News / Education
Fuge Winter Camp a good mistake for one minister
LifeWay event transitions after 10 years as Ski Explosion
"I honestly didn’t look at it that closely," said Rollinson, youth minister at First Baptist Church, Campwood, Texas. "We have come to ‘Ski Ex’ twice before and it is something the kids enjoy and get a lot out of. It was a no-brainer that we were coming again."
Instead, Rollinson learned after committing his group that after 10 years in existence Ski Explosion had transitioned to become Fuge Winter Camp, an event also hosted by the LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center staff. He decided his group would make the 12-hour drive anyway for the March 17-20 event.
"I’m not disappointed with the change at all," he said. "We come from a small community where a lot of families are struggling financially. I’ve got kids who’ve never been out of Texas before. We have to make the most of our opportunities when we do get to do something like this and I’ve never been disappointed coming to Glorieta. This camp has always been real user-friendly, and I see the difference in the kids spiritually after being here."
The change from the more open format of Ski Explosion to the more scheduled format of Fuge Winter Camp is one based on feedback from leaders who have brought groups throughout the years.
"I think this is a natural evolution of Ski Explosion," said Jim Strickland Glorieta program manager. "We want groups to come to this type of winter event and reinforce what they may have gotten at a summer event and what they’ve learned throughout the fall. Fuge Winter Camp goes more in-depth with structured age-graded Bible study times led by camp staff as well as a Bible study time for leaders.
"We also found that a lot of the groups that came wanted more activity time on the campus, so we are able to facilitate that with team building activities like the high-ropes course and paintball. We do have a lot to offer."
The camp also offers a diversity of people, which is just fine with Michael Johnston, 18, a member of Campwood’s youth group attending the winter event for the third time. Looking at the nearly 200 youth gathered at Glorieta is the same as looking at about a fourth of the population of his entire hometown.
"There are about 800 people in Campwood so you see the same people all the time," he said. "One thing I’ve always enjoyed about coming is being together as a group and getting to meet others from all over. I always believe our group comes together during this time, and I always feel like I grow spiritually from it."
Meeting other groups is one of the major reasons the leaders of Korean-American First Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas, made the trip.
"This is a real great opportunity for our kids to interact with the majority culture," said A.J. Key, a layman at the church and a trip chaperone. "We have about a third Korean- speaking only, a second generation that speaks both, then a third generation that is primarily English-speaking. We want our ministry to be multicultural, but we realize the beginning of that is to help our kids assimilate with other cultures. This is a great environment to help them with that while feeding them spiritually and also having fun."
For Rollinson, the mix-up wound up being a serendipitous mistake.
"I thought I was getting Ski Explosion and got [Fuge Winter Camp]," he said. "I’ve already seen enough to know I’ll probably be bringing my kids back. Besides, I never get tired of being [at Glorieta]. It is one beautiful place to spend a week."
For more information about upcoming events at Glorieta, visit LifeWay.com/Glorieta.
