In college, I served five summers with Passport. As a Youth Minister I brought seven groups, and this coming summer marks my 9th summer as a full-time employee with Passport, Inc.
I love camp. I love everything about camp. I love that it creates a safe space for our children and youth to discover the goodness of God.
10 Reasons I Love Passport Camps
1. You know your neighbor
I love that I’m not invisible at Passport. It is so easy to become that in this world – but we need and want to be known. Whether it’s learning the names of 30 new friends, saying small group prayers in worship, running a relay with someone I just met, creating a skit to a Bible Story or painting a house with a new group of friends, at Passport you get to know those whom you are at camp with. You become friends with those who you experience the week with you.
2. Intention
I love this about Passport. We intentionally have parties that allow children and youth to laugh at camp because our faith should be vibrant and fun. We intentionally have an offering that invites us to think beyond our world and give so that others might have. We intentionally pick women and men to be camp pastors, worship coordinators, and well – anything God calls them to be! We intentionally plan moments of quiet in worship so that young minds can process what they are hearing and feeling. We are intentional about every detail of our program.
3. Words matter
Sometimes it’s all that we have. The way we talk about God, Jesus, each other, and our faith matters. The way we invite others to participate alongside us in worship matters. We chose words carefully to be inclusive, inviting, and respectful so that where you are on your faith journey is affirmed.
4. Creativity
Giving youth and children the opportunity to experience something they never have in the chance that it might allow them to learn something new about God is important. Because of this, don’t be surprised if you are asked to do something new at one of our programs. Whether it is create a twitter feed of a Bible story, create a piece of art from something you’ve learned that week, bake bread for communion, or go down a slip and slide while collecting plastic monkeys. We take our job of creating a vibrant and fresh experience seriously.
5. Student involvement
Whether students are leading us in worship through reading scripture, praying, acting, dancing, or singing Passport exists because of student involvement. It defines Passport camp, and camp can’t exist without them. Passport seeks to create a safe environment so that children and youth will feel comfortable stepping up to the mic.
6. It’s Attainable
Frequently you will find our staff taking their free time to play a game of ultimate Frisbee, dive into the pool and play marco polo with some children, or pray with a student who is having some difficulty. Our staffers are not famous; they are students who want to help children and youth grow in their faith.
7. You can hear yourself sing
We aren’t a rock concert. It’s not a show; it’s worship. Worship where everyone participates. This is camp with college and seminary students leading our time of worship. Without the show, you can see and hear those around you…and when that happens the beautiful sound of congregational singing occurs. At Passport, we lift our voices together to make music.
8. Everyone participates
Whether it is holding a ladder on a mission site, driving a van full of youth to a nursing home for a visit, playing a game with a youth minister on stage, or an adult helping out in kids! camp Bible Study – everyone participates. Everyone has the opportunity to try something new. This is an equal partnership in which all are given the opportunity to dive deep, have fun, and learn more about God together. And our staffers give youth and children’s ministers the freedom to be fully invested in their student’s lives this week
9. Engages all senses
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Laugh during celebrations. Play hard during the dance. Imagine a better world during worship. Break bread at a mission site. Savor the smells of the PASSPORTkids! Night Market, or the earth from a weeded garden at PASSPORTmissions, or even a group that has been outside at PASSPORTchoices playing games from around the world for hours. It’s all holy. Our faith is meant to be engaged and active. I love that all of my being is challenged to learn more about God.
10. Student ministers
Our staffers are college and seminary students. Some are experiencing a call on their life for the first time and want to see if they are capable of ministering. Some are students who are former campers who want to give back to the camp that meant so much to them. All of them are students who are seeking to tell others the Good News. Passport intentionally hires students as our summer staff to give these Student Ministers the opportunity to learn. Not only does their experience with you provide the learning ground they need in ministry, they are approachable role models for ministry for young people.
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Marnie Fisher-Ingram
Graduate of Georgetown College & Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Marnie is the mother of a future super-hero and serves as the Youth Program Coordinator at PASSPORT Camps.