September 25. 2020: Kenny Hardway, West Virginia Region

Love letter to camp...
Week One: Longing to Be Invited

This year many of our summer camping programs faced creative, spiritual and financial challenges. For many young people, camp is a significant part of their faith journey and relationships. Ministries Across Generations wanted to share importance of camp and support (financially and spiritually) the places where many people feel God's presence most.


To donate to today's camp: In Honor of Camp, West Virginia Region

Dear Camp 

I love you all. As I think about the years I’ve been involved with camp, and the number of youth and counselors whom I’ve shared these life-shaping moments with, I’m overwhelmed. Church Camp & Conference is special. I can’t imagine my life without it. #CampMatters

I wish I knew how many times I’ve heard a senior say on their last night, “I want to come back next year, and every year after that.” I get that feeling. I’ve been blessed with this call to ministry, and by the grace of the church, I’ve been allowed to do that very thing. It breaks my heart that we didn’t get to share that conversation this year. We didn’t get to share those senior banquet speeches. We didn’t share together in that final Consecration service. We didn’t share in that great Agape Love Feast. 

When hearts break—when something is missed so greatly—it’s a sign that we have loved well. It’s a reminder to the church of how important this ministry really is. It’s an affirmation that God is still calling the church to transform hearts and lives with the gospel of great love. It’s our hearts way of telling us that God uses church camp and conference as a sacred vehicle for God’s mission in the world. It’s a painful way to be reminded, that’s for sure. But the cross points to hope beyond the pain. Pain can be given meaning. Suffering can be redeemed. 

Think of the Lord’s Supper we share. This moment where at the same time that Christ urges us to remember the past, he is simultaneously calling us into the future. This faith we share at camp, and around Table, is a faith that is real in the moment and invites us to take the wider view of God, in time. There’s a sacred remembering of the past, the sting of the moment’s pain, but also a promised hope and a reason to continue on. There’s a deepening commitment to the real presence of Christ in the ministry we share, and a collective re-dedication to the work of being made disciples together. Yes, as I reminisce on the memories of years past, I am also encouraged to the hope of years to come, and in it all I feel the very presence of Christ who promises never to leave us. 

Dear Camp, please know that the church loves you and is committed to you. Take heart in knowing that the sting you feel over missing camp may actually be God’s way of showing you love in a new way. Join me in a hopeful re-dedication to the continuing of God’s good work through the church, and through our Camp and Conference ministry together. This ministry is important! It will take us all joining together to see it carry on. Together, we can commit to “next year, and every year after that” so that others can feel the love of God and the church that you now know, in very real and powerful ways. 

We will continue on. Together. In Love.
Rev. Kenny

Scripture Week One: (From InsideOut, This is Our Prayer)
Luke 6:12–16 
About that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night there. The next morning he called his disciples together and chose twelve of them to be his apostles. One was Simon, and Jesus named him Peter. Another was Andrew, Peter’s brother. There were also James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus. The rest of the apostles were Simon, known as the Eager One, Jude, who was the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.


At Home Activities

Weekly Scriptures
Read the weekly scripture each day. Find a phrase or word that speaks to you. Share your reflections with others over dinner, social media, and in prayer. Share the scripture with a child you know in the car, through a text, or in a children's Bible.