A giant foam machine, huge inflatable slides and crafts. Bible Experience Rooms, chapel, lunch!
This year’s NCBC Kid’s Day Camp – Royals - was focused on our kids but was an investment from every person at our church, in one way or another.
McCain is a teenager who was a first-time camp counselor.
“We talked to the kids about lying, and how that’s wrong,” he said. “Not long after, I caught some of the kids lying to me about what they were doing on a slide. I was able to connect the lesson we’d talked about to what they were doing, to make the message connect for them in that moment.”
That was a moment where he could tell that he was teaching the kids something, getting through to them. But it wasn’t the highlight of this year’s NCBC Kid’s Day Camp for him.
“Seeing the kids dancing, and free, and joyful,” that was his highlight.
So who was teaching him?
“Emily Bushlack encouraged me to do this, and helped me know how to keep it fun and under control.”
Catch that?
Part of being an inter-generational church, part of the fruits of that, isn’t just grandparents sowing into parents sowing into kids. That’s part of it, that’s part of the goodness we enjoy here at New Covenant. But Emily’s only got a few years on McCain. And McCain isn’t really THAT much older than the kids he’s looking after at Day Camp. But as the flow of wisdom and knowledge and experience goes, you can see the cascading handoff of coaching and mentorship and investment in one another taking place across that span of a handful of years.
Mary Bauercamper was an adult leader at this year’s Day Camp. She’s got a houseful of (great) kids of her own, so it can be tricky to make that work – serving other kids and having to work out childcare for your own. Her husband Scott took one kid on his work trip with him. Their daughter Emma (13) stepped up at home, creating a “mini camp” at home for not only their kids, but Kristin & Daniel Snodgrass’s kids too. That freed up the moms - both Mary and Kristin - to help at Day Camp. So complete with a schedule and activities for the mini-camp at home for the littles, Emma saw to it that the generations in those two New Covenant families could work together to sow into our bigger church family.
Amelia & Audrey Finley are students who served on the “rec team.” They helped with games, helped serve and clean up lunch, helped with any little jobs that needed to be done to keep Day Camp running smoothly.
“I loved seeing the kids bonding,” said Audrey. “I learned about being a role model from Miss Loretta [Loretta Bushlack] – if we have energy, the kids have energy. The more you put in, the more they respond.”
“For me it was about putting in work, and seeing the excitement that kids got from experiencing something I helped create,” said Amelia.
Ryan Koffron is a student who led chapel. He talked about how Israel’s Kings were “me first, my way.” That went well at first, he pointed out, but it turned out how God said it would – badly. The take-home truth of this year’s Day Camp was “God first, His way,” and that caught on with the kids.
“Emily helped me get involved, but many of the adult leaders over the years at New Covenant have shaped me, had a huge impact on my life, and on me,” said Ryan.
Different attributes define different church families, but one thing Kid’s Camp underscores for us is that in our New Covenant family, every member counts, every member is actively involved, and everybody has a place to participate. Our bonds are strengthened and our fruits are multiplied as our generations work together with Christ.
Evidence? Nineteen of our kids made first time commitments to Jesus at this year’s Day Camp, and one more recommitted to Christ!
That’s a joy we can all celebrate as a family.