Can anyone remember when camp meetings moved from one location to another each year, and they were evangelistic toward the nearest town? Oh my, you have just dated yourself!
I am not quite old enough to know first-hand, but my oldest brother remembers Mom and Dad taking the family around the small towns and hamlets of Ohio to attend camp meeting. When conference workers broke camp, a small, fledgling church was often left behind.
Just think about it—a ten-day or two-week meeting with great evangelistic sermons and all the conference resources brought to bear in one location! Now that’s evangelism sure enough. Maybe we can’t do that today, but I still believe camp meetings should be evangelistic.
I began my ministry in the Allegheny West Conference. One of the highlights of camp meeting was the baptism prepared for those we had studied with and were encouraged to bring. I believe many conferences still follow this practice.
I was invited to a camp meeting in another country, in another division, on another continent. We had a joyous time throughout the week. Early on, it was obvious to me many young people in attendance were drinking in the Word of God. We directed the youth, who were already baptized members, to form Bible study teams. We gave them an intensive, all-out-effort on how to teach their peers what they knew.
Well, at the end of the ten days, the Spirit had prepared 16 youth to accept Jesus and request baptism. They were grilled and questioned, but all could see they were well prepared. Next came the problem.
When I inquired about baptismal facilities, I was shown a permanent baptistry—cracked, broken, and grown up with weeds. It said to me no one expected the Lord to do anything special at that camp. You know, an old evangelist is not going to let a little thing like that stop a baptism—especially when the whole Pacific Ocean was only four miles from camp.
Friday night, before the scheduled baptism, the weather turned cold and windy. Jackie and I prayed most of the night for the Lord to deliver good weather so these youth might not become discouraged.
It was still blustery and cold on Sabbath morning. I preached at the youth pavilion in the morning, then delivered the sermon in the adult pavilion in the afternoon. When asked about my plans, I said, “The Lord will provide. The baptism is still on.”
They supplied me with a wetsuit to stem the cold, and we drove out to the beach. By the time we arrived, the sun was out in full force, the surf was calm, the temperature had risen to such a high I had to peel off the wetsuit, which was nearly roasting me. The entire camp waded out into the ocean in support of those young people, and it was a glorious Sabbath!
Camp meeting is coming. Times haven't changed so much that baptism can't be a part of it. Make sure you are prepared to play a part in someone being baptized into God's kingdom. God expects it. Do we?
