Sermon

Camp Ministry & Transformation | Alex Hisey, Director of Camp Pagweak

Immanuel Truro: Sermons

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  1. So, for those of you who do [sighs]

  2. maybe get up in front of groups more

  3. often, um you may be similar to me and

  4. that you have kind of like a a [snorts]

  5. warm-up couple sentences or paragraph,

  6. an intro of some sort to get comfortable

  7. and Michael just stole mine. Um, and I'm

  8. pretty sure this happened last year when

  9. I was here. This is a great

  10. introduction, but I I was going to

  11. introduce myself from the get-go. Um, so

  12. I'm going to go through it again. My

  13. name is Alex. Alexisy. It's nice to meet

  14. you and be with you here this morning.

  15. Originally from Monton. Um, while I've

  16. been involved in camping ministry since

  17. 2017, this is my kind of coming up on my

  18. one-year mark on the role uh the camp

  19. director role here for Camp Pegak. And

  20. so, while there's plenty that I am still

  21. learning day in and day out, uh, happy

  22. to be operating with a little bit more

  23. experience now in the role as we kind of

  24. get settled in and chart uh, a course

  25. for where Pegak is headed next. My hope

  26. for today uh as I come to share a bit

  27. with you about Camp Pegak is that we can

  28. first spend some time together in the

  29. word as a form of kind of mini sermon or

  30. devotional moment and let that kind of

  31. serve as our leadoff point to be talking

  32. about camp. It's its biblical

  33. foundations and how that ties into kind

  34. of the practical things that we are

  35. working on right now um out at Camp

  36. Pegak. And so my goal for this morning

  37. is that you would leave here with not

  38. only a sense of what we're doing at

  39. camp, but with a sense of this is how

  40. God uses camp and powerful ways to

  41. transform and grow his people.

  42. Uh so before we jump into it, um why

  43. don't we just take another quick I know

  44. we just prayed, but I'm I'm going to

  45. pray again because that's okay. We can

  46. pray as much as we want to. All right,

  47. let's pray. Dear heavenly father, I

  48. thank you for today. I thank you for

  49. everyone who braved this cold weather to

  50. gather here in community. Uh I just pray

  51. that as we step into your word that you

  52. would open up our hearts, that you would

  53. reveal truth to us and that it would

  54. impact us in profound and meaningful

  55. ways. We pray this in your great name.

  56. Amen.

  57. So this morning we're going to go

  58. through a passage that is found in

  59. second Peter together. Now many of you

  60. might be familiar with this passage, but

  61. it's not necessarily one that we give a

  62. whole lot of air time to. It's not the

  63. top 10 passages that we talk about at

  64. church. Um, but I want to offer us a

  65. space to kind of sit and ponder it for a

  66. moment because I do believe that within

  67. this passage there is a profound truth

  68. about formation and about growth and

  69. what that means and looks like for the

  70. disciple. So this morning we're going to

  71. be in second Peter 1 3-1. And if you

  72. have your Bible with with you, you're

  73. welcome to read along with it will be up

  74. behind me on the screen. It goes like

  75. this. His divine power has given us

  76. everything we need for a godly life

  77. through our knowledge of him who called

  78. us by his own glory and goodness.

  79. Through these he has given us his very

  80. great and precious promises so that

  81. through them you may participate in the

  82. divine nature, having escaped the

  83. corruption in the world caused by evil

  84. desires. For this very reason, make

  85. every effort to add to your faith

  86. goodness and to goodness knowledge and

  87. to knowledge self-control and to

  88. self-control perseverance and to

  89. perseverance godliness and to godliness

  90. mutual affection and to mutual affection

  91. love. For if you possess these qualities

  92. in increasing measure, they will keep

  93. you from being ineffective and

  94. unproductive in your knowledge of the

  95. Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not

  96. have them is nearsighted and blind,

  97. forgetting that they have been cleansed

  98. from their past sins. Therefore, my

  99. brothers and sisters, make every effort

  100. to confirm your calling and election.

  101. For if you do these things, you will

  102. never stumble and you will receive a

  103. rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of

  104. our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  105. Now, as we look at this passage, I want

  106. to make sure that we grasp the context

  107. of it. Every time we're reading

  108. scripture, we need to know our context

  109. if we're able to best understand it the

  110. way that it was originally written and

  111. who it was originally to. Second Peter

  112. is one of the epistles. It's a letters

  113. letters written by the early apostles to

  114. early churches and early believers who

  115. are still kind of just figuring

  116. everything out. Everything's new to

  117. them. Unlike many of them, this uh

  118. letter is not actually written by Paul.

  119. Paul's the famous kind of author for a

  120. lot of these epistles. This one's not

  121. written by Paul. It's written by

  122. >> Peter. All right. Well done. We're

  123. awake. Excellent. Okay, Peter. Very

  124. good. So, these letters are from the

  125. apostles to the early believers and

  126. they're figuring it all out. They don't

  127. have years and years of tradition. They

  128. don't have kind of biblical study. They

  129. don't have pastors who have gone to

  130. Aadia University and have Are you from

  131. Did you go? Nice. Um, the joke landed.

  132. Okay, great. Right. They don't

  133. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Two, four. Nice. They

  134. don't have Francis Chan. They don't have

  135. CS Lewis, right? They don't have all

  136. these resources to lean upon to

  137. understand the Christian faith. So,

  138. they're very much reliant on these

  139. letters to help them in their

  140. understanding.

  141. Now, many of these letters carry one or

  142. two messages. Either they are letters of

  143. encouragement amidst some very difficult

  144. times and hardship or most commonly in

  145. Paul's case they are letters with some

  146. candid correction for the early church

  147. aka guys get it together what are you

  148. doing now luckily second Peter okay

  149. we're going to stay in the easy side

  150. today second Peter is more of an

  151. encouragement it's more of ancou an

  152. encouraging letter it's a followup to

  153. initial level an initial letter that he

  154. sent you'll never be able to guess the

  155. name of that one um and it's a it's

  156. written to a series of churches and

  157. believers across Asia Minor or what

  158. would be modern-day Turkey and they were

  159. struggling. They were struggling for a

  160. few reasons. They had these these false

  161. teachers and prophets that were kind of

  162. rising up in their midst. There was a

  163. lot of confusion amidst the church

  164. because we know we have different voices

  165. saying different things. And we know

  166. from first Peter that this region is

  167. also under some pretty heavy

  168. persecution. So these churches or these

  169. early believers are probably feeling

  170. fairly overwhelmed on all fronts. And in

  171. light of that, Peter writes them this

  172. letter of encouragement. And the

  173. encouragement that he offers them is

  174. this. Embrace transformation.

  175. Embrace transformation.

  176. The response is almost strange. And I

  177. can only help wonder what these early

  178. persecuted disciples who are just

  179. exhausted and are experiencing turmoil

  180. would have thought when they got this

  181. letter from Peter that tells them, hey,

  182. embrace transformation. They need a

  183. lifeline. They need a sense of hope. But

  184. this is the highest form of

  185. encouragement that Peter offers. But if

  186. Peter is offering this encouragement in

  187. the midst of that hardship,

  188. transformation must be of some

  189. importance.

  190. And so as believers today who may not

  191. necessarily be experiencing that

  192. persecution in the same way they were,

  193. but who may still need that or may still

  194. have that longing for hope. What might

  195. we learn from Peter's words for the sake

  196. of our own journey with Christ? or

  197. better asked, "What does meaningful

  198. growth and transformation look like

  199. according to Peter?"

  200. When we contemplate that question, we

  201. might find ourselves tempted to rush

  202. down to verses 5 through 7, where we

  203. find what appears to be a very practical

  204. breakdown of what formation looks like.

  205. Add to your faith goodness, and to

  206. goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge,

  207. self-control, and to self-control,

  208. perseverance, and to perseverance,

  209. godliness, and to godliness, mutual

  210. love, and to mutual uh sorry, mutual

  211. affection, and to mutual affection,

  212. love. And we might sit here and go

  213. through that checklist and kind of go,

  214. "All right, got it. Got it. Got it. Oh,

  215. self-control. Maybe not. Maybe not quite

  216. yet. Maybe that's where I'm at." Um, and

  217. I do think these are helpful for us to

  218. kind of understand where we might be uh

  219. experiencing God, where we still need to

  220. experience God's growth in our lives.

  221. But I don't want us to rush into these

  222. verses because I think that before this

  223. section on cascading traits, Peter

  224. communicates a lot about the nature of

  225. formation. He begins this passage like

  226. this. His divine power has given us

  227. everything we need for our godly life

  228. through our knowledge of him who called

  229. us by his own glory and goodness.

  230. When it comes to opening statements for

  231. a passage, this one's a powerhouse

  232. because Peter has jammed a whole bunch

  233. of ideas into one line.

  234. He highlights several key ideas on

  235. formation. He highlights first what the

  236. pursuit of this formation is that we

  237. would be able to lead godly lives. He

  238. highlights how our story of formation

  239. begins in response to him who called us.

  240. And he highlights the way in which we

  241. are sustained, provided for and guided

  242. amidst our formation and growth by his

  243. divine power. And in doing so, what

  244. Peter is ultimately saying in some of

  245. the opening lines of his letter of u

  246. that is surrounding growth and

  247. transformation is that transformation is

  248. a divine process. A process in which God

  249. is intimately a part of. He is saying

  250. that when it comes to our growth, the

  251. reality is that our development exists

  252. at least in part beyond ourselves as

  253. people. that we have no reason, no

  254. guidance or no objective to grow towards

  255. without the work of Christ. He continues

  256. this association in verse 9 when we get

  257. kind of the antithesis or the opposite

  258. to what he's saying now. He says that

  259. those who have no regard for

  260. transformation are nearsighted and

  261. blind, forgetting that they have been

  262. cleansed from their past sins. And in

  263. this we get the the picture that to be

  264. in Christ or to be following Christ

  265. means to be transformed. That these

  266. things go hand in hand. And this is a

  267. theme that we find all across the New

  268. Testament. Ephesians 4:21-24

    Ephesians 4:21–24

  269. which is literally titled instructions

  270. for Christian living says as such when

  271. you heard about Christ you were taught

  272. in him with important with accordance

  273. with the truth that is in Jesus. You

  274. were taught with regard to your former

  275. way of life to put off your old self

  276. which is being corrupted by deceitful

  277. desires to be made new in the attitude

  278. of your minds and to put on the new self

  279. created to be like God in true

  280. righteousness and holiness. And again,

  281. we see those same ideas of initiation,

  282. provision, and objective given to us by

  283. God. As we consider transformation

  284. amidst this passage, we find ourselves

  285. comforted maybe that our growth isn't

  286. entirely reliant upon us. That we don't

  287. have to get all the circumstances right

  288. or do all the right things in the right

  289. timings in order to be transformed to

  290. become more like Christ. But instead, we

  291. find that this is a journey in which we

  292. have been invited on in partnership with

  293. God. A journey in which he started by

  294. his work on the cross. journey that he

  295. guides us through as he works us works

  296. in us so that he can work through us. A

  297. journey by which we might better reflect

  298. Christ and better be ourselves according

  299. to his design for us.

  300. It is critical that in our own view of

  301. formation, we we not make the mistake

  302. that it is up to us or it is our own

  303. doing that brought us there because we

  304. might fall into this pitfall of thinking

  305. that we have achieved a certain status

  306. or a sense of purpose or a certain role

  307. within our communities on our own

  308. accord.

  309. But this isn't the only thing that Peter

  310. communicates to the reader in this

  311. passage. This truth about God's intimate

  312. involvement in our transformation is

  313. also surrounded by a series of calls to

  314. action

  315. through the through these things. He has

  316. given us his very great and precious

  317. promises so that through them you may

  318. participate in the divine nature having

  319. escaped the corruption in the world

  320. caused by e evil desires. For this very

  321. reason make every effort to add to your

  322. faith goodness and to goodness

  323. knowledge. And he continues through

  324. these traits we were just discussing

  325. later in verse 10. Therefore, brothers

  326. and sisters, make every effort to

  327. confirm your calling and election that

  328. you may participate in the divine

  329. nature. And then two different instances

  330. which should be sending all the alarm

  331. bells for us of who repeated words,

  332. repeated words, right? two different

  333. instances of make every effort.

  334. Alongside Peter's message to become

  335. reliant upon the Lord in the case of our

  336. growth, there is also a series of of a

  337. call to our involvement.

  338. And this might seem paradoxical at

  339. first. This might seem like it

  340. contradicts one another. But when we do

  341. our best to hold these ideas in tandem,

  342. knowing that they are both true, that

  343. they are both good, we find that there

  344. is room for our participation as well.

  345. If we hold both of these things to be

  346. true, we might conclude that even though

  347. God initiates, sustains, and informs our

  348. development, that does not mean that we

  349. sit back in the proverbial lazy boy and

  350. just wait to be like Christ. Well, the

  351. spirit's doing his thing. I'm just going

  352. to I'm going to sit here. here. I'm

  353. going to wait it out and then and then

  354. when I'm done, then when God's done with

  355. me, then then he'll send me out. But

  356. until then, I'll sit right here.

  357. But instead, we take action to further

  358. step into our relationship with Christ

  359. by joining him in the story that he is

  360. working in our lives. And so, while we

  361. trust that God is working in us and

  362. working through us, we have a

  363. responsibility to play our part. Does

  364. that mean that the Lord is dependent on

  365. us? that he requires us to do these

  366. things so that he can work that he's

  367. barred from doing any work in our lives

  368. until we are ready for it. No, God can

  369. and still works through the heart. Even

  370. of th those who have no regard for this,

  371. right? Even for those of us who um are

  372. distracted or more commonly too busy.

  373. I'm just too busy to be worked on right

  374. now, Lord.

  375. When we take the time to create space,

  376. engage with worship, practice rhythms of

  377. faith, exercise our spiritual gifts, we

  378. posture ourselves to better experience

  379. him. And it is through that experience

  380. of him that we we better realize our

  381. design. In engaging with the creator, we

  382. the created become more of ourselves.

  383. Our own denomination explores this

  384. apparent paradox between God's role in

  385. our story and our own participation

  386. through this idea of the trellis. I am

  387. not a gardener by any definition. Okay,

  388. you don't even want me to try to plant

  389. anything.

  390. But as I understand it that the trellis

  391. is this wooden or sometimes metal

  392. structure that helps to give support to

  393. a plant as it grows, right? It holds it

  394. up so that it can better receive

  395. sunlight so that it can have more space

  396. to grow and this way it helps the plant

  397. to realize the fullness of its

  398. potential. Does the trellis actually

  399. grow the plant? No.

  400. But it opens us up to its highest

  401. potential. And in the same way, we don't

  402. grow ourselves by the things that we do,

  403. but through rhythms such as prayer and

  404. scripture reading and spiritual

  405. disciplines, through setting setting

  406. ourselves up with a community of faith,

  407. whether that be Sunday morning church or

  408. like Michael was saying and kind of

  409. pushing for earlier today, getting

  410. involved with a small group, right?

  411. These things matter. These things are a

  412. big deal. By engaging in these things,

  413. we cultivate openness within our hearts

  414. and the spirit capitalizes on that.

  415. God's continuous work within us or the

  416. divine process and our participation is

  417. the basis or the foundation for

  418. formation.

  419. It is also the basis for camping

  420. ministry.

  421. Camps like Peguyak exist because we

  422. believe that while God is the only one

  423. that actually grows us as people, as

  424. leaders, as disciples, we have been

  425. offered, invited, and instructed to

  426. partake and participate in our own

  427. development. And there's multiple layers

  428. to that. Yes, we we think of camp as

  429. here are some leaders that are

  430. participating in the development of

  431. campers, but we also believe that our

  432. leaders, our camp staff are

  433. participating in their own development.

  434. and that we can teach our campers to

  435. participate in their own development.

  436. This is core to why camp ministry

  437. exists. So why don't I unpack for you a

  438. little bit more about that.

  439. Earlier I mentioned we were or actually

  440. probably didn't but Michael was me was

  441. mentioning he took my intro remember

  442. was mentioning that at camp we're doing

  443. kind of this refining work right we're

  444. going from we're finding ways to go from

  445. good to great

  446. and the reason we're doing so is because

  447. we strongly believe that the changes

  448. that we are making will help us to

  449. better meet the needs of a changing

  450. world and in turn and here's the goal to

  451. be more infect to be more effective in

  452. ministry and this has been an ongoing

  453. process for us over the last year we've

  454. been working on so many different things

  455. but we're sticking to our core and

  456. because we want to honor the last eight

  457. decades in which formation and

  458. transformation has already been

  459. happening at camp pegak

  460. leadership development disciplehip all

  461. of that has been taking place already

  462. but we want to find ways in which hey

  463. hey how do we get a little bit better at

  464. this

  465. we recognize that a key element in this

  466. refining process has been to revisit our

  467. mission vision and values our previous

  468. mission statement was very comprehensive

  469. and that was great. Uh but amidst all

  470. those details, it became really hard to

  471. pick out, okay, what's the main thing

  472. though? What's what's the main [snorts]

  473. thing? And so when we go to make

  474. decisions as a camp, um that that can

  475. get a little tricky sometimes.

  476. And so we want to make sure we're

  477. keeping the main thing the main thing.

  478. And so this fall that actually led us to

  479. approve the following mission statement

  480. that you'll see up on screen that Camp

  481. Pegak exists to serve communities and

  482. further Christ Church by developing the

  483. whole person through set aart

  484. transformational experiences.

  485. Simply put, camp exists to develop

  486. people and then to send people.

  487. Sometimes it's easy for us to come up

  488. with different definitions or

  489. understandings of camp based on our own

  490. experiences. And and this is where

  491. camping ministry in general needs to do

  492. better because we often have these

  493. dynamics where man camp is so awesome

  494. that it's indescribable.

  495. So then how do you then go talk about it

  496. with people, right? Um and we're trying

  497. to close that gap. We're trying to

  498. invite people more people into the

  499. conversation. Sometimes we think about

  500. man camp is a week of fun and a week of

  501. memories. Sometimes we think of oh well

  502. camp is for those who don't know Jesus

  503. yet. uh or you know camp is a spot where

  504. a kid would never go to church but that

  505. kid might go to camp instead. And we

  506. kind of reduce our definition or

  507. understanding of camp to just these few

  508. things. And while they may still be

  509. true, is camp a memorable spot full of

  510. fun? Yes, absolutely it is. Is camp a

  511. spot that a kid who would never come to

  512. church comes to camp instead?

  513. Absolutely. We have almost the majority

  514. of our campers are coming out of an

  515. unchurched space, right? Is camp a spot

  516. where kids who don't know Jesus at all

  517. come and experience him for the very

  518. first time? You better believe that

  519. happens.

  520. You better believe that happens because

  521. summer 2025 at Camp Pegak existed. There

  522. are 12 young boys and girls who had

  523. never heard about Jesus before. I had

  524. never had that personal relationship

  525. with him. But now eternity is different

  526. because camp meant something to them and

  527. God used that process to develop them.

  528. And now their life which is now eternal

  529. is forever changed.

  530. >> And so yes, we celebrate that. We

  531. celebrate that.

  532. But we also know that camp is doing so

  533. much more at the same time because as

  534. much as there was those 12 young boys

  535. and girls, there were still 186 other

  536. campers, 20 volunteers, 20 staff who all

  537. engaged with formation

  538. throughout our summer. Whether that be

  539. because somebody was investing into them

  540. or because they were learning the

  541. rhythms of leading themselves,

  542. participating in what God was doing in

  543. their own lives. And we celebrate that,

  544. too.

  545. And now those young people have returned

  546. to their churches, through to their

  547. communities, to their schools,

  548. and now they're on camera, I guess.

  549. Sorry, I just I found that both of our

  550. camera operators today are camp.

  551. Um, that that joke was for me, not for

  552. you guys.

  553. Uh, what I hope that you take away from

  554. this morning, church, is that camp is

  555. far more than any one of these reasons.

  556. And it's far more than the sum of them

  557. as well. Camp is so important because

  558. formation of the whole person, not just

  559. spiritually, of the whole person happens

  560. at camp in the way that it doesn't

  561. happen anywhere else. We are unique in

  562. the way that we get to invest into

  563. people. And here's why. When a kid or a

  564. youth comes to camp, they will

  565. experience a Christ-c centered community

  566. that is focusing on on helping them to

  567. discover their design. They experience a

  568. temporary community where they feel like

  569. they can try new things and fail in

  570. front of everyone cuz they might not see

  571. it see anybody ever again. They

  572. participate in novel activities that are

  573. constantly inviting them out of their

  574. comfort zone. They experience daily

  575. rhythms of prayer, Bible reading, and

  576. teaching, exposing them to God's story.

  577. They experienced nearage mentors of

  578. faith who are a living example of what

  579. faith might look like in the season just

  580. beyond where they're at now.

  581. They experience intentional reflection

  582. where their experiences sink in for long

  583. lasting impact. They experience the

  584. wonder that God has placed in their

  585. hearts as they step into nature. They

  586. experience freedom from the social

  587. pressures and expectations from home

  588. that we know are growing and growing and

  589. growing in our in our young people's

  590. lives.

  591. Folks, camps is camp is built to help

  592. young people grow to help people of

  593. every age grow. And we at Pegak are hard

  594. at work to better live into that

  595. potential.

  596. What are we up to be beyond the summer

  597. the kind of this past summer that you

  598. see highlighted in the the handout that

  599. you found on the in the chairs and I

  600. have more of of those. If if you're

  601. interested in in taking one with you,

  602. please do take one with you. What are we

  603. up to? So, we've recalibrated our

  604. mission and vision and values to help us

  605. better focus on cultivating

  606. transformation. In summer 2026, we are

  607. launching a whole new lineup, completely

  608. brand new lineup of programs for our

  609. campers, all the way from ages six all

  610. the way up to volunteering. Um, and

  611. these programs not only are tuned to

  612. their specific age groups, but they're

  613. tuned to their specific de developmental

  614. needs depending on where they're at in

  615. life. They're also integrated into one

  616. another so that a camper coming in

  617. summer number one has a continuous

  618. journey when they come back for their

  619. following summer.

  620. We're evaluating our facility and we're

  621. asking ourselves big and difficult

  622. questions about its suitability. Not

  623. just because we want it to be safe as as

  624. much as we want it to be safe um but

  625. because we want it to be a space that

  626. like does is this a safe roof over a

  627. head? Yes. But more than that, is it a

  628. space that helps fulfill our mission?

  629. We're tuning our staff culture and the

  630. attitudes and beliefs and the ways that

  631. our staff operate and they have been an

  632. absolutely fantastic gift amidst this

  633. process. We're we're building a

  634. leadership pipeline so that we have a

  635. consistent train of leaders because we

  636. recognize we're a sending place where we

  637. have people come in for either a week or

  638. a summer or a few summers and then they

  639. are being sent into the next season of

  640. life.

  641. Amidst all the things that camp is, camp

  642. is not a replacement for church.

  643. It is not a replacement for church. As

  644. potent and the as the impact that

  645. happens at camp is, camp is temporary.

  646. And that's part of why it's so trans

  647. transformational. We are the immersive

  648. intensive, but that isn't sustainable

  649. long term for anybody. We say come and

  650. get away to a place away from the noise,

  651. away from the pressure and expectations,

  652. away from home. Come encounter the

  653. living God in changing ways. And now go

  654. back. Go back having been transformed to

  655. be that light in your community, to be

  656. that leader in your school.

  657. We are the intensive. We're the

  658. temporary. But ultimately, what every

  659. disciple needs is a permanent community

  660. to come home to. And church, that's you.

  661. That's you.

  662. So ultimately, we need to be in

  663. partnership with one another. We do

  664. things that the local church can't do.

  665. just because of our context, because of

  666. our circumstances, we have an ability

  667. and a flexibility to invest into people

  668. in a way that the church can't. But we

  669. cannot be this temp this permanent

  670. community. And that's ultimately what

  671. our young people need as they return and

  672. are now processing the things that

  673. they've experienced and the things and

  674. and the ways that they are now

  675. different.

  676. And so we need your help. And that's a

  677. big part of the process of going from

  678. good to great for us is how do we get

  679. closer and closer with our partnering

  680. churches.

  681. And as much as we need your church's

  682. partnership, we also need your support.

  683. Both you as a church, yes, but also you

  684. as an individual or as a family, we need

  685. your prayer.

  686. If camp is a place of transformation and

  687. we believe that transformation only

  688. comes by the power of the Holy Spirit,

  689. then we need you to pray. Pray that as

  690. kids step into what is often an entirely

  691. unfamiliar

  692. unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people

  693. that they will experience love,

  694. belonging, and that will allow them to

  695. begin exploring, trying, and discovering

  696. who God has made them to be. Pray that

  697. our staff team who works almost

  698. constantly throughout a week of camp not

  699. only has the energy to make it through

  700. the week but has the wisdom to meet

  701. their campers where they're at and to

  702. help them take that act of faith of

  703. participation.

  704. Pray that the Lord would be would bring

  705. out more and more campers so that this

  706. region might be better transformed and

  707. better impacted by the leadership of

  708. these young people who we know are

  709. interested and capable to lead.

  710. We also need your generosity. Finances

  711. are often an uncomfortable topic,

  712. but let's just call a spade a spade this

  713. morning, okay? And recognize that in the

  714. world that we live in today, mission

  715. costs money.

  716. That's our world. Mission costs money.

  717. As you hear about the wonder and the

  718. potential of camp, what you might not

  719. realize is that in order for camp to

  720. operate for a year, it costs almost

  721. $225,000.

  722. That's staff. That's food. That's

  723. electricity. That's insurance. That's

  724. every that's that's food in stomachs.

  725. That's activities played with.

  726. Now, if we were in this camp thing for

  727. the sake of just running a business, we

  728. would go, okay, well, that's how much it

  729. costs us to run for the year. So, let's

  730. take how many kids that we have coming

  731. in the summer. Right now, our capacity

  732. is 268. An easy division to find out how

  733. much it will cost each kid. Not a big

  734. deal. We'll just charge every kid $839.

  735. And all the parents in the room

  736. know that that's not practical for most

  737. and completely not possible for for

  738. many,

  739. but we would have met our costs. And so

  740. what we do and what we have done for

  741. years is that we set our registration

  742. fee as a subsidized fee. For every

  743. single camper that attends our program,

  744. they are subsidized

  745. to less than half the cost of what it

  746. actually costs us to have them and host

  747. them. And so, even though it's a

  748. terrible business strategy, like the

  749. business people in the room are kind of

  750. starting to square them on me right now,

  751. terrible business strategy, we'll admit

  752. that it's intentional. It's done on

  753. purpose. It's done for the sake of

  754. mission because we believe that what

  755. camp will do for people or more

  756. accurately people who give believe what

  757. camp will do for young people. I need to

  758. take just a a quick aside here for a

  759. moment and say if you are a regular

  760. donor to us at Camp Peguak, thank you.

  761. You have created an avenue for kids to

  762. come to camp in ways that you may not

  763. have even thought of.

  764. You are directly responsible for

  765. creating an avenue for them to come in

  766. at an affordable rate. What has happened

  767. with your giving is that where we should

  768. have set our prices at $839

  769. like that price tag, you have

  770. effectively stepped in with your giving

  771. to go charge them less. Charge them a

  772. rate that they can afford and I'll make

  773. up the difference. I'll make a path for

  774. them.

  775. And that's not even speaking to our

  776. sponsorship fund, which is designated

  777. for those who can't find can't make up

  778. the the money for our registration fee.

  779. For every single one of those campers,

  780. your giving has meant a week of

  781. belonging, of love, of community, of

  782. opportunity, and of course, growth.

  783. For some that growth was small, small

  784. tangible steps towards knowing

  785. themselves, towards knowing their

  786. creator. For others it was drastic. A

  787. complete change in behavior, a complete

  788. change in attitude. And for others

  789. that growth and change was eternal. And

  790. they will never be the same because of

  791. it. Because we subsidize the cost for

  792. every one of our campers. We only c we

  793. only cover around half of our annual

  794. expenses in our registration through our

  795. registration fee that that guardians and

  796. parents pay when they send their kid to

  797. camp. Meaning that we have around

  798. $100,000 that we need to find every year

  799. in order to help camp not only sustain

  800. but to continue to grow.

  801. And this summer we are moving to what's

  802. called a tiered pricing system where

  803. parents will have the opportunity to

  804. select different levels of subsidy um so

  805. that those uh who may can maybe are able

  806. to afford a bit more are given the

  807. opportunity um to pay a bit more. We

  808. suspect that our fundraising needs will

  809. be effectively the same because we often

  810. deal um with families that don't have a

  811. lot of expendable income. uh and we want

  812. to make sure that they have a space and

  813. an avenue to come to camp as well. While

  814. things like rentals and um grants

  815. certainly play into the picture, we're

  816. looking at some at our 2026 year and

  817. we're going, you know what, there's

  818. probably about $60,000 that we need to

  819. find still in in donors and in giving.

  820. And we do it all amidst the whatever

  821. stress that it might bring um all the

  822. work that it might entail because we are

  823. convinced of what God does in and

  824. through camp.

  825. And this is part of the growing pains of

  826. going from good to great.

  827. And in order to do that, we need your

  828. support. If this morning as we talked

  829. about the the mission of camp and kind

  830. of some of its biblical foundations, if

  831. that has captured your heart and you

  832. feel the Lord prompting you to become a

  833. donor, I would be more than happy to

  834. have that conversation with you after

  835. the service. We would be overjoyed to

  836. receive your one-time gift, whether

  837. that's through e transfer, via check,

  838. and I can give you all the details you

  839. need on those things.

  840. But if you are looking for the avenue

  841. that helps us best, would you consider

  842. becoming a regular giver? We have an

  843. avenue of giving called pre-authorized

  844. giving in which you have the opportunity

  845. to uh give a selected amount at whatever

  846. interval you're most comfortable with.

  847. And that's huge for us, especially as a

  848. summer ministry because we often see a

  849. lot of money in and money out come that

  850. spring season. But the reality is we

  851. have year round expenses. Uh, and so you

  852. can really help us mitigate some of

  853. those year- round costs uh by signing up

  854. to be a automatic giver, pre-authorized

  855. giver. I have forms with me today if

  856. you're interested. I brought 10 with me

  857. and I would love to leave with none.

  858. Um, and so if you're being prompted, if

  859. you feel that the spirit is pressing

  860. upon you that today, if you have

  861. experienced the transformation and

  862. potential of camp in your own life, in

  863. the life of your kids or your grandkids

  864. or the neighbor down the street that

  865. used to be really annoying, but now

  866. they're kind of chill, right?

  867. If you've experienced God working in and

  868. through camp,

  869. then would you consider doning, be

  870. becoming a donor?

  871. As we close this morning, I hope that

  872. you've gotten a sense for who we are,

  873. what we're up to, and why we do it. Why

  874. we do it. There are so many camp stories

  875. all the time, and I'd be delighted to

  876. share many of them with you. My favorite

  877. one is actually included in our 2025

  878. snapshot. That was kind of a highlight

  879. moment for me. Um, so come and connect

  880. with me after the service. Uh, as we

  881. continue to gear up for summer 2026, we

  882. would love for you to stay informed. We

  883. are we're on Facebook, we're on

  884. Instagram. That's the fast way you're

  885. going to get updates. If you're

  886. interested in becoming uh someone who

  887. receives regular update emails for us,

  888. from us, um we have an email list. Uh

  889. and that's been reworked over the past

  890. year or so. So, if you're like, I used

  891. to be on that, but now I don't get them

  892. anymore, come talk to me. I will get

  893. your email onto that list so you can

  894. stay up to date as well.

  895. So, as we close, would you consider

  896. helping us be a partner for us in

  897. mission? Whether that be to be the

  898. community that campers, volunteers, and

  899. staff come home to, whether that is to

  900. be a prayer warrior for us, or whether

  901. that is to champion um financial giving

  902. as well. Would you help us to make every

  903. [snorts] effort? Let's pray together.