This past summer was the coolest adventure of my life, and even though the calendar technically says its fall, I still don't want to stop talking about it. But first, flashback to the spring of 2011 when tornadoes tore through Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri. Throughout the last couple of years, Pastor Dean's sermons on Southern Comfort have not only convicted me of the lies I used to live, but have also made me even more passionate about reaching the lost that are part of this Southern culture that claims to be so found.  In the spring of 2011, I vividly remember watching interviews of the Joplin tornado survivors and praying that the Lord would give me the opportunity to go on some type of mission trip where I could share the truth of the Gospel, not the lies of Southern Comfort Christianity, throughout the South. Haiti and Guatemala and every other country in the world need to hear the Gospel, but the Bible Belt needs to hear it just as badly. 

Fall came around and I needed to start figuring out my summer plans. I wasn't really praying for guidance so I did silly things like filling out an application to be on Survivor and searching for nannying jobs in Switzerland. When I finally actually surrendered my plans to the Lord, he answered my prayer about going on a mission trip through the Bible Belt in a way so faithful that it still leaves me in awe.

I found out about WinShape Camps for Communities through a family friend. I applied, interviewed, got offered a job, and showed up to staff training still kind of unsure about what my summer would look like. But I did know Chick-Fil-A was involved, so I knew it would be awesome. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A, founded WinShape Camps in 1985 as a way to impact youth in the growing of their faith, character, and relationships. One branch of WinShape Camps is WinShape Camps for Communities, which debuted in 2007 and is a weeklong day camp for 1st through 6th graders. The camp is hosted by a local church, promoted by the local Chick-Fil-A, and set up and run by a camp counselor team of ministry minded college students. The vision of WinShape Camps for Communities is more than just providing campers with fun memories and new best friends. Camp exists to share the love and truth of Christ with campers and to connect families with the Church.

I was placed on a team with 21 other 18-26 year olds. As a staff team, we traveled over 6,000 miles in 15 passenger vans and a big yellow Penske truck full of everything from inflatable bounce houses to gymnastics equipment to finger paint. We brought camp to 9 different communities in 7 different states throughout the Southeast. Every single day of camp was a blast not only for the campers, but also for us as staff. But more importantly, every single day the campers were engaged with the message of the Gospel and the truth about the Lord's unconditional love. And every Friday, the families of the campers were invited to come to camp to eat a free lunch provided by Chick-Fil-A and hear a recap of what their camper had been learning about throughout the week. In other words, we got to share the Gospel with them too. Parents in the middle of a divorce, high school aged siblings dealing with all the issues high school entails, grandparents that hadn't set foot in a church in years. They ALL got to hear the Gospel.

Iwas on the road with my team for 75 days this summer. I experienced the beauty of the South, I heard stories of entire families accepting Christ, and I saw the expressions on kids' faces when the walls of cultural Christianity were torn down and they finally understood what it meant to be a Christian. Needless to say, the Lord taught me a lot. This summer was a perfect gift that I completely didn't deserve.  And to top it all off my team's last week of camp was located in none other than Joplin, Missouri. I got to pray with the very community I had been praying for a full year before I knew anything about WinShape Camps and how the Lord's faithfulness would be demonstrated to me through my experience this summer. 

(Amanda is originally from Stuart, FL, is currently a senior at the Florida State University and serves City Church as a First Impressions volunteer. She loves eating at Waffle House, shopping at Goodwill, and watching Jeopardy with her roommates. If you're a college student and you love kids, love the Lord, and want to have the best summer of your life, checkout WinShapeCamps.org and/or email Amanda at abc.bowers@gmail.com to find out how to apply for a camp counselor position.)