Last summer, the student ministry at First Baptist Church in Jasper, Tenn., didn’t meet for the month of July. Students weren’t showing up.
Coming into this summer, Dusty Tuders, pastor of students and families, was feeling discouraged by the students’ apathy and lack of engagement. He’d been on staff at the church for a couple of years and wasn’t seeing the fruit and connections he’d hoped to see.
This summer, Lifeway’s FUGE Camps (Centrifuge and MFuge) and Student Life Camps emphasized the same theme: Revival Generation. (Lifeway photo)
But this summer, the students of First Baptist Church, Jasper, met every week in July. And not because Tuders planned events for them. Earlier in the summer at MFuge, 19 students latched onto the idea that they could be a part of a revival generation. When they returned from camp, the students began a weekly prayer service, gathering around 25 students to intercede together on behalf of their lost friends and family members.
A few weeks later, Tuders was at Student Life Kids Camp with the elementary-aged kids from his church when he received a text message. The students would be meeting at one of their houses for prayer that week since he wasn’t available to let them into the church. He was in awe. It was the same group of students he had at the beginning of summer, but their time at MFuge had ignited a new passion in them that was outlasting their week at camp.
Lifeway camp leaders said they entered the 2024 summer season with expectancy — not wondering if the Lord would move but watching with anticipation for the where and how. As the summer began, they felt it was clear God was working, as He brought more than 114,000 campers representing more than 4,200 churches across 220 weeks of Lifeway camps — FUGE Camps, CentriKid Camps, Student Life Camp and Student Life Kids Camp.
Summer impact
Pruitt had a front-row seat to see God building a revival generation, as he preached a week of Student Life Camp in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in June.
At CentriKid Camps, kids explored how God gives above and beyond everything they can ask or think with the theme “Wow Factor: God Gives Great Gifts.” (Bailey Watley photo)
“In the past, if at least 10 percent of the crowd made some sort of spiritual decision, that would have been seen as a great movement of God,” Pruitt said. “However, at the Student Life Camp I preached at, we saw nearly 25 percent of the crowd respond. God is definitely doing a unique work right now among this generation.”
That week, more than 150 students committed their lives to Christ and an additional 70 students accepted a call to ministry. Another week of Student Life Camp in Orange Beach, Ala., saw more than 200 salvations among students. Throughout the summer, more than 3,500 kids and students accepted Christ as Savior and more than 1,500 surrendered their lives for ministry or missions.
At CentriKid Camps, kids explored how God gives above and beyond everything they can ask or think with the theme “Wow Factor: God Gives Great Gifts.” And kids at Student Life Kids Camp set sail to discover what it means to be lost and to be found, embarking on a journey to find who God made them to be with the theme “Voyage.”
Lasting impact
Kyle Cravens, team leader and camp coordinator for FUGE Camps, believes pastors and church leaders have an instrumental role to play in helping their kids and students build on their camp experience for lasting impact, making camp more than a moment but also a spiritual marker in their lives.
“Once students have been physically distanced from a spiritual high for some time, it’s easy to tuck that away in the back of their minds and live as though there’s no evidence of the change that took place,” Cravens said. “You’ll want to challenge your students to not let this happen.”
Pruitt echoed this, calling churches to lead their students to walk closely with Jesus, pray for the spiritually lost they know by name, let people see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives and open their mouths to share the gospel.
Lifeway is preparing to serve even more churches and campers in 2025. Registration is open, and camps are filling up. Camp leaders said many churches that came this summer have already signed up for next year. To find out more about Lifeway camps and to register for camp in 2025, visit Lifeway.com/Camps.
— Marissa Postell Sullivan is a writer for Lifeway Christian Resources.