Camp Create 2011

Our church held its annual Camp Create last week. Camp Create is like VBS to the extreme. I had heard that the event was impressive, but nothing prepared me for what we experienced. I was blown away. The volunteers were amazingly talented and just poured themselves out as willing servants for the children attending camp. The week was full of different classes: drama, art, singing, dance, instruments, and costuming. There were large group activities, game time, story time, and snack time. Camp lasted 5 hours Monday-Friday, plus dinner and a program on Friday night. Talk about amazing.

The camp theme was The Sword and the Throne, and focused on the life of King David and the verse Hebrews 4:12 -

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

This is the stage where all the performances took place. The set design team did a fabulous job:

Each day started with praise and worship - with high energy songs full of dancing. They followed with 'game time' competitions between the boys and girls. 

Jacob enjoyed the dancing (even with 'Biscuit' in tow):

Midway through the afternoon the whole camp gathered for story time. The leaders performed different parts of King David's life. Here's King David (our pastor) dancing before the Lord:

A few of the talented actors and actresses:

Just look at this room full of children! There were 290 campers! 

Since Jacob and Will were not old enough for camp, they got to attend the childcare class for the children of the volunteers. I helped out in this classroom, but my friend, Bonnie, was the leader. She came up with great lessons and crafts on the armor of God (from Ephesians 6:10-18).

My handsome boys, decked with their breastplates of righteousness, belts of truth, shields of faith, helmets (crowns) of salvation, and swords of the Spirit.

On the final day, each camper received a camp t-shirt before the big performance. Here's Will waiting to watch the show:

There were so many children on stage that I couldn't get a good shot of the girls during the performance. However, in this photo, Bella is the small head right in the center, all the way in the back (she was dancing at the time):

I couldn't even see Addie on stage during her part, but she filed past me on her way out and she was super excited to see us!

We all had a wonderful week at Camp Create and I'm already looking forward to seeing what will be in store for next summer. I'm still praying that seeds were planted in the hearts of those 290 campers and that the harvest will be plentiful in due time. Our God is so good!