Quote from “Living in the Blog-osphere” from Newsweek.
“…when you blog, your words reach not just your trusted cluster, but anyone with a Web browser. With search engines and Internet archives, a bright beam can illuminate the deepest corners of the Net�and intimate thoughts suddenly come to the attention of unwanted readers.”
I have the same concerns. Sometimes people will come up to me out of the blue and make comments that make me wonder if they visited this site. I don’t usually try to be brutally critical of people, however when I’m having a bad day, then I do write about it in this weblog.
Let’s recap….pictures taken this summer….
What’s missing? Short Mountain Bible Camp. I don’t really maintain a webpage for any of those folks. Darrell hasn’t ever asked me to do a webpage for Center Chapel.
Just some thoughts about SMBC in general…. I didn’t really have time to post this immediately after camp. But I feel there is a time for everything. What brought this on was a recent conversation I had with someone in regards to this.
Darrell and Tracy seem overly concerned with tradition…probably Darrell more than Tracy. Even Darrell was concerned about driving the church group to camp…taking the exact same route that had been taken before. Not even taking into consideration that there might be a shorter route to camp.
Traditions are ok, but if it is hindering progress and common sense then they need to step out of the way.
This whole Screamer thing. At SMBC, they publish a daily one page newspaper (called the “Screamer”) of what’s going on at camp. The problem is that I think they put too much time into it vs. what it is worth. They must spend hours on this publication…staying up late hours into the night. Do the campers read it? Maybe. But if suddenly it wasn’t published one week then the younger kids would probably not even miss it. The problem is that I think that those who are doing the Screamer are doing it for themselves because they are caught up in tradition. For my time, there’s much more better things that could be done with my time. For example, the night they were writing the Screamer, I stayed in the cabin playing cards with a half dozen kids. It gained me new friends for the rest of the week….One kid even told me I was their “favorite counselor.” Would the kids have gotten the same attention if I had helped with the Screamer? Nope. We need to remind ourselves that we are here for the kids, not to continue empty traditions.
And please note, I’m not trying to bash the authors of the Screamer. I’m just trying to get people to look at the big picture. Is it really worth it? I mean we are here at camp to teach the Bible and to build friendships. Does the Screamer cover this? I don’t know. Maybe it is universally loved among everyone at camp. Maybe the world would end if suddenly it wasn’t published. But I just don’t see it.
There are 230 kids at this particular camp. Every bunk is used. The kitchen and other facilities at camp are strained to the max. This can’t be good for everyone involved. So many kids…makes you feel lost in this whole vast mass of people. There’s a time to feel like an insignificant statistic in a vast crowd of people. It’s called college. At camp more than any other time in your life, you’re supposed to be counted…you’re significant…you matter. At times I just didn’t see it happening at this camp. Campers were getting lost in the shuffle. Kids were starving for attention. Some kids need one-on-one attention….seemlingly some of them aren’t getting the attention they need here. Or maybe I’m just biased because I am used to camps with less than 100 people.
One of these larger churches needs to break away to a different week of camp. Why turn away kids from camp because they signed up late? Have enough room at camp where you have room for everyone.
I observed some of the counselors seemlingly hating every minute of camp. Screaming at the kids for not having spotless cabins. Yelling at them for not being lined up for supper. Folks, this is camp. There’s a time when we should all push things aside and let kids be kids. If you don’t like it at camp, then why go? There are plenty of other people waiting in line to be a counselor.
Please note. I’m not here to bash SMBC. I’m sure there are some VERY good things going on there. While I was there some people did ask for prayers while another one was baptized. When I see ways to improve, I let people know.
Time to end this epic post.