Beyond ‘Kum Ba Yah'?
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Extreme sports are reaching kids in radical ways
Take a Filipino kid named Phil with a tough home background and a
dad overseas. Mix him up with the party scene, alcohol, drugs,
girls, and graffiti. Blend in strong skateboarding skills, and put him in the
warm oven of a skateboarding church. Bake with a caring staff, the Spirit's
movement, Bible studies, and a mentor willing to hang in when the heat of
temptation gets strong. Dress him with Bible college classes in
communications and serve him back to the community—now sharing the
Bread of Life with kids in the same position he was in just a few years ago.
Phil is just one example of hundreds of teens who have been invited to
embark on a relationship with the Lord through ministries using an edgier
approach to recreation called extreme sports (see sidebar). In such camps,
canoes, crafts, horses, and "Kum Ba Yah" are falling behind skateboards,
land luges, surfboards, inline skates, and the like. They're attracting a new
generation of hard core adventurers—Net-Gen kids who like the intensity
level of their recreation kicked up a couple of notches. Depending on
philosophy of ministry, some camps are preferring to reintroduce quieter,
traditional camp activities—for which there is a lot to be said—while others
are picking up on the need to be where kids are in order to attract them to
their programs and share the gospel.
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Adventure Appeal
"Hunger for adventure is natural," says Ryan Vernon, activities director for
Tennessee's Doe River Gorge Ministries, a fast-growing Christian adventure
camp. "We all have these wild desires. God is adventuresome and creative,
and we're made in His image."
Vernon uses metaphors, analogies, and relationships to help bridge the gap
between adventure-driven sports—such as rock climbing, caving, rappelling,
and whitewater rafting—and the gospel message.
"When we talk about the experience, issues of fear come up," he says. "And
eventually it'll come to the fear of death. Then we ask, ‘Why are you fearful
of death?' We use fear as a bridge. Our ultimate destination is heaven."
Jessica Murphy, an extreme sports enthusiast who serves as the program
staff trainer at Camp Bighorn, a wilderness camp in Montana, agrees.
"When you're upside down in a kayak, you start asking questions," Murphy
says. "What we've seen happening in North America is that the church is
busy giving all the answers, but nobody is asking any questions. An answer
is inappropriate until a question is asked. And we need to create a question.
When we do extreme stuff, it's to connect the spiritual thing to something
tangible and visible that we do understand."
Therein lies the key to communicating the gospel—a key modeled by the
Master Teacher himself.
"The approach is similar to the one Jesus used when He told parables to
explain the kingdom of God," says John Wyatt of EPIC Surf Ministries in
Jacksonville Beach, Florida. "Throughout our camps, we learn about
surfing—the terminology, the culture, [and] the language—and then we
share the gospel using those new terms and examples."
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Reaching out Together
As camps creatively communicate the gospel with extreme sports, they have
found that increased ministry effectiveness is rooted in relationships with
other camps and with churches.
"We are currently building a partnership with two other camps...to offer
kids a combined full-gospel water sports camp for 2005," Wyatt says. "Each
camp is really specialized and equipped for its own program, but we will all
benefit from the combined marketing and exposure."
Like EPIC, camps interested in creating or expanding an extreme sports
program into this arena shouldn't necessarily attempt to do so on their own
when others are experienced in this type of ministry. It is essential, however,
your insurance agent if you decide to cooperate with another organization
for one or more activities.
"Find a camp that is uniquely called and equipped by God and partner with
them," Wyatt says. "More kids will get to hear the gospel, and God is glorified
because His people are working together."
Working with churches, however, has been more challenging for EPIC. As a
parachurch ministry, Wyatt says, it has several times encountered churches
that wouldn't support the program because it wasn't related to a ministry of
that church.
Portland, Oregon's Skatechurch may be more closely connected with the
local church than EPIC or the typical camp, but its difficult but rewarding
road illustrates the struggles—and power—of a church that steps in to
support a ministry to extreme-sports kids.
"At times, especially in the beginning, some people weren't stoked on skate
ministry," Pastor Ben Thomas recalls. "They found kids peeing in the parking
lot and messing up things in the building, so it made it hard to see it as an
opportunity as opposed to a nuisance. Gradually, their hearts softened as
they saw these same kids being baptized in the services and giving testimony
to how God had changed their lives. Eventually the frustration turned to
tears of joy and we couldn't have stopped the Skatechurch even if we
wanted to."
Now the church has reaped the results of God's hand working through the
once-controversial ministry.
"Many of the elderly people pray weekly for the kids," Thomas says. "It is also
exciting now to see the kids integrated into the church. We have some who
got saved at Skatechurch years ago who are now married with children and
attending church regularly. It has been exciting to be a part of it."
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Diving In
Fitting life-changing extreme sports ministry into a camping program
requires dedicated leadership and focused preparation.
"Make sure you have a few committed volunteers who are experts in that
area and will stay for the entire session, for example, one week," Wyatt
says. "Get a lead counselor who is responsible, trained in discipleship, able
to relate to kids and share the gospel with them on their level, and who is at
least somewhat familiar with the sport. You'll need a good marketing plan
and website, and you'll want a good follow-up plan to stay in touch with the
kids and encourage them in their faith."
Appropriate planning for equipment and facilities—whether at your camp or
a nearby facility—is also essential. And, whatever activity is done, it should
be designed carefully to communicate truth and incorporate life-long
lessons. That's key to turning motion into ministry.
Also, it's crucial to take into consideration business and safety concerns
such as profitability and risk management. That's key to keeping motion
from turning into misery.
"It definitely takes a steady influx of cash, strong conviction, and
commitment to run this business," says Dawn Miller, co-owner of Extreme
Mountain Sports. The Talequah, Oklahoma, organization offers daylong
activities on the organization's ropes courses, climbing walls, and obstacle
course; guests also have the option of experiencing paintball, kayaking,
mountain biking, and inflatable games.
Extreme Mountain Sports holds frequent staff safety meetings and daily
inspections to ensure quality service, in addition to requiring that guests—or
parents or guardians of those under 18 years old—sign a liability release
form approved by an insurance company.
Insurance is a vital concern in the development of an extreme sports
session. Portland's Skatechurch saved on insurance by using a policy that
is lumped into the local church's insurance package. Pastor Thomas says it
didn't increase the church policy as much as they had expected, and it
made the policy an affordable rather than prohibitive issue.
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Conclusion
Whether or not the strains of "Kum Ba Ya" are being sung around campfires
in 2004, the message of those words resounds across the nation, from camp
to camp, from skateboarders to mountain bikers, from wall climbers to
wakeboarders. Extreme sports may bring dramatic changes to the physical
aspect of camping, but the calling of our hearts is the same: "Lord, come by
here."
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Related Resources
On the Internet: SoundWord's CCI/USA audio tapes, "A Good Sport" (sports outreach at camp and in the community), "Reaching Generation ‘Why,'" and "I Kid You Not" (overview of today's teenage world) www.soundword.com |
By Carol Duerksen
Carol, a freelance writer, works with teens in a youth group and in a high
school exchange program. She thinks she's too old to try extreme sports,
but her husband will try almost anything. E-mail her at
carold@mennoniteusa.org.
This article first appeared in the Christian Camp & Conference Journal, May/June, Vol. 8, No. 3
Copyright © 2004, Christian Camping International/USA |
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