By EMILY TARAVELLA, The Daily Sentinel
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Eight hundred junior high and high school students from across the United States are in Nacogdoches this week at "Go Tell Camp," a ministry started in 1989 by Rick Gage, a former college football coach turned evangelist.
Over the past 18 years, more than 75,000 teens and leaders have participated in Go Tell Camps in Georgia, Florida, Texas and Virginia, Gage said.
"It's hard to measure the impact this camp has had on these lives over many years," Gage said. "The two things we're told that people get out of these camps are that they leave with a greater passion for Christ and with a greater passion to reach the unsaved. If we've accomplished that every summer, we've accomplished a lot. We all need a greater passion for the Lord, and we all need a greater passion to reach the lost."
Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport, La. sent about 144 students and 15 adults to camp this week.
DeAnn Bazzell, Kim Thompson and Christa DiPaul, three of the trip sponsors, said the students have been enjoying the activities and speakers.
Josh Davis, winner of five Olympic medals in swimming, spoke to the teens Monday. Rick Stanley, step-brother of Elvis Presley, spoke Tuesday; Danny Forshee, an evangelist from Dallas-Fort Worth spoke Wednesday; and Bo Pilgrim, chairman of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation, will speak Thursday.
"Josh Davis let them pass around his gold medal," Thompson said. "The students actually got to touch it."
Gage said Davis is a friend to the ministry who first spoke at a Go Tell crusade years ago.
"He's a dynamic believer," Gage said. "He's now training for the 2008 Olympics in China. He lives in San Antonio, and he attends (Christian author) Max Lucado's church. He is a charismatic, gifted communicator with a heart for kids."
Gage said Stanley's life story also touches the teens, and he said Forshee is a gifted speaker.
"Bo Pilgrim makes several appearances at our camps each year," Gage said. "He is one of the greatest servants of God I've ever met. He's a big believer in what we do."
In addition to the guest speakers, campers are hearing this week from Larry Graves, camp pastor, who speaks to them about relationships.
Bazzell said she believes her church youth group will gain from this week's experience.
"We want unity for our youth group, and we want them to know what they believe so they will be able to share it," Bazzell said. "We want them to understand biblical conviction."
Lonnie Dunn, a sponsor whom the Summer Grove Baptist teens affectionately call "Papaw," said he hopes each teen will leave camp with "a new touch from the Holy Spirit."
The teens are also taking time this week to write encouraging notes to one another.
In their recreation time, they are competing in sports, swimming and attending workshops, such as the "Common Ground" worship band workshop, and the "From the Branch" drama group workshop.
As part of an outreach project, some of the teens hosted a free carwash Wednesday at Wal-Mart.
Gage and the Go Tell crusade team, which includes Stanley, visit local prisons, youth homes and high schools, where the nationally acclaimed "On Track" school assembly program focuses on life's choices concerning drugs, alcohol abuse, teen suicide and premarital sex, according to a press release from the ministry.
To date, "On Track" has touched 2 million students, according to information from the ministry.
"We cultivate our crusades from the camps," Gage said. "They're like Billy Graham's crusades, except we have them in small towns instead of big cities. We also have an overseas ministry. Since 1992, we've had a ministry in the former Soviet Union, and we'll take 30 or 40 people there in November."
Organizing camps, such as the one at SFA this week, is a year-long process, Gage said.
"We're already making plans for the 2007 camps," he said.
Emily Taravella's e-mail address is etaravella@coxnews.com.
