As a new employee at Young Life in Colorado Springs, one of the orientation activites you do is spend a day at a Young Life camp. The closest camp is Frontier in Buena Vista (about 2 1/2 hours from Colorado Springs). Going to the camp, I knew some of what to expect. The camps are absolutely beautiful facilities in incredble settings. This is an important part of the Young Life Ministry. As the Young Life founder Jim Rayburn said: "We want to create an atmosphere in which the Gospel of the grace of God can be clearly communicated to each guest.” I also knew that there are high adventure activies, around 400 kids, leaders that come with the kids, and camp staff. I knew the overall Mission is to have kids accept a relationship with Christ.


Before I spend too much more time talking about what I already knew and even what I didn't, let me explain the title of this article a bit. I've been in the software business for 20 years. In that time, I've done a fair amount of travel, both domestically and abroad. I've been to training classes both by me and for me and to on site demos both by me and for me. I've been to trade shows with high end CAD users and low end outdoor power dealers (and vice versa). I've been to customer sites where the customer is happy, unhappy, unsure; and sometimes all the above at once. I've been the deliverer of software that is both more and less than the customer wanted. I've gotten to experience some really cool cultures in places like Tokyo and Paris. None of it compares to spending a day at a Young Life camp.


Knowing about the high adventure elements and flashing back to my younger days of anticipating a trip to Kings Island or Cedar Point, I had trouble sleeping the night before. Heading out to Frontier starts by meeting at the office early...then of course, a run to Starbucks and Bruegers before getting underway. We had 5 newbies and 3 HR folks to fill up the Young Life suburban. Along the way, we shared testimony and talked about all manner of things. I'm somewhat embarassed to admit that I got to know these folks better than the people I work with on a daily basis.


We arrived at Frontier around 10 am or so, just in time to attend the Club meeting. Club meetings are high energy, fun meetings on a weekly basis. So, taking that meeting environment to the Camp setting, experience, and number of folks is quite an ordeal. Club includes a lot of music, skits, videos, and interaction; all punctuated by a Message. We attended on the day of the "Sin Talk", which communicates that we all live in sin. It's the setup for the "Cross Talk", which is the story of Jesus giving his life to atone for our sins. So, it's a pretty somber topic to end Club with. The kids are sent out to fewer structured activies so they can really give it some thought. One of the messages that hit me was the idea that all the traditionally undertood 'sins' are simply unholy ways of filling time. So, drinking, drugs, etc. are joined by religion if you are just practicing religion without an honest relationship with Jesus. I've considered it to "not count" if you just show up to church to get your weekly attendance card punched. This was a much more eloquent way to share a similar message.


It turns out we were really fortunate that we got to be there with both Young Life kids and Capperaum kids. Normally, the types of groups aren't mixed very much in the camp setting. The different categories of Young Life are the original/traditional Young Life for high school kids, Wyldlife for Middle schoolers, Cappernaum for special needs kids, Young Lives for single mom students, Military Young Life for, well Military kids.


We only had a little more time available before lunch, which was the taco/fajita feast. After lunch, we had the chance to sample some of the high adventure activities. During our day, we had slots for horseback riding (definitely geared toward first time riders), the Screamer (a seated 2 person giant, like 60 foot, swing), and the high ropes course. The other ones that we didn't participate in are a rapelling course, Ridge runners (dune buggy level carts), and hiking to the top of a local 14er (Mt Princeton I believe). There are also pools, volleyball and basketball courts, disc golf, and a ton of other things to keep kids in this age bracket happy and active.


Later in the afternoon, we got to attend the leader meeting. It was definitely more worship service than meeting. The necessary information got communicated just fine, but you really understood that these leaders are here exhibiting the love of Christ. This was also a point where I really got to feel my age. I had seen a lot of the leaders out and about during the other activities and times. However, I had no idea they were the leaders. They mostly looked young enough to me to still be in high school and they were certainly interacting with the other kids in more of a peer manner than as an authority figure. Once I got past the shock of being so old I can't tell the difference, I started to getting a better idea of how the leaders in Young Life universally relate to the kids on the kids terms.


The day continued with tableau (a live western scene with all the participants perfectly still, then, set into motion, then back to still on cue - very cool), dinner, and a carnival after dinner. This was where I really got a sense of how incredible the camp staff are. We went into the dining hall (what an understatement for this beautiful log building), and after dinner came out to a completely transformed central area. There was a carnival setup with all kinds of games of skill and luck and other activities and booths. This set and transformation would make a Disney production team prooud ! One of the messages from the leader meeting set in during Carnival. The kids were earning tickets with the games of skill that they could use for a pie throw at the leaders. The kids got to call forth their leader of choice. During the leader meeting, it was discussed how this activity is a symbolic taking of sin from the kids. So, when you as a leader get covered with cream, don't retaliate and don't wipe it off. It's a subtle but elegant representation. It might be lost on the majority of the kids, but it made an impression on me about how well considered the various elements of young Life Ministry are.


Then there was another Club meeting, with a focus on some of leaders sharing their stories of sin. There was a topic to touch every kids heart and give them somebody to identify with. Knowing that these are folks who have overcome these obstacles to have a relationship with Christ is a glimmer of hope for the kids...a bit of a hint of what is to come. After the Club meeting, the kids head back to the center of Camp for a square dance. The Carnival is all cleaned up and replaced with beautifully lighted area for the dance. By this point it's around 10:00 and time for us to head back to Colorado Springs. During this day, I got a lot of insight into how well planned the Young Life activities are, the commitment exhibited by the leaders and camp staff, a good sense of how well treated the kids are, and generally why there are so many kids who say Young Life camp is the best week of their life.