September 10, 2024
As summer comes to an end, late vacations wrap up and students prepare to go back to school, Georgia Baptist camps celebrate a fruitful season of ministry. Close to 1,000 students spent time this year at Camp Kaleo and Camp Pinnacle, with more than 30 placing their faith in Christ for salvation.
Luke Foster, director of the Camp Kaleo Retreat Center in Forsyth, Ga., said hosting more than 500 day and overnight campers is a team effort. Over 30 staffers, including seven BCM students, helped corral, shepherd, and guide the students through their activities and discussions.
“One of the coolest things,“ Foster shared, “is that a couple of the kids wanted to be baptized right in the pool at the camp!” He says the camp pastor spoke to the kids and their parents to make sure they knew what they were asking before baptizing them.
In addition to 21 salvation decisions, Foster says the camp recorded a number of rededications, other decisions, and campers coming forward to learn more about Jesus.
At Camp Pinnacle in Clayton, Ga., 10 salvation decisions were recorded this summer, said camp director Tabitha Ferrell. The camp is owned and operated by Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union of Georgia.
In addition to hosting students, the camp holds two sessions of “Mom and Me” camps, and Ferrell said more than 534 people, including the moms, participated this summer.
Particulary exciting, according to Ferrell, is seeing the impact of Camp Pinnacle in the lives of campers after they leave. One measure of this, she explained, is how many campers come back to Pinnacle as staff. This year, all but three of the staff were former campers who have seen the power of Pinnacle in their personal walks with Jesus.
Jazel Barahona, one of this year’s staff, wrote, “As a camper, Camp Pinnacle was the one place where I truly felt God’s presence for the first time! As a cabin leader, I love being able to pour into these ladies and see how the Holy Spirit is working in their hearts and seeing their joy after feeling His overwhelming love.”
The camp theme this summer was “Wonderfully Made,” based on Psalm 139:14, emphasizing that we are created on purpose, for a purpose. For Ferrell, who is pregnant, the theme was tremendously personal. “Every week,” she said, “was a reminder of how God is fashioning a person in my womb.”
In addition, each summer at Pinnacle features a “Mission Focus.” This summer’s focus was Bangladesh, and students were able to learn about the country and efforts to reach the lost. Georgia missionaries who serve in Bangladesh wrote their experiences to share with the campers. Additionally, participants got the chance to meet missionaries to Israel and Serbia.
Support from the students’ churches is so very important to the camp experience, Ferrell added. She shared the story of one camper, who had been wrestling with salvation. The student accepted Christ after a gospel presentation, and later learned that at the very moment of the presentation her home church had formed a prayer circle to lift her up by name.
Ultimately, Foster says, the camps are about serving – the campers, the staff and the community – in the name of Jesus. “In addition to ministering to the campers, we were able to minister to several local families,” he explained. “Thanks to generous donors, we were able to sponsor some kids who normally wouldn’t be able to come to camp. And at least one of those sponsored campers came to faith in Jesus!”
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Mae Sullens contributed to this article.
