For spiritual renewal, building friendships, providing incredible experiences for our children and making lasting memories, there is nothing like camp meeting.
Much prayer and thought is given by our presenters concerning their worship messages and presentations. As a result, a wonderful opportunity is provided for each of us to be challenged and grow in our walk with God.
As the week unfolds, it is always inspiring to see the new friends the Lord brings into our lives. These people not only are an enjoyment to be around, but they also can be a real encouragement to us in our faith walk.
Great care is given to provide our youth and children excellent programming. All day long exciting activities and spiritual feasts are prepared for them. They, too, make lifelong friends and have cherished memories from their camp meeting experiences.
So many families make camp meeting a tradition. Those who do have a rich storehouse of blessed experiences and friendships. Karen Goolsby from the Laporte Church has this testimony about what camp meeting has meant to her and her family throughout her life.
"It has sometimes been discussed that perhaps camp meeting should be done away with, suggesting that it is old-fashioned and no longer appeals to people today. But I think there are very important reasons that camp meeting is still relevant to Adventist culture.
"As a child, camp meeting gave me a picture of a bigger world church than just my local church. It brought me new friendships and drew me closer to God. My parents took the little money they had left over and the only week for vacation they had and took us to camp meeting. That helped me to realize how important it was.
"For my children and now for my grandchildren, I see that they, too, look forward to camp meeting with great anticipation, spending time with family and friends, and learning about God in a relaxing atmosphere.
"Throughout the years, as new members have joined me in coming to camp meeting, I have found that they, too, love it because of the fellowship and wealth of information that is available to them, through health and family seminars, classes about the Bible and accessibility to the Adventist Book Center. Also, camp meeting helps new members be able to understand the structure of the conference leadership.
"Camp meeting has given me time to renew and develop friendships, as I come away from my regular routine and spend time with old and new friends.
"I have been coming to camp meeting since I was a small child and have not missed a year. I would like to thank everyone who has made camp meeting possible over the years—from the students who help set up tents, clean dorms, restrooms and dishes to the volunteers who provide music and teach in the children's divisions. I also want to thank the conference workers and pastors, and their wives, who give time and energy to provide seminars, classes and organization of camp meeting in general. It is an eternal gift to all who come!"
Why not begin now to make plans for you and your children to be a part of camp meeting in Indiana this year?
Gary Thurber is the Indiana Conference president.
Indiana Camp Meeting
June 8–14
Indiana Academy
24815 State Road 19
Cicero, IN 46034
Call: 317-844-6201
E-mail: c2jloucks@aol.com
Website: www.indysda.org
Hispanic Camp Meeting
June 14
Cicero Seventh-day Adventist Church
24445 State Road 19
Cicero, IN 46034
Call: 317-856-5770
E-mail: prarosario@aol.com
