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Reflections from Camp & Retreat Ministries
Hearing your Call
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By Rev. Todd Bartlett, Executive Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries
In the context of the Church, we speak of God calling us to engage in a specific ministry. Think about God calling Jonah to go to Nineveh, as recorded in the book of Jonah in the Bible. Jonah ends up in the belly of a “whale” as the story goes before, he relents and makes his way to Nineveh. Moses met the burning bush and heard a call to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
One of the powerful elements of Camp and Retreat Ministry is that it provides space for people to hear the call that God is asking of us. Do you have a story that you would like to share about an experience at Camp when you realized that God had called you to engage in a ministry? Often, we think of this call being limited to ordained ministry, but I want us to think beyond ordained ministry to any story that conveys a time when God has called you to do something and you have responded.
My own story is a little more complicated when it comes to Camp and Retreat Ministries. When it was announced that I would be going to the Collins Retreat Center to serve as the director of that site, people in my home church (Red Wing UMC in Red Wing, MN) expressed concern to my mother about the move. “Are you worried about Todd leaving ministry?” And my mother’s response was, “He’s been building toward this his entire life."
My parents were people who saw in me certain abilities and interests and they avoided trying to direct me too overtly, as that type of “push” might cause me to pull away. So, through the remodeling of the house that we moved into as a family in 1973, I learned several skills related to carpentry, plumbing, wiring, roofing and foundations. I worked in professional kitchens while I was in college (dishwasher and cook). I had also worked at two camps (Frontenac and Suttle Lake) as a member of the summer staff (maintenance and waterfront). Theological training was important for my development and preparation to fulfill the call that God had on my life. I also developed toward that call through Serving within the church as a pastor and involvement in CRM as a site committee chair, member of the board, chair of the board, a counselor for a week of camp and as a dean of a couple of events.
It may have been a long time coming to get to this way of serving God and the church; and yet, each step along the way was what I was called to do for that time. There were distinct moments along the way when God’s call on my life was particularly clear to me. Some of those moments were at camp and some were related to events in the local church. What they all have in common is a sense of stepping away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and making space to hear what God has to say. And each step is important for what follows and should be remembered and honored for itself and where it led.
If you have a call story that has a connection to Camp and Retreat Ministries and you would like to share it, we would love to hear. We are hoping that some of you will send in your story that we can publish later in this series. All you need to do is send it to us via email and we will let you know when we can use it.
See you around the campfire soon,
Sawtooth Summer Youth Camps are Open for Registration
Registration for Sawtooth Camps are now open! Follow the link below to sign up for an incredible "mountaintop" experience.
https://sawtooth.gocamping.org/campsessions
