by Bob Lupton
Summer camp is about more than fun-packed weeks of high adventure trips, team activities, and Bible stories for the kids of our community. It’s more than building character and strengthening self-esteem. It’s all of this, to be sure. But it’s something more.
Summer camp is also about building leadership. It is the time when young people who have been maturing socially and spiritually over the past year(s) get the opportunity to exercise their leadership before younger, watchful eyes. Nothing solidifies one’s beliefs more than having to teach those beliefs to others. Nothing builds one’s confidence like having others follow your example and aspire to be like you.
Summer camp will be a life-shaping experience for many of our community children. Especially for our emerging leaders. As in past summers, these children will need the sponsorship of caring friends to assist in covering the $100 cost of their participation in our summer programs. I hope you will consider being a special friend to one or several of these children. Invite your church or company to join in as well. And know that your investment in the lives of urban children will be reinforced by the high-touch, high-commitment efforts of dedicated young leaders who not long ago were themselves boisterous campers.
