June and July in Georgia mean hot days, cold sweet tea and summer camps.
Georgia Baptists saw the largest number of students in three years at their camps this year, resulting in more than 50 salvation decisions and nearly 70 teens called to ministry.
At Baptist WMU of Georgia’s Camp Pinnacle, nearly 500 girls attended this year’s missions camps on the property in the north Georgia mountains.
‘Intentional’
“We’re very intentional about having gospel conversations, so they have opportunities to make decisions to follow Jesus,” said Karen Pace, children’s ministry consultant for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
“If they’re already followers,” she noted, “they learn to be disciples who make disciples.”
Pace said summer camp is such a tradition among Georgia Baptists that some of the children at Camp Pinnacle this year were following in the footsteps of their mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers.
“We see kids called to missions every summer,” she said. “We have career missionaries serving around the world because of what God did during summer camp.”
The Georgia Baptist Mission Board sponsors “Impact” and “SuperWow” camps for teens, plus “Surge150” for students interested in music.
“Impact” was held the week of June 6–10 at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia. The gathering featured preaching by Andy Blanks, co-founder of YM360 and Iron Hill Press. The Edenfield Band, based out of Carrollton, performed live worship music for the event.
“We’ve seen the most spiritual and numeric growth through our ‘Impact’ camp, which is a discipleship and leadership camp,” said Cameron Wilkins, a Next Gen consultant serving in Georgia’s west central region.
“’Impact’ focuses intentionally on biblical community and small groups while at camp,” Cameron said. “This high-challenge environment catapults students back to their hometown with great momentum and hunger for more.”
‘Focus on Jesus’
Thirty students committed their lives to Christ at “Impact,” and 43 others answered the call to ministry.
The “SuperWow” camp, which focuses on strengthening youth groups, saw 12 students saved and another 17 who surrendered to ministry.
Two hundred students attended the state Mission Board’s “Surge150” music camp, nine of whom made professions of faith and six who surrendered to ministry.
“I truly believe this may be one of the best camps in Georgia for students who love music and want to strengthen their skill set,” said Rhon Carter, the Mission Board’s worship and music catalyst.
“Students may be attracted to camp because of the focus on music but have their lives transformed by our focus on Jesus.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally written by Henry Durand and published by the Christian Index.
