Each summer, kids and students at Lifeway summer camps learn about missions work in difficult places. In response, this summer’s campers once again gave generously to Southern Baptist missions.
Ryan Blackwell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, presented checks totaling $672,399 to International Mission Board Executive Vice President Todd Lafferty and North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell during the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee trustee meeting on Monday, Sept. 21.
“I’m blown away by the generosity of campers who gave sacrificially to support Southern Baptist missions and help reach people with the gospel,” Blackwell said. “Every day, campers learned about the spiritual and physical needs of people who need to hear about the love of Christ, and they responded overwhelmingly through both their prayers and gifts.”
In 2026, Lifeway hosted more than 120,000 campers, representing over 4,000 churches across the country during 249 camps at 90 locations. One key component of each camp was Lifeway’s continued partnership with the IMB and NAMB, providing missions education and promoting missional giving among kids and students.
“At the International Mission Board, we believe the gospel changes everything. We’re grateful for Lifeway’s commitment to champion gospel advance among our next generation of Southern Baptists,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood. “Thank you, campers and leaders, for your generosity in supporting missionary endeavors to get the gospel to those who are waiting to hear it. Thank you, Lifeway, for your heart to keep Southern Baptists focused on the Great Commission. We truly can do more together.”
In 2026, campers, camp staff and adult chaperones at FUGE Camps, CentriKid, Student Life Camp and Student Life Kids Camp across the nation gave $465,736 to the IMB and $206,663 to NAMB.
“It’s always exciting to see students give so generously to reach North America with the gospel. Their gifts directly fuel the work of church planters and other missionaries in some of the neediest places in North America,” Ezell said. “I’m thankful our friends at Lifeway prioritize this offering, and it’s encouraging to see students taking the Great Commission so seriously.”
Connecting with current missions work
This summer was the third summer of IMB’s emphasis at Lifeway camps on unreached people groups located in Northern Africa and the Middle East (NAME). Through intentional partnership with the IMB, Lifeway camps introduced campers to countries in the NAME region. Students explored customs and beliefs of these people groups, how to share the gospel with people from these groups, and what it means for Christians to live generously.
Alongside their international missions emphasis, FUGE Camps and CentriKid campers also gave to missionaries and ministries in North America. This summer, missionaries Matt and Amanda Hadden in Porcupine, S.D., were NAMB’s featured missionaries at Lifeway camps.
Matt and Amanda, along with their four kids, run the Čhaŋkú Wašté Ranch on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota people.
“Čhaŋkú Wašté means ‘Good Road,’” Matt said, “and there’s a reason we call it that. The Oglala are essentially an unreached people group right here in the center of our country, and there’s so much brokenness here. Most people on the reservation, kids especially, have been through traumatic experiences or are living in crisis mode. And so, we are absolutely an evangelistic ministry, but our approach is through compassion ministry.”
Gospel partnership
Through strategic partnerships with the IMB and NAMB, Lifeway campers learned about unreached people groups, heard missionary stories, and developed hearts of generosity.
“I’m grateful we get to partner with NAMB and the IMB as we help kids and students understand the lostness around them in North America and the uttermost parts of the world,” Blackwell said. “We want them to see they don’t have to wait until they’re older to be part of God’s mission. They’re an integral part of reaching the nations right now.”
At FUGE Camps, missions mobilizers, trained by the IMB and NAMB, equipped other staffers to share about the missions emphasis during Bible study with campers. During camp, these missions mobilizers intentionally engaged campers and leaders in conversations about missions.
Through videos during main sessions, missions moments during quiet time and conversations with staffers and leaders throughout the week, campers had opportunities to learn about missions and pray for missionaries and unreached people.
Each week this summer, kids and students at Lifeway camps were invited to give to the missions offering. And this week, the IMB and NAMB received these gifts to steward for kingdom impact in North America and around the globe.
— Marissa Postell Sullivan is a writer for Lifeway Christian Resources.