Family Memory Camp: Summer 2022
When: Thurs Jul 21 - Mon Jul 25
Location: Arlington, WA
About:
Family Memory Camp is halfway between a marriage retreat, a family & friends camp out, and a Bible memory summer intensive. It's a life-changing family vacation bathed in the word of God, surrounded in joyful supportive fellowship, and it's a powerful tool to equip and encourage families to function Biblically: with fathers as the spiritual leaders, mothers as the support, and the children as doers of the Word.
The camp is led by Biblical fathers and By the Book missionaries as we all seek to know our God through memorizing the entire chapter of Malachi 1 in a week. There will be canoeing, hiking, Memory Princesses, crossbows, Bible exposition, treasure hunts, building, swimming/splashing in the waterfall, bunnies, and so much more and yet plenty of freedom in the schedule for those who just want to just chill and relax - all done for the purpose of glorifying our great God by memorizing His Word!
Living Arrangements:
There's a large field where families can set up tents or bring camping trailers. In addition, there are indoor beds for expecting mothers or other 'non-camper’ types.
Cost:
There is a recommended donation of $250 per family in order to cover the cost of camp, however, God has called us to get the Bible in as many hearts as we can, so if that cost would be a burden to your family we still will love to have you at camp anyway!
Contact me (Rose) at rose@bythebookthebible.com if you have more questions.
Food and Fun Family Contribution:
There is no paid staff involved in running this camp. It is fully run by servants of Yahweh that He has individually called to this ministry. He has provided all the resources to make things happen functionally and one fun way to make this possible is by each family sharing their fun and food. Each family plans on bringing one meal to share for the camp and if your family has any fun special skills they would like to share and lead a workshop/game/session please feel free! (Last year there was a mother who used to be a professional fashion designer so she ran a workshop, a dad led a soccer game, a family led a science time, a tree fort competition, a wildlife expedition - you name it - this keeps camp unique interesting and personalized.) We will provide logistics details as we get a final headcount.
Biblical themes in Malachi we'll learn:
- The holiness and fear of Yahweh versus the triviality of man
- Work ethic/motivation; Are we more motivated by man’s praise than Yahweh's command? Do we sometimes give God our second best effort in all that we do?
- Why Yahweh doesn’t always answer our prayers
- Attitude of joy in obeying Yahweh
- Attitudes of generosity and arrogance
- Yahweh’s love for His people Israel & Messianic prophecies
- Blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience
Prayer Preparation:
We’ve noticed in the past that when we do anything that is just intense Bible, there’s a lot of spiritual warfare going on, so I thought I'd share some things that we as By the Book Missionaries have been praying for you guys - and my hope is that you can pray for these things together as a family so you and your kids are prepped and ready glorify our great God!
1. That God calls the hearts of fathers & mothers: This culture tries to demasculate men reducing their role to just a financial provider/chauffeur, and this world commends wives for being domineering. Our prayer is that this can be a powerful, counter-cultural week in the Word of God to help open the eyes of fathers to their God-given role of spiritual leader and mothers as that biblical support. Our prayer is that this camp can be the runway to empower fathers and mothers to get over that hump so that fathers can continue leading their families in the word of God and mothers continue supporting biblically beyond just the 5-day camp. Our prayer is that this will be a powerful blessing as fathers and mothers to continue in that noble task of raising 'Godly offspring' - Malachi 2.
2. Fun will point to the Word of God: Sometimes at a camp with much opportunity for 'fun' activities, it can be easy for kids to be spiritually attacked into being distracted by the fun. We pray that we will not see this as a normal 'fun camp' but see that the reason why we do 'fun things' is so that natural circumstances arise where we can apply the word of God into real life. We pray that both parents and kids will grasp those opportunities as teaching moments as we all strive to intentionally raise our kids in the word of God - not merely as hearers and memorizers, but as doers of the word.
3. Memorization: This year we will be memorizing a chapter that is almost twice as long as last year. Our prayer is that God will get His Word stuck in our hearts even though there is more to memorize. We pray that God will use this Word that is stuck in our long-term memory to continue to bring us to Him through-out our entire lives in whatever adventure He leads us on.