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Click on Link below to see our November 2008 Newsletter

Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers Fall 2008 Update

An Investment in Our Families, Our Congregations, and Our Youth

Article from Newsletter Fall 2008

     The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas delivered an inspiring keynote address on the value of camp and conference ministry to ECCC National Council members during their annual meeting at Chapel Rock Conference Center in the Diocese of Arizona.  Here are some of the highlights of his address:

      The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas sees camping and conferencing not as a  sideline or simply another program – it is an integral part of our life together as a diocesan family.  As such, it takes its place alongside many other ministries as a “pillar” of our life together. 

      Supporting our families and transforming lives is a mindset of West Texas, not simply another program that needs support.  Our purpose in camping and conferencing is to nurture Christian faith and discipleship.  We want to develop    Christian spiritual leaders, both clergy and lay.  Servant leadership in a gospel model is taken seriously.

      Camping and conferencing is not seen as an expense, but as an investment in our congregations, our families, and our youth.  It is our philosophy that part of the diocesan budget should always go toward this ministry.  This means we do not expect it to be completely self-supporting.  It is important for the diocesan family, through our financial stewardship, to underwrite this ministry as a commitment to the people of the diocese.  Providing diocesan operating funds to support these ministries means that everyone is being supported in their formation.  The amount is not the important thing; the commitment to support it is the crucial thing for the diocese as a whole.

      Excellence is our driving force, because the most important single spiritual factor in all of this is to help change lives (transformation through camping and conferencing), not simply to “put-on” some weekends and camps for the diocese.  We are intentional about discipleship in Christ.  If this is not the goal of a camping and conferencing program of the Church, then we are off base in what we are doing.  In addition, people of the diocese want to support this kind of approach and can get energized around this effort.

      The leadership of the diocese (bishops, clergy, elected diocesan leaders, parish vestries, etc…) is critical to establishing and supporting this understanding.  Diocesan clergy are integral to our summer programs.  Each week in the summer, two to three parish clergy serve at our youth camps at Camp Capers.  Each week, one clergy serves at our family camping program at Mustang Island.  This connects the clergy to the program in highly significant ways for both the ministry and the cleric.  I tell the congregation that this is not a “week of vacation” for the clergy.

      We have a serious scholarship fund effort to help all those who need assistance for attending.  We will not let money be the reason a child or family cannot attend summer camp.  In addition to existing scholarship funds and the annual appeal, I have started a bishop’s golf tournament in the fall of each year with the net proceeds (about $13,000-$15,000 annually) going to scholarships.  I have clergy and lay leaders who make this tournament happen, including getting sponsorships from around the diocese and businesses of parishioners which cover most of the costs so that the registration fees in large part go directly to the scholarship fund.

     A very important component to our thinking is to strengthen our congregations, which should be the purpose of       everything on the diocesan level.  A diocese is only as strong as her individual members (both congregations and individual persons).   It is our desire and our focus to help congregations fulfill their primary purpose, which is to be the body of Christ at the local level by developing and nurturing disciples.  Camping and conferencing are tremendous assets in this area.

     Places of camping and conferencing are places of Holy Ground.  They are places where grace is shared.  We have been blessed and therefore are called to be a blessing to others.

     Camps are today’s pilgrimages and monasteries; retreat groups are today’s pilgrims.  As someone once said, our camping and conferencing program is an effort to connect the “mountain-top experience” (weekend or week at camp) with the “road to the cross” (our daily living out of the faith).

      Our camping and conferencing ministry helps define who we are as a people of God in West Texas, and I cannot commend this ministry to you forcefully enough as you reach out to people of all ages in your dioceses