Summit Base Camp

Hello All! This is Denny. I write to you from the grounds of Shiloh Park Campground. This week we played music and counseled for the district United Methodist camp. God moved this week in so many ways—when I say that I am not simply trying to fill space. God moved at this camp in a way that I haven’t seen in my two and a half summers of camp ministry.
This camp was covered in prayer. The counselors and directors came ready to listen to the spirit’s leading. By Tuesday, around fifteen kids had accepted Christ and many more had made commitments. The speakers (there was a morning and an evening speaker—both worked very hard and gave a lot to these kids) then had the great opportunity to speak into the lives of these kids for four more days, explaining to them how to move forward from this camp and live in Christ regardless of their circumstances. The morning speaker spoke from Revelation 2-3, the exhortations to the churches, helping the kids to apply the history of the New Testament and Christ’s call to those churches to their own lives. This produced some remarkably informative and practical lessons for kids to take home. The evening speaker focused mainly on IICor. 2, talking about saying yes to God’s leading. He continued then to explain spiritual gifts and to help kids discover where God was calling them. The campers responded remarkably.


This was one of the best groups of kids I have seen. They challenged my spiritual life, rising early to read and pray, and preparing their hearts for God to speak to them. They were focused on God’s ministry, and it showed.
The focus of this camp was completely on God. Every day it seemed we simply waited for the doors to the chapel to open so that we could praise and worship God through prayer, music, and through learning about His ways. Worship was the focus.
Around all this there was a great air of fun. The camp had a rock wall, a zip line, and a waterslide, as well as kayaks. The band got in trouble for leading a game of kayak-pirate-capture-the-flag (sorry Gale). We had a wonderful time and felt that we were able to pour into the lives of the kids on and off the stage.
This camp gave us the chance to work. My head cabin counselor allowed me to lead devotions one evening, and each of us had the opportunity to co-lead a morning Bible teaching-time. We had many opportunities to speak God’s truth into the lives of kids.


We grew as a band this week. Early on we sat down and did some work defining our purpose as a musical group. We came to the consensus that we need to first and foremost lift up the name of the Lord and help the kids to do likewise. If anything we do comes in the way of that goal, we don’t want to do it. Kids get excited about our music; we seek to get out of the way so that their worship will not be focused on us, but on God. This is a process in which we are proceeding not perfectly, but progressively. Pray for us as we continue on this journey!