Greetings from Camp Joy!
This is a busy time of year! The staff is currently deep in the midst of summer-prep and spring cleaning. However, we do not want to neglect to recognize all that God is doing at Camp Joy.
Though our specific avenue of ministry is through the tool of camp, we at Camp Joy do not see ourselves as just “camp workers.” Rather, we believe that God also calls us to be full-time servants, evangelists, and missionaries. God expects every believer to love Him, serve Him, and to share the Truth with those around them. Camp Joy staff are taught these truths and they seek to demonstrate them.
Here is a practical example: Over the past few years, Camp Joy has seen three separate full-time employees leave for the foreign mission field. Each of these three employees was a blessing to the camp ministry and their perspective local churches.
The most recent of these former Camp Joy staff members to leave for missions states:
“Working at Camp Joy had a huge impact on my life. I was able to see and learn that there were areas in my life where I had to get out of my comfort zone. Those areas included reaching out to new people, learning how to become a leader to young ladies, discipling, speaking publicly, and much more. It was eye-opening to discover that my life wasn’t all about myself anymore. Instead, it was about serving other people before myself. That is when I began to develop the mindset of seeing my work at camp as my mission field. Even though Camp Joy is not a foreign field, working at camp still placed the emphasis on preaching, teaching, and discipling. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to work at Camp Joy because that is where God reassured and developed my burden for missions.”
REcent CAmp Joy Employee
Camp Joy fully supports God’s calling in the hearts of our staff. We recognize that we are in the church age and not the camp age. Therefore, we believe that our mission is to support and advance God’s plan for our age – the local church. Missions are a very important part of this plan.
This belief is why Camp Joy does not just seek to retain an excellent staff. Rather, Camp Joy also seeks to train their staff in important ministry skills and tries to assist them in personal spiritual growth so that they are better equipped to minister effectively in whatever ministry God calls them to. Though we have an efficient and hard working staff, we also desire for our staff to be effective in their marriages, their families, and their local church ministries.
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
1 Corinthians 4:2
This writer believes that God has called each believer to be their own mission field. For some people, God has given you the mission field of your workplace. For others, God has given you the mission field of your home. For Camp Joy, God has given us the mission field of our employees, numerous summer staff, countless summer campers, and many couples.
We rejoice that God is still calling quality young men and women to the mission field!
