Dan Bolin

Mark Dawes, Religion Editor

Jamaicans need to pay more attention to the camping ministry as a means to influence positive life transformation of young people. Furthermore, by investing in the creation of camp sites, Christian entrepreneurs would be investing in something both spiritual and financial.

That was the view expressed by Dan Bolin, president of Christian Camping International (CCI) while on a visit to Jamaica a few weeks ago.

On a visit here in May, Bolin toured a few camp sites operated by local Christian organisations and was impressed with what he saw. He told The Gleaner that Jamaica is an attractive destination for camping and that it should begin to tap into the market of Americans looking for offshore places to have a camp.

He said, too, that weekend camp/retreats is a growing demographic. "This is primarily for persons who are involved in couples' retreats, women's retreats, family events, men's events. Many adults are looking for opportunities to take a vacation that has a spiritual component to it and that's where Jamaica could cash in," he said.

Bolin said he was impressed with the competency and commitment to the ministry of camping by Christian groups in Jamaica. He said that camping organisations here told him that there are limited camping facilities in Jamaica and so potential campers are sometimes turned away. There is a backlog he said. This, he stressed is an opportunity for entrepreneurs especially those who want to make a difference for the cause of Christ.

Bolin was here at the invitation of the Christian Camping International Jamaica (CCIJ) which is headed by Nel Blanken, of New Generation Ministries fame.

"American kids can come here for camp and interact with another culture. That would be a powerful tool and life-changing experience for everyone involved," Bolin said.

faith-based tourism

Bolin, who has been at the helm of CCI for a year, also addressed a forum, organised by CCIJ and the Ministry of Tourism, which explored ways in which Christian camping could contribute to faith-based tourism and youth development.

Asked to describe his top goals as president, Bolin said, "The first thing I want to accomplish is to meet the people that I am going to be working (who are drawn from many countries). It is a little premature to talk about a lot of the specifics that are on the way. My goal for this first year has been to try to meet as many of the people. What I hope to do is to build a network between associations. If we can use technology to enhance the network and to communicate and learn from each other."

The CCI, he said, is an alliance of 18 camping associations around the world. Those 18 association represent about 11.5 million campers that annually attend Christian camps. "Besides being an alliance, we are also a movement. We want to help develop associations to grow our numbers. There is one Christian camp that we know about in Jordan, there are about two in Egypt. And, there is a particular area up in Iceland which has 30,000 people living there and one Christian camp - they are are never going to have an association, but we want them to feel a part of a movement that God is orchestrating to do evangelism, leadership development, discipling around the world. We want to use technology as best we can to link them in and help them build relationships that will support them.

technology not a threat

"Camping is such a relational ministry that technology is never going to replace what we are all about. We want to help foster the leadership in the various associations, through training and events that CCI can provide. I don't know what it is like here in Jamaica, but in many parts of the world it is very difficult to get the Baptists and the Pentecostals and the Methodists and the Presbyterians to all sit down and come together on a common area. Through CCI we can provide a forum for common discussion of mutual concerns. In this way CCI will be able to pull people together to an area of common ground," Bolin said.

The CCI president said one of the pluses of his organisation is in its 'Statement of Faith'. "I think it is very clear and very biblical and can be signed by many different denominations and people can retain their distinctiveness which is important. CCI provides common ground and a mutual place where people can come together for the good and the cause of Christ rather than denomination."

Apart from meeting members of CCI constituencies, Bolin said, organising training would be a big emphasis of his presidency. "We will provide resources to our members in areas of ministry, whether it concerns how to do team building, how to share your faith, how to lead a bible study - all the basic ministry tools. And, we will also expose our people to the resources available online."

A major emphasis of the training he wants to see implemented in camp ministries around the world concerns effective management of resources. "With Christian camps, there are a lot of staff responsibilities and human resource development issues. We have to write job descriptions, manage staff, build organisational charts, and do training and all of those things that are part of having a staff. We want to provide resources for that. There is a lot of money that flows through the camping ministry. We want to provide tools on how to do budgeting, to report appropriately the financial position of the organisation and how to forecast.

Marketing is also among the training being offered by the CCI for, according to Bolin, "It does not do any good to have a wonderful camp programme if nobody comes. We offer training to help people tell their story and sell the idea of the Christian camp and what goes on there. We also offer coaching to help camp organisers raise funds.

An ordained minister and graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Bolin, 55, worked for 14 years with a Texas-based camp ministry. He was also the president of two Christian radio stations.

major goal

A major goal of Christian camps is evangelistic. Quizzed at what rate people are getting saved at camps, Bolin said, "I have seen three independent studies all done in the United States. One said that 3.5 per cent of every camper that sets foot on a Christian camp makes a first time profession of faith. Another one says it was seven per cent, and a third one said it was 10 per cent. If you take the low end, the 3.5 per cent, and recognise that in the United States, most of the young people that come to camp are from churches, they have heard the gospel, it is not a new concept to them. If you take that 3.5 per cent in the context of it being people who are early churched and you extrapolate that to about 11.5 million (relative to the population of the United States), that's 400,000 campers a year that are putting their faith in Christ.

His 'guestimate' is that outside of the United States about 500,000 a year become born-again Christians because of the ministry of Christian camps.

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