January concluded with a Sunday celebration of the previous three weeks of Bible camp that Mission UpReach plans and directs for children from eight years old to eighteen. This year’s theme comes from I Peter 2:21 that says, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” and was entitled, “Huellas” or Footprints. I will leave space below for Donna to report on details from the three weeks of camp which she directs through a team of young people that have grown up going to our camp and are now working as counselors and group leaders. The name of our annual Bible camp is Campamento La Cruz which loosely translates as the Camp of the Cross. The name really resonates in Spanish but doesn’t quite translate into English with the same impact.
I would like to tell you about how years ago God worked through a personal conversation that I had with Ty Ford, who is the Director of Camp Deer Run, in East Texas. In 2014 Ty and I were sitting beside each other on one of our buses as we took the mission team from Pine Tree Church of Christ back to the San Pedro Sula airport. Ty and I began talking about the incredible impact that Bible camp has on children and youth. Studies have shown that Bible camp can have a transformational impact on the children’s faith, independence, self-confidence and social development skills. As we talked, an idea formed that Ty, with some of his staff working as volunteers, could help us develop our own Bible camp here in Honduras. Our daughter, Laura, grew up going to Camp Deer Run and later worked as Staff while attending Harding University. From that conversation, Laura and Ty began working on a schedule for a possible first camp in Honduras in January of 2015. Our first 2015 Bible camp was a huge success, thanks to Ty, Laura and five other volunteer staff from the US. Now 11 years later our Bible camp, Campamento La Cruz, is firmly rooted as part of Mission UpReach’s ministry serving the local church and spreading the Gospel to others in the community.
Without exception, while talking with our young adult staff, they mention how important their experience at camp as children has been in their faith development and their overall outlook on life. We praise God for having used Ty Ford, Laura and many others to help us develop this incredibly impactful ministry that has now become a tradition that we hope will continue for generations. Donna and I know multiple generations of families that met their future Christian spouses at Camp Deer Run. We hope and pray that decades from now people in Western Honduras will be saying the same thing about Campamento La Cruz.
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