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| 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
