Passport version 2.0

Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, I spent at least two weeks of every summer at various Vacation Bible Schools, Retreats, or Church Camps. I fondly remember my Bible Study leader “Bob” who was also the camp preacher and had a wickedly subversive sense of humor.  I also remember sitting through a sweaty evangelical preacher at another camp who preached a terrifying sermon about the dangers of “backsliding” to a room full of teenagers who were really just getting started on their “sinning careers”.  

    Camp helped me make lots of friends, and gave me many strong, strange, funny, and emotional memories that helped make me who I am today.  I remember sharing a canoe with an inmate who had been given a day pass with several others to come and speak to campers about prison life.  I remembered thinking, “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” as the two of us cast off in the small boat, but ended up having a good conversation with him.

     When I was older, I would go to “Centrifuge”,  a series of camps around the country with high energy college age leaders who would offer Bible study in addition to more traditional activities like hiking and arts and crafts.

I was relieved when I learned about Passport, a set of camps with a similar structure, but with a theology more in line with the progressive and inclusive ideals of our church and family.  Former College Park ministers, Marnie and Daniel now work for Passport, and if they spoke so highly of it, I knew it would be a great experience for my son, Isaac.

Passport was one of many camps that we had signed Isaac up for this summer.  It was just a few weeks before the end of school when I was suddenly laid off from my job.  In the first few hours of shock and grief, I decided that one of the guidelines I was going to live by during this transitional phase was that I would keep an open mind about new experiences and say “Yes” to any opportunities that presented themselves.

I had sincerely hoped that opportunities like working as Scarlett Johansen’s sunscreen steward, or getting paid to watch someone’s beach house would be the ones that would present themselves.  Instead,  Michael asked if I wanted to go to Passport Kids.  

    Didn’t he know that I don’t like kids?  They are loud and don’t listen to their parents and are always looking at their screens.  Oh, I know, I have a kid and I really like him a lot, but he does all of those things as well.  The difference is, I have some measure of control over him.  I didn’t know if I could handle living in a house with 9 children without accidentally teaching them some new colorful phrases to take home to their folks.

Still, I had made the decision to say “Yes” and I knew that this opportunity may never come my way again.  The boy will only like being around me for a few more years.  I reluctantly agreed to go with the kids to Passport.

We arrived and negotiated who was getting what room in our cabin.  The kids went to opening night worship, and I sat outside and nervously checked my phone where I learned that one promising job interview had been cancelled and another required more information that I didn’t have access to.  I started to panic, but realized that there was nothing I could do.  As the worship service ended, I slipped in so I could attend the adult Bible study.  One of the Passport staff informed the room that they still needed two volunteers to be assistant Bible study leaders.  

My hand was raised before I even thought about it, a side effect of my new “Just say yes” policy.  As I got up to meet my new Bible study group, I realized I had just forfeited hours of napping and reading time to sit with kids I didn’t even know.

The Bible study class didn’t have any College Park kids in it.  The Bible study leader, an energetic, enthusiastic, young seminary student welcomed me and gave me a handout with instructions for the day’s Bible study.  I started to check my email for news of any job prospects when I noticed a suggestion in the flyer “Do not spend the Bible study looking at your phone.  Be attentive.  It lets the kids know that they are important to you.”

    I was struck. I put the phone in my backpack and helped the leader take up forms where the kids signed up for activities they wanted to do during free time.  I deadpanned to the kids as I was collecting their forms, “If you signed up for the skydiving class, please turn in the notarized permission slips that your parents sent with you.”  Most kids chuckled, but some asked if their was really a sky diving activity.  

“Not without a notarized permission slip their isn’t” I responded.  The Bible study leader, who clearly regretted having “assistance” at this point, nervously assured the kids that I was only joking.

The theme for the week was “Revolution” and the first day’s key word was “Flip” as in “To look at something from another perspective.”  One example of changing one’s perspective on life is to go from having a full time job for 18 years, to not having any idea where or when your next job will be.  

When the time came for lights out that night, evidently none of the children at this church ever had to brush their teeth, shower, or even put on pajamas at night because when we called for “Lights Out” You would have thought we asked the kids to map the human genome in Cantonese.  “No you don’t need to find your kindle case, brush your teeth.” “Yes we really are turning off the lights, go to bed.”  “No, you are not drinking a Mountain Dew.  You can have water.”

What surprised me was that the kids actually listened to me.  If I said, “Go to bed” they would start to protest, but any response other than “The house is on fire,” was met with the refrain “Go to bed,” and within 15 minutes it was quiet.  Thus the first Passport miracle.  

The second morning’s key word was “Stand”, and the kids talked about standing up for and beside the broken, the unpopular, and the overlooked people.  It was then I realized the difference between this camp, and the ones I went to when I was a kid.  These kids were not learning that being a Christian was about being well-behaved, and not swearing, and showing up for Acteens on Wednesday nights.  They were learning about a two thousand year history of defying rules set to oppress the weak.  They were being told that they were a part of the bigger story of the church every time they offered kindness to kid at their school who sat alone at lunch.

I knew this was not the same kind of church camp that warned me of the grave dangers of Dungeons and Dragons and Def Leppard.  This was important.

Michael encouraged us to sign up to help with activities during the day.  I offered to help run the ultimate frisbee game, thinking that the kids would be amazed at the skills I learned from our weekly games.  Instead, after the first game, the kids insisted that all of the adults sit out. So instead I ended up throwing a frisbee with a little girl named Emily who had not worn closed toe shoes and couldn’t play with the others.  For the rest of the week, whenever I saw her, she would pantomime throwing a Frisbee to me, and I would pantomime catching it.  It was these small holy moments that struck me how important it was to connect with people, no matter who.

Back at the cabin, during free time, I got to share some of my favorite games with the kids from College park, Pit, Aquarius, and Befuzzled.  I assumed that I would spend the whole time being referee, but the kids understood the games quickly and helped each other follow the rules.

On the last night, there was a talent show.  I had been to enough camps to know that talent shows usually made me feel bad about my inability to hide how funny I thought awkward situations were.  The night started off promising with a few show tunes, a poetry reading, and an impressive display of tap dancing.  

Then a little boy in a Spiderman costume walked out on stage alone to the single microphone and dedicated his act to Adam West and Burt Ward.  What followed was a once in a lifetime event as the boy proceeded to sing a semi-improvised, three minutes song about Batman, acapella to a completely silent room.  It was a wonder to behold.  There was a palpable tension in the room as people didn’t know whether to laugh or kindly escort him off stage as each new verse revealed more background to the Dark Knight’s history.  The song eventually ended and the room sat for a few seconds in confused silence before erupting in enthusiastic applause.  This kid was a rock star for one night.  Passport campers embraced him for doing his thing with his heart on his sleeve.

The last morning came with a great deal of cajoling.  It was like herding housecats, trying to break up games of wall ball so rooms would get cleaned up and sleeping bags rolled up.  I was tired and wanted to see my wife, use profanity, sleep in my own bed, and drink a beer, but at the same time, I knew that something very special was coming to an end.  

As adults we take vacations with our immediate family, but it is rare to wake up and say good morning to our friends and good night to them as we go to sleep.  We often lament the loss of freedom that today’s children have compared to our own childhood, but there are still glimpses of it at camp.  

When the kids would ask me if they could climb on rocks, my response was “Did any other adult tell you not to? No? Then I say ‘ Go for it!” One girl from another church seemed surprised that I was a parent at all.  She asked why I wasn’t watching over my son.  I reminded her that her parents were at home and not watching her, trusting her well being to strangers like myself.

I know that Passport is engineered to help nurture children, but the week I spent taught me a great deal about who I really am. You will never hear me say “Everything happens for a reason.”  I believe that we make what we can of the situations we are in.  For that, I thank Michael, this church, and my family for the opportunity to spend a week at Passport camp, and offer this challenge to everyone who can hear my voice.  What are you going to do to nurture the children and youth around you this week? Every single one of you is welcome and fully equipped to be a positive force in the life of a young person at this church.  Will you say “Yes”?