Summer camps across the state have started out strong. Among these are Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center and CrossTimbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp, both of which are focused on pointing campers toward Christ.

FALLS CREEK

Falls Creek’s theme for 2024 is “Totally”, encouraging students to totally focus on God.

“Totally was selected as this year’s theme to help students take a journey into and respond to the truths of who God is,” said Todd Sanders, Falls Creek program director.

Each week at Falls Creek will focus on how God is totally knowing, totally present, totally caring and totally capable. This theme is based on the verse Psalm 139:17, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

Falls Creek features a notable slate of speakers which include a variety of newcomers to the summer youth weeks and veteran camp preachers. Some are Oklahoma pastors; some are nationally-known among Southern Baptists, and there are evangelists who have been effective in delivering evangelical messages to young people.

These speakers include Chip Luter, senior associate pastor at New Orleans, La., Franklin Ave.; Duncan Blackwell, pastor of Elk City, First; Cody Brumley, pastor of Jenks, First; International Mission Board (IMB) President Paul Chitwood; Ryan Fontenot; Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Seminary; and Zack Randles, a pastor in Washington, D.C.

These sessions are accompanied by a variety of recreational activities for campers, as well as breakout sessions covering a wide range of topics such as dealing with grief and loneliness, how to study the Bible and other general spiritual growth opportunities. Missions Mobilization and a new focus on Disaster Relief (DR) is emphasized at the camp. Students have also participated in a practical mission project creating care bags for DR volunteers.

“As always, we will do evangelism training throughout the week,” Sanders said. “We will have opportunities in the afternoons where our staff has the chance to engage students in evangelistic conversations.”

More than 100 churches and 5,200 attendees are at Falls Creek currently, signaling a strong start for the rest of the summer. More information about the Falls Creek youth weeks can be found at oklahomabatists.org/youthcamp

 

CROSSTIMBERS

CrossTimbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp has begun and is in the second week of sessions. Each session is three nights and four days of giving campers a vision for missions that can be translated back to their communities.

“From the time these boys and girls step on the CrossTimbers campgrounds until they leave, they will learn about the Gospel and the importance of missions,” said Sarah Hagar, CrossTimbers program director.

CrossTimbers is a longstanding camp program offered by Oklahoma Baptists and supported by the Cooperative Program, designed for children grades three through six. The camp provides great activities for campers to enjoy in a fun and safe environment. These include a ropes course, target sports and water activities.

“The children of this generation—called Gen Alpha—are in a high-tech world, bombarded by screens and media,” Hagar said. “Camp is a great time they can unplug from all of that and hear from the Lord.”

Speakers at this year’s camp include Grant Findley, Christian Lloyd, Mark Jones, Corry Duncan, Jeff DeGiacomo,Joey Dean, David Skinner, Tom Hollis, Nathan Copeland, Rob Dunning, D.J. Walter and Prophet Bailey. CrossTimbers leaders also place a high priority on the preaching of the Gospel, the scriptures, prayer, Christian service and missions.