Wow! We had a super busy weekend at Skipstone. We had a group of sixty students and leaders from Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Peachtree City here for a weekend retreat. We facilitated the zipline for them on Friday night, and some team building activities on Saturday. On Sunday, we attended the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro and spent the afternoon leading their student ministry leaders through some team building activities. It was a fun, but exhausting, weekend!
Something very neat happened while we were at FBC Jonesboro. During the morning worship service, they had three young girls who were baptized. The first was a cute little girl who had to walk on her tip toes to keep her head above the water. She read her testimony of praying to receive Christ as her personal Savior after talking about it with her dad at home.
As they introduced the second girl, I could tell that Shondi was thinking about something. The girl was a little older, and her testimony was that she had been coming to church with her grandparents since she was very young. She had heard the gospel many times, but in Sunday School one morning she heard it for the first time with her heart and she prayed to receive Christ.
As the third little girl was presented, I could tell that a "light bulb" came on for Shondi. She recognized the last two little girls as campers from last year at Skipstone. They were sisters, whose grandparents sent them to camp last summer at Skipstone.
As the third little girl began to share her testimony, she confirmed what Shondi was thinking... she recalled praying to receive Christ as her personal Savior while attending camp last summer with her sister!
Now I'm sure this doesn't have the same meaning for you as it did for us, but when you invest your life in something, the "fruit" of that labor brings an overwhelming sense of joy and reassurance that your labor is not in vain. We were so blessed to know that through the ministry of Skipstone, we were able to be a small part of this young girl's life. It's not often that we get to see how the decisions made each Summer at camp end up changing a life or a family.
If I'm honest, I probably wasn't as attentive during the sermon as I should have been. My heart was heavy for the hundreds of other kids out there who are in situations just like that little girl. They live in homes where mom and dad may not be the primary spiritual influence, or maybe they are no spiritual influence at all. Were it not for loving grandparents, who seized the opportunity to invest in the spiritual development of those girls, they may never have come to know Christ.
One thing that most people don't realize about the ministry of Skipstone is that more than a third of our Summer campers come to us on some kind of scholarship. That means that we don't turn children away who can't afford to come to camp. That also means that we are responsible for raising financial support every summer to make that possible. After all, it doesn't cost any us less to house, feed, and provide staff and programs for campers on scholarships.
That being said, we are projecting the need for 250 scholarships this summer. That may not sound like a huge number, but if you do the math it works out to well over $50,000 needed in the next six weeks just to cover the cost of camp for kids like these two little girls.
In the past, we have just absorbed whatever shortfall we have when all of the scholarship funds are in. My heart is heavy that the ministry will not be in a position to do that this year. Unless God's people step up and give generously, we will undoubtedly have to turn some of these kids away this summer.
Now I realize that some of you are thinking "where is your faith? Surely God will provide for those needs!" and your are right. This ministry is built on a foundation of faith. God will meet those needs, and God works through people! We would be foolish and unwise stewards to cripple the ministry of Skipstone by absorbing a $50,000 loss when God has already provided the resources to meet this need. My part is to make the need known. His part is to move the hearts of people to action.
Will $225 for a week of camp really make a difference? It certainly did for those little girls... an eternal difference. Is the need really as great as we say? Here is an email we received this weekend from another loving grandmother.....
Dear Mrs. Moody,
"I am contacting you because I read your story and it truly touched me, just the goodness of God got to me. A couple of years ago I sent my grandson to your camp before it became Skipstone and he counts it as the best thing that ever happened to him in his short life. He is now a ninth grader and lives with us again and boy did he have a tough time before he made it back to us. He's a great kid with so much energy and is open to try new things which I love. Unfortunately, I am disabled and my husband was laid off from the mill so camp is a luxury that we certainly cannot afford but he deserves it, I'd even say he needs it. Do you have any scholarships available? I'll understand if you don't as I know times are very tough but I'm praying you do. I won't mention it to my grandson, so he won't be disappointed if it doesn't work out but I hope it does. Thank you in advance for any consideration given."
Could God be speaking to you about giving a scholarship this summer? Would you be willing to sacrifice $35 worth of "something" (eating out, entertainment, etc) a week for the next six weeks to be a part of making a difference in the life of a child? If you had been sitting where we were sitting Sunday, and had seen the joy on the faces of those little girls, you wouldn't think twice about it!
Whatever It Takes,
Chip
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