Lantern and Compass Project

Clarity and Direction

camp

Island Wannahockalugie

Hilltop Christian Fellowship celebrated their 10th kids camp by bringing back the first theme, Island Wannackockalugie – A Whale of an Adventure. We saw kids realize the significance of worship, the need for community and the necessity of prayer in their daily lives. All of these things leading to a desire to express their love for Jesus through evangelism.

Filled with all of the things that make camp so wonderful, the most impactful aspect of this camp was that several of the original campers from that first year were now staff members and were sharing their faith with the new campers. What a measure of hope when we see the long lasting impact that we had on young kids’ life and see them walking in their faith.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth

3 John 4
Watch a recap of the week

Awaken Every Morning

After a disheartening year of COVID restrictions, Camp Wannahockalugie opened their doors and their hearts to campers for the 10th year. It was a year of new and fresh beginnings, a year that AWAKENED everyone to God’s possibilities. The camp staff was bubbling over with excitement as they made preparations, knowing they were going to bring a message of hope and love to a fresh group of campers.

From the staging to the live animals, everything was in place and as campers arrived the building was filled with fun, laughter and a longing to be in God’s presence. There is so much that I could share about what happened over the week but watching the Camp Wannahockalugie recap video will tell you more than I ever could.

I will follow up by saying that every camper received Bible instruction, given time to listen for God’s voice, and encouraged to share and soak up God’s word through everything that happened at camp.

“The War Room” (Prayer Room) is by far my favorite part of camp. Pastor John and Melissa, new to Hilltop Christian Fellowship, truly helped to usher in the presence of God as every camper had 30 minutes each day to focus on hearing God’s voice and pressing into knowing Him personally.

Over 12 campers asked Jesus to come into their life for the first time and there were 13 campers that took the next step and were baptized in water to show the world that they love and desire to follow Jesus.

Each year it seems as if camp gets better and I know it is because Holy Spirit is touching lives in deeper and deeper ways. Camp is one week out of the year. We must know and walk in the truth of the theme verse this year,

Morning by morning He awakens me and opens my understanding to His will.

Isaiah50:4

Many thanks to Hilltop Christian Fellowship and their incredible camp staff for sharing the gospel with the 900 plus students over the past 10 years and making Jesus a priority in their church and community.

Fishing Changes Things

You have to know up front that I am NOT into fishing but every summer our team gets to be up and ready by 6:30 a.m. to give campers a fishing experience. Every year I hunt for worms before going to camp and every year I am the one that baits every hook that is dropped in the water. I have even lovingly been nicknamed “Bait Lady” and was known by that name before my real name. So what does this have to do with ministry? Stay with me and you’ll be absolutely amazed at the way God works.

This particular year we were helping Ability Tree launch a special needs camp for adults in Oklahoma and finding a suitable location along the lake was a challenge. Now, I may not look forward to the act of fishing but I do value the time with the campers and the relationships that are built in those early morning hours. This year it was HOT HOT HOT and honestly I was looking for any reason to cancel fishing; it was too far away, not the right bait, campers would get tangled in the debris along the shore, the rods had the wrong reel, it was too hot and the fish wouldn’t bite.

As hard as I tried, Eric, our newest team member, wouldn’t let me “off the hook”. His positive attitude was relentless until we were on the dock at 6:15 a.m. the following day, rods and bait in tow, getting ready for the campers.

Yes, I was still mumbling about the things that weren’t going to work as I prepared to bait each of the hooks . Here’s where God enters the picture. As I baited each hook I laid the rod on the deck so that the hook dangled over the edge. As I went to the second rod, the first one began to move. Not wanting it to fall in to the water I grabbed the rod and pulled it up and to my surprise there was a fish on the hook. What was up with that? I wasn’t fishing. I wasn’t even trying but that fish changed my entire attitude.

God had caused a fish to literally JUMP onto that hook so that I would realize that fishing wasn’t about whether or not I enjoyed the act of fishing, it wasn’t about how hard it was to get up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready or even about the disgusting smell on my hands. It was about building relationships and giving the campers an experience that they would remember. Every morning we had 8 out of 10 campers show up to fish and each morning we caught several fish. Over the week, every camper experienced the joy of catching at least one fish, many for the first time.

God was orchestrating much more than I realized and it took God causing that fish to JUMP onto that hook to change everything. We are fishing for men and we need to be as excited about catching one person for Jesus as those campers were about catching each of their fish.

And Jesus said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

AWAKEN Kids Camp

Oh no, I’m late for camp!!

This will be Camp Wannahockalugie’s 10th year of bringing the message of Jesus’s love and forgiveness to the more than 900 elementary age kids since it’s beginning in 2011. After a disheartening year of COVID restrictions, Camp Wannahockalugie is opening its doors to campers again this summer the week of June 21-25. It’s a year of new and fresh beginnings, a year that has AWAKENED us to God’s possibilities in our lives and we are excited to be bringing a message of hope and love to a fresh group of campers. This year’s theme is AWAKEN and is set in the heart of farm country so campers can expect a farmer, a talking chicken, farms animals and all types of farm equipment, that will contribute to the farm atmosphere. Through song, instruction, prayer time, recreation and crafts, campers will be taught about God’s plan and purpose for their lives as they step into God’s possibilities. If you live in or around the Clear Spring MD area and would like to join us for a week full of fun, excitement and biblical teaching you can register online by clicking the REGISTER button below. We would love to have you.

REGISTER FOR CAMP