Thank you, leaders,
for all you do!

Oregon-Idaho Camp & Retreat Ministries Website: www.gocamping.org

Volunteering as a leader web-page

Subject:
To All Camp & Retreat Ministries
Camp and Retreat Leaders

Thankful for You

Dear UM Camp and Retreat Leaders:

The summer camp and retreat season is now in full swing. This afternoon my heart is full as I meditate on the incredible love embodied in your Christian hospitality and experiential learning. I thank God for all of you, because I know that without your openness and dedication that many life changing experiences would never be born in the lives of those who come.

Imagine what it would be like if Christian summer camps and year round retreats ceased to exist as such an effective avenue for encountering God and learning lifestyles of justice and faithfulness. What would the one million people who visit United Methodist Camp and Retreat Centers each year lose by that absence? What is the core of what we do that would be missing - that keeps us from being redundant and repetitive among the many other options people can participate in today?

I cherish the practice of Christian community so dedicated to the many ways God embraces people and the whole creation. You are the stewards of sacred oases where people come to intentionally focus upon and to seek the Source of Life. Church Camps and religiously affiliated camps have a unique gift for the society that few other organizations prioritize. We respond to the great thirsting of souls to know and to actually experience God at a deeper level. In the words of a good friend, Terry Carty. "We are more than inn keepers. We are Godbearers, when we understand the fullness of what we are about."

The Psalmist describes in very personal terms the need that we seek to respond to.

Psalm 42:1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

I urge you to care for yourselves, also, amid the good you do. In the long run, love for yourself is inextricably linked to love for neighbor and love for God. I pray that you will be blessed as you participate in the movement of the Holy Spirit to bless others. Remember, also, the Biblical insight that God often comes to you in the guests you host. Be on the look out for God's presence and voice within the activities and relationships that emerge.

The genuineness of your desire and actions are a catalyst in creating places apart to be together where strangers become friends and learn that the church truly cares about them and about their lives beyond the borders of our centers. You become models for others who take their lessons on Spiritual leadership into the wider world as advocates of love and justice in their own families, churches, communities and journeys across the planet. What you do really matters!

Please, never underestimate God presence in the highs and lows, the excitement and tedium, and the arrivals and returns inherent in temporary communities of faith. Camp and retreat leaders helped me discover my love for God and launched a lifetime of significance through a vocational calling first recognized in times of meditation in the outdoors. They lead me to a deeper connection with ongoing faith formation in a local church. My own daughters point to camps and retreats as premier experiences where they feel the closeness of God. My wife has found understanding and bonds of friendship that help her spirit heal despite her physical pain and injury. Camps and retreats have often been the informal settings where very different people have crossed divisions of race, background and ideology to recognize Christ in each other, support one another, and to embrace one another.

The thirsty are coming for a drink. May you find great joy in sharing the cup of God which "runneth over."

With deep gratitude!

Kevin Witt
General Board of Discipleship UMC
RAC - Camp/Retreat Leader Network
www.gbod.org/camping