Just one look at the 2005 FCA Camp picture will tell you that something special went down in Santa Barbara, Calif., this past summer.
“When I look back at the camp picture I think, ‘Wow. Look at all those kids,’” FCA Regional Director and the boys’ camp director Donnie Dee said. “And then I think about what camp is all about—the message of the cross.
“In 1 Corinthians 1:17 it says, ‘For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.’
“The people in the black shirts want to communicate to the people in the white shirts about the power of the cross. And the power of the cross is all the hope we need.”
For the past three years, Dee, Regional Camp Director Debbie Haliday and other FCA staff members, Huddle Leaders, worship bands, speakers and clinicians have invaded the seaside campus of UC Santa Barbara for five days in order to tackle boys’ and girls’ multi-sport camps. Every summer their mission is clear—to communicate the message of the gospel through word and deed, to provide sound coaching in a variety of sports, and to watch God work in the lives of an ever-increasing number of middle and high school campers. And during the week of June 28-July 3, 2005, that’s exactly what He did.
One self-defined atheist who would not even open her Bible at the beginning of the week prayed to receive Christ on the last night of camp. She left clutching God’s Game Plan to her chest.
Ninety-five teenage boys were moved to make decisions to follow Christ for the first time during camp. Thirty-six girls also took their first step toward Jesus.
But those snapshots don’t begin to tell the whole story. The camp experience in 2005 was something that simply had to be seen through the eyes of the campers, and there were 685 at camp this year.
“Unless you were able to see it you wouldn’t believe it,” Dee said. “There are kids at the beginning of the week that I have to think about sending home. By the end of the week have given their lives to Christ, and they are apologizing for what they’ve done.”
In five short but powerful days, the looks of hardness softened, the looks of confusion found direction, the looks of hurt found comfort, and the looks of loneliness found families.
And the eyes could only indicate what was going on inside the hearts—a testament to the 2005 FCA Camp, “Heart of a Champion,” based on Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
“The theme taught campers that if they come to the Lord with their whole heart then they will be champions,” Dee said. “They may not win the Masters or an NBA Championship, but in God’s eyes they will be champions.”
Both girls’ and boys’ FCA Camps were introduced to California in the mid-1980s. The girls’ camp started at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, and the boys’ at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The girls’ camp moved to UC Santa Barbara in 1997, and in 2002, the boys joined them there, though they still conduct separate meeting and clinic times (except in track and field, and swimming). Each camp offers sports ranging from football and basketball, to surfing and skateboarding. Golf was a recent addition this year, exemplifying the growth in sports, campers and established coaches.
The camps also boasted quality clinicians, with coaches such as New Orleans Saints’ offensive coordinator Mike Sheppard heading the football instruction. Both camps also offered instruction from college coaches in baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, track and field, swimming and water polo.
From the beginning, quality coaching at the FCA Camps had been a highlight, but in recent years, the camps had generated notice for their improvement in other areas. The evening programs now involve relevant games, skits and worship bands, and include speakers who are in touch with the current struggles of student-athletes and teens in general.
As the week progressed the messages drew many responses from the campers. By addressing difficult topics such as sex, partying, eating disorders and suicide, the program leaders put the listeners in a position to react.
It was then the job of the Huddle Leaders to give their group of athletes (which typically include 6-12 campers per Huddle) a safe place to open up and share their thoughts about the topics.
“It is more difficult today then ever before for teenagers,” Dee said. “There is more temptation and more pressure, but there’s less support.
“At camp we share with them the hope that no matter what happens there is always a God who loves you, and He won’t leave you or forsake you. We try to communicate that if you grab onto God, He will never let you go.”
It’s hard to imagine that four years ago the regional staff was thinking about ending the West Coast camps altogether.
“Four year ago we weren’t going to do camps anymore because we were losing money, and it was just too much work,” Dee said. “But when we met together it was a very spiritual moment, and we realized that we couldn’t afford not to do camps.”
However, a change had to be made in order for the camps to last, and it became Haliday’s full-time job to make that happen.
Haliday, who started doing FCA camps in 1984 and has done more than 30 since, has been on staff in Southern California since 1995. She was appointed Regional Camp Director in 2001—a change that lessened the work load of other regional staff members who could focus more on their Huddle ministries during the school year. During the summer they would then transition into their designated camp roles.
For Orange County Director Mark Boyer that meant being the girls’ camp director in the summer of 2005.
“In 2001 we felt there was a disconnection between the kids at camp and the kids in the Huddles,” Boyer said. “We either had to scrap camp or keep doing it focusing on it more in Huddles. Now we have upped the participation in both, and as a staff we are getting better at doing camp.
“Debbie does such a phenomenal job. Having her be the camp director was a huge decision. It allowed camp to go from being a burden to being the highlight of the year.”
All the work that goes into running the camps never felt like a burden for Haliday whose heart is molded around serving kids through camps. The familiar faces of returning coaches, Huddle Leaders and campers is what Haliday loves to see, and it energizes her for the coming year.
“We’re getting more and more returning campers each year,” said Haliday. “And I just love seeing their faces, and hearing their stories.
“At the camp office we hear dozens and dozens of stories that trickle back about all that God has done during camp, and I’m sure there are many we don’t hear. And we won’t hear all of them until we get to Heaven, but the ones that do come back are treasures.”
The hope of seeing and hearing the difference God is making through FCA Camp is what keeps Haliday’s ambition high and allows her to dream big for the camp’s future.
“We’ve been analyzing and praying about just how big can we get before we have to add another camp,” Haliday said. “I can’t think of anything that would make me more excited then seeing 1,000 kids in Santa Barbara and having to start a new camp.”
Added Boyer, “I could see the camp continue to grow in the future, and it would be really exciting and fun to have FCA Camp be the sports camp on the West Coast that all the kids want to come to.”
