Rooted and Established in Love
By: Carter Lewis, High School, Church of the Redeemer, Greensboro, NC
As most people do, I have run away from Jesus countless times. But this past year has been especially difficult and draining, and because of that, I isolated myself from God more than I ever have before. I would purposely avoid anything church related, and I cut out the people in my life who loved me the most. Naturally, as summer season approached, I found myself very reluctant to go to camp. The thought of going felt like another weight on my shoulders. But of course, despite my exhaustion, there was a quiet voice in my heart that I knew so well, urging me to push forward, and to stick with it, despite my reluctance.
The night before we left for Booyah, my mom sent me a text that read: “Been praying for you your whole life about being rooted and established in love, and continued prayers that you remain fixed on the mountain of God's redeeming love, a picture of how high and also how deep His love is for you, Carter." From before I even took my first breath, this word, Ephesians 3:17-18 was being spoken over me. Every single night my parents would pray it over me. "Carter I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love, that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure, with all the fullness of God. Amen."
Despite the fact that it’s been engraved in my heart since I was a baby, I hadn't thought about it in so long. But in the couple of weeks leading up to camp, I suddenly began hearing it over and over again. And when i did hear those familiar words, I also sensed the presence of that same quiet voice, softy but persistently nudging me forward. On that first day of camp, I opened the camp booklet to see what the memory verse for this year was, and there it was. The words. Ephesians 3:17-18. The quiet voice didn't feel so quiet this time. The Lord was speaking directly to me, in a loud, powerful way, and I could not deny it.
Throughout that week at camp, the theme of abiding in God's love and remaining in Him echoed relentlessly. "Rooted and established in love" was the only thing I could hear, as people recited their verses, trying to memorize them. Every corner I turned, every conversation I overheard, echoed with those words, "rooted and established in love", over and over and over again. God was weaving my lifelong truth deep into my soul, reminding me of His unwavering love and presence in my life. The impact of this week was so profound and life-changing.
In those few days, I rediscovered a truth that had been buried deep within my soul: God's love is vast, never changing, and ever-present. Through Camp Booyah, God renewed my heart. And he is now teaching me to abide in His love, trust in His guidance, and find strength in His presence.
The King of Costa Rica
By: Ivan Mikhailiuk, Middle School, All Saints, Durham, NC
My first Camp Booyah experience was so great! This was the first time I’ve gone somewhere besides my church where everyone was kind and friendly and no one disliked me.
The food was really good. I especially liked the desserts, although I did eat too many one night and made myself sick. I learned how to play pickleball and paintball and got to build things during service projects. I made myself a lightsaber out of pipes and stuff.
I was on the Costa Rica team, and because I was the smallest, one of the big guys put me on his shoulders and everyone called me the king of Costa Rica like I was the leader. I really felt like an important part of the team, and they even let me bring home the team flag.
We heard a lot about who Jesus is and how he cared about people and showed mercy to people who didn’t deserve it. I can’t wait for next year!
The Kingdom Advances Through Relationships
By: The Rev. Chris Meckley, Leader, The River Anglican Church, Blacksburg, VA
I grew up going to the same summer camp for 12 years as a child, I worked at that camp for seven years in high school and college, and I’ve since returned there as a chapel speaker four times (including as I write this). I love that camp, it changed my life in uncountable ways, and it helped to form and establish a firm faith within me. But I can honestly say, having been to Camp Booyah for the past eight summers, what we’re doing at Camp Booyah (and more importantly, what God is doing) is far more impactful than a typical summer camp.
In a lot of ways Camp Booyah is a typical Christian summer camp; there are crazy games, silly skits, awkward teenagers, opportunities for adventure, and powerful times of worship with dynamic speakers. But the one thing that especially separates Camp Booyah from other camps is the relationships that are built there, camper to camper, camper to leader, leader to leader, and church to church.
Our leaders at Booyah are youth leaders, parents, fellows, volunteers, and even rectors who give up a week of work, family, sleep, and sanity to dive in to a week of building relationships with and discipling teens from their church. And the best part is that those relationships don’t end after camp. They all go home together and continue those discipleship relationships in the weeks and months to come.
Youth and leaders are also able to build relationships with youth and leaders from other churches around the diocese. I serve at The River in Blacksburg, VA, right next to Virginia Tech, and we’ve had several students come to The River because they knew us from Camp Booyah. In the same way, youth from our church have gotten involved at other churches in the diocese during college because of relationships they’ve formed at Camp Booyah.
In addition to the daily prayer we do together, the times of service, the powerful worship, the excellent speakers, and the incredible amount of fun that we have, these relationships with other youth and leaders are what really sets Camp Booyah apart. I’m convinced that many of the youth in our churches are going to remain connected to the Church into college and beyond, a time when so many young people fall away from the Church, in large part because of the relationships formed at Camp Booyah, and the way that God is using those relationships to grow them into his mature followers.