Another week of summer, another week at summer camp. This week I am at Hume Lake for junior high camp. I love Meadow Ranch, Hume’s junior high camp, and I love hanging out with junior high students. They’re so weird, so awkward and not yet too cool for school. Junior high students are game for anything and I love hanging out with them.
There’s a lot I love about summer camp, both when I was a student and now as a pastor. More than anything, I love seeing students connect with God. I’m praying that God will reveal himself this week to our students in a new and powerful way.
I’ve had a lot of those powerful moments with God at camp, but I’ve also had a lot of really nerdy moments at camp. Here are some of my nerdiest camp experiences.
Star Trek Encyclopedia
I really like to think that I have a lot of nerd credibility. I’m well versed in many different nerdclinations and keep trying to add more to my stable. The case for my nerd credibility is most strengthened, though, by my eighth grade summer camp. I spent most of that week of summer camp sitting in my bunk reading the Star Trek Encyclopedia. I loved pouring over every page and reading up on different characters, alien races and ship designs. I don’t remember a lot from that year of camp, but I definitely remember all the time I spent growing my encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek.
Hulk Smash
I’ve filled a lot of roles at summer camp over the years. For a couple years I was in charge of our camp’s programming, which meant I wrote a lot of different sketches. I can’t remember the context of the sketch, but I know that we painted someone green. Long before The Avengers came out, I wanted Hulk to smash. The sketch probably had something to do with losing our temper or giving into sin, but I was more focused on painting the biggest counselor we could find green. We used green hair spray stuff that I think left a rash, but it was all worth it to see a giant counselor run into the chapel painted green with ripped purple shorts.
Star Wars Night
Last time I was at camp I republished a post about one of my favorite nights ever at camp. Our group does different theme nights where all of our students dress up in costumes. A few years ago we did a Star Wars night and it was awesome. It was the perfect Venn diagram for my life: Jesus and Star Wars. As I wrote in my post, I loved seeing our students come together and experience community by dressing like my favorite characters from a galaxy far, far away.
I love summer camp, especially when I can make it nerdy. I don’t know if I’ll have much time this week to read my Star Trek Encyclopedia, but maybe I can find a student who wants to talk about Secret Wars or play Magic with some of our counselors.
What were some of your nerdiest summer camp experiences?
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