What I Learned at Summer Camp (2001)

Tom Shrader shares four key lessons from summer camp 2001, beginning with the transforming power of God's Word as described in Hebrews 4:12-13, which exposes and corrects the heart. He reflects on the gospel's power to save, the unity of the body across generations, and the sacred weight of communion as a moment that brings students face-to-face with their true spiritual condition. He closes with a direct challenge to both parents and students to commit to Sunday worship, discipleship, and midweek gatherings as the best environment for God to work in young lives.

“We study the word of God so that we might know the God of the word — not to become proficient in the word, but so that we might know the God of the word.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: X Games (2001)

Recorded: 2001 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 41 min

Themes: summer camp, youth ministry, scripture, communion, gospel, worship, discipleship, unity, parent of teenager, youth leader, student, new believer, teenager, young adult, parent seeking guidance, struggling with spiritual commitment

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Romans 1:16, Ephesians 4, 1 Timothy 4:12

Theological Themes: word of god, hebrews 4:12, sanctification, the gospel, ecclesiology, the lord's supper, spiritual formation, body of christ

Full Transcript

Summer Camp as Ministry

Summer camp is a fascinating time for me. Every year — and I mean this in the best sense — it is the hardest thing I do. It doesn't matter where I go or what travel is involved; by far, summer camp is the hardest. And yet, at the same time, I look forward to it every year. Part of that difficulty is simply trying to connect with the kids while not trying to be one of them. I'm not interested in being their friend, and I'm not that interested in whether they like me — but I do want to be able to communicate to them, and so we work hard at that.

Summer camp is a key time in our calendar year for student ministries. Part of what we want to do is make sure that each student somehow feels connected, and so there is a whole thought process that goes into that. A key part of that are the games. The games are not just silly things we do with no point — they have great purpose.

When a church this size goes to camp, many kids are going for the first time. They may not know anybody, or they may know only a few people. Some of the junior high students are away from home for the first time, and it is a scary place — especially when we tell them the first night that we'll stick them right in the toilet if they don't behave. Games play a key part in bringing those people together, and they serve a real purpose.

It has become something of a tradition to come back and give a video report of what we did at camp. There is a lot of emphasis in the video on the games, and that is intentional. But it is the last three or four minutes that really represent the reason for everything we do. Here is our video report from summer camp 2001.

What I Learned at Camp

Really, it was a great time, and there is no way to adequately communicate in the film all that went on. I would just tell you dads — this is the first time we took a group of dads. We took 20 dads, and what they did is they worked in all the games and all the things that take so much time, and allowed the staff to be able to minister to the kids. I told the dads before we left, "You guys have no idea how hard you are going to work. You are going to be very tired — but it will be a good tired." I think to a man they would tell you that yes, they were tired, but God really used that time in their lives. Next year we will take a group of dads again, and my sense is that list will fill up very quickly, because those dads had a great time.

I typically do on the Sunday following camp is talk to you about what I talked to the students about — teach you what I taught them, or give you a highlight. I decided not to do that this year. I wanted to do something a little bit different. I wanted to talk to you not about what I taught, but about what I learned at summer camp.

I am not sure that these were entirely new things I learned, but they were great reminders for me. Even though I am around the campus all the time and around the students a lot, I sometimes have a tendency — and this is a weakness on my part, perhaps — to see them as different than we are. Younger, obviously. And therefore, when they get a little bit older, then we can really start to see God do some incredible things. Camp reminded me that I need to correct that thinking.

You Can Never Underestimate the Power of God's Word

Here is the first thing I learned: you can never underestimate the power of God's word. When you get through the games and get down to what we do when we are together in seven different sessions, we do exactly what we did here this morning — we start with a time of worship and then a time of teaching, and we go to the word. It is not three points and a poem and a good thought for the day. It is: what does the Bible say?

The author of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, writes these words. Let me read to you from the New Living Translation: "For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts. It exposes us for what we really are." That last sentence is key.

As you heard some of the testimonies, you heard the students talk about pride. We spent one night talking about pride, and I am absolutely convinced that in our lives our besetting sin is pride. So it only makes sense that if it is our besetting sin, it is really the besetting sin in these students as well. When you start to talk to them about pride and really begin to lay it out — I gave them a list of 15 or 16 things on pride — one student came up afterwards and said, "I have 15 of the 16 in my life." I said, "Well, do you think you are proud?" He said, "Yeah." I thought that was a great conclusion. As we looked at it, we saw that they struggle with the same things we do, and the power is in the word.

Look at verse 13: "There are no creatures hidden from Him. All things are naked and open." That word translated "open" appears only one time in the New Testament, and it is here. It is used to describe a person who is being led away to be beheaded. They would take the neck and peel away any obstructions so that the head could be severed from the body — to lay it open. Perhaps the author of Hebrews, when he mentioned a two-edged sword, had this word in mind. That is what the word of God does.

Gary Blomquist continually reminds us that we study the word of God so that we might know the God of the word. That is what we are after. We study this word for a purpose — not to become proficient in the word, but so that we might know the God of the word. That is so important as we try to figure out life and how we are to live.

What the Bible Is Good For

The Bible tells us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 in the New American Standard puts it this way: the Bible is good for doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

It is good for doctrine — it tells us what is right, what to do, what to embrace, and what to avoid. Then there is reproof — it gives you the power in your own life, as well as in the life of another, to go to them and say, "Listen, I see this thing in your life. God says it is not right, and therefore we ought to agree that it is not right." If you have had that opportunity, when you go to a friend and begin to lay this out, their natural response will often be, "Who made you king? Who do you think you are?" The answer is: I am nobody, but here is what God's word says.

The third thing is how to get right — the word in the New American Standard is "correction." Again, it is one of those words that appears only once in the New Testament. It speaks of something that is lying on its side, something that has been knocked over, and now you restore it to its proper position. This is so important for us to understand, and we have to be reminded of it all the time — as staff, as leaders, as Christians who are serious about our faith. When we take someone and bring this word to them to reprove them, our objective is not to make them feel bad, to destroy them, or to tear them down. The ultimate goal is to correct them — to bring them back together, to build them up.

And so the Bible is also good for training in righteousness. It tells us how to get right and how to stay right. That is what we need to understand.

A fascinating thing happened at camp. Point Loma University, in what I think was a move of brilliance on their part, assigned a —

The Power of the Infallible Word

After a period of time, these students were swept away in what we were doing, especially in the sessions when we were together in times of worship, praise, and study. By the last session, there was a student who had been assigned to attend, but that student probably brought six, seven, or eight other students with them. One of these was a sharp young man whom Tim befriended and began to speak with apart from the sessions, talking with him about different things — including what this guy wanted to do with his future.

What he wanted to do was go and teach, probably in a Bible school. Tim asked him where he was going to go to school, and he said probably a secular theological school like Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. After some more discussion, Tim discovered that this young man did not believe that the Bible was the infallible Word of God.

It was a fascinating opportunity to watch as Tim began to confront him: "Where is the power?" The man said, "The gospel." Tim replied, "Well, what's the gospel? What part of this do you know to take out to get to the gospel?" They quickly arrived at the point that if we are going to pick and choose, we have no way of knowing what is right or what is not right. This is all the infallible Word of God.

I watched that young man — I have no idea where he is going in his future — but I will tell you this: he was in every one of those sessions. He was not assigned to our teaching sessions, but he came into every one of them. I think he was blown away by the fact that we understood that even though it is 2001, a timeless God does not produce dated material. We don't have to make excuses for this. The most powerful tool we have in our arsenal is the Word of God.

The Power of the Gospel Message

The second thing I was reminded of is that there is power in the gospel — that the message itself, the proclamation of the gospel, is powerful. Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation, to deliverance, to rescue." We need to understand that in this world we are in real serious trouble, that the wages of sin is death, and that if we remain in that state — separated from God by our sin — we will spend eternity in a place called hell.

Paul offers something very interesting in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. The message of the cross — and that is the gospel — is the idea that God, knowing that we were going to sin, provided a Savior for us. He sent His Son to die on the cross. The Son lived a perfect life and came as a conquering King, conquering not political or economic systems, but sin itself. He died and He rose again, and He was born of a virgin.

That is a strange message if you are perishing. But it is a message of great hope for those of us who believe. One of the first things we did — we did it the very first night — was make it very clear to the students: we have two groups of people here, and they are not junior highers and high schoolers. We have those who are perishing and those who are being saved. You need to understand that for those who are perishing, this will always seem foolish, but to those of us who are being saved, we find the power of God in the message of the gospel.

One Body Together

Here is a huge message I was also reminded of: we are all part of one body. There is a tendency sometimes to look at generations and make judgments about the value of those generations — to look at older people and dismiss them. I came to the conclusion, and I think I am right, that I was the oldest person at summer camp, which is a sad thought. I realized I was old enough to be the staff members' father. It was a very discouraging moment.

But here is what you are reminded of: what Paul writes in Ephesians 4 — one body, one church. I watched dozens of students go out of their way to thank the dads who served. Those students had little direct contact with the dads to speak of, yet they understood that the dads' work was crucial to what happened. You could not walk across that campus during any break and not see a student sitting with a staff member somewhere — and often a staff member who was twice their age.

There is a tendency to look at the age difference and conclude that we need to be segmented. But we need to be together. That is the whole point of why we gather collectively, and why you need to be part of this group. We understand that we will form smaller groups and separate adults at times, but we come together because we need each other.

Some of you think you are too old to relate to these young people. I will tell you something — they are desperate to have you relate to them. All you have to do is talk to them, and what you will discover is that they are remarkable kids. They bring an enormous amount to the table, they are wrestling with real struggles, and you can give them insight. They want that relationship. We are in this together.

One Hope That Transcends

Look at it: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one God, one hope. That is the message we return to over and over again — it is a message of hope. Let me be clear about what that hope is not. Hope is not found in the Democratic Party. It is not found in the Republican Party or the independents either. You are not going to find hope in accumulating more things or in winning one more chance. The hope you need — the hope that transcends this life into eternity —

The Students Are the Now

The next is found in Christ and Christ alone. So whether you are a student or a senior citizen, it does not matter in the sense that we are all part of the same body, we have the same Spirit, and we have the same future.

Two more things, very quickly. That old cliché — "the students are the future" — well, I suppose so, but we cannot wait for that. The students are the now. I think sometimes even among well-intended people, those that are younger are just pushed aside with the idea that they should be heard and not seen.

Paul faced that as he wrote to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4:12 he says, "Let no one despise your youth." Timothy was living in a Greek culture that placed great value on age and experience. Timothy was probably in his thirties. They did not even listen to you until you were forty, forty-five, or fifty.

Paul says, do not let them look down on you, Timothy. Win them over, and here is how: be an example to them in five areas — word, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

Five Areas of Example

We say the same things to the students here. You need to be examples in word — in what you say. Some of these students just put off an attitude that is so condescending, so dismissive. "How's everything?" "Fine." "What are you doing?" "Nothing." That is not a way to communicate. That is not the way a converted person looks.

And not just in word, but in conduct. You do the right thing. You live the right way. There ought to be a graphic demonstration in your life that says you are a Christian.

Let me deviate from my notes for a moment, because we have so many students in this worship center this morning. I want to make clear to you — and I think you understand it — summer camp is not just a life-changing experience that lasts a week. I must have heard the word "awesome" four million times in the last week. God is awesome, and that is great, and He is awesome. But if He is truly awesome and you truly understand that, then your life has changed, and it will be evident in what you say and in how you live.

In love — that means in service. In faith — that means faithfulness, that means integrity, that means if you say you are going to do something, you do it. And also in purity — purity of thought, purity of habit, purity of motive, sexual purity. So important for us to understand that in every life.

You cannot wait, however, for those students to turn twenty-one and graduate from college, and then say, "Now we will have meaningful discussion." No. They are ready for it right now.

The Power of Communion

Here is the last thing. The obedient act of communion is a compelling thing, and it cannot be taken lightly. My favorite part of summer camp, without doubt, is Sunday night. Sunday night is communion. After the last time of worship and teaching, we adjourn and send the students out.

It is an awesome thing to see. There are three hundred fifty, three hundred sixty students, each one by themselves. We tell them no talking. Each one by themselves, preparing for communion. They have been told exactly what you are told every week — the solemn, sacred nature of communion, that this is a serious thing.

Every year we see God use communion to drive students to the truth of who they really are — His kids, or not. There was one student at this camp — it was his third summer camp. For two summer camps he had been very vocal that he does not want to be a hypocrite, which is terrific. He does not believe this and does not want to cling to it and does not want to be a hypocrite. We spent a lot of time on that.

We spent a lot of time trying to communicate to these students that they first need to be honest with themselves. Some of them will just tell you plainly. You know who the hardest kids are? Those that have been raised in Christian homes and have learned how to play the game. They are morally compliant. They do everything you tell them to do and say yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. They may even journal and study their Bible. But inside, their heart is resisting the whole way along.

We can see it. Sometimes you love them so much you do not want to see it, so you do not. But we can see it. And we had a few students who came to the realization — and it is a terrific realization — that they are not Christians at all. Communion is a dividing moment for that.

That young man, at his third camp, when it came time for communion, I watched him. He went up and he took those elements, and when communion was over, he was smiling ear to ear. That is the power that communion has as we obediently respond.

A Word to Parents and Students

Let me wrap this up, speaking to parents and students both — go ahead and figure out which part applies to you.

What we just experienced at summer camp was extraordinary. And here is what I know. For many of you it was the real deal. Your life has changed, and it will never be the same. It is my desire that twenty or thirty years from now, whether you are in ministry or in the marketplace, God will be using you to touch other lives. And you will look back to summer camp 2001 and say, "It was there that God worked in my life. He opened my eyes for the very first time."

Now let me tell you something else. There is no way you can go this alone. There is no way, students, that you can be part of an active, vibrant life dedicated to Christ and do it on your own.

There are three components to student ministries, and this is not hard to figure out. Number one is Sunday morning — that is what happens at 9:30 in that room. That is the time when the students come together, the time when they are taught, the natural gathering time, the time when parents are typically in here and students are there. The second component is discipleship. A Sunday morning ought to look like this: if you are a student, you ought to be in your class at 9:30, and you ought to be in here at 11. Then after this, we feed you.

Staying in the Game

You can't make it any easier than this. When you get into discipleship, you get into a group where there's five or ten or fifteen of you and there's a discipleship leader. Parents, let me tell you what that discipleship leader does: they ask straightforward questions. What's God doing in your life? What are you reading? Who are you sharing your faith with? If your kid doesn't want to be part of discipleship, it's because your kid has an issue. They don't want somebody asking them those questions because they're out of answers. It's not that nobody likes them or talks to them — move past that.

The third thing is Wednesday night, in here. Obviously off for the summer, but back in the fall. It's designed so that your students can reach out to other students, primarily those who don't know Christ. They can come here, hear the gospel taught, and some of them can participate in worship for the very first time.

The Real Cost of Investing in Your Kid

Now this is where it gets really hard, because all of this has a price. I talked to a dad a couple of weeks ago and he said he couldn't get his kid to discipleship. I asked why, and he said, "Well, we come in the morning and then we'd have to come back and get him." Let me help you out here on Father's Day. You're telling me you'd do anything for your kid? That you'd jump in the ocean and save him if he were drowning? That's a no-brainer. That doesn't take any courage. What's hard is not to die for your kid — it's to live for your kid. It's to make some sacrifices.

I'll just be frank with you. You are letting school and activities and sports get in the way of what God wants to do in your child's life. You've got a little guy who can really hit, and you think he's going to be A-Rod, sign a contract for two hundred and twelve million dollars, and take care of you in your old age. Let me help you out: it's not going to happen. First piece of evidence — the kid has your genes. This kid isn't going anywhere. He's going to blow out in high school just like you did. Or maybe your little girl is a swimmer and you think she's going to the Olympics. I'm just telling you, we are not talking about sports here. We are talking about your kid's soul.

We're talking not only about where they spend eternity, but about the type of life they have here. If you're not going to do the things necessary to pour into that kid — and students, if you aren't going to be serious enough to do what God requires of you — you might as well toss that life away. I mean that. This is serious stuff. It's not something that's serious only at summer camp. It's serious all year long, both for parents and students.

What Consistent Involvement Actually Makes Possible

Rarely does a week go by that we don't, in student ministry, get a phone call saying a kid has some struggles and asking if we can help. We'll start asking questions, and it turns out to be a student who has never been here on Wednesday, is not in discipleship, and comes once in a while on Sunday. We have zero chance of helping that kid. We'll try — we can meet with him — but we have no basis for the relationship. This isn't a place where you come in bleeding and say, "Fix me so I can get back out into the world." It isn't going to work that way.

Parents, we are not here to replace you. You are the parents. God has given you these kids to steward, and they are your responsibility. Our responsibility is to be available to supplement what you do — but you need to help us in that. That means we have to have access to your kid. That means your student needs to be in here.

Students, don't play the game where you come in fired up one Sunday and then we don't see you again. Who are you kidding? That's the very thing you hate. That's a hypocrite, and you know it. This is no place to play that game. You're here this week because God has worked in your life, and I'm telling you He will continue to work. He will blow you away with what He will do in your life — but you have got to be in the game. You have got to be here on Sunday, in discipleship, here on Wednesday night, and in a relationship with someone on our staff.

We go through all of this not just to keep people busy or to show you cool videos. We go through all of this because we know that the system in which a student participates on Sunday morning, in discipleship, and on Wednesday night is the best culture we can create for God to work in the life of that student. And how grateful I am that God has provided us an environment where He can work like that.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for the students, for the staff, and for the parents. God, it's Father's Day, and we pray for the dads who are here and the awesome responsibility You have given them to lead in this house. We pray that we would be worthy of that great responsibility.

Father, I pray for the students who are here. Many of them made decisions at summer camp — hard decisions, some of them for the first time really getting serious about their faith. God, as You well know, the enemy will attack. I pray that they would have friends around them, that their parents would be around them, and that people would be there to encourage and support them as they try to withstand the barrage of the enemy.

God, I pray that East Valley Bible Church would be a place where students know they are loved and cared for — and that they know it because they are brought face-to-face with Your Word and what it says. God, I pray You would put every student on this...

Opening

Here at the 9, 30, and 11 services on campus, and in discipleship groups, that we would invade the schools around here and through Your Spirit turn these schools right side up. God, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.