A Glimpse of Summer Camp, Part 3: Programming

It's been a fun day of activities, and now you and your cabinmates are following your counselor to the "Campfire" program. As you approach, you hear a silly call and response: "no, no, no, no, no, no vista!" Everyone's attention is gathered, and then the music starts. Lots of fun motions and kid-centered music and lyrics keeps everyone out of their seat as the group sings praises to Jesus. After the music, it's time for the play: this evening it's about how Abram and Sarai are moving to a new land and learning how to trust in God. Afterward, the pastor gets up to speak about how God always keeps His promises. At the end, everyone sings a song and bids the campers "goodnight!" What a way to end the day! The activities tuckered you out, and the program settled you down. Now you're ready for a well-earned night of sleep at camp.

The morning and evening programming at Camp Wakonda are times of fun, education, and profound theological discussion, all contextualized for our young campers. Let's take a look at what makes our these programs so special.

Programs Director

We've had different programs directors over the years. This year, William Ramos is our Programs Director. His role is to cast and direct the play, and also to deal with costumes, props, and other programming decisions. William is at camp for his fifth summer this year, and has approached the program with much care and a heart for the mission of our program: helping our campers understand the Bible story and the awesome truths that it has for us today.

Camp Council & Campfire

Camp Council is the name of our morning worship service. It's a much shorter and includes fun songs to help campers wake up, a nature nugget that teaches kids about God through his design of various critters, a skit, and a brief message from that week's pastor. After Camp Council, kids go off to do activities, and the hope is that they will take the lessons they learned from the program into the interactions they have throughout the day. Campfire is our longer service that takes place in the evening, after all of the activities are over. It typically involves a longer song service, with more solemn songs and including the summer's theme song, as well as a longer message from the pastor. From Campfire, the kids go to bed with the hope that the Bible truths they learned will be on their mind as they get ready to go to bed and fall asleep.

Flea Fly

Most song services begin with a throwback of call-and-response Americana: Flea Fly Flo. This silly camp chant traces back to Summer Camp and Scouting programming all the way back to the 1920s, and nobody knows the true origin. However, it remains a fun way to start a program and get everyone's attention before launching into a time where we hope the kids can lock in and pay attention. There are various versions of this found at camps all across America, but this is the version we do at Camp Wakonda:

Flea

Flea fly

Flea fly flo

Vista

Kumalata, kumalata, kumalata vista

No, no, no, no, no, no vista

Eenymeeny decimeeny, oowallawallameeny, hatchacatcha boomeratcha, bodiack do

Ishmaeli it'ndat, bodo andit'ndat

Shhh

If you'd like to hear more about the background of this little camp tradition, there is an excellent talk show segment that you can listen to (or read the transcript) HERE.

Songbook

Every year, Pastor Zack compiles a songbook full of fun kids' worship songs, contemporary worship songs, hymns, and Camp Wakonda originals. The songbook only varies slightly, year by year, but always adds a few new songs and trades out the least popular songs from the year before. We test out what campers' most favorite songs are each week by letting each cabin choose their Top Five and playing them for the final song service of the week. You can view this year's songbook HERE. There are various schools and churches around the Wisconsin Conference that are now using this songbook for their kids' praise and worship times, and you are free to print it out for yourself, if it would be a helpful resource for you.

Nature Nugget

The nature nugget is a brief segment that is coordinated by our Nature Center Director. This year, that director is Joah Mertins. He and his team of staff work together to put together an interesting presentation about some of the creatures in our Nature Center, and around the camp, and what they can teach us about God's character. From snakes, to ponies, to chickens, to snapping turtles: theres always something interesting to learn from the hand and Word of our Creator.

The Play

Every year, Camp Wakonda puts on an original play, written by one of our staff, that talks about Bible stories in a way that is engaging and entertaining for kids of various ages. This year, our play is PROMISEKEEPER, and the focus is on the life of Abram and Sarai: two individuals who struggled to see God's plan, but kept the faith by following God's leading anyway. Through their faith (and sometimes, lack of faith), campers will see how God has a plan for each one of us that is much bigger than our own desires and understanding. The playwrite this year is Adeline Minett, a published author in her own right, and a third year camp staff at Camp Wakonda. Between Adeline's script, and William's directing: the campers have enjoyed watching the story unfold every morning and evening.

The Pastor

Each week, we bring one of our Wisconsin Conference pastors to bring messages to our campers, as well as connect with them outside of the pulpit, at the various activities. This year, we had Pastor Aseel Nazir preach to the Cub Campers, Pastor Eric Jean-Baptiste preach to the Tween Campers, Pastor Obed Salazar preach to the Teen Campers, and (not pictured) Pastor Kevin Moreno preach to the Family Campers. They each have done an amazing job contextualizing God's word to their age groups, and helping convey Bible truth in simple, yet engaging messages.

The Goodnight Song

Every evening, at the close of the Campfire program, the staff all come up front to sing our goodnight song: All Day Long I've Been With Jesus. This is another old piece of Americana folk music that has survived generations of summers at Summer Camps. All the staff get up front to sing, linked arm over arm, and then they end the program by saying together: "May our Heavenly Father, who watches over all the world, watch over you and me tonight."

All Day Long I've Been With Jesus lyrics:

All day long, I've been with Jesus

And it has been a wonderful day

I have climbed just one step higher

In that good old Gospel way

I have spoken words of kindness

And, Lord, you know if I've done wrong

I will go and make it right

So I can testify tonight

I've been with Jesus all day long

The Staff

At Camp Wakonda, we know that the program is either engaging and interesting, or flat and disconnected, based on one factor: the Summer Camp staff. Our staff are trained to treat every song like it's their favorite, to treat every evening of the play as if it's the first time they've seen the most amazing play, to act and project as if it's the most precious message they get to convey, and to listen to the pastor as if he's giving the most profound sermon they've heard. As a result, they create an atmosphere in which kids want to listen, sing, do motions, and interact with the program in a way that they'll never forget. A big shoutout goes to our amazing team that makes every program one to remember, and one that will impact our campers for a lifetime.

Tune in to next week's installment to learn more about Summer Camp's spiritual emphasis!