Tied-up counselors and sneaky skunks? Humor huge part of camp experience
A Central Florida Bible Camp counselor woke up one day with an itching nose — and couldn’t seem to scratch it. The boys in his cabin had tied him to his bunk.
Another time, boys banging on the door and making noise awakened a cabin of girls. The girls’ counselors raced to the door, hoping to apprehend the boys.
“As they ‘hit the door,’ they then ‘hit the floor’ because the door would not open,” recalled Ron Brackett, a coordinator at the Church of Christ camp in Eustis, Fla. “The entire cabin had been wrapped several times with fishing line, so tight that neither door would budge more than an inch or so. They had to be cut out.”
Sure, church camp can be spiritually uplifting and rewarding — a time to make Christian friends and grow closer to God.
But at the same time, it can be downright funny.
Take the time Kenny Glover, a West Kentucky Youth Camp board member, was sitting up late taking his turn as the camp watchman.
“About 3 a.m., this little lady in a full granny night gown and hair net made her way to the girls’ bathhouse,” said Glover, a member of the Northside church in Mayfield, Ky. “She was inside about 15 minutes and made her way back up the hill to her cabin, never seeing me.
“About two minutes later, a huge skunk made his way out of the bathhouse and off into the woods, not knowing how close he came to … that little ole lady.”
Another night, campers were gathered around the fire at devotional time when a boy on the front row got cold and pulled his arms in his shirt. The boy got warm, dozed off — and fell out of his seat.
“He was trying to wake up but was kind of dreaming that he had fallen in the campfire,” Glover said. “He just rolled around trying to get his arms out, flopping like a fish. … We were all in shock and just watched him flop. When he finished, we all just sat and bit our lips and cried till the ‘Amen!’ was said.”
Eric Tooley, a member of the Richardson East church in Texas, remembers serving as a ninth-grade counselor at Goddard Youth Camp in Oklahoma. One night, his youth minister, Edd Eason, asked him and a co-counselor to stay at the lake after the devotional and conduct a practice baptism in case any of the boys asked to be immersed.
The lesson was going fine until the co-counselor felt what he thought was a snake and let Eason slip to the bottom of the lake.
“As the co-counselor gets to the shore with a look of incredible fear … Edd comes up out of the water gasping for air,” Tooley said. “I am, of course, watching all of this from the shore and laughing hysterically. The next night, I did baptize someone for the first time and must admit having to stifle a laugh as I helped the person go under water.”
Share your funny camp stories! Send your best anecdotes to [email protected].
July 19, 2006
Another time, boys banging on the door and making noise awakened a cabin of girls. The girls’ counselors raced to the door, hoping to apprehend the boys.
“As they ‘hit the door,’ they then ‘hit the floor’ because the door would not open,” recalled Ron Brackett, a coordinator at the Church of Christ camp in Eustis, Fla. “The entire cabin had been wrapped several times with fishing line, so tight that neither door would budge more than an inch or so. They had to be cut out.”
Sure, church camp can be spiritually uplifting and rewarding — a time to make Christian friends and grow closer to God.
But at the same time, it can be downright funny.
Take the time Kenny Glover, a West Kentucky Youth Camp board member, was sitting up late taking his turn as the camp watchman.
“About 3 a.m., this little lady in a full granny night gown and hair net made her way to the girls’ bathhouse,” said Glover, a member of the Northside church in Mayfield, Ky. “She was inside about 15 minutes and made her way back up the hill to her cabin, never seeing me.
“About two minutes later, a huge skunk made his way out of the bathhouse and off into the woods, not knowing how close he came to … that little ole lady.”
Another night, campers were gathered around the fire at devotional time when a boy on the front row got cold and pulled his arms in his shirt. The boy got warm, dozed off — and fell out of his seat.
“He was trying to wake up but was kind of dreaming that he had fallen in the campfire,” Glover said. “He just rolled around trying to get his arms out, flopping like a fish. … We were all in shock and just watched him flop. When he finished, we all just sat and bit our lips and cried till the ‘Amen!’ was said.”
Eric Tooley, a member of the Richardson East church in Texas, remembers serving as a ninth-grade counselor at Goddard Youth Camp in Oklahoma. One night, his youth minister, Edd Eason, asked him and a co-counselor to stay at the lake after the devotional and conduct a practice baptism in case any of the boys asked to be immersed.
The lesson was going fine until the co-counselor felt what he thought was a snake and let Eason slip to the bottom of the lake.
“As the co-counselor gets to the shore with a look of incredible fear … Edd comes up out of the water gasping for air,” Tooley said. “I am, of course, watching all of this from the shore and laughing hysterically. The next night, I did baptize someone for the first time and must admit having to stifle a laugh as I helped the person go under water.”
Share your funny camp stories! Send your best anecdotes to [email protected].
July 19, 2006
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