In mid-June this year, 113 campers and 58 staff gathered at Camp Cotubic in Ohio. A number of staff remarked at how quickly the camp seemed to get into the Zone. Smiles and good attitudes prevailed, even when rain forced cancellation of some activities. When the camper-staff softball game was called off, the entire camp enjoyed novelty olympics in the gym. The program featured most of the regular activities, ranging from volleyball and basketball to high ropes and swimming and boating at the lake. The Amazing Race was given a year off in favor of a class on outdoor survival skills, and this year for arts and crafts we built kites to take advantage of the wind that is rather common in the area.

Many campers responded favorably to the Christian living theme “Leaders: People of Character,” and they engaged in Bible discussions not only in classes, but in dorm meetings, question and answer sessions, and just about everywhere around the camp.

As director of the session, I saw more examples of selfless serving than I could possibly recount, but two come readily to mind. Serving as a dorm counselor may be the most rewarding job at camp, but it is also the most demanding and tiring. It is not a role one takes on carelessly. That said, two of our young adult staff willingly stepped into that role on short notice to fill in when there was a cancellation and an injury on the part of more experienced staff members—and both performed very well. Both willingly gave up easier jobs teaching activities to take on the 24-hour per day duties of counseling.

The structure of the camp program provides a type of leadership training program for the counselors, with focused guidance by lead counselors from the ministry. The results have been very good. Many young adults who are leading teens through the camp program this year may well be leading efforts within the Church to preach the gospel and prepare a people in years to come. That said, we also look forward to the blessing of having many of our teens soon move into service as staff within the camp program as counselors and activity leaders themselves.