That Thing 2012 – Part 1
It’s hard to believe another week of That Thing has come and gone, but it has. That makes four years for me now. We’ve been taking the same core group for the past four years and adding a couple along the way. This year, the churches who went together were Anderson First (that’s us!), Cross Roads UMC, Frankton First, Bethel UMC, and St. Matthew UMC. Consider this post a reflection on the week (from my perspective), and some thoughts about camp, teenagers, and Christianity in general. Let’s get to it.
Each year of camp is unique, but this year was unique in so many different ways. The biggest thing was the size of our group, which was… large, to say the least. We had to get two lodges, which you can see here and here. There were 64 people all together (about 52 teens and 12 adults). This was awesome because it shows some amazing things are happening with the teenagers in the Anderson area, but I personally felt it made it more difficult for our group to bond.
Prayer and share in the evenings was good, but not quite the depth and connection I’d like to see from camp, and that doesn’t say anything about people’s willingness to share; our group was simply so large it was hard to really feel a connection with everyone. With that being said, there are definitely a lot of positives from having a group that size. Everyone can meet more people their own age who are Christians, which is extremely important when in high school.
We’re also trying to foster a sense of unity among the youth groups and churches in Anderson/Madison County, so camp is a great way to expedite that process. I’ve seen it happening before my eyes over the years. When you go to something amazing like camp with a bunch of people year after year, you start to really form a bond with them.
I have so much more to add, so I thought it would be best to split this into multiple parts. Stay tuned for part 2!
Positive Concepts: The Interweb Version 