We Sent Our Kids to Camp!

They didn’t just drop their kids off at camp… they invested in who they’re becoming.

This week at the table, parents share what it looks like to trust God with their kids’ faith—through summer camps, CIY, and the moments in between. The fun, the nerves, the prayers… and the ways they’ve seen God show up.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Is this really making a difference?”—this one’s for you.

Pull up a chair.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Welcome to Table Talk. Today's conversation is with parents whose kids they've they've attended Elkhorn Valley Camp, a CIY move or a mix, and but also a mission trip. Tracy is with us and and Dan. They've sent their kids to these places for various reasons. We'll find out. But if you're a parent and you're listening, you already know that sending your kid to one of these three trips isn't just signing a permission slip. This is an act of trust. It's a spiritual investment. And for families, it comes with prayer, it comes with hope. And I think you guys would admit a little bit that there's a little bit of anxiety with it. Oh, I sent my girl to Guatemala. Like, what was I thinking? Um, because you don't need a passport, you know, for a CIY trip. But no, today we're just going to talk honestly about kind of your perspective, what you guys had hoped for with um signing your kids up and sending them to these events, uh, what you've noticed when you're from your kids' lives when they came home from these events. Um really why these moments matter, not just for students, but I mean they have the potential to impact your family. So um, but yeah, thank you guys for being here. Let's just start by introducing yourself, Tracy. Um, how many kids do you have?

SPEAKER_02 1:39

I have two. I have Isaac, who's a freshman, and Sarah's a sophomore.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Okay. And you've sent your kids to what events?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

They have been to CIY MOOC.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

And Sarah's been to Guatemala mission trip.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

And she's going back again this year. They're both going. They're both going. That is really awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

They're both going to Elkhorn and CIY and Guatemala this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

That's wild. Um and Dan. I have lots of kids. Yeah. Seven of them. Um We were asking Jaden about like, well, we were asking all of them, like, hey, when you go on these trips, like, what makes you a little bit anxious? You know, what, you know, a little bit of um uh uneasiness about you know a trip like this? And a lot of everybody always says, like, you know, being away from family, and I'm like, how many siblings do you have? And I'm like, d does that make it more difficult? And he's like, Oh, you know, I get to leave the craziness for a couple days. I can see him doing that for sure. But you've sent um you you've sent your kids to Elkhorn camp for the week. What about move and mix?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Yeah, they've all attended um Elkhorn and Mix and Move. Um they've all loved it. They come back. It's it's really cool to just see the transformation, the excitement when you drop them off, and then when they get back, there's like a tiredness, but it's there's like a completely different attitude about them. Sometimes there's even like a peace about them. Like it's definitely a super cool experience. I'm sure we'll get into some of that.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Well, and not to jump too far ahead, but you have also gone to these events serving like as a leader. Um, yeah, but everybody listen to the next episode, it's gonna be cool because it's like, why would you go with the kids? Like, oh my goodness. Um, but yeah, uh every family story is different, but that's a part of what makes these trips really cool. So um, but yeah, we we know a little bit about the this your your kids that you guys have sent. Um do you guys remember do you guys remember their first experience? Um, so so like for your kids, because uh your Tracy, your kids haven't been had never been to the Elkhorn summer camp, but uh that's your first Dan, that's you guys' first time sending the kids away for any amount of time.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yeah. Then we're just like driving there. Um my wife's like, I don't want to leave my kids, and I'm like, it's gonna be fine. Like, let's kick them out.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

I mean, for you guys, it's an hour. I think for everybody it's about an hour away. About an hour.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Um and then we get there and you get the kids all checked in, and like the whole process is organized. It's it's not a a cluster. And once you get there, you start to realize, like, okay, like first off, they're gonna be okay. Yeah. And second off, like, there's a lot of cool stuff here. Like, I want to come here and do this. But uh then you drop the kids off, and they're at least my kids. Um, first time they've been away from home and they're a little apprehensive, and we kind of had to go around the corner of one of the buildings and have a little pep talk with them. But then you come back, I think Elkhorn's what, two or three days, two or three days, and you come back to pick them up, and you go from them wanting to come back home to the room. We lost like, listen, you you gotta be here. Like, sorry, we're leaving. And then you come to pick them up, and they're like, Why are you here? Yeah, like we don't want to go home. We have friends here, they have a swimming pool.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah, like we don't want to go home. So what was your first experience um uh when your kids went to CIY the first time? Was it a drop-off in the in the the bus departed?

SPEAKER_02 5:23

So Sarah went the first year by herself.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Um there were and we were nervous, of course, because we get here at 5 30. They leave on a bus all together. Um, and we have life 360, and Joel and I leave, and we he's like in tears when we're pulling out the driveway.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Because he's more emotional than I am. Um and then we didn't see the bus move for a little bit because there was an incident that they had to take care of.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

And made me a little nervous for the week, but I am very proud of how the leadership dealt with that incident. Yeah. And everyone was safe, everyone had a great time, and those people that were involved in that had a revolutionary experience too.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

So it was great that the leadership took them under their wing. It was very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

God's already at work and in the unknown, the uncertain, but also.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

That was Sarah by herself.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

And then I sent them both, and we've never been without both our kids. So we had a quiet house. That was that was weird. That was weird.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah. So I mean, there's even this like spiritual um God moment that happens with you guys as parents, being the ones who are quite literally like releasing your kids into the care and responsibility of other people. No, I mean, you send your kids to Elkhorn, and there there's probably a little bit of a difference between sending like a second or third grader and then like, hey, you have a teenager, but I mean, there's still my kids aren't teens yet, but I know that when they get to like elementary age, I'm gonna be like, I are they okay? Like, uh, but I mean, teenagers can fend for themselves a little bit, but at the same time, like you still have all these uncertainties.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Uh I actually told Sam after she went to Guatemala I I was terrified. I was very nervous. But at the same time, she is my earthly child, but she's ch the God, he she's God's child first. So I have to step out of my role and trust preach it.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Trust and have faith that he's gonna take care of her. And there was great leadership there too. Like everyone that went on that trip was amazing with her. So I didn't have to worry. They included me and they made sure I knew what was going on.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

You guys are doing all the work for me. It's like, how can we convince these people that you know students going to these events is not just worth it, but it's it's it's something that will um you know impact their lives, their families' lives, the kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So I think something on that um as a parent, and I've had kids go to all three events, like when you first have kids and you start raising them, like you want to raise them to learn about God and then you know, teach them to trust God, and they go to these camps and it's like they're building like when you start building a house, if you're like you have a foundation to build your house on. Yeah. And it's kind of the same thing with your with your faith in God and your belief in God, and these kids go to these camps, and the camps start teaching these kids different things about God, but it starts building their foundation for their Christian walk, for their walk, their personal walk with God.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

It's also a good trend chance for us as parents to step away and allow them to do that themselves.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

So we're not holding their hand and teaching them, they're doing it on their own, and they need to do that.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

And I I've noticed like the the volunteers that go to these things, like they're telling my kids a lot of the same stuff that I'm telling them. The kids are like, Well, mom and dad's not crazy.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Well, the funny thing is the so the first episode in the series, uh, this afternoon I sat down with the family ministry team and we just talked about like why do we plan these events? Why are these events so important? And how can how can we just be um another small little piece that like it's not about convincing families to send kids here? It's about um showing families why these moments are worth investing in your kids spiritually. Um but that's one of the one of the things that we talked about. Um the uh who oh shoot, who said it? Um was it was it Beth um Beth Rochelle? I anyway, I I I can't remember which one of them around the i I think it was just a um it was a com combined effort, a collaborative effort, but th that's one of the things that they were talking about was like um when we plan these things, um there's it it it's not just an event on the calendar. These are these are pinnacle moments, and the the biggest reason that they plan them is not like programmatically, CIY is great. Um going on a mission trip, like the project that they do, everything like programmatically is is great. But we put these things on the calendar because there's this there's this peer-to-peer and leader to student bond that happens that is spiritual. Um but that's something that like that's that's a moment that God has with people where you glow grow closer together with with God, um, with with God together. And if you don't, um it uh a long a long time ago, we we did a little bit of the math. If somebody had perfect attendance for like the epic nights, the Sunday mornings, the hour with uh the hour with the ratio of leaders to students, the what you end up getting, like the percentage of investment per leader per student, like the amount of time, if you combined all the epic nights and all the Sundays, um they're they come close to but not quite equaling the same amount of relational like equity as an event that you'd go to like a CIY. Um But so it's like hey, these are pinnacle events, not just because they're the big events, and I I mean they they cost something, but what what what what what they cost is is an investment that is a foundational builder that can that can change like uh a huge part of somebody's life. So that's why we we make them kind of like just they're they're pinnacle events, they're they're they're pillars of of the of the calendar. Um but yeah, so obviously you guys are sending your kids and you have a spiritual expectation, not just you're you're not thinking, oh Sarah's going to Guatemala, like I hope she comes back with all of her laundry and she had a good time. Like, don't spend all your money too quick, right? No, I mean you have this spiritual expectation. So like from a parent to other parents, um kind of walk us through. Well, I mean, for both of you guys, walk us through like how did you spiritually prepare for like sending them to this for CIY or machine?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Both, yeah. So CIY is a different thing, it's all fun.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

I did not expect them to sleep, so hearing Isaac's reply was hilarious because I knew the honest truth of that.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

They're like, we're averaging two or three hours of sleep a night.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

But they do build some great relationships while they're there.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Your brother actually is one of Isaac's best buddies. Tom is his favorite.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Tom is going to CIY mix move and the mission tribute.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

He is a blessing to my son. I adore that man. He'll come to baseball games. He goes and has pizza with Isaac after church, or he he's just such a great influence.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Tom might be the only one. I mean, he he he has the gift of availability in this season, and he might be the only one that's like, I can I can get the relational ratio that we want, not going to like a CIY, because he's just like, uh I'll I'll go hang out with these kids five nights a week.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

And some of us parents are like he pours into these kids like I've never heard of and I'm thankful for it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Same thing. Like, Jaden comes up to me Sundays, he's like, Dad, can I go out to eat with Tom? And I'm like, here's my card, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, when I told him I'm a little I'm a little mad and jealous because Tom's teaching all these kids how to play ping pong. And me and Tom growing up, we've always been like, I can beat Tom occasionally, but now I just I start playing some of the students that have been taught by Tom, and I'm like, I these kids are beating me. And I'm like, I I give up, I'm not playing ping pong again.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

I give all dead.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Sarah also built some relationships, but hers weren't with leaders, they were her peers, and she has brought them home with her. So they go out and they get lunch and they go out shopping and they have Bible study. They do all this stuff, and it's so cute because she was struggling with girls at school. It was the typical teenage girl stuff, and she finally found her people and it's here.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

So that was great.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah. And Guatemala was a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Guatemala was different.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

She had definitely built some some everlasting relationships in that. Um different perspective, all different ages. And the mom and the group was very much like me. So it made me feel good because I wasn't there, but she was. So I felt like I was. She included me in everything. She wrote me a note and said I'll take her care of her. And I had no worries. Yeah. But on her way home, it's it is like you had mentioned before. There is a little bit of a grieving process when they leave. Yeah. So they need that couple days to just kind of come down. Yeah. It's different.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Something we me and my wife definitely look for. Um starting out even when we first started attending Greenford here is you look at a church and a church family for a lot of different things, but one of the things that was super important to us was their youth program starting from little kids on up, because that's these years are the most important times of their life. And they're gonna they're gonna make decisions and do things now that affect them the rest of their lives. And as a parent, I mean they go to school, they're around all kinds of different people, but knowing that you can that you come to church every Sunday and they get they get poured into by these volunteers and the pastors, and then knowing that there's a camp you can send them to, and they're gonna be surrounded by other kids. And I'm not saying all the like kids are kids and they're gonna get into trouble, but they're surrounded by kids that believe in God and know who God is. Yeah. And you know, uh realistically, you are the people you hang out with.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

So if my kids can go to these camps and build relationships with other kids whose parents believe in God and are teaching them about God, right, then that's just setting them up for success and helping them, you know, start their relationship and realizing, hey, there's other people that are Christians, and I don't have to just because you send them out into the world and schools and they're surrounded by all kinds of different kids, and these camps build relationships with people that have positive influence in their lives. And that as a parent, that's like huge.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

It was funny because you guys talk about uh I I forget which of you mentioned it. Um, like you you'll be teaching your kids something, and it's like they're just they're they're not picking up what I'm putting down. Like, I don't I don't understand why they're not understanding and and taking this wisdom that I have to offer them. We were talking in the family ministry circle, and very often the same thing happens with in in the the perspective of the youth pastor. It's like we taught this five-week series about wisdom and about like, you know, this or that, or and it just seems like it's going over everybody's head. And then you go to CIY, and the opening night the preacher basically has a message and it's like, this is what we've been talking about for like the whole month of like April, May, like whatever it was. And all of a sudden, half of the group is like, oh my gosh, like that just hit home. Like, yeah, like and and you're thinking inside your inside your mind, you're like, that's what I've been telling you this whole time. Yeah, yeah. But but no, like we realize that um part of partnering with families is students, students really need to have like four or five trusted adults in their life who are not their parents, but they supplement and complement the effort of the parent as the primary disciple maker of their child.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

We're very fortunate in this church that there are quite a few of those for our kids. There are one sitting behind me.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Jody, shout out to the next episode. Well, hey, um thank you guys for sharing your stories. I I just I I kind of have one more final question. Um and Tracy, you've you've been in the room with this kind of final question because the the reason that we're doing these episodes is because people who are listening, they're they're students that are on the fence about going to one of these events. They're volunteers who might be on the fence about serving in one of these events, or they're they're parents who are nervous and they have they have second guesses about should I pay for and send my child to go here? Um if you might even know somebody who's on the fence like this year. I don't know if I'm gonna send my kid or not. So let's say they're listening. Like, what what are you telling to uh a fellow parent of a of a student that's in our ministries? Like that this is why you need to send your kid to one of these events. What would you tell them?

SPEAKER_02 19:11

The benefits to your kids' um spiritual growth is endless. If our surpasses the amount of money and the time away, yeah. It's worth every minute.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Shoot. Yeah, I would second that. Something else I would definitely add. Um I know a lot of my kids when we first started talking about one of these camps or events, they didn't necessarily want to go or they were a little apprehensive about it. Um once they go and they get there and they get settled in, um it's an experience that they have the rest of their life. And it's something they come back talking about and they really enjoy themselves. Um make tons of friends. And the other thing, like I haven't been to all the camps, but I know a lot of the volunteers that go to the different camps. We've talked about Tom, there's Jody, there's Mike, there's Tracy, like all these volunteers, and there's so many more I haven't mentioned, but your kids are gonna get so much one-on-one attention and love and just complete like these volunteers go there and they pour into these kids for a week and they love on them. And it doesn't matter what the kids are going through, like they're gonna get not only are they gonna have an awesome experience and make tons of friends, but they're gonna have a week where they have a group of volunteers that are just committed to the kids and they have new safe safe places to go. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

And so like there's so many people on all these trips that are gonna be not just in the corner for your kids, but they're they're in the corner for you as the parents. Absolutely because our our primary goal is discipling our kids is not easy and you can't do it alone. And we're just a small role in the the village that helps to spiritually point people, your kids to Jesus and and help help help parents to do that.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

So as a parent, I would say if you're a parent and you're you're on the fence about sending your kid or your kids on the fence about it, um give it one try, one camp. And I promise you, A, it'll change your kid's life, and B, you'll see as a parent, you'll see your kids come back and you'll just be like, wow, like that was worth every penny, every nervous breakdown, every tear, all of it. Like you it's an experience of a lifetime for the kids. And I've had kids go to all of these camps from you know, little kids up to teenagers of high school, and even at the young age, like coming back and hearing my boy talk about. His experience and how the one night God came and he was just crying and he didn't know why he was crying, and it's just like it's an experience that if there if your child's brave enough to go or you can figure out a way for him to go, like it's it's an experience that nothing else in this world can replace.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

I I don't even think I can count on one finger the parents that decided to send a child to any of these events, and after the event, they were like we second guessed it and we were right, and we're not sending our kids back. But in instead it's it's it's parents that have shared the same story as you guys. Like we second guessed, God did so uh incredible things, and the ripple effect from these, like it's it's still happening like years, years later. Um but yeah, uh thank you guys for taking the time to sit at this table with me, share these stories, share the honesty, the the uncertainty in the second guessing, but also just seeing what God's done in in your kids' lives. Um and and thank you for letting um us as as people who are trying to steward the ministries of the church just letting us have a small role in their lives. So it's uh it's an honor and a privilege for us to do it. So um, yeah, thanks for being in this conversation. Thanks for investing in the spiritual lives of your kids. And uh yeah, thanks for joining us on Table Talk. And everybody else out there, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.