A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience volunteering at Royal Family Kids’ Camp.  You can read about the importance of the program here.  I recently returned from another week at camp and as expected, returned physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and hesitant to re-enter my “normal” life knowing these kids returned to a life of loneliness, heartache, and continual disappointment.  Soon, I will re-learn how to hold conversations with people older than 8 years old.  I will stop expecting a hearty, kid-friendly meal at exactly 8 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m..  I’ll be able to sleep through the night without having to escort a child with a small bladder to the bathroom at 4:00 am.  And I’ll stop “seeing” the children from camp at the grocery store, or McDonald’s, or Disneyland, my heart skipping a beat each time.   

If you’ve been following my writing, you know that I often speak of the importance of community.  Personally, I’ve felt the value of having solid Christ-followers in my life when they walked me through the fight for my marriage and my eventual divorce.  The theme of community plays out in a number of ways in my day to day living.  But I believe that nowhere does the power of community shine through than in the execution of Royal Family Kids Camp. A variety of churches around the nation and world put on these camps - each church carrying the burden of raising financing, volunteers, and support to provide this experience.  Our particular camp did not start with my home church - RockHarbor.  Rather, it began before our church even existed by a church with a different demographic and different denomination and a different city.  

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church has been holding a Royal Family Kids’ Camp for over 15 years.  About 5 years ago, their volunteers were running out of steam.  The camps require an intensive amount of energy to keep up with the kids.  As the demographic of their church aged, the volunteer counselors dwindled.  After returning from a camp that hosted 30 kids with 2 volunteers in their twenties and the next-youngest volunteer clocking in at an age old enough to be the younger volunteer’s dad, the dedicated team from St. Andrew’s began praying.  Their prayer was specific and simple: 

Heavenly Father, please bring the right people to camp.  Please bring the RIGHT people to camp!

Over the next two years, that prayer was answered.  Members from Irvine Presbyterian Church jumped in to help run the camp.  And, a door opened to a pastor at RockHarbor, a church known for its young demographic and active congregation.  A call went out to the members of the church and God set out to answer prayer.  The first year, a few members from RockHarbor attended camp.  The next year, the number grew and the level of involvement changed.  Not only did the additional hands allow more children to come, the youthful energy of the counselors changed the dynamic of the camp - and the level of engagement of the campers.  Gone was the folksy guitar - in came the rock band!  Pool time became characterized by chicken fights and the flinging of small children into the deep end.  Even the camp theme evolved as stories about sheep and farm animals gave way to skits about the “superheroes” of the Bible!  And this year, over 125 volunteers attended camp - allowing us to take every child that applied to attend.  No one was left on the waiting list and over 100 children experienced a week of unconditional love, grace, and the freedom of being a child.  

By the end of the week, it was clear that God’s prayer had been answered.  The right people were sent to camp.  Three churches came together in a powerful demonstration of Christ’s Church in action.  Denominations didn’t matter and theological sticking points didn’t matter. All that mattered was showing Jesus to these kids by loving them well.  Three churches spent one week knowing without a doubt that we were following God’s purpose for our lives.  Three churches spent one week knowing that we were the answer to a prayer.  And three churches will spend the next 51 weeks praying this prayer for next year’s camp:  

Heavenly Father, please bring the right people to camp.  Please bring the RIGHT people to camp.