Most of us live in the vortex of a tornado of activity. Between jobs, activities, family and church, time seems to slip away. What is true for adults is also true for our children. The flurry of activities and the demands on their time are mind boggling.

There are few places in life where our children can find quietness and time for reflection. They, like adults, struggle to wean away from video games, telephones, MP3 players, and on and on. I am convinced that God wants to speak to our children, but they rarely unplug long enough to hear His voice.

I believe it is vitally important that we provide times of reflection and refreshing for our children. It is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in summer camp for children. At camp, the noise is turned off, and for one week, our children hear from God without distraction. Every activity from fun games to quiet times to nightly worship is aimed at allowing God to break through to their hearts and minds with His message.

For 50 years, young girls came to a mountaintop called Nunny Cha-ha. Thousands found Christ as Savior, and many hundreds sensed their call to ministry and missions under the little tabernacle. For several years, Nunny has been one of my favorite stops as I was privileged to lead the Wednesday evening decision time.

For almost as many years, boys have met at Camp Hudgens on a mountain overlooking Lake McAlester. They have engaged in numerous sports and other activities, and year after year, they have responded to the Gospel and the voice of God as He called them to ministry and missions.

Next summer, these camps will be combined on the 530-acre Hudgens property to form a new Oklahoma Baptist Missions Camp. This camp, whose proposed new name is CrossTimbers Baptist Camp, will be a children’s mission camp for boys and girls. Some weeks will be co-ed and some just for girls or boys. This new camp will be Bible, Gospel and mission centered. Our hope is to build simulated villages from around the world where children can experience a mission setting and learn about people who need Jesus.

We are taking the best of the old and infusing the camp and its program with new ways to engage our children with the truth of God’s Word and missions. There will be renewed and new cabins, new recreation activities and improved approaches to teaching and learning. I am convinced CrossTimbers will become a favorite destination for children during the summer.

Your gifts to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering will provide for improved cabin facilities at CrossTimbers. Our goal is to refurbish the present cabins and to build new units in the days ahead. We are confident our investment in CrossTimbers Baptist Camp will fulfill the theme of this year’s offering “Leave the 99…Find the ONE.” Children will be saved. Many will be called to missions and, in the future, will be a part of the army of full-time Christian servants at home and abroad. Join Polla and me in giving generously to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering.