Spiritual Growth
Next week you will be struck by how much your camper has grown. This fact has been a comment parents have made for a hundred years, and we think it is accurate. While they might not have gotten “bigger,” we hope that they will have gotten more confident, self-sufficient, outgoing, and kind. They will easily enter new circumstances with less anxiety and make friends more quickly than before camp. We know you want this growth for your girls and hope that camp will equip her with these valuable character traits.
Such growth occurs naturally at camp (just getting away from technology and playing outside with a nice group of new friends is a wonderful experience… we wish every child could do it for a week or two every year). But at Greystone, we add a spiritual component to camp life, and that addition makes a big difference.
Spiritual Growth has always been a foundational component of the Greystone experience. Dr. Sevier was the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, a very prestigious position (President Woodrow Wilson visited the church from time to time because his father had been the minister there at one time). Dr. Sevier resigned from his position and started Greystone because felt called to serve children and determined that camp was a very effective experience for spiritual growth in young lives. Thus, we include The Lord in our daily lives in ways that are obvious (praying before meals and after programs, devotions, church) and less obvious (hiring a Christian staff and maintaining a Christian standard of kindness in all things). It makes for a sweet community.
This sweetness is specifically spelled out in the Greystone Honor Code, which is posted in every cabin. “I commit to showing kindness, seeing the good, and taking ownership of what I do. This is how I will have fun, make friends, and glorify God both in this place and in the world.” When campers relate to each other with this standard, camp is a wonderful place. If feelings are ever hurt, it is because this standard has not been upheld. Our campers grow because of it, and we think it is an important foundation to the camp experience and to life in the real world.
Today is Challenge Day. The odds and the evens compete in every class to earn points for their team. It is fun to see how each class interprets this competition… the counselors have it down to a science, and the girls consider it to be important to get every point possible. We even give points for picking up trash around camp (there are big trash cans for each team, and we measure the amount of trash gathered in the day). It is a fun day that will be capped off with a fun EP. Groups will divide and will either play in the water or have a big “Taco Cat Games” program. We have been doing this group night all summer, and it is a real crowd-pleaser… campers love it, particularly when the weather is as perfect as it is today. Life is good… thank you for making it possible!
The Day’s Details:
- Breakfast: Pancakes and Sausage Links
- Breakfast Club: Mental Growth (Start Day With A Positive Attitude)
- Joke: “I can see Clearly now Loraine is gone”
- Weather: Perfect blue sky, 80 degrees
- Lunch: Cheesy Chicken
- Dinner: Cheese Ravioli
- EP: Group Night