Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Yesterday I decided to start a blog series of my favorite places in the world, or at least in my world. They will have to be in no particular order because they can shift and change at the whim of a memory. But since it was Camp Lake Stephens that prompted this list, I decided to go with it first.

I never went to CLS as a kid. I would see the schedule put up on the bulletin board at my church, but never had anyone ask me about going, never had a desire to go, and so it was never really on my radar. I think the first time I went was for a “Dare To Lead” retreat my senior year of high school. And I remember very little about it. I remember playing some “Name That Tune” game in the pavilion, a girl that was pretty, the biscuits in the cafeteria, and walking around the lake and through the woods by myself when i was probably supposed to be somewhere else. That’s it.

But the May of my senior year my church had a guy come to be the youth director for for the summer: Darrell Whitaker. Darrell had worked at CLS as both a counselor and program director. He met Christ there, answered the call to ministry there, and met his (future) wife there. So he thought highly of the place. That summer he took me over to experience a Friday Night at CLS (the last night of the week). There I got to experience supper in the cafeteria with over 100 kids, talent show (both the funny and the serious stuff), bon fire w/ a mini passion play, and meet Joe Paslay, the camp director.

I left not knowing exactly what to think. Everyone seemed so energetic and outgoing. They danced and sang and acted crazy/silly all the time. That wouldn’t work for my more reserved nature, right? Well, long story short is that my freshman year of college I applied to work at CLS. Got the job, and dove in. I ended up working three summers there (Joe said I was a good counselor for the last two of them!), volunteered for about four more during Camp Rainbow (when the mentally/physically challenged campers come), served as a board member for years, and tried to go by as much as possible.

And now if I ever go visit, it feels … well, it feels “right”. It has lots of memories for me. It shaped me in a lot of ways. I made some mistakes there and learned from them. I was stretched in a lot of ways as a counselor. Had some fears that were tackled. Made some life long friends. Met my wife there. Learned a lot about God and ministry. Met people at CLS who later I came to work with at their churches. And all in all, CLS might have impacted my life as a “place” more than any other place.

Interestingly enough Darrell is now the Camp Director at CLS. And Pat, my pastor and boss, was once my camper way back when. And Bob Rambo who was my pastor in Clinton I also met while at CLS while his son was in my cabin. And I could make a really long list of friends and ministry colleagues and that I met through CLS.

So all in all, it’s probably accurate to say that CLS is the place that has had the most impact on my life. And I hope to be able to give back to CLS so it can make a difference in other’s lives as well.

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