This One Time, at Church Camp...

Camp is wild. Loud. Goofy. Sometimes a little chaotic. And somehow… God meets students right in the middle of it.

In this episode of Table Talk, kids share what camp is really like, from the hilarious moments and ridiculous games to the friendships, late-night conversations, and the ways God shows up in powerful ways. It’s fun, it’s honest, and it’s a reminder that camp is more than just a trip… It’s a place where lives start to change.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:13

But hey, thanks for hanging out with me tonight. I really appreciate it. Even though I know your parents forced you to, right? Yeah. Your parents forced you to. Okay. He's like, he's in the room. Come on. Um, no, but before we talk about camp, before we talk about Jesus, you know, the serious stuff, um, we're gonna talk about some more important questions because, well, first of all, this isn't a test, okay? There's no wrong answers, there's just a lot of right answers. Um, if if camp had a snack or something during like breakfast, lunch, or dinner that never ran out, and you're like, I could just eat this one thing from camp forever, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Waffles.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

The waffles? Okay. Or are they um are are they just like the plain waffles or do they ever put anything in them?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Or um, yeah, they put you can like put like syrup and like butter on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Oh yes. Fill do you do you fill every square with syrup? That's what I that's what I do. I like sh pour it in every what about you guys?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Um, probably pancakes.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Pancakes, all right. After he answers his, we're gonna come back to you and we're gonna see. I want an argument for what's better pancakes or waffles, and we'll just clear this debate up right now. What about you, Jackson?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

I like French toast.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Oh no, we've got all the breakfast. Okay. I'm somewhere I do love pancakes still, but I'm somewhere. My favorite breakfast like bread is either waffles or French toast. And I don't know if I could decide right now. I might sorry, I might have to go with waffles just because you can fill the squares with syrup. But those are solid choices. I'm not gonna lie. You guys, you guys surprised me on that. Strong choices. I respect it. Now here's another one. Um in my office, I've got a set of candles. There's like four of them, but every candle, every candle, the scents are it's like a combination of three different things. So the one that I have on my desk right now, I'm pretty sure it's citrus and cedar wood, which I'm not even certain that I know what that means. It's just some kind of tree that probably smells good. And leather is the third one. So that's that's the scent of the candle that's on my desk right now. If you were making a scent for a camp candle, what would the three cents, the smells be?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Wood.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Wood, okay. Yeah, because you're you're out in nature. There's a lot of trees around you. What else?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Probably like a lot of flowers.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Ooh, flowers? Okay. Okay. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I'll go with a lot of flowers.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

A lot of flowers? No, like uh nobody's passing gas at camp. No? You wouldn't want a candle like that. Well you light it, it's like, ugh. No. I was actually thinking like the smell of Doritos and sweaty socks, and maybe like maybe like somebody who's eaten too much applesauce and some of it fell on their shirt, and you smell it later, and that'd be like the would that be a bad or good candle? Bad. That'd be a bad candle. Okay. All right. Let's be honest. Okay, this is a more serious question. Um, what was harder at camp? Going to bed on time or waking up on time?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Waking up on time.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Okay. Waking up on time. But easy to go to bed at time on time, right? Yeah. Like, you're tired.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

You're just What about you? Waking up on time.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Waking up on time? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Waking up on time.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

All three waking up.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I usually sleep in.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Oh, yeah. I well, you know what? But none of you guys put up a fight when the counselors are like, lights out, let's go to bed. Zach's like, I'm not going to bed. I'm staying up all night.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, I do that. I once I stayed up until like one in the morning, so I got like four hours.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Oh, your poor camp counselors. There's going to be a future episode that we're recording in just a couple minutes. It'll be after after this one. Um, but we're going to interview the camp counselors, and they're basically gonna tell us like who's your favorite camper? No, they won't tell us that. But I'm gonna be like, hey, you know, I heard that some kids were staying up till 1 a.m. I'm not gonna name any names, but yeah, I try to pull an all nighter. Try to pull an all-nighter. That's awesome. Yeah, um camp mornings, they're they're fun, but they're they're a little ambitious. It's like, I don't want to get up. I had so much fun last night, I don't want to get up. But what happens when you wake up at camp? You get waffles and you get pancakes and you get French toast, right? All right. Yeah. Now, if you could add one thing to camp next year, and it it can't it can't be like a person. It can't be like, well, my friend, you know, Josie was there, wasn't there last year. I want to no, can't be a person. If you could add one thing to camp next year, what would you add? Also can't be an animal. Like can't be sharks or a dog, you can't bring pets. What what what would you add to camp next year?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Like a snack time.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

A snack, okay. An extra snack? Amen. Solid choice. What do you think, Zach?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Probably like an obstacle course.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yes, an obstacle course.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Like you have to swim through sharks, yeah, and then you have to jump over barbed wire, and then I mean, one one part of it is right, like I was gonna you could like put it over the pool or something.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yes, an obstacle course over the pool. So if you fall, you fall into the pool. You guys have have you guys watched the show Wipeout where they try to go across an obstacle course and they get knocked in the water? I don't know if the show still exists anymore, but they used to have a show like that. These people would jump across like these this inflatable obstacle course, but underneath them, if you fell, you fell right into water. And the show was really just about nobody made it through the course, everybody fell at some point. It was awesome. Um it could be just like that. What would you add?

SPEAKER_02 6:37

I would add swim time every day.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yes, multiple more than one swim time every day, too, right? Yeah. Excellent ideas. I'm gonna pass them along. Do you know anybody at the camp who's like in charge of camp that we could try to get all these ideas through? Do you have a grandparent or anything?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

My pap?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah. Do you think he'd go for these ideas? Not like the sharks in the pool or anything, but extra like more snack times, way more snacks and obstacle course over the pool. Let's let's do it. We'll uh we'll go to his house and we'll be like, hey, these are our demands. Hold him hostage. All right, so you guys pass the fun part. Um, I want to ask you a couple more things about camp. Um actually, first of all, how many times have you guys been to camp?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I think three times.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Three times? Okay. And sorry, Bethany, you're in what grade? Fourth. Fourth? Okay. Zach, what grade are you in?

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Fourth.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Fourth? And what about you, Jackson?

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Third.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Okay. So you've been three times. How how many times have you been, Zach?

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Three or four.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Okay. Jackson.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

I lost count.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, he's he, you know, it's like your backyard, right? It's one of the best backyards to ever have. Um, I don't know what you guys' backyards look like. Um, my backyard is fun, but it's not as fun as Elkhorn, so that's pretty awesome. Um, here's the reason I ask. Do you guys remember the first time that you went to camp?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Were you nervous at all before you went? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Why?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Oh, I was scared I was gonna get sick and have to go home.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Oh no, that would be brutal. Well what what made you a little bit scared or nervous?

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Well, the first time my brother was with me, so I wasn't really scared, but the second time he wasn't there, so I was like, what if I get lost?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Oh, okay. Yeah, I understand that. So, like the first time you're like, oh, you know, this is a breeze. I have somebody here that I know and I I trust. And then the second time you go, he's not there, so it's like, ooh, this feels a little different, but okay. What about you, Jackson? Um you were very young the first time you were at camp. He's like, no, camp's been camp's been great. Um Zach, the year that your brother wasn't there, that uh I'm he he might have been at like CIY Mix or something. Um what helped you get through that week? Was it people? Was it was it a person, a friend, or something at camp that made you feel less nervous?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Um, probably Miss Caitlin.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Miss Caitlin? Okay, awesome. Miss Caitlin, shout out to you. Um I don't know if she's gonna be in an episode of this, but um you're probably her favorite camper. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Well, and I guess Yeah, probably Miss Maddie, because she was my second leader of yeah, she was the leader for Is that Maddie and Caitlin that are sisters?

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah. That's wild. We're so glad that those sisters come and they serve as counselors, they're pretty awesome. What about you, Bethany? What uh was there something that first year of camp or somebody that you were like, oh, I'm really nervous, but then like a couple days go by and you're like, this actually is really awesome, and I'm glad that I came.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Um, well, my there's one year that my sister wasn't there and I was scared, and um dad wouldn't make any friends, and I made like a lot of friends, and Miss Maddie also helped me too.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

No way. So you make a lot of friends at camp. Even sometimes you go there and you're like, I'm not sure if I'm gonna make that many friends. Everybody makes tons of friends. Do you think if I go next year, I'll make friends too?

unknown 10:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Not I'm not gonna mention it on here though. So um here's a question. Um do you think do you think that God had part had a do you think it was part of God's plan that either somebody was at camp to help you feel brave or there was um something that you did at camp that made you feel not nervous? Do you think he was kind of planning that all along? Yeah, a little bit. Um let's talk about Jesus for just a second. Okay, so when we go to camp, Jesus is always something that you learn about at camp because he's the most important person ever. Um do you remember one specific really cool thing that you've learned about Jesus from camp?

SPEAKER_04 11:19

That his love lasts forever.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

His love lasts forever. Yeah, it does. Okay. That's a really good thing to learn.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Adding on to hers, uh his his love lasts forever. No matter what we do.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Yeah, no matter what we do. Yeah. It's not like um it's not like we do certain things and he loves us more or less. He I mean, he died on the cross for our sins. That's a love that lasts forever. What about you, Jackson?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

His lo his love lasts forever.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yeah. Those are really good answers. I'm gonna have to write those down and kind of remind myself of that sometimes when I'm feeling a little discouraged. Um did you guys uh did you guys enjoy worship and the lessons at camp? What were those like?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

They were fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

They weren't boring?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

No.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

What? Oh what um do you remember any of the songs?

SPEAKER_02 12:23

Church clap was one. Yeah, church clap. You were in church clap? No way.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Okay. I listen to that in the car sometimes. What else?

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Any songs that you remember that you liked?

SPEAKER_04 12:40

I really like church clap.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Church clap?

SPEAKER_02 12:43

What was oh my father's house or oh yeah, my father's house.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Is it um is that the big big house with lots and lots of rooms? Yes. I really like that. And a big big yard where we can play football, right? Touchdown! Um What do you guys think that Jesus wants you to remember after going to camp? Like something that he's like, hey, remember this and then do this when you leave camp. Anything you can remember?

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Probably all the memories with friends.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah, all the memories with friends, like talk about them and share them. That's actually kind of what we're doing right here, right? Yeah. I um I was really glad that you guys wanted to uh be part of this because what this is all about is there's gonna be some kids that are your age and in class, and maybe even in class here with you. And some of them, they might be thinking, I'm not sure if I want to go to camp or not. Because they might be thinking, I don't know if it's gonna be fun, it might be boring, I don't know if the snacks are gonna be good. I don't know if there's gonna be people there that can be my my new friends. There's a lot of things that somebody going to camp for the first time, they could be like, I'm just really not sure about this. And I wanted to have you guys at the table because I knew I knew that camp was probably awesome, but I wanted to hear some stories from people who had been there. So um, but yeah, thank you guys so much for sharing that with me. Um camp, camp doesn't change people just because camp is fun. Camp changes people because that's where we get to have fun and we get to meet God and we get to be God to other people. So when camp's over, God stays with you, he encourages you, and he still loves you forever. But thank you guys so much for being on this episode of uh the podcast is called Table Talk because we're at a table and we're talking, but camp is awesome. Are you guys going back again to camp this year? Yeah. Yes, okay. Well, hey, thank you guys for joining us. And everybody listening, thank you for listening.