We would like to thank you for your generous gifts and prayers for Acts 29’s 2011 Camp Szmuldooh: Faith on FYRE. Both our youth and our staff are greatly blessed and we know the Lord will honor your investment and generosity with His blessing. Supporters like you give us the boldness, support and encouragement needed to stand for Christ in our city and bring the gospel to a generation of youth who are preparing to make a great impact on the world. Thank you for sharing and encouraging our hope that when we stand in glory and see Jesus face to face, we will be joined by great numbers of people whose lives were saved by the presence of Christ’s light in Hamtramck.
Through the week of camp we presented a clear gospel message, emphasizing receiving salvation and all that we need for life and godliness by faith. From that foundation we went on to define faith and the faith walk, giving examples and formations for growing in faith. This was supported by significant one on one time with the students, answering their questions, helping them apply the teaching to their lives and challenging them to take the next step of faith. We were blessed by the student’s response. Their willingness to listen and engage and the overall presence of God made us aware of God’s blessing and success in bringing the word to an applicable place in the student’s lives.
We felt the fruit of your prayers and the work of God in each counselor and student. Each one of our camp crew brought the presence of God into the room with powerful teaching and a life testimony of a walk of faith. It was immensely encouraging and challenging for the staff and the students, and we all left excited to make new decisions and additions to our faith walk. We thank God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit during the week, who was working constantly to establish every student and staff member in a higher walk of faith. Thank you for your prayerful support and may God richly bless you.
2011′s High School Camp is in preparation! We are currently raising funds and preparing to take our FYRE youth to a five day discipleship camp, designed to give committed members a week of fun and intense discipleship in living out their faith in a real and practical way. Please pray that this camp will be filled with intensity, fun and a powerful revelation of Jesus Christ.
More information on Camp Szmuldooh 2011: Faith on FYRE will be forthcoming, the flyer below is designed for our youth. For more information about camp email Jonathan Ammon at jonathan@acts-29.org.
This Wednesday’s free resource post is our 2010 Camp LOST curriculum for Middle School and High School. This ten day camp was intense and strenuous and the curriculum demonstrates the intensity of our desire to penetrate the urban youth mindset and sow the gospel in the heart of the city’s youth.
Young people face different challenges and choices than adults do. They need skills to be able to successfully navigate through life. Acts 29 believes that inner-city youth need to develop life skills like hygiene, cooking, cleaning, being responsible, setting goals, reaching goals and working as a team. All these life skills can be taught through Biblical principles that God has laid down in His word.
Life skills camps are designed to give students more of the responsibility to take care of themselves in the wilderness. These camps focus on teaching students the “how-tos” of camping and living. They often divide camp into smaller camping adventures. One team will travel down a river on canoes for three days, while another team learns to backpack through the wilderness for three days, while still another team packs up their bikes and takes a three day cycling trip.
During these adventures students are responsible to make sure they have packed their own food, their own “houses,” and their own personal belongings. They have to contribute to the adventure by helping make traveling successful for all involved. They have to learn to cook and build fires and get along in a smaller group setting. Adventure trips help students and leaders study the word of God in smaller, tightly knit groups. They also give students a sense of accomplishment when they successfully return to base camp and share their experiences with the other teams.
Leaders at these camps become parent-mentors to youth and are willing to work alongside students at daily tasks, but not work for students in daily tasks. Students really enjoy the opportunities they get to cook and to lead and to try new things on their own.
How can you help?
Financially support a student, An adventure camp costs about $200.00 per student to go. Write your check out to Acts 29, write camp on the memo line
Pray for Lost 2010, this season’s adventure camp for middle school and high school students
The 2010 Camping Season does not include a History Camp.
An ancient Biblical philosopher once said, “What has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun…” Students experience this Biblical truth by traveling back in time to historical places with a fun new twist. Acts 29′s traveling history camp takes students to Ohiopyle, Gettysburgh and Pittsburgh. Students learn about Native American History, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution, all the while coming to understand that “there is nothing new under the sun.” Including God’s merciful heart toward humanity, just as His mercy came running to people long ago, students are taught that God’s mercy comes running to them today as well.
Acts 29′s history camp also encourages students to journal and make a power point presentation with photos and their own journal entries about what they have learned at each historical location.
Students also experience the fun and challenge of tent camping, cooking over a fire, white water rafting, cycling through the battlefields of Gettysburg, horseback riding, a trip to an underground coal mine and a fun-filled day at “Kennywood”: America’s 2nd oldest amusement park.
History camp is action packed fun, helping students see the role God has played in human history and in their own history as well.
How can you help?
Financially support history camp (it costs about $300.00 for one student to attend)
Pray for history camp and for more camps like these to be developed
Acts 29 fondly refers to its Summer Camping Ministry as Camp Szmuldooh. Our mission in our summer camping programs is to take children and youth away from their normal circumstances into nature where God rules and Christian community is lived out day to day by our staff team.
Summer camp is one of our greatest opportunities to show the love of Christ to children and youth from the inner-city. As our counselors and leadership team move in with young people for 7-12 days, campers experience kindness, encouragement and care that only come from Jesus. Acts 29 has committed to taking Elementary aged, Middle School aged and High School aged youth to summer camp each summer.
Camp Szmuldooh has several goals:
Share the love of Christ with young people
Teach godly character and responsibility
Share the gospel message of Jesus Christ clearly
Teach camping and wilderness skills to young people
Make new experiences available to under-privileged youth
Build solid friendships between young people and adult leaders who will continue to minister to these same youth once back in the city
To have fun!
Here’s how you can help with summer camp:
Provide financial support for children and youth to attend (one Scholarship costs $175.00), send checks to Acts 29, writeCamp on the Memo line.
Volunteer to be a counselor, a cook, or a tech, contact Liza for more information.
Pray for our camps and campers, check out our prayer page for more information about how to pray.
Camp Szmuldooh 2010 Dates:
Camp Plymouth Rock: June 27th to July 1st (9-11 year olds)
Lost 2010: August 16th to August 25rd (High School and Middle School Students)
Every summer Hamtramck is bustling with people enjoying the outdoors. Kids are constantly playing outside in neighborhoods and parks. Summers give us the opportunity to find new kids who don’t know Christ. In the past we have held game and craft days in the parks: sports camps in the park fields and a pottery camp at the high school. We have also hosted Backyard Bible Clubs in the backyards of Acts 29 church and staff members. Day camps are one of the main ways we meet new youth who eventually come to camp with us or join one of our weekly programs. Many Hamtramck kids have come to Christ through this process.
