Sunday, September 16, 2018

Camp Director's Report - Dave Buncher


Some of Our Staff from Week 2

How do you teach doctrine to an elementary school camper? How do you teach it without it becoming boring? Well this year our theme at Ohio Brigade Camp was “The Five Solas.” The Five Solas are doctrinal standards that came out of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s. They are a foundational set of principles derived directly from scripture that are central to the doctrine of salvation:

·         Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone
·         Sola Fide, by Faith alone
·         Sola Gratia, by Grace alone
·         Solus Christus, through Christ alone
·         Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone

These doctoral standards give us a framework to evaluate all systems of belief. If any belief or idea contradicts with one of these biblical standards that it must be suspect. The standards are biblical truths and are not the idea of any pastor, theologian, or reformer, but the teachings of scripture. This was our theme this summer… Basic Training. Teaching biblical truths to the next generation.
We had a fantastic summer, with more than 34 documented decisions for salvation, 58 coming forward to rededicate their lives to Christ, and than 24 that came with special prayer needs. Now, we realize that these numbers cannot adequately express what the Holy Spirit of God did in the hearts and lives of campers this summer, but they can give you an idea of how our great God moved and changed eternity and lives this summer. We had A total of 407 campers and 167 staff members.
It was an amazing camp season. Though it was not without its challenges. Let me take a moment to tell you the story of one:
One of our fantastic senior counselors came to me on Wednesday of Stockade week concerned about a struggle he was having with behavior issues of an individual camper. He had spoken to this camper and given disciplinary action in every way he knew how, and was struggling with what to do next. He asked me, as camp director, to get involved. So, I spoke with the camper and challenged him to listen and obey his counselor and to be respectful of the leaders and other campers. This seemed to help for a little while, but his poor behavior continued. After a few more conversations, with both the counselor and myself, we came to Friday afternoon.
Friday afternoon he was again belligerent and refused to listen to his counselor and go with the other campers in his cabin. So I was again asked to get involved. I sat with the young man and he refused to talk to me. One of the things I try to avoid the most as camp director is sending campers home for behavior problems. In my eight years as camp director I have only had to send home one camper. As I sat with this camper I asked the Lord to give me wisdom on how to interact and deal with this difficult situation. The Lord kept speaking to my heart “Everyone has a story.”
This, and every camper, has a life back home, a family, and struggles. What can I do to show him that he is loved by God and that we care about him and want him here at Stony Glen. I asked one of my staff to give me his parents phone number. They brought me his mom’s cell phone number on a piece of paper. I looked at the young man and told him that I think I needed to call his mom and have her come get him because of the behavior he was demonstrating. He suddenly got a panicked look on his face and said, “no don’t call my mom”. And I responded “why shouldn’t I call your mom? You’re being disobedient and disrespectful.” After a few more exchanges between us he finally said “all my parents do is yell at me. If you call them all they will do is yell at me and yell at me and yell at me… everyone yells at me.”
I sat quiet for a moment with him and responded “but I haven’t yelled at you and your counselor hasn’t yelled at you. And you still won’t behave and be respectful.”
So I told the young man that I would make a deal with him if he was respectful and obedient and listen to what his counselors asked him to do we wouldn’t send him home and I wouldn’t call his parents. Though I doubted whether it would have an effect. I told the young man that I would keep his mom’s phone number in my pocket and if I needed to speak to him again I was calling. At this point his craft was more than half over. So I told him he had to sit with me until the end of craft. He didn’t want to talk to me I sat across the table from him and silently prayed asking God to change his heart and to help them realize how much she was loved by God.
I can’t tell you how much joy flooded my heart when his counselor came to me after Friday night campfire and shared with me that he prayed with this young camper to except Christ as his Lord and Savior!
God is so, so good. Had I sent this young man home, as I almost did, I may have taken away this opportunity for God to change his heart.
His counselor, even stopped by his house a week or two after camp to fulfill a promise he had made that he would get him his own chess set. As he pulled in the driveway the campers face filled with fear that his counselor was there to tell his mom about his behavior at camp. But his face turned into a smile as he realized that his counselor was there simply to keep his word.
Everyone has a story. Everyone has a life, struggles, and pain. But God is more than able to overcome it all!
This is what Brigade is all about. Men, godly men, using their passion for life to share their passion for Christ!
I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the leaders, counselors, staff, junior counselors, and collegiates that made this summer amazing. All of you have made eternity in heaven a reality for many of these campers this summer. Thank you so much for all of your support, prayer, and hard work.

Because of Christ,
Dave Buncher

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