Oh, the joys of summer camp – color wars, arts & crafts, food fights and quality time with the swimming pool… If you’re a camper, that is. When you’re one of the camp counselors, probably not so much.
Being camp counselor means running things behind the scenes. You’re the referee. Or the lifeguard. The babysitter. The chaperone. The lunch lady (or man).
If the campsite keeps the cabins separate from the bathrooms, then you’re also on-call for potty patrol, ready to respond to a little one’s pleas to pee in the middle of night and escort them to the bathroom (even though you told them to go before bedtime).
But what if you decide to start a new tradition? What if you went on missions instead?
You still might have potty patrol duties on a college missions trip ’cause it’s nice to have someone escort you to the squatty potty in the middle of the night. Instead of overseeing others, you could look out for your peers. This time around, you’d have the chance to be discipled by older brothers and sisters. Wouldn’t it be great for a summer not to be the one having to answer questions?
Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to make sure everyone’s keeping all the rules but rather encourage fellow missionaries to grow as the men and women God intended them to be? Summer camp needs to run like clockwork for things to run smoothly – what if you spent two months submitting a schedule to God? You’d ask God what’s on his agenda, and how you can be a part of it.
You’d go where he tells you to go, and do what he told his early disciples to do (Matthew 10:7-8, NIV):
As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Places like Uganda, Thailand, Haiti, or New Zealand would be more than just your campground – it would be your mission field.
Look through these opportunities before you email the camp staff about being counselor. Call us at 800-881-2461 to speak with one of our staff.
A summer with Real Life is gonna be no ordinary summer.
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