confirmation camp

When i was a kid, my parents and pastor made me go. It was torture. And yet, part of it was fun. I still rememember the dance on the last night. Hormones were thicker than the late June humidity. It was itself a rite of passage, having gone to confirmation camp. When I told my school friends what I did in June, they said "What's that?" I had the same question and I still do.
I love outdoor ministry. I love camping. My three-year old son loves it now too. He's been sold on it because of the bugs and the little cabin we get to sleep in.
But the content of the experience is not what it ought to be. We have a week with middle schoolers in the woods without cell phones, tvs, or parents to interfere.
Why teach them in a classroom? They need to experiment, to practice the best possible Christian practices...
I will get the 7th graders to make Lutheran rosaries. I had the 8th graders involved in a silent, experiential walk through the Passion of Jesus. Group Publishing puts out these dvds with slides and mood music that walk a group through a prayerful meditation. Tomorrow, we will reenact parables of Jesus and make rosaries. And we will pray.
When i was 14 the last thing I wanted to do at summer camp was take notes in a classroom about the gospels or Lutheranism. I wanted to have fun. And I wanted a girlfriend...Jesus had nothing on Tammy!