Ten days after the Georgia Baptist Mission Board announced the closing of its discipleship-focused camp in Middle Georgia, an agreement appears to allow the facility to remain open under the Friends of Kaleo. The Georgia Baptist Mission Board posted a…
From isolation to ministerial pasta: How summer camp has changed since COVID showed up
Is the end of COVID as an official public health emergency good news for summer youth camps? Or are dangers still lurking behind every tree and campsite? After the May 11 declaration that COVID-19 is no longer a public health…
As summer approaches, how can parents help their children be safe at summer camp?
When parents search the internet for “how to make sure your child is safe at summer camp,” about 84,900,000 Google results appear. Most of the links are lists of tips parents can keep in mind when sending children away for…
Pandemic summer makes the finances of running a camp even harder
If owning and managing a camp or conference center was hard before March 15, consider the difficulty created after COVID-related cancellations began pouring in. Baptists saw the first crack in the viability of running retreat and conference centers seven years…
Baptist camps tally their losses as COVID-19 summer comes to a close
In Central Florida this summer, the sounds at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center resembled more a Quaker retreat than a rambunctious camp for teens yelling at the tops of their lungs. There was no frolicking in the lake or singing…
Coronavirus summer highlights the best and worst in Christian camps
I stood next to my friend in the parking lot of our Baptist church with my large suitcase while our moms took our photographs. I was 8 years old. And I was about to experience my first time away from…
Faced with coronavirus challenge, this Christian camp found a new way
In what Christianity Today has called “Christian camps’ weirdest, hardest summer,” David and Colleen Burroughs faced tough decisions about their own camping program, PASSPORT Inc., which typically engages 5,000 children and youth from about 350 churches in its programs. Back…
No summer camps this year as Passport seeks to protect participants from coronavirus
Passport has announced the cancellation of its 2020 in-person summer camp season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Birmingham-based ministry said it will offer virtual programming instead.