OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER FOR CRISTA CAMPS
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF
FALL 2011
TRANSFORMING LIVES NEAR AND FAR “Island Lake changes my life more and more every year. I’ve learned so many new things and met amazing people and cried so hard I couldn’t cry anymore. Keep up what you do because you change lives, including mine.”
C
– 2011 Summer Camper
RISTA Camps offers an experience of adventure-packed days, engaging staff, and relevant speakers that together create memories which campers—like the one above from this past summer—can’t help but recount again and again for years to come. Whether it is paintball, “the blob,” muddy-field “Yuck Wars,” a conversation with a counselor following Fireside—or maybe a hodgepodge of all of the above—it is the goal of CRISTA Camps that the memories made will coincide with a very real experience of God’s transformational love.
CRISTA Camps doesn’t just want to show God’s love to those in our own backyard. We are committed to seeking ways for even greater impact, each and every week. Recognizing one such opportunity this past year, CRISTA Camps brought two separate groups together in the creation of International Week, where local campers spent the week with students from
tsunami-destroyed Sendai, Japan, forming rare connections and new friendships. CRISTA Camps is also able to love those in our community through Operation Xtreme—a new program developed to stand in the gap for the children of those serving in our nation’s military. Previously, a state-funded program paid to send the kids to a week of camp. However, in 2011, that funding was cut. Instead of simply looking elsewhere for a group to book those weeks at camp, the CRISTA Camps’ leadership team saw an opportunity to bridge the gap with love. Within a matter of weeks, Operation Xtreme was born, sendakid.net was created, and a fundraising campaign had begun. Not only is CRISTA Camps going to still welcome military kids to camp, leadership is committed to raising the funds to do so. Jesus Christ gave life to those who are lost, and at CRISTA Camps it is our goal to share this life and joy with as many campers—both near and far—as possible.
INAUGURAL EDITION FALL 2011
There is more to tell! Look inside as we take you on a photo tour of CRISTA Camps!