“Greater Things” Thursday #27 : Lebanon Road Bible Camp

Lebanon Road’s 2011 theme is “Greater Things.” For an introduction and video to this theme, click here. Each Thursday, we are highlighting a different area in which we are striving to achieve greater things.

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Church camp!!! I love Church camp, and at Lebanon Road, we have a wonderful camp.

When I first moved here, I was confused. You see, for years, I had attending camp and there were campers and counselors from several different congregations. However, at Lebanon Road, we do “our own” camp. The campers (except for a few) are from Lebanon Road. The counselors are from here. The cooks are from here (and cook amazing food). The worship leaders, sports directors, lifeguards, etc….they are all from here!

We rent Valley View Christian Camp for a week and we go there for a Sunday through Friday camp. Around 50 young people attend each year, and each day is filled with worship, classes, fun, laughter, and relationships. Our youth minister, JD Buckner, does a tremendous work organizing all the areas, and many help with specific areas to take some of the load off of him. He truly “directs,” though, and we are thankful for it!

One of the neat things about our camp is that it is fairly new, but there are already several parts of the camp that have become tradition (you don’t mess with “Sweetheart Kickball!”). The campers come back each year looking forward to a few new things, while being truly excited about the old traditions.

Of course, the best thing about our camp is that it is truly Bible camp. The spiritual emphasis is strong, and seems to only get stronger each year. We have two worship assemblies each day. Our students attend age-appropriate classes. There is a Q&A session with our elders. This year, we are adding in a quiet time, where students have a few minutes to reflect on the lessons they are learning in a quiet time of solitude. There is a lot of singing, and we spend quite a bit of time in prayer. Each day ends with a devotional in the cabin.

Camp is truly special at Lebanon Road. This year our theme is “When I Speak Your Name,” and our goal is to help us all be reminded of how great God is, and how we should always take His Name seriously and with reverence, but also how we should be reminded of how sweet His Name is!

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For Greater Things to occur, we simply need prayers and participation. Valley View is just a few miles from Nashville, so it is always great to see people come up for part of a day to see what’s going on and to support the campers. Make your plans now to come up next week!

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Each year, we show a camp video to highlight the week after our Sunday night services. Here is the video from 2010 to show you just some of what goes on. It is in 2 parts.

LRCOC BIBLE CAMP 2010 VOLUME 1 from Mike Markwood on Vimeo.

LRCOC BIBLE CAMP 2010 VOLUME 2 from Mike Markwood on Vimeo.

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Finally, I will be at camp next week, so our posting schedule will be different. We will try to post a few pictures each day, but probably will not be able to send out too many updates on Twitter or Facebook. Check back often, though, for updates from our week at Valley View!