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BY BARBARA COWARD
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT

As churchgoers in the Baltimore-Washington region bundle up in the mid-winter?s chill, a team of camp leaders in the conference are already looking ahead to this summer?s camping program.

In January, 15 volunteers responsible for writing camp curriculum huddled together to create original program material for the three conference camp sites located at West River, Manidokan, and Harmison.

The Discipleship Adventure is the theme of this year?s camping season, which officially begins June 9.

'We hope to be living out the Discipleship Adventure every day of the week,' said Andy Thornton, director of West River Center.

Each of the five elements of the Discipleship Adventure ? celebration, connection, development, service and faith-sharing ? will be a focus for a day of the week. In addition, each element will be incorporated throughout the entire week?s activities,' Thornton said.

The acronym 'ROARS' (Real, Open, Armed, Radical, Servants) has been coined to herald the theme.

In addition to week-long camping programs for third to 12th graders, which include an Adventure Camp at Manidokan and a Discovery Camp at West River Center, the theme will also be explored in specialty camps in creative arts, bicycling, sailing and fishing.

Campers of all ages will have the opportunity also to live out the Discipleship Adventure at a family camp, a seniors? camp and a grandparents? camp, which 'fills up very quickly,' said Thornton.

Among the camps for school aged children, camping programs for middle high school girls (grades 5-8) fill up the quickest.

The leaders, who in the past purchased camping curriculum, are excited to be creating their own original material this year that is part of a larger conferencewide effort.

'The main goal of camp is to make disciples and to ?disciple? the disciples,' said the Rev. Bill Herche, director of Manidokan. 'It is exciting to have the conference focus on components that have always been part of what we do and who we are at camp.'

'You can hear it in church, but if you hear it at another event, it helps to make it click,' said Thornton.

While Thornton and Herche play a key role in developing the programs, they are not alone.

A group of experienced camp counselors and program directors, including both clergy and laity, Christian educators and school teachers, assist in the effort. A wide range of ages are represented, from recent college graduates to volunteers in their 50s. Each individual brings a unique blend and mix of talents to the drawing table, yet all share a common interest in youth ministries.

'They all have a gift for working with kids,' said Thornton. 'They have such creativity and come up with a variety of different activities. They are so good at creating games and working with a biblical theme that I step out of the way.'

One of the team members is Earl Ridgell, a Baltimore County high school teacher who has served as the director of the senior high camp at West River for the past seven years.

He brings 14 years of experience in youth ministries along with a background in creative design to the planning effort. His skills in set design and illustration came in handy one Saturday as he worked on creating a logo with a lion image for the ROARS theme.

'Camp is the church in its purest sense, the early church model where the community worships and learns together,' said Herche. 'It is an opportunity to grow in Christ to lead you to new levels of understanding and growth.'

'Our goal is that when the campers leave, they will have a familiar language of the church,' said Thornton.

That goal is also 'the same one we have every year,' Ridgell added, 'and that is to open their eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ so they can serve as ambassadors for Christ.'

'They leave camp with such high energy,' Thornton said. 'Camp is a great place to live out the Discipleship Adventure.'

More than 1,700 people attended camp last year, and the leadership team hopes that even more participants this year will get as much out of the experience. Camping brochures will be mailed in February to local churches as well as to previous camp participants.

For more information, visit www.bwcmc.org/camping.