Power Camp, Richmond, Vacation, Oh My!

Hi there! It’s been a while! This past month has been a bit of whirlwind including 13 days straight of back to back camps and two consecutive weeks out of town.  I have loved camp season and got to enjoy some sweet time with my family in South Carolina but I’m back home now and eager to reflect on this summer’s camps and plan for the next ministry year. 

June 25-29 was our Loudoun FCA Power Camp right here in Ashburn, VA.  Over 100 students aged 7 – 13 joined us from around 8:30am – 4pm for games, Bible study, and athletic training.  This year, kids had a choice between football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, cross country, and cheer/tumbling.    

Several local youth/children’s pastors joined us throughout the week to share a morning devotional including Charles Holmes from McLean Bible Church’s Loudoun Campus.  Several of the middle schoolers attending the camp were excited to see their youth pastor walk in on Tuesday morning where he encouraged our campers that being a strong Christian is all about being dependent on a Strong God. 

We are so grateful to the coaches and student athletes who volunteered their time to help make this camp happen.  In addition to our local Loudoun staff, we had the pleasure of several amazing college interns/volunteers from the area helping us plan and execute this week and it could not have happened without them.  There were many firsts for this year’s Power Camp, but one of my favorites was “Penny Wars”.  Throughout the week, campers brought in their spare change and by Friday afternoon, we had raised over $265 to send to our ministry partner Fabio with FCA Indonesia to be able to put on a Power Camp of his own!  Check out pictures from the week here!

There was a quick turn around after Power Camp for many of us.  On Friday afternoon, the interns and I all rushed home to do some laundry and packing because early Saturday morning, June 30, we all piled into cars and headed down to Richmond, VA for our Multi-Sport Camp.  From Saturday afternoon through Sunday, several other staff members and I trained and equipped these college students to once again pour out as they led high school aged campers for the week.  We, of course, had some fun and fellowship thrown in as well, as a local church hosted us for a cookout and cornhole Saturday night.  I absolutely love serving in this role of “huddle leader coordinator” because of the chance to work with college students and because of my teammates in this role: Taylor, Kate, and Lesley.  This was our second year serving together as HLCs and I have absolutely loved getting to know these amazing women of God.  They have taught me so much about working in ministry and I’m so grateful the Lord chose to put us together for two summers in a row!

Campers and coaches started arriving Monday morning and, despite the extreme heat (over 100 with the heat index) our huddle leaders worked nonstop for hours getting campers checked in and helping them carry their luggage across campus to their dorms.  The heat barely let up throughout the week and despite needing to move the schedule around a bit at the last minute to accommodate for this, we still had an amazing week.  Campers and coaches alike grew in their faith and many made first time decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  We left Richmond exhausted but incredibly grateful for the work the Lord did there.  Check out our recap video here!

 As soon as camp was over on Friday, July 6, my sister was ready to pick me up at the University of Richmond where we continued down 95S to spend the week with the rest of our family in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It was the perfect way to recharge after a very full two weeks!  My nieces are at such fun ages (almost three and 10 months) for the beach and pool and I found myself wishing we could pause time on more than one occasion!  Several weeks ago, while listening to an episode of Emily P. Freeman’s podcast, The Next Right Thing, I was struck by a line she said: “Making a living is nothing if I’m not also making a life.”  I realize it is such a blessing to get to not only make a living doing something that gives me so much purpose but that this job also allows me to be present with my family, no matter what stage of life I’m in.  

So, what’s still to come this summer?  Our Loudoun interns, Michael and Molly, are still with us for a few more weeks.  Last week they got to travel up to Pennsylvania for a day to hang out at FCA’s amazing Lacrosse Camp.  This week Michael is hoping to spend a day visiting FCA’s regional Baseball Camp at Messiah College.  We are also hoping to take a trip up to New Jersey in the next couple of weeks to spend a day with FCA Surf at one of their camps.  In addition to that, both Michael and Molly have individual projects they are working on this summer, related to marketing and social media.  We can’t wait to see what they come up with but are already dreading their last day with us at the beginning of August.  For the rest of our staff, we are deep in the trenches of ministry planning and goal setting for the next school year.  Although this can be somewhat overwhelming, it is exciting to dream and plan for the coming year.  If you have any ideas or suggestions of how FCA can better serve coaches and athletes in Loudoun County, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!