First things first, this is my business card. It is literally about the size of a stick of gum. I got it so that when I meet people that are serious and maybe wearing belts, they will think I am serious as well. I will give you one if you would like when we meet, but you will secretly know that I am not that serious of a person.Second, July is Christian camp month at Stuff Christians Like. June was VBS month and August will be, well, we'll just see what August is. I will be randomly posting some camp ideas amidst the other non-camp ideas.
So if you ever sang "Friends are friends forever," made a pact to never swear again and swore on the bus ride home, or practiced "sword drills" with Bible verses at camp, please post a comment with your idea. You are very funny and it is fun for me to share that fact with lots of people.
Well, you've got to mention the "fun patrol" or "fun police"...the camp staff people who drive around in golf carts and make girls go back into their cabins and change because their tank top doesn't meet the "3 fingers" rule. The fun police also does not let you climb anything, run, or dance. Or laugh. They're kind of like if you gave the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld a golf cart.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Student Pastor, I get a kick out of the student who finds "the love of his/her life" at camp. So...
ReplyDelete"finding your future ex-wife/husband at camp"
is my nominee.
What about "Camp Future Worship Leader"?
ReplyDeleteThe daily breakout sessions could cover topics such as:
-How Much Hair Gel is Too Much?
-How To Get That Perfect "Worship Face" On During a Serious Song
-Where To Buy the Best Girl Pants and Ripped Jeans
-The Tech Crew; Your Best Friends, Your Worst Enemies
-Tasteful Tattoos
-How to Achieve the Perfect Worship Service (Subtitled: Chris Tomlin vs. John Newton, It Can Be Done!)
Ooh...ooh...ooh...I love camp!!!!
ReplyDelete*Giving up all secular music at camp.
*Camp romances.
*From a counselor's perspective...cowering in embarrassment in the nurse's office when you're in there for the third time that day - with the SAME kid!
*Grape Crush. I never drank the stuff any other time, but at camp I had 2-3 cans of it a day.
*The swim test
*Color team wars
I went to the church-camp mecca in Indiana--Camp Allendale. A few ideas:
ReplyDelete1. Cabins named after biblical places and people. Any girl who stayed in "Esther" was automatically cool. Capernaum was for geeks.
2. Memorizing scripture in order to win prizes.
3. Girls who spent more time in the bathroom preserving their hair from Indiana summer humidity than thinking of anything remotely spiritual.
4. Camp fires. Pass it on. Please ask us to hold hands!
5. Who decided that all teenagers like to cavort in baked beans, whipped cream, and other such nastiness?
6. The long lecture on what a "Christian" swimsuit looks like.
7. Canteen-time guilt. Wouldn't you rather give your canteen money to God or do you REALLY need that Milky Way?
I really enjoy your blog--so does my minister! Heather in TN
Our church camp in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, had this song we'd sing EVERY year. "Ooooooooh, next to my home, I love you Siloam, in the land of a million smiles"...or something like that. The dorms also had a contest every day for the cleanest dorm. They would actually come in and inspect our dorm rooms. Our group was so competetive and we usually got in the top 3 (boys AND girls). If you get #1, you get to run to the cafeteria first for lunch. :) Our church also gave out silly awards when we got home. One year, I got the "Private Eye for Guys" award because I would sit on the top bunk by the window and watch the boys walk by. But I wasn't the only one!
ReplyDeleteSome of the greatest camp memories are the "team-building" games. These games were usually youth group against youth group and consisted of small objects being passed neck to neck (which was always fun when we were also being told not to "neck" with boys....bad pun). Some included mud pits, but all were awkward and staple to the overall camp experience.
ReplyDeleteI think all church summer camps are required to have some sort of intense competition that always result in the consumption of things that weren't intended to be eaten and at least one trip to the emergency room.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best games was Amazon Women. All of the guys formed a huddle, linking arms, legs, etc. and the girls had to try to tear them all apart from each other. Going after the stinky, sweaty middle school boys usually wasn't worth the risk.
My personal favorite is the last day where they do testimonies and one kid shares way too much.
ReplyDeleteEx. "I just want you all to know that I was having lustful thoughts about all my friends, especially Sarah, but I decided to stop."
So...The Un-mic-able Testimony
I got sent to camp once. For one week. At age ten. I hated every. single. minute. of it.
ReplyDeleteThe food was the worst part. We got dropped off on Saturday and went straight to the dining hall for lunch. Lunch: one paper plate, one slice bologna, two slices white bread. One paper cup, half-full of cherry cool-aid. I wish I were exaggerating. But we all know that Christians are cheap b******s, so you know that I'm not.
There was also a Bible quiz tournament of sorts - the prizes were missionary "trading cards" - actually just the business-card-sized prayer cards that missionaries send to the churches who support them.
And after dinner and the evening worship service, we'd get locked (yes, locked, so that nobody could sneak out) in the dining hall to watch McGee and Me videos. The penalty for talking during the video was so severe that I've blocked it from my memory.
what about
ReplyDelete'the kid that snuck in the poster of heather locklear at camp' (sorry mom, that was me)
'camp food in all it's disgusting glory'
'mosquitos the size of eagles'
'the crazy 'paid for' talent that was friends with your leader in college'
'parents day' (never experienced one but i'm sure there's something funny in there somewhere)
'the lovely 8+ hour bus ride to camp'
'on a florida retreat, staying at the worst hotel the leaders could possibly find'
'lanyards and the leather belt punch tools'
'nuff said
oh man....i just got back from camp..here's my idea:
ReplyDelete-the effect of camp food on one's digestive system (ie: stoppage, leakage, and slight gas leaks)
...i'm still recovering
having worked at camp for 2 summers, there are 2 things you MUST discuss this month...um, 3 things.
ReplyDelete1. campfire (aka throwing your trasgressions in the fire of God's love in the form of a stick)
2. the "how far is too far" talk - it always happens and its always awkward
3. did you ever notice on the bus ride home that every dude on there had a sore back from the week's activities and was in desparate need of a back rub from their female buddies?
blog about these and i will read this site forever.
Summer Camp...Let's see:
ReplyDelete1) "Lighting the Fire Again"
2) Promising that this time, we're really going to get serious about God when school starts.
3) Camp Hook Ups
4) Getting "Re-Baptized" in the Camp Pool....again.
5) Eating Fake Eggs and drinking malk instead of milk.
6) Crying at at least one service.
Just a few of my thoughts
-John Hall
Fresno, CA
Are your business cards Moo cards? I love moo cards. They're some of my favorite things ever.
ReplyDeleteAt the week-long pre-teen camp I used to be a counselor at, they used to do this thing on Friday afternoon called the Regurgitation Station. All of the kids hated it, but participation was mandatory. Basically, they took all of the cooked but uneaten food from the week (leftover spaghetti and meatballs, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, turkey and biscuits...), poured it into buckets and Rubbermaid containers and baby swimming pools, sprayed a hose on it, and make the kids run/climb/swim/crawl throught it as some sort of obstacle course. There were relays where you'd scoop a dixie cup full of the stuff out of a baby pool, run down to a waiting bucket and pour it in, pass the cup off to the next teammate, and whoever's bucket was fuller after three minutes won. Or you would have to go across the monkey bars, crawl under the swings and then dive into the pool of fake throw-up before the other team's runner. It was amazingly disgusting. The kids would have to be hosed off afterwards and then strip down to their underwear before they could go past the mudrooms of their cabins so they didn't get faux (and sometimes real) vomit all over the place. They stopped doing it a couple of years ago because people were complaining it was wasteful (and revolting). Now they just have a much smaller food budget (and happier, less-smelly kids).
ReplyDelete"Proper Use & Mechanics of the Water Balloon Launcher"
ReplyDelete(ours used surgical tubing and a vinyl pocket to make a giant slingshot, and for some reason the boys were always expert marksmen)
"Finding the Perfect Camp Game for Every Occasion"
(my now husband & I were playing the body part game the summer before we were married. We were counselors and we beat everyone else in the game and won the last round by matching up nose-to-armpit first)
"Top 10 Best Games to Play with Camp Food Leftovers"
(my hubbie took his cabin of boys & anyone else who wanted to join and played a variation of softball with the 2-day old potato salad and the water balloon launcher)
How about the games you play late at night with the other leaders late at night that you would never play. Like if you lose you have to eat food that has been chewed by some other person or give yourself a swirly?
ReplyDeleteOr the youth minister, that is behind the whole camp's production, having to call the parents of the kids that snuck out, only to get cussed out for making them come to the middle of no where to get their kid at 3:37 in the morning?
jon, i sincerely don't know how you do it. well, i know you attribute all of this creativity and ability to come up with new content and get it all written for all of us to, well, you know, GOD . . . but still. i shake my head in amazement every time. all the new ideas just astound me. cool!
ReplyDeletemy summer camp experiences include:
* the zany camp speaker (like a youth pastor on uppers)
* vespers in the open amphitheatre at night with a campfire (so romantic for those camp crushes)
* hoping to get on the same color wars team with your camp crush
* the obstacle course
* meteor showers and the midnight hikes to the top of the hills to watch them
* the encouragement chair during debrief time at night
* for that matter, debrief time (a time for the entire youth group to crowd into a room and get serious with each other)
* zip swings
* the craft shack (where leather bracelets and plastic braided keychains abound)
* camp counselor romances
* free time
* the early morning prayer and worship time, for those aspiring to total holiness at the youngest age possible
* the mess hall
* the garbage bucket dare, which is the grossest camp challenge ever invented
* and, finally, the rededication swarm on the final night of camp
Oh - and let's not forget that ubiquitous kid (every camp has one) who has some lame excuse for why he/she cannot participate in any of the athletic-type games. "It's too hot out." "My stomach hurts." "I think I twisted my ankle." Who do you think you're fooling, kid? We all know you're just lazy.
ReplyDeleteI'll echo one of leanne's nominations but add a little more.
ReplyDeleteWe get rid of our secular music after we get back - burn it, break it, crush it (apparently Korn and Marilyn Manson make for some awesome kindling). Then about two weeks to three months later we're buying the same CD we busted up and torched earlier in the year.
What about all the different "cup rhymes" & rhythms - where you hit the cup, turn it upside down, hit it again, clap, you know what I'm talking about? We did that ALL the time.
ReplyDeleteThe pranks pulled on the guys/girls by the opposite sex.
The Blob (big balloon type thing in the water you jump on & people get shot off of), zipline, etc. that were so dangerous yet so fun.
Shirts over swimming suits if you have a 2 piece (as a girl).
I may be able to think of more later but will more than likely forget to try. :)
I'm old, so summer camp was a loooong time ago. However, our counselors and other ne'erdowells decided it was important to stress table manners. "Get your elbows off the table Jimmy Doe. Get your elbows off the table Jimmy Doe" the song would go - and around the table the poor idiot would have to run.
ReplyDeleteI also miss the interminable trip that the condiments would take as they traveled around the table passing back and forth and around and around, yet never reaching the person who asked for them.
Thursday night talent show was always entertaining and of course, finding the lonely spot with a boy was never the saddest part of the week.
Ooh! Just thought of some others(sorry - I promise this is it, even if I think of something brilliant right after I click "submit"). What about when you first get there and they divide you into teams (usually with a colored bracelet or bandana or something), and you have 15 minutes to come up with a team name and corresponding cheer (because getting a dozen 11-year-olds to come to a general consensus is really easy, and the ones whose ideas aren't picked never get upset about it). Then, for the rest of the week, at mealtimes, one team starts screaming their cheer, and then the other team yells back theirs ... cafeteria smack talk at Jesus Camp. I love it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, let us not forget the really lame camp talent show where one counselor bites the bullet and sings a ridiculous song really badly on purpose so that the kids who love to sing but are no good at it don't feel so bad about themselves.
There are also the counselors who get way more competitive than the kids during the games.
Then there's having the youth pastor as your "special guest speaker" all week because the pre-teens don't know any better and practically think he's Bono.
What about clandestine outings after the kids go to sleep? You know, it's 10:30, lights-out was an hour and a half ago, and one of the counselors is really jonesing for some Milk Duds or ran out of shampoo, so six of you pile in the van and make a midnight WalMart run. Also, on the night of the end-of-camp bonfire, after the kids go to bed, most of the counselors go back out and finish off all of the s'mores supplies before bed.
Lastly, I don't know if this was our-camp specific or if it's fairly common, but it was awesome: Capture the Counselor. Basically, half of the counselors (one from each cabin/team/etc.) would go hide somewhere on the grounds: under the 15-passenger van, on the roof of the worship center/gym, between the trash bag and the can in one of those big blue garbage barrels ... Then, the other counselors would take the kids around with flashlights after dark and they would try to find their counselor. Different people were worth different points, based on stealth-factor and difficulty of hiding spot. Our head pastor (basically, if you found him, you won the game) once actually hid inside a full dumpster. No one found him, so he was in there for a few hours. He smelled amazing when we went out for ice cream afterwards.
Polar Dip!
ReplyDeleteThis separates the brave from the weenies at camp - only the brave would run down to the lake at 7 am and splash in for a quick dunk before heading back for breakfast. (oh - and the really cool people ran in bare feet and didn't bother bringing their towels down to the beach.)
How about questionable ethics involving swim time?
ReplyDelete"Everyone is a winner" of all the games even though every game has a clear loser.
How about all of the things that everyone knows and brags about that you used to be able to do before the insurance companies pooped on the parade. (can you say "poop" on the internet?)
-The six-inch rule (boys and girls couldn't be closer than 6 inches to each other)
ReplyDelete-Counselors who broke the six-inch rule
-The food...how badly can you burn bacon and still eat it?
Oh man, the swim test was always a source of much anxiety for me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, there must be a post on SKITS!! I remember my brother and his cabin once won the skit competition with a v. stirring rendition of "Pharaoh, Pharaoh." Another year, my cabin was going to do a skit that involved me doing an awesome (awesome!) impression of the guest pastor, but it was nixed at the last moment because I guess it was decided we weren't being respectful or something. That was also the year the youth pastor got reprimanded for putting on a skirt and participating in a beauty pageant skit. The senior pastor of our church had words with him, and he apologized for participating in the skit, which we all thought ridiculous. Is it awful to say that when the senior pastor was dismissed years later for financial funny business, that I was surprised, considering his sanctimonious ways?
- Waterfront Drills
ReplyDelete- Campfire Songs (the good, the bad, the redundant... and the "message" of certain songs)
- Our "fun police" was called "make-out patrol" or MOP
- Tuck
- Hygiene
- Skills
- Themes (some are better than VBS)
And I could probably make my own post on Janitorial work. (I have to clean the entire dining room floor after a random utensil meal?)
The oh so spirtual award that we gave eveey day at my church's camp and I am sure at other camps under a different name. We called it the "Smooth Award." It went to the person who did the dumbest thing to hurt themselves. For example, I was nominated for hitting myself in the eye with my own foul ball at a softball game. I ended up with a lovely shiner! I lost the award to a guy who burned his butt lighting a fart on fire. Yes, you read that correctly. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's a couple of mediocre ideas that you could probably make great
ReplyDeleteall time best camp pranks
camp bff that you never hear from again
songs you only sing at camp
counselor ego trips
camp video projects that you'll never watch again
Powered eggs. The grossest things ever but they always made them every breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThe director getting you lost in the forest. (That happened a couple years in a row at mine.)
And "no purple!" for all those camp romances.
I work with teens... one of my favorite camp rules from my own teen years was called the six inch rule... meaning girls and guys must remain at least six inches from each other! :P
ReplyDeleteOur rule for camp now, is "no purpling" guys= blue girls - pink.... together you get purple! haha
I have to second the camp romances idea. Sadly, I probably remember those more than what I learned...
ReplyDelete*My husband is a youth pastor, and when we went on mission trips, we didn't have a chaperone for every room, so we would tape the kids in at night. The pastor would put masking tape on the door after lights out, and we could tell the next morning if they had left their room. Believe it or not, it was enough of a deterrent to keep them in.
ReplyDelete*When I was a teenager, the moms went with us to youth camp and made lunches to save money. We had chicken salad or pimiento cheese every day. Does any teenager like chicken salad and pimiento cheese?
*Can't leave out the showdown. Two people in the group are having a conflict, and kids start taking sides. Eventually it permeates the whole group with a "spirit of division" so the leaders call a pow-wow. Everyone has to air their dirty laundry until the culprits dissolve in a weepy mess and hug and pledge to be friends forever.
~Leslie
I actually met my husband at camp so I guess the "camp hook-up" rule is legit.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta love camp pranks. Fun for all ages.
The kid that always gets in trouble for something.
Camp food. 'Nuf said.
There was also some guy "bonding" that went on. I'm not sure what all happened but it involved Nairing a hairy counselor and Gold Bond powder.
Separation of the sexes: No purple!
Doing strange things with food such as "gooping" a losing team with all manner of kitchen wares. Similar to shaving cream fights which always abound.
Er, I meant "wasn't surprised." Typos heavily reduce the sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the food was okay the first few years at camp, then new management took over and it was awful. They would have an ethnic theme everyday, which I guess gave them a chance to insult as many countries as possible? I will never forget the side dish on "Chinese Day": Overcooked brown rice mixed with maraschino cherries. Ugh.
Every summer, we seemed to have a Pass It On (yes, I am a child of the 70s) campfire moment.... it would be dark. We'd all have candles. One leader would start the song (often a capella) and another leader would light his candle from the dying embers of the last campfire of the week...
ReplyDelete"It onlyyyyy takes a sparrrrrrrrrk.... to get a fire goinnnnnnng....."
Sniffling would begin, as we realized it was the beginning of the end... and then the light would get passed around as the singing continued...
"and soooooon... all those arounnnnnnnd... can warm up to it's glowinnnnnnnnnnnng..."
And then, inevitably, a girl with Jersey Bangs would lean forward over her little spark too much, and WHOOOOOF, her hair would go up like a Roman Candle. Were it not for the quick thinking of one of the counselors (probably having experienced the exact same scenario the year before) who had a spare stinky sweatshirt to smother the flames, she'd have gone home bald.
I was a camper for 8 years and a camper for 2. Here are some of my faves:
ReplyDelete- All the girls crying the last night of camp. They LOVED this and would ask the speaker if he was going to make them cry.
- Songs with hand motions.
- Boys' cabins and girls' cabins going on "dates" during free time.
- Makeout spots - not just for the campers, but for the staff as well.
- All the "cool" different ways the staff like to wear their lanyards.
- Groups of girls vowing not to be so caught up in their appearance so they dress up wacky for a day only to draw attention to their appearance and therefore having the opposite effect of their vow.
I've always loved the "talent" show tryouts. Especially that one youth group each week that would come in with a skit/interpretive movement to Newsong's "Arise My Love." We had a sound guy that would be sure and amp up the volume for extra emotion during the last chorus when 15 year-old Jesus came out in a white robe and raised his arms.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget what every camp couple needed to hear when they were caught in the prayer garden, "Is there room between the two of you for the holy spirit?"
We had daily cabin inspections for cleanliness. The weird part is that you got extra points for having a "worship center" which is, essentially, a suitcase with a beach towel on it, an open Bible, lots of naturey things around like pine cones. If your "worship center" is better than another cabin's then you get extra points. I grew up in an Evangelical church my whole life and never understood the purpose of a worship center or why any one needed one, and eyed suspiciously anyone who suggested they had such a thing at home.
ReplyDeleteI worked at a summer camp for six summers...ah the memories. Some of these may be repeats, so bear with me:
ReplyDelete-All the relationships (esp among staff members--you were with these people 24/7 so it was bound to happen)
-The intoxicating wave of Axe body spray on the guy's hall after they all take showers (does nobody teach guys how to put on cologne?)
-The too-cool-for-school kids who won't participate in any activities
-No Purple (our fun way of saying no PDA; the boys are blue, the girls are pink, put them together and you get purple)
-Singing the same songs over and over and over and over all summer long
-The Shark Song
-All the female campers having a crush on the cute boy counselors
-Eating your body weight in junk food from the snack shack
-Kids whose parents send $100 with them for the snack shack (we only need $20 in my day and that was complete Heaven)
-The counselor who gives kids concussions during dodgeball b/c the phrase "it's only a game" or "they're half your size" don't apply to them b/c their competitive spirit overrides their common sense
Oh they're is so many more...
I'd have to say:
ReplyDeleteThe "crossover day" where the boys camp and the girls camp would get to hang out together for an afternoon/evening.
the inevitable virus that would spread through the camp like wildfire - the worst were those of the vomiting variety.
Also - nothing to do with "camp" - but a general idea: How about a post on the amount of "stuff" people keep in their bibles - old sermon notes, bulletins, letters, encouragement notes, etc. It gets to the point where you have to make sure you hold your bible clamped shut or you'll have all of your stuff spewed underneath your pew, spread far and wide, and you have to nonchalantly use your legs and feet to reach it all as the sermon begins.
You've really let us down, Jon. What's with Capt. Cartoon on your business card not sporting the unibrow? That's false, man, just false.
ReplyDeleteOh, where to start?
ReplyDelete*Singing "It only takes a spark . . "
*Playing capture the flag
*Separate swim times for boys and girls
*counselor romances
Okay, when I worked at Glorieta, a Southern Baptist retreat center, we weren't allowed to have dances, so we'd have "unorganized aerobics to music" instead.
"LEAVE ROOM FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT"
ReplyDeleteMiddle School/High School church camp is notorious for being the hot spot for good Christian girls to receive their first kiss or their annual kiss. We grew up signing "worth the wait" cards every February and then making out at summer camps in July. That's just the way it worked.
To counter-act this crazy level of sexual carnage that the parents worried about, the camp sponsors would walk around to couples talking closely and say, "Excuse me guys, please leave room for the Holy Spirit".
I loved going to camp when I was a kid, except for the one year when my uncle was the guest speaker and he taught one night on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and when kids asked him about speaking in tongues, he actually answered their questions and he got kicked out along with his daughter who was very upset to miss the banquet on the last night! (deep breath)
ReplyDeleteOur big camp song that we always sang around the fire was 'it only takes a spark to get a fire going..and soon all those around will warm up in its glowing'
In the early 80's my youth group went on choir tour from pompano beach, Florida to Cape Cod. One kid who was sure he was "over" the stomach flu came on the church bus with us, and by the time we got settled into the motel, the first few of us were puking and wishing sweet baby Jesus would come right then. To rapture us, or smite the sick kid, either way. It went around the whole group, and certainly put a damper on the romance. The best our leaders could do was put the sick kids to bed with enough dramamine to choke a horse, and wait it out. Such good, good times...
ReplyDeleteMelissa
*Ridiculous songs, cheers, and prayers sung at all mealtimes.
ReplyDelete*Romances...whether it was among the kids, or a forbidden romance among counselors. Or even worse, counselor/junior counselor.
*Counselors--the one that is super-cool and all the kids totally respect; the one that is way too competitive with the kids at all the games; the one who seems to care less about his/her campers; the one who wants to be best friends with the campers and gets walked all over.
*Campers--the one who gets sick; the one who gets seriously hurt; the one who hates camp and is totally changed by week's end; the one who just isn't cut out for most of the physical activities and spends more time in the lodge becoming best friends with a staff member; the one who spends all week in a romance with another camper
*Ridiculous camp games where you just know somebody is going to get hurt, and can't believe the game is allowed.
*Odd things counselors do on their free weekends--jumping off the lodge roof onto a pile of bunk mattresses; loitering in WalMart; build a floating campfire; etc.
--The lack of sleep. (In fact I became hooked on coffee after being a camp counselor on year)
ReplyDelete-- Sunburns and the need for aloe to rubbed on or vice versa sunscreen and the need for that to be rubbed on
-- not taking baths or showers
-- and the food that is not supposed to be eaten twinkies with sardines hidden in it to start a scavenger race or also the banana eating contest
That's all I got. I never really went to camps as a kid but have been a counselor a few times.
Securing the pool to prevent mixed bathing...
ReplyDelete...when I wen to camp the camp administrators had every falling apart youth bus parked around the swimming pool so that the guys would not be able to leer at the gals when while they swam and the gals leer guys when it was their turn.
Two words: "nature walks"
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you don't know what that means.
I have to agree with Brian. We have this one kid who no matter WHERE we go as a youth group - he always finds the love of his life when we go places with other youth groups. I laughed at our missions trip this year to Mexico when within minutes of the trip he was tagging along with some girl from another state 24/7. So funny. The best part is she looks just like the girl he found on our missions trip last year. They both had boyfriends too. Last year the girl broke up with her home boyfriend in PENNSYVANIA when she "fell in love" with our boy from FL. Needless to say it was a couple weeks dead.
ReplyDeleteIt is decidedly more fun to be a counselor at camp than a kid. You get to be devious after the kids go to sleep and no one has the authority to send you home.
ReplyDeleteOther ideas:
1) The nerdy missionary who instantly becomes spectacular
2)Vespers. What the crap does that word even mean? Where did it come from?
3) Give it up for counselor romances! I was in on this one a couple of times. The kids are all saying to him, "You like her, don't you? Don't you think she's pretty?" And the poor guy is embarassed, I'm embarassed...but secretly kind of glad because he had to ponder the suggestion. Devious, I know. And that's how you get set up by 9 year olds. (And there's the whole sitting next to the other person in the pew. Your legs touch and even though it totally sweaty if he's letting his leg touch mine, we're as close to locking lips as you can get durring missionary time. Or "accidentally" sitting by him during dinner. Or holding hands during prayer circle. You know he's into you when fingers are meshed instead of the limp fish way. To this day, sweat is aromatherapy for camp love.)
4) Crying always gets you some male attention. Just think of something really sad, like starving kittens, or how your grandma will die one day, or accidentaly wearing white after Labor Day. Then, when the water works come, quote a scripture and say you're burdened for the lost. MAJOR GUY POINTAGE!!! You'll be beating them off with a stick!
5) Have a beautiful singing voice, or oh, throw out some sweet harmony during a slow tune and the guy is toast. Not only do you love Jesus, but you are burdened for the lost, and you sing like an angel. And this is when he decides, "Oh yeah. God is absolutely calling me to make out with her."
Whether a counselor or teenager, this advice will work. It's an acient proven formula.
Have fun writing about this stuff!!!
One year my friend and I stole the activity director's megaphone and made "Announcements" all week. We had counselors headed in every direction and whole cabins reporting for cleanup duty. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI was a happy, indoor, book-reading kind of girl, so going to camp felt like being forced into homelessness for a week.
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite part of camp was all the competitiveness. The counselors wanted us to “beat the red team,” and I was like, “Why?” And everybody got mad at me, like it was a bad thing to try to justify why someone should get beaten!
I knew God wanted us to love each other, and I could never understand why we had to thrown down against other kids as if our lives depended on it.
Does anyone remember "Human Videos"- which are basically silent dramas to cheesy Christian songs. It seemed like Jesus always got crucified in eveyone!
ReplyDeleteI didn't have time to read the 51 comments that came up before this, so someone may have said it already, but as an American who has lived in the UK, you might want to rethink using "camp" as an adjective. If you need me to explain this, email me or send me a facebook message . . . ;)
ReplyDelete"I work with teens... one of my favorite camp rules from my own teen years was called the six inch rule... meaning girls and guys must remain at least six inches from each other! :P
ReplyDeleteOur rule for camp now, is "no purpling" guys= blue girls - pink.... together you get purple! haha"
Heather, I think we must have gone to the same camp...LOL!!!!
Some Great Songs to Sing at the Youth Camp Talent Show:
ReplyDelete1. Friends Are Friends Forever (yes, this was me. I received a rousing ovation though!)
2. I Will be Here
3. Love in Any Language (Complete with interpretive sign language)
4. Arise My Love
5. He Holds the Keys (Definitely should not have been attempted by mere youth!)
Yeah camp! Here's a few ideas
ReplyDelete- The camper that has to be in front of the video camera ALL THE TIME
- Slip'n slides...fun, but worth the risk? YES
- Camper crushes on the "cute" male counselors
and from a staff prospective
- How many of my campers have peed in the lake?
- stealing each others clothes and hanging them from the flagpole
- spending late nights talking about how tired you are from your campers
- the "make campers eat fruit so they'll poop" talk
I'm going to go with:
ReplyDelete1. The last night where all of the teenage girls go up during the altar call and hold hands and cry....it only takes one to get the chain started.
2. The "I kissed dating goodbye." mentality (true love waits on steroids). Don't touch a boy for the rest of your life....when you see your future spouse you will "just know"...you don't have to touch.
3. Every song HAS to have hand movements. And you BETTER know them or you're the reject loser.
um, the 'processed egg batter' that comes in big cartons that they try to disguise as real food.
ReplyDeletecamp food in general, mostly.
At camp, I would say Christians like...
ReplyDelete* fake hillbilly teeth (counselors in skits or campers just for kicks)
* camp jewelry (friendship bracelets, hemp/bandana necklaces...)
* ropes courses
* a sugar high immediately before the long bus ride home. thanks alot snack shack.
OOOOOh... the lost and found bin that contained a collection of unclaimed biohazardous socks, forsaken bibles, and at least one pair of tighty-whiteys.
ReplyDeleteAnd never forget the obligatory kid who came with only one pair of shorts or one tshirt and never changed it the whole week... and his oblivious counselor who didn't notice until Thursday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteOr the kid who packed half his suitcase with clothes and the other half with soda, candy, and other treats to sell to his cabinmates... the little blackmarketer.
And the kids that come with $45 dollars and manage to spend it ALL on ice cream. And soft drinks. In two days.
And the squeaky bunks that shriek at you if you so much as move a fingertip while lying on them.
And the kid who somehow manages to never shower at all during the entire week.
I could seriously go on and on... bedwetters? group games with the apparent purpose of inflicting mass injuries? noisy cabins? prankers? flirts? homeschoolers? wannabe jocks? trying to debate theology until 3 AM at the age of 12?
... I totally love summer camp. :.D
i remember one year making a pact with God to destroy my Poison, G'NR and Def Leppard albums... I did. By January I had purchased them all again.
ReplyDeleteNext time I got rid of them, I sold them...and came out of the store with REM and The Smiths.
I like scenario two better.
Other camp memories: when on staff at a Christian camp: streaking from the staffs cabin, past the girls cabins, across the road to the beach... getting told that camp guests drove past us on the road and having to chop wood.
pranks and pranks and pranks
bad food and lots of gas
sewage/leach field backups
You should write about the campfire. At my church camp, the last night we have a prayer walk/campfire. Campers/staff are encouraged to come up and share part of their camping experience, which usually includes their entire life story. This year, 2 people actually sang. I guess they figured that their thoughts would best be expressed in the miracle song from "The Prince of Egypt." One girl expressed her distress at losing her cat, and one boy said that he decided to become drug-free. Anyway, it was the most interesting campfire yet, and I'm sure there have been others at other camps.
ReplyDeletefor some reason, it was perfectly acceptable to sing "eye of the tiger" at church camp, even though they told us secular music was like...a gateway drug to actual drugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I already told this story once here--the Brown Squirrel Riot of '05! People are oddly territorial over the way they learned camp songs, and HATE to hear them any other way.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my youth group in high school had a word for those awkward camp relationships: Stalecakes. Normally, you bake a cake at like 375 for half an hour, but if you want to bake a cake more quickly you can turn the temperature up--say, at 425 for only 15 minutes. The problem with baking a cake more quickly is that it tends to go stale a lot more quickly, like how kids (or counselors!) who start dating at camp generally end up breaking up as soon as they're home and have contact with more than 9 other kids.
FOOD AT CAMP-
ReplyDeleteMy son is currently at youth camp. Got a call an hour ago that 25 of the 100 children have food poisoning. They have called in the health dept. After thanking God for the first time that my son is a picky eater and I found out he has been subsisting off of rolls since Sunday, my thoughts immediately went to this blog so I could post this. just sign me
-Bad Mom
Camp was always a time of weird games:
ReplyDeleteEating melted Baby Ruth from a diaper or from a bowl of Mountain Dew.
The worst was a drinking contest of who could finish a gallon of chocolate milk first. Needless to say, there was a lot of choco-puke all over the stage and sound equipment.
The other thing I loved most about camp was being a councilor and always having to do the night searches for the weird kids that would disappear into the darkness. Those kids are like ninjas out there.
At my camp we always got broken up into groups where we then had to pick a Carmen or Ray Boltz song to act out. I think we did "Thank You" every dang year. And I think we all had to lip sync at the end.
ReplyDeleteOoooh - just thought of something else - I also was on a camp traveling team for my school and at every camp I have ever gone to, everyday at lunch the same thing happens. Mail Call. Kids parents would send them a letter and you had to do something embarrassing to get it. Common ones were "Ride a Broom Around the Room" and drink/eat something incredibly disgusting. Luckily my parents weren't into camp correspondence.
ReplyDeleteokay...i know a little more about kids camp as opposed to youth camp but how about waiting in line forever for meals...and then if you are a girls counselor, you learn all those hand clapping rhymes while you are waiting in line...and of course there are 1 or 2 boys who try to do the hand things and mess it up and the girls laugh...they love it!
ReplyDelete"scamming" (old-school for hooking up)
ReplyDeleteSinging:
"Give me wax for my board and I'll go surfin' for the Lord"
"It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And soon all those around will warm up to its glo-o-wing. That's how it is with God's love. Once you've ex-peri-en-ced it. You want to sing so fresh like spring, you want to pass it on!"
Sad I remember this...
Okay, how about these ones:
ReplyDeleteLast year I discovered the offical sports of Christians- Ultimate Frisbee
I also got a call from my wife telling me that she was pregnant the second day of camp.
The Order of the Fork. Maybe that was just a local thing.
ReplyDeleteHow about the one kid(or counselor) who is always disappearing in to the woods until the last day when some one finds out they snuck cigarettes in. Or at high school camp the kid who brings some drugs(acid or pot usually) and/or a bottle of boone's farm.
ReplyDeleteoh... camp love... his name was dusty... from mississippi... alas, maybe i can find him on facebook... wait, but then there was... and ... and... yes. summer lovin' had me a blast!
ReplyDeletei'm pretty sure camp was exclusively a boy search... and the death of you if you got lumped in with the dorks... bad cabin makes for bad camp.
**The pre-teen girls who changed clothes after EVERY EVENT, and took a shower as SOON as they got to camp to use all of their new, fun, travel-sized toiletries.
ReplyDelete**Having to buy a whole new wardrobe in order to have "appropriate" clothes to wear for camp (and we were the PASTOR'S kids!!!)
Chubby Bunny--aka stuffing marshmellows into your mouth until you puke!
ReplyDeleteBlobbing...a good way to belly flop
Rainy day games....the summer I worked camp it rained every Monday
Camp Romances
Burping contests or gas contests...
Crazy Camp Nicknames
i worked at a bible camp for inner city kids... this was a camp song:
ReplyDeleteapple red happiness
popcorn cheerfulness
cinnamon singing in the sun
peppermint energy
gumdrop holiday
when you give Christ your life
The benefits (clap)
of God's great love
are super satisfying
So throw out your sin
and let the Lord in
Try it and you'll see
You'll find
Apple red happiness...
There was also the "rebel" kid who would try to lead revolts.
the kid who always had to go pee.
the little girls who had a crush on the boy counselors.
the swimsuit debate (tankinis? too sluty, One peice? still a bit sketchy... girl counselors had to wear tshirts and shorts.)
how every little girl cabin has a
"God's little princesses" theme
"mexican caserole" enough said.
camp chores- "here is some comet, go hose down the boys bathroom"
skits that teach bible stories and valuable life lessons... some are funny. most are not.
camp romance.
swimming in a lake where you cant see down more than 6 inches. this lake also has 4ft long snakes and snapping turtles that weigh 50lbs.
the blob.
trying new things with your hair cause no one cares. one summer, 4 guys with mohawks.
Cannot believe no one's mentioned:
ReplyDelete"It's a big, big house with lots and lots of room...."
(Although being non-athletic, I thought at the time that if I found myself in someone's yard playing football in the hereafter, it would more likely mean I was in the other place.)
There was also the worship leader guy who was in college, and whom every single girl wanted to marry.
Oh, and two words: Super Soakers.
How about those fire and brimstone sermons that they preach? I personally am a huge fan of them. Jesus saved my soul with one, but they are still poor taste indeed!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I think back to our days when we were youth campers, and our favorite memory is open mic time. Inevitably there would be one camper who would say, "Well, at first I didn't really want to come here, but now that I'm here...(pause for a moment of silent sobs)...I'm really glad I came. I love you guys!" This testimony happened. every. year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have to add my own memory - altar call as a time to hug my camp crush. He was always vulnerable and in need of a hug right after he rededicated his life to Christ. I just might go to hell for that, but hey, it happened. And I wasn't the only one who did it.
How about the "no elbows on the table" rule. If someone (let's say Mark) is caught with elbows on the table the following is sung:
ReplyDeleteMark, Mark strong and able get your elbows off the table!
Round the mess hall you must go
You must go
You must go
Round the mess hall you must go
You were naughty!!
While the song is sung, the offender must skip around the mess hall.
Good times.
As a counselor at a couple of different Christian camps, I'd have to say that my favorite memory is quoting fake Scripture to the kids- most common was "Second Daniel 6:1- Quit yer whinin'!"
ReplyDeleteI am very sad this year...I am not counseling or directing camp this year.
ReplyDeleteAfter 17 years of junior high camp I will miss all the kids sooo very much...
I won't miss things like…
The “year of the inhaler”; when one boy received the news via snail mail that his mother had died in a freak bus accident (in India). He was obviously upset and others were comforting him, then everything escalated to a mini mass hysteria-then inhalers came out and kids were handing them around…talk about a nightmare! The following year we started collecting ALL meds (that was in the late 80’s).
Or the time some boys lured some girls into the boy’s cabin and played a game of “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”. The following year we had completely separate campsites for the sexes.
Or the time when we went into the girls bathroom (all girls camp) and several girls were just ready to literally pierce another girl's ears…
These are just a few near disasters; I am not making any of this up…
Seriously, pray for all those wonderful camp counselors this summer…
OK, tons of comments but I had 2 more ideas:
ReplyDelete1) After camp blues, playing "Friends" over and over while you lay on your bed and cry. Feeling leftover "holiness" buzz but doing nothing with it. So you go to the mall.
2) I think they put pot in the campfire because every single kid has delusions of committing himself to be the next Billy Graham or Jim Elliott. After camp is over, so is the delusion.
Well, there was always the kid who was the "cute one" in your youth group who all the girls from the other youth groups wanted to "go out" with. There was also the best friend you made a camp who lasted through, say, one letter back and forth.
ReplyDeleteI was a big fan of the "open mic night." This was on the last night of camp and everyone sat there awkwardly until someone finally got up there and spilled their guts about everything they've done wrong in their life. Tears, snot and prayer...good times!
ReplyDeletei said uh pharaoh pharaoh
ReplyDeleteoh baby
let my people go
huh
yeah yeah yeah yeah
hallelu hallelu hallelu hallelu
YA
praise ye
the lord... the group was split into four sections, and you always hoped that your section got picked to scream the "YA" part.
also @diane muir:
get your elbows off the table jimmy doe
get your elbows off the table jimmy doe
we have seen you do it twice
and it isn't very nice
get your elbows... sung to the tune of "if you're happy and you know it"
...and the mosquitoes in the bathroom were always the size of quarters.
So many memories...
ReplyDelete...the camper who was convinced he was immune to poison ivy and proceeds to demonstrate it...
...the kid who always seems to be at camp. it doesn't matter what time of year you come, he's there...
...tick-picking contests, whoever has the most ticks on them after a hike wins...
...one match fires. if you need any more matches to start a fire than that, you don't belong at camp...
..."3D" fires' from Daniel chapter 3--Make it 7 Times Hotter!...
...the camper (guy) I had who proudly declared that at home he would never go to bed without taking a bubble bath while listening barry manilow...
...and the best camp rule ever made: NOOOOOOOOO COUPLES!!!!!....
I was a counselor this year at a camp for Sr. High Students. The last night all the counselors wanted to hang out after the campers were in bed. We woke up the next morning and a boy now had a HUGE safety pin in his tongue. They had thought it would be fun to pierce his tongue the night before when no counselors were watching.
ReplyDeletei'm late to the convo, i know, but i just found this site. first, kudos... i an some of the staff guys at my church rolled laughing over this stuff yesterday.
ReplyDeletesecond, camp stuff. I worked enough camp to know the ins and outs of certain genres of camp, and here's my list of favorites:
1. the aforementioned camp romance, or as we called them, the one-week relationship. Having been a victim of one when I was in eighth grade, I know the severe heart wounds these one-weekers can do. We actually did videos to warn kids (comedically) of the dangers of the OWR, including testimonials of the "they never respond to my IM's" and the "we shared a pizza one night", as well as the "God told me to ask her out" types of claims.
We actually found a note one week that we turned into a song. we had a skit each morning where we wrote and sang songs based on funny things that had happened the day before, based on stories we were told. Well, the note we found had the best conversation we'd ever found written during a sermon:
girl: I know we're only here for a few days, but would you want to be my boy friend for this week?
boy: (we assume this was being passed) I don't know your name.
girl: it's stephanie.
boy: stephanie, i don't like you at all.
(insert drawn face of some one sticking out their tongue)
AT ALL!!!!
Needless to say, the song became a #1 summer jam.
2. Talent Show. The talent show was a staple at the camp I worked at, and to be in the talent show, you only needed to sign up. No one had the guts to tell anyone they needed work or just flat out were awful; instead they were applauded and encouraged to the point that most of them eventually end up in line to audition for american idol.
three prime examples stick out to me:
one, the kids who do interpretive movement to "arise my love" with sticks.... yes. if you've seen it, you know the unhindered glory that comes from this experience.
two, the Christian rap battle, a 8-mile-esque face-off with two people who cannot rap and a horde of hype people (aka, the rest of their youth group dressed stereotypically, towels included). bonus--they start off ripping on each other's mothers, then apologize (while rapping) and begin to boast in Jesus. It's inspirational.
three, there was the girl who sang the theme from Titanic (yes, the celine dion "my heart must go on"), no accompaniment, using only three notes of range. Impossible? Far from it. Awe is one of the emotions i felt. one of them...
I would have to go with the multiple entries about "camp romance". For me, sadly, this often looked more like "completely abandon your youth group friends to spend time with an attractive stranger you will exchange about 3letters (yes, letters) with (and you write the last one that gets no response)". This was a yearly occurance, unless, of course, that girl came with MY group.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to nominate the "Camp Talent Show", which I totally pwned (not really) each and every year,
and finally, doing ridiculous things with your hair and clothes that you would never do at home. Also known as "Who Do I Want To Be At Camp This Year?" I could have benefitted from a weekly theme of "Taking Off The Mask" each year at camp.
I am ashamed.
What about those Bible verse memory contests where the winners get to slime the youth pastor with all the left-over food? What better motivation to memorize Scripture?
ReplyDeleteSo many ideas! You've got alot of perusing ahead of you.
ReplyDeleteI'm from the Northeast, still considered an emerging region by many of y'all churches down South.
One thing I found amusing then and now are summer mission trips.
I can spot them from a mile away. May be the matching neon shirts or the unusually large presence of white people in a non-white neighborhood.
Enjoy!
camp love was so prevalent at our camp that the worship leaders had a song:
ReplyDelete"camp love is on my mind
camp love is all the time
camp love it's over in a week
camp love you really stink"
but you should do a post about getting kicked out of church camp. every year they would kick someone out for pulling some sort of prank - it was always a kid that had been for the last 10 years and would keep going - maybe so that we would have an "other" to finally point out. i don't know. but i did get kicked out. i think for driving the golf cart without authorization, i really don't remember.
...and that was 2 summers after they made me camper of the year. i'm such a failure.
ReplyDeleteI learned the fine art of bribery at camp. Leaving treats and gifts for whoever checked the cabins was the only way to win the cleanest cabin award.
ReplyDeleteI thought of something else. I grew up Southern Baptist and at our church camp girls had to wear dresses or pants for evening actvities. It became this major fashion show. We would plan our evening outfits for weeks before camp. Then, during our free time in the afternoon we would spend hours showering, putting on makeup, fixing our hair. It seems so silly now!
ReplyDeleteI became a Christian just before turning 18, so I went I was a counselor at teen church camp this summer at 22 it was my first camp experience. I got a kick out of the t-shirts kids wear at church camp - mostly cheesy secular advertising catch-phrases with a little God flavor - and think there should be a compilation of as many ridiculous Christian t-shirts as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't church camp, but church youth retreat that was at a campground, so hopefully that counts.
ReplyDeleteAnyway- we played "spin the bottle" and that's also where I learned to play poker.
this has nothing to do with summer camp suggestions, but please read the last sentence of this article. wow.
ReplyDelete"The pope, therefore, does not wear Prada, but Christ," L'Osservatore said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080626/ap_on_re_eu/pope_s_fashion
As a camper at an all-boys camp:
ReplyDelete*Having a counselor catch a snake and roast it over the fire. It tasted like chicken. Yummy.
*The soiled underwear that gets found in the woods.
*Since it's an all-boys camp, getting to change into your swim trunks in the outdoors with all the other boys. Not cool.
*Accidentally ramming your counselor in the head with your canoe because he's out swimming in the lake while you're first learning how to steer a canoe. (He was fine)
*Contests to see who can get the most points. What did we win anyway?
*10 oz. Orange Crush sodas
*Carpetball! See carpetball.net if you've never played. If you won you got to keep playing. So the kids good at this would spend the whole free-time playing carpetball, drinking Orange Soda, and eating sugary candy.
*Being made fun of by other campers. And making fun of other campers.
As a counselor with camp groups of K-5, Jr High, Sr High, and Family Camp:
ReplyDelete* Games that involved throwing things at your campers. Flour-sack tag left nice white marks on their clothes.
* Wandering around the campgrounds looking for any "purpling" while hoping to run into that female counselor you like.
* With the youngens, we'd like to play a game called "Elf Land." This was where the kids would lie as still and as quiet as possible (many fell asleep). If you were the quietest and stillest the "Elf" would pick you to be the next Elf who could then pick the next stillest & quietest kid. This was an Oasis of Sanity in an otherwise chaotic Day Camp week.
* Veggie Tales. Nothing like dropping the little kids in front of a TV for an hour to listen to Larry the Cucumber massacre some beloved Bible story.
* Skits. Oh, glorius skits. Every morning had to start with a skit - the funnier, crazier, zanyier the better. Nobody likes the sappy make me cry skits. But the uproarius laugh-inducing skits were highlights for all. We counselors thought we were on "Who's line is it anyway" where we could improv our way through the skit and still get the "message" across. (you know, love God, love people). I recall one including the "Holy Roller" time-travelling machine. I'm sure it ended well - probably with Jesus' crucifiction in order to cover the whole range of emotions in less than 10 minutes.
*Camper Talent night. They'd want to do a skit about Jesus vs. Satan. Why did every boy want to play Satan? Then you'd have the one that didn't want to participate. So he got to be a table or something. "just get on all fours and sit there. We'll put a plate on you and do a skit of Jesus clearing the temple. Can I be Satan?"
*Testimony by the Counselor. Uhf, I dreaded these. One time I shared my faith via He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Another was how I wrecked my bike. Again you had to cover the whole range of emotions in 3 minutes. It had to be funny so that kids would pay attention, but then it had to have that "moral of the story" that tought some deep, wise, and profound biblical truth.
* WEEKENDS! Friday nights were the best as a counselor because it was like you had just been released from prison. Pure Braveheart FREEDOM! (I did love the kids and had a lot of fun with them, but 6 days was enough).
* Stupid things you did with other counselors on the weekends. A game called "Blotting" - where you would go out to a road somewhere that had a deep ditch. Place fruit pies on the road in the path of where tires would run over it. Hide in the ditch. Once a car had run over your fruit pie, scamper out to the road and eat the smashed fruit pie off the pavement. If yours didn't get smashed, wait until the next car comes by. (If you play this at home, be sure to have someone designated as a spotter for cars).
* Costume Night Out. Ah, dressing up in some wacked out costume from the skit closet with a group of counselors and go out into the public. We looked like dorks, but we were high on the Spirit, so we didn't care. It actually gave us a chance to share the gospel a few times as people would ask us what we were doing.
*Planting seeds. I'd be remiss to not include seeing kids grow in their faith. Now it was annoying when one counselor would talk about how all 6 of her campers "accepted Christ" that weekend. But it was cool by the end of the week to see some differences in kids or to hear what they learned. They may not remember it, but it was still a seed that got planted, and God makes it grow.
Powdered milk for your breakfast cereal. A camp classic. Yum. That box o' milkflakes must have been from the industrial revolution. It was the size of a small horse stable.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, it made breakfast taste like something found at a small horse stable. MMMMMMMM.
I don't know if anyone posted about this or not but I went to camp in the mountains of Virginia and we played this cruel and unusual game every summer:
ReplyDeleteSnipe Hunt
A Snipe is a creature, be it bird or beast I am not sure, that lives in the surrounding corn fields and woods. Each cabin must go out with a flashlight and a bag in hopes of catching this creature. We would always return to the main house to find a counselor (dripping in ketchup) that was attacked by said creature. Ok, kids, off to bed!
What the heck?
Some other camp games:
"Darling I love you will you please smile for me?" (easy way to break the 6 inch rule)
Name an animal or get hit by a newspaper
Or songs:
Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory (mmm...I am 13, not 2)
One Tin Soldier (that's an upper)
Give umption for my gumption let me function function function let me function till the break of day...(is that saying what i think it's saying??)
Oh you can't get to heaven
In a mini skirt
(yes, i went to camp in the 80s)
Last favorites:
Secret Angel: send and recieve notes/gifts/treats and then on the last night at the bonfire we go around with a flashlight to reveal who we had...(stinks if you forgot to send anything)
Bonfire- letters/prayers to God: write a letter and throw them in there and they go straight up to heaven and land on his "to do" pile.
Can't wait for your posts!! FUN!!
Why does every Christian camp have the requisite "blob" (essentially a rainbow-colored, air-filled catapult) in the middle of the I'm-not-sure-I-want-to-swim-here man-made lake?
ReplyDeleteOr the gigantic ball that you kick around the kid that usually bowls over at least 2 little kids on the field?
Most everyone has been to a youth activity that involved eating a doughnut off of a string at some point in their life
Church camps in the middle of nowhere with approaching roads on the side of the mountain where you are SURE there is a good chance you'll meet Jesus in person before you get to camp!
Scaring youth to a "Jesus moment" by suspending them 40 feet in the air on a ropes course or zip line
Has anyone ever really been reformed to continue hospital corners and having their room cleaned before 8:00am as a result of summer camp – "so glad little Johnny went to camp this summer – his room has been spotless ever since!"
Maybe guys don't battle this, but the stress of going on a girl's trip together and no one really knows how the roommates are going to shake out. You don't really want to show a preference, but you are secretly hoping you don't get the "snorer" or the "primper" or God forbid, the "heathen who still drinks/smokes/curses even on church trips"!
And lastly . . . "great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts"...need I say more?
I thought Snipe hunts were only in the South -- Glad to know I wasn't alone.
ReplyDeleteAll these songs are cracking me up. We didn't have *rules* against camp love, but at our high school church camp in Oklahoma, we couldn't wear shorts. Everything was pretty much outdoors... and we would shower and primp several times a day, just to sweat within minutes. Church camp is where I did all the things I shouldn't have. Hmmm... If only my parents knew.
This is going to be my favorite topic yet.
as a Fuge Staffer:
ReplyDeleteCamp Romance is definitely the top of the list.
The fact that every guy there "can" play the guitar.
Creative Movement
Cheesy Horrible Talent Shows
Crying during worship as a group
-Recommiting your life to christ every night
1. Having "meditation/quiet time" in the woods where we're supposed to be talking/praying, but actually, we are all looking to see what others are doing and wondering why some are wandering off having a good time.
ReplyDelete2. Thursday night "candle service" where everyone has a candlestick and we sing Michael W Smith's "friends are friends forever" by the lake. and then everyone complains that our fingers are being burned by the wax that the paper doesn't trap.
3. Learning sign language to Ray Boltz "Thank you for giving to the Lord"
4. Cabin confessions to our bunkies and counselor. Where we're supposed to confess our sins (at age 7) and ask the Lord to make us better. I don't recall having too many sins then.
5. True Love Waits campaigning...signing the commitment card for the 4th year
6. Camp Crushes on the counselors
7. Promising to be Best Friends and write letters to all the friends you met.
8. Preparing a touching testimony to be read at Church that sunday.
Well I went to Summer Camp with the dinosaurs when we didn't worry about such things as tankinis. And it was a Church of the Brethren camp. So at campfire along with Kumbaya, we got to sing Dust in the Wind and some Bob Dylan tunes.
ReplyDeleteAnd we made stuff. Lanyards. Leather stuff. Glue was usually involved.
We went on hikes. Where we would stop in the middle and ponder God. When actually we were pondering how we could get out of pondering God.
Swimming. "Buddy up".
Fishing. It was on a lake so we always promised some counsellor or other camper that we really really would get up at 5:30am to go fishing with them because that's when fishing was best. And then wake up at 9 and realize we've missed breakfast.
Having your name sewn on your underwear.
The rickety suspension bridge. It probably finally collapsed with some poor children who were making it swing.
Ah the memories
I coordinate six weeks of summer camp each year for middle school and high school students- so I have seen a lot of summer camp highs and lows. Some that stand out to me-
ReplyDelete-Boys meeting girls from other youth groups and the girls from their youth group who hate them for it.
-Gross skits that include everything from drinking someone else's backwash to "bass ball" where someone actually hit real fish into the audience with a baseball bat
-8 different girls singing the same Jackie Velasquez song in any given week.
-Dress up night. Girls spending hours getting ready for evening worship- not in prayer and fasting, but by trying on each other's clothes and doing each other's hair and makeup. I once actually witnessed a girl getting her eyebrows waxed for the first time- by other middle school girls- yikes!
-Camp cheers. I know you've done a post on this, but camp cheers are unlike any other form of cheer. One year we had a watermelon eating contest and all found ourselves chanting "Eat that melon, eat,eat that melon". That don't teach that at cheerleading camp.
-The band. They may be an actual band, they may be a group of college guys with guitars from someone's church that said, yeah, we could use some extra cash. Regardless, for those 5 days, they are rock stars. Girls swoon & want their autographs, guys secretly want to be them, not knowing that come Monday, these guys will be back at work at Home Depot (sorry).
We actually have a rule at camp of "no message shorts", but I want to see if we can change it to "the butt is not a billboard".
I'm sure I'll think of other things as time goes on- camp starts Monday!
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ReplyDeleteI went to and worked at the MOST AMAZING camp in Canada. Keats Camp was THE ultimate place!!! We went by boat, through the gorgeous Gulf Islands. We were chased by guys in drag or silly costumes...on water skis. We arrived to a large wharf full of singing staff. As each kid disemarked up a rickety gangplank, they were manhandled at told "Welcome to KEATS!!!" by every person in that line.
ReplyDeleteThe food was a huge source of pride at Keats and no one EVER said they were either grossed out or hungry.
High standards were the norm and every detail was important. Competitions were nightly events and fun could be had by participating or watching. Bible memory and levels of acheivement were don along a nautical theme. Getting one's bars and badges was a great thing to do every year. Skits were done twice daily. Camper fun was the number one goal. We hiked, sailed, swam, waterskiied, rock climbed ...on and on.
I worked at a camp some years later that actually forbade the staff to EVER mention "Keats". The name was outlawed. The job was a glimpse of hell.
Camp should involve several things. Fun. Faith. Friends. Aim high and don't be satisfied unless your heart breaks when the kids leave. Hire happy college kids who fear nothing and respect everyone.
And whoever had to go or work at Camp Caroline in the early '80's? I feel your pain.
Ahhhh! Summer Camp Memories:
ReplyDeleteFrom when my kids went to camp;
The adult counselor who thought it would be fun to break open glow sticks and spread all the goop on the campers.....
Gospel Bill Camp anyone?
Being "slain in the spirit: just because everyone else was falling. The shaky raised hand during alter time to show you were really spiritual and menat it! Praying as loud as you can so "God can hear you"
Puppets and Dummies who flirt with the girls and tell jokes about the camp staff.
Fund raisers for camp. My mom and I made 50 pies or so to sell for camp money. The ever popular candy bar sales and one year we sold pizzas.
Having your mom for a counselor. My daughter said this was not good! I didn't see the problem.
Letters home day.
The counselors actually thought it would be ok to use flour and water in a stunt they had all the kids participate in, can anyone say GLUE? The showers were very busy. It might help to consult a parent once in a while, ya think?!?!
From my camp days in the early 70's:
Counselor nicknames, ours was a bird theme, my counselor was Raven,we thought that was soooo cool!!
NO MIXED BATHING!!! Also having to be fully clothed while walking to the pool and from.
We were at a girls camp on an island and we went for a hike and decided to skinny dip. We are pretty sure no one saw us!
Riding a Tandem bike for the first time. So cool!
Camp songs that are popular songs with the words changed. Remember "Put Your Hand In The Hand Of The Man......"? The camp song words were:
Put you hand in the fan
And you will lose a finger
Put your foot in the fan
And you will lose a toe
Put your face in the fan
And you will look at others
differently
Put your body in the fan
And rearrange your anatomy, I
said anatomy.
I love that song!
During prayer, praying that the speaker tells you to hold hands so you can hold the hand of your crush!! That was always such a spiritual moment and you knew it was God because it was during prayer!
Now a suggestion for your August theme. When my kids were in youth group, August was "Dating Series" month. The youth pastor had his famous dating series he pulled out every Aug. After the kids heard it for 2 or 3 years running, it just became a joke.
I don't know if someone already made a comment about this, but you have to say something about "purpling". I didn't know what this was since I was new to the Christian camp experience as a college student, but apparently boys are blue and girls are pink, so "no purpling is allowed in the cabins!". This was a classic rule at all camps my friends had attended.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading another comment, I thought of one of my camp experiences. The post said something about ridiculous camp games where people could get seriously hurt. During the first camp I went to, one of my leaders suggested these "fun" games we play. One consisted of linking arms in a big circle around a couch cushion and trying to force people on the opposite team to step on the cushion or unlink arms. The other was worse- the object of the game was to collect as many of the other team's shoes as possible. There were no rules for it, and no set time limit or anything to determine a winner. To make it worse, she made it boys versus girls (cuz that seems fair). People ended up getting tackled, kicked in the face, wrestled with, and just beaten upon overall. We all went to bed tired and spent the next day showing off our bruises and complaining about our pains. Great games!
ReplyDeletePraying to God you get mail because if you get enough they'll throw you in the pool. Poor kids who didn't get mail, well they were just not loved.
ReplyDeleteOFF
Do boys even take showers?
My favorites fron being a camp staff member were the ridiculous games that we played. They were almost always for our benefit and not the kid's. We got our kicks watching them eat nasty things and puke or get a get a black eye from trying to manuever a greased watermelon in the lake. And, it was always more fun for us if during the game we got to throw something at them. It was kind of like an acceptable form of child abuse.
ReplyDeleteMy other favorite camp memory is the signing of the camp shirt. The last day the kids were always running around with sharpies getting autographs from all of their new best friends. Honestly, when would it ever be cool to wear that tee shirt again?
I love all the comments......much of my experience was covered already. Of course, I was in LOVE with all the highschool guy counselors! haha!
ReplyDeleteBut....did anyone else experience insanely scary ghost stories and such at camp? Christian camp? What the heck? There were the traditional spooky stories that took place in the cabins, but one year there was a cabin that actually had sceances each night.
We had one camp where the legend was that there was an insane man living in the nearby woods, complete with "evidence" being found by the counselors, and faked calls to the police. Just completely terrifying.
I loved summer camp when I was a kid and teen. I attended 3 different camps (southern MI, southern IL and upstate NY) as a camper and counseled many times at 2 of them, and those were some good times, man.
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I second most of the above, and would like to add the following:
+ Interesting stops/hotels on the way to/from camp. The couples fighting or doing - ahem - other things in the room next door always made things fun and sleep disappear.
+ Breaking down on the way to/from camp. (This happened to us the first time we headed home to IL from the NY camp. Our van broke down. We had the cops called on us for singing to try to make the situation more fun. Then the van that came to rescue us broke down. Yeah, that was a doozy of an end to the week.)
+ Singing stupid songs at meals or on the bus to/from the pool or whatever ("We are table number one, number one, number one..." or "From fork to fork, my counselor is a dork". Etc.).
+ As a camper, crushing on a counselor of the opposite sex who was a friend of your counselor.
+ Staying up late after lights out giggling or talking about boys/girls you just met at camp, if you had cool counselors. If you had mean counselors, then whispering to the person above/below your bed and trying not to giggle out loud.
+ Heat indexes of 120 and no air conditioned buildings. (That was at the southern IL camp.)
+ Ah, the awkward first day or two when you don't know the other people in your cabin so you are the tightest clique ever with the friends you came with.
+ As a counselor, hunting down your campers who met a guy/girl.
+ Horrible fillers for indoors if it happened to rain.
+ Trying to keep waiting in line for meals interesting by having gross contests (I remember one about two people with some clear tubing between them. They pour a raw egg into it, and then see who can blow harder to get the egg on the other person. Oy.
+ Eating a lot of cereal because the food sucks.
+ Evil, evil swim tests.
+ Cabin clean-up contests, and seeing what extra thing you could do to up you chances of winning that day. For example, leaving your clothes around and an open tube of lipstick or whatever, to make it look like you were raptured. My personal favorite of the many I took part in was when I was a counselor. My girls and I hooked all our bras together and strung them from the rafters of our cabin. (Girls' cabins were checked by girls and guys' by guys.) How did we spiritualize this? We hung a sign on them that said, "The Lord is our support." Yeah, we totally won that day.
I could totally go on for several more hours, I think, but I'll spare ya. =oD
A few stories for consideration:
ReplyDeleteI took a group of younger teens to camp once, and by camp I mean week long unbridled hormone firing fest.
One of my youth, named John, had a girlfriend by day two. Day three rolls about and he's decided she's too clingy. The following conversation ensues:
John: Hey, I like you and all but I've got to tell you something.
Girl: What's that?
John: I'm Funny
Girl: Funny? I know you are, Hahaha
John: Not funny haha, funny gay.
Girl: Oh....
You can just imagine how the rest of that week went.
Then there was the time I was a camp counselor and a girl showed up on in front of our cabin wearing one of my campers boxer shorts over her jeans.
I could go on forever with these...
Brian
i always loved the ropes course.
ReplyDeletethere were all sorts of torture devices such as "Jacob's Ladder", "The Red Sea" and "Ezekiel's Wheel".
they always encouraged the wussy scared kids to chant Philippians 4:13 while risking their lives.
good times!
We just got back from camp!
ReplyDelete1. We enjoy funny speakers.
2. If the Mega Relay ultimate celebratiion is canceled b/c they think its going to rain-that stinks.
3. *The boys wanted to play harsh tricks=shaving eyebrows, beards, legs. putting staples in a sleeping bag. drawing a unibrow in sharpie(which by the way comes off immediatly with germ-x)
*the girls on the other hand just scared others with a monster mask early in the morning.
*our chaperones told us all to sit in the hallway-told us that someone had better fess up about something they did- everyone said, "well, we were 2 or 3 mins past curfew tonite." they said well i guess we'll have to bring out the camp counselor and sort this out. then they all pull out marshmellows and we have a marshmellow fight.
4. touching worship times are good but we have to make sure that we dont get carried away with our emotions.
5. Everybody else hated the food- I enjoyed it-partly b/c it was all there was other than junk food at the dorm.
6. It can be kind of hard to live in the same room with 7 people in it for several days. I came home unpacked and started cleaning the house.
not sure if this has been said here yet or somewhere else on the blog but what about camp t-shirts? or church event related shirts in general?
ReplyDeleteAugust needs to be summer concert series month or something. We trying to put on concerts that rival the big boys...but they rarely hit that mark.
ReplyDeleteCamp was always a time for the guys to see who could leave the largest pile of human excrement in the toilet. We took pictures.
on the other side of the camp spectrum...the campfire intro of "Hi my name is ____ some of you may know me...some of you may not"
embarrassing camp games meant to humiliate in the name of fun...
ReplyDeleteand spirit points. God hates spirit points.
- Dead Squirrels- code for when a kid has wet the bed. "uh, I found a dead squirrel this morning, can someone come take care of it?"
ReplyDeleteI was a counselor for 1 week at a camp for pre-teens... and in that 1 week, me and my cabin of ELEVEN KIDS (the fullest cabin that week; my co-counselor had to sleep on the floor due to lack of bedframes) managed to sneak out twice, get in huge trouble from the assistant director for putting a thong (not a flip-flop, a thong) on the door of one of the guy cabins, and get into massive "trouble" with a few of the (male, of course) campers.
ReplyDeleteI also got woken up twice in one night by campers who had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. We'd played a night game, and some of the staff who were scaring people looked a little too scary... after they made about half the camp cry at some point, there was a decision made to bring them in. They went around the next day to each cabin and apologized, but the damage was already done, the sleep already lost.
One of my girls turned out to be what can best be described as a "sleep screamer"... meaning she yelled through one whole night, with maybe 15-minute breaks. The campers all woke up, but after the initial shock of someone yelling wore off, they fell back asleep. Not so for us leaders! We were all either trying to wake her up (didn't work), trying to fall asleep, or waking up. Constantly. Needless to say, we got maybe 1/2 an hour of sleep that night. In the morning, on our way to the 7:30 am staff meeting, we couldn't help but laugh.
Sleep deprivation makes everything more funny.
Then we got to the meeting and found out that the coffee maker had broken down.
We didn't laugh any more.
Oh, and of course, there's always the 2 or 3 "hot" guy staff members that all the girls in the entire camp have a crush on. It's weird now that I'm on staff and you realize that their either your age or your brother's age. Then it's just creepy. And of course all the girls come up to you and say "he looked at me in Chapel/at breakfast/swimming" etc.
Funny stuff.