“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28
WHAT IS #GIVINGTUESDAY?
#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.
HOW IS CAMP CHALLENGE PARTICIPATING?
For #GivingTuesday, Camp Challenge is raising the funds necessary to replace our mattress covers. Although our mattresses are cleaned and sanitized regularly, years of slumbering campers who are coated in ALL the trappings of outdoor summer fun eventually leave their mark in the form of rips, stains, and smells (yuck!). $30 provides a new waterproof, hypoallergenic, antibacterial, and bed-bug proof mattress cover that puts both campers’ bodies AND their parents’ minds at rest! We would like to purchase 70 new mattress covers at a total cost of around $2,100.
HOW CAN I HELP?
You can make a donation of any amount. As gifts are made, we will fill in the bunk beds in our Retreat Center. Watch our progress on Facebook, Instagram, or gocampchallenge.com. Friends and partners like you have already made Camp Challenge a place where campers and guests find rest for their souls in Jesus. Please help us minister to our campers and guests’ physical need for rest as well!
…we do what we do? I mean, camp’s a lot of work, right? It requires a lot of money, TONS of volunteers, and a time commitment in people’s already-busy lives. So is it worth it? Does it really matter? Read on to hear what one former Camp Challenge camper has to say:
My brothers and I grew up attending Camp Challenge every summer from elementary school through high school. We all continued to staff camps at periodic times while we were enrolled [in college]. Needless to say, this camp had a huge impact on my life and my development as a young Christian man. It’s pretty neat to now write this email as a 30 year old recalling memories from more than two decades ago. I remember the canteen, taking the camp picture the first night of camp, worship nights out at the pavilion, walking across the field at night learning to speak to God, making friends with whom I still speak with, endless games of knockout (of which I always won!), and of course walking up the hill to our cabins. I remember vividly nights where I first experienced the tangible love of Jesus and the call of the Holy Spirit. I remember praying on the balcony of Amity, singing Amazing Grace as I walked through the fields looking up at the stars, seeing a relationship become real, learning what it means to follow. Taking that annual drive down from [my hometown] to Bedford in the summer became a tradition of sorts, and even a signpost of my ever-developing relationship with Jesus. My journey has been an eventful one since my days at CC, taking me from the corporate world to the missions world, touching 35 different nations, and now back to the corporate world in Indianapolis. I am unsure how many of these messages you have and/or will receive, but I am certain my email is representative of countless other men and women now scattered throughout the country.
Thank you for all you do to pour into young people’s lives on a yearly basis. I am a living testimony of the effectiveness and lasting value this place has on people’s lives… basically what I am trying to say is that I know that God used this camp to help lay a piece of the foundation for who I am today. If I end up staying in Indiana once I have children, you can count on another generation of [my family] running around those grounds!
IT DOES MATTER! You can be a part of a ministry that makes difference! Find a way that works for your season of life by returning some of your God-given…
The hours you spend, the donations you send, the kids you lend – camp ministry develops followers of and leaders for Jesus Christ! To God be the glory!
