number of youth to me.

I remember that we stayed in cabins like this one. There were four kids and one counselor/sponsor per cabin. My sponsor was Scott Thaxton, a friend of my older brother James who attended Lexington Baptist Church. (Note: Later he was the photographer Diane and I chose for our engagement and wedding photos). Gary and Kenneth were in the cabin with me along with another kid from a church around Athens whose mother worked for Mr. Crosby. There were two rustic wood bunk beds and one counselors bed in the cabin. We had sleeping bags. There was a shower house in our group of cabins.

I remember the cabin next to us had a guy as a counselor named Lee Hunter that ended up being the custodian at the University of Georgia's BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries) after I graduated from college. He had two of the "cool kids" in his cabin. Mike Cruise and Mike Kellum. We called them by their last names. Once after Diane and I were married I stopped in at the BCM and reconnected with him. I reminded him of that camp. He just smiled.

It was a typical youth camp. We ate kid-friendly food in a dining hall (just stop and think about that one for a while). We had Bible study sessions. We swam in the lake (Scott was the life guard.) We had cabin inspections to make sure we were neat and tidy. If we were neat we could better see the scorpions that were in the cabins. We played softball. We did crafts. We had free time.

We had devotions in our cabins at night. We had a main speaker for the week that was a bit of an evangelist. We all had our Bibles. We were expected to. We all took notes. We were expected to.

It was hot. There was a snack bar that took our coins and gave us ice cream and cold drinks. It was summer. There was no air conditioning anywhere.

It was an absolute blast!

Like typical kids, we were mischievous. We had brought shaving cream (though none of us shaved) for shaving cream fights outside the cabin.

We had free time. Did I mention that? Probably a little too much.

Why is this a milestone in my spiritual journey? Hang on, I'm getting to that.

The afternoon before the last day, during our free time, it was time for "war". Unknown to the counselors, well, unknown to most of them, we got our shaving cream cans and went at it. As the testosterone rose, someone had the bright idea that we "attack" the girls' cabins (they were physically quite a ways from the boys' cabins through the woods). I'm not sure if it was a kid or a counselor who said it, but off we went like screaming Indian warriors.

You should have heard the screaming. From us AND from the girls as we attacked. I emptied my shaving cream can quickly, and out of the corner of my eye saw one counselor and another dude chase some girls into their showers. Something didn't seem right about that, so Mike Cruise and I headed down the wooded dirt road back to our cabins. Quickly.

I heard someone yell that the camp director was coming because of the commotion, and Mike suggested in a kids way that it wouldn't be a good idea if we were caught, so we ducked through the woods and and took a shortcut back to the boys' cabins, got cleaned up, and went to dinner. (I have no idea how we didn't get snake bit or poison ivy that week.)

Later I learned that the guys we'd left in the girls' cabin area had been caught. And unfortunately when those two guys chased a couple of girls into the shower, no one was aware that there was a girl in the shower...taking a shower. It may have even been a female counselor. Let's just say a couple of guys (one of which was a counselor) got into big trouble. It was good clean fun that got a little out of hand.

After dinner that night, we had a bonfire down in the woods. For someone with very limited experience at Christian events, it was amazing to me. A counselor got out a guitar and we sang praise songs for what seemed like hours. It became almost magical.

Spiritual, actually. It wasn't magical, it was spiritual. The Holy Spirit invaded our group.

The evangelist/speaker gave a clear gospel presentation then sat down. It got quiet. He didn't beg any kids to do anything. All he had done was present the gospel. That's all he needed to do.

The Holy Spirit took over. Kids started confessing sins. The counselor who "attacked" the girls cabins walked over to some girls and a female counselor, got down on his knees, and begged forgiveness.

Some who didn't know Jesus accepted His offer of salvation.

Lots of hugs. Lots of tears. Lots of smiles.

Some who were already Christians, like me, huddled with our cabin counselors on a bench surrounding that blazing bonfire in the dark woods of a summer Georgia night. I confessed, in what I'm sure was emotional kid's language, that I had not fully turned over my life to the Lord and wanted to do so. The Baptist terminology that was used was a "re-dedication." As clearly as I can tell you, it was sincere. It wasn't driven by emotion. It was driven by the Holy Spirit.

I had the previous summer accepted Jesus' offer of salvation and had been baptized. Part of me knew down deep inside that baptism was a beginning, but there was another part of me that thought my spiritual box was checked off and I was good. I had never thought about Jesus being my Lord. I didn't know anything about discipleship. I just knew that I was a Christian.

Through that week of fellowship with other Christians my age (remember, there were probably 50 kids my age more or less plus counselors at that camp, and I was from a church with an entire membership of only 25)...through that week of fellowship, of breaking break together, of being taught God's word and then of diving into God's word together and discussing how to apply it...

...through that week of pausing in silence so that the Holy Spirit could take over, God really and fully got hold of me and my heart.

In spiritual terms, I believe it was a jump start on my sanctification.

And that's why it's a milestone. For me, I view it as Milestone #3.

On my own spiritual journey. One Man's Journey.

Some parting thoughts...

• Scott Thaxton, my cabin counselor, also rededicated his life to the Lord that night. We talked about it back in the cabin after the bonfire.

• The Association sent a letter to my home church, Stevens Grove, informing them that I had rededicated my life to the Lord. They were pleased and read the letter in church. I felt loved and supported and, thought I didn't realize it until years later, it was that entire church family who discipled me through those years. I believe it started in earnest when that letter was read.

• Am I saying that I wasn't "saved" or that I didn't know the Lord prior to that camp? No. I believe I had a sincere salvation experience that previous fall at the revival at our church. Jesus was my Savior. He just wasn't yet my Lord. Some theologians have sharply disagreed with my assessment through the years. Oh well. All I can say is that it's my story.

• For you readers who are politically correct, this camp wasn't. We campers were referred to as "Braves" and "Squaws" by the counselors. A reference to Indians.

• At the end of the week during the last group session just before lunch and checkout, awards were handed out. I guess this happens at all youth camps. The main award given to the boys was "Star Brave". Best male camper of the week. Yep, I won it. I felt a little guilty about it because I had not been caught in the shaving cream attack on the girls' cabins, but I got over it.

What did I learn that I can pass on to others, especially about discipleship? Here are a few takeaways.

1. Camps are important. For kids and adults (for adults they take a different form). It's important to get out of your daily routine whatever it is and go someplace different and do different things and focus on the Lord exclusively. I think it allows the Holy Spirit to work in your life.

2. Despite the views of some youth and ministers of today, you don't need all of the modern bells and whistles to have a good youth camp. That may be me waxing nostalgic, but I know how the Holy Spirit got me. I think we overlook that type of experience some times these days.

3. Programs and programming are important, but extended one-on-one conversations about the Lord are just as if not more important in one's spiritual journey. The Christian life is about relationships.

4. Teaching straight from the Bible is important. That's God's Word to us. We should read and study it. We should also open ourselves up to being taught by others.

5. Silence gives the Holy Spirit room to work.

That's it for this milestone. I hope anyone who reads it gets something out of it. If it generates questions or a desire for conversation, just let me know.

(I'd love to tell you the joke about the jackass)

Note: One Man's Journey is, in essence, my testimony. It is my story of Jesus and me. The story continues.