Social media streams are humming with pictures of summer staff training, camps putting finishing touches on landscaping or buildings and getting ready for campers. Some campers are even arriving today at camps around the country.

I’m reflecting on the day 33 years ago when I stepped off a boat and onto the dock at Malibu Club in Canada – a summer camp for teens.  I had no idea what awaited me, but it was my first step toward a new life.  When I stepped back onto that boat at the end of the week, I was a changed person. At camp, I encountered the love of Jesus in a powerful way, away from the distractions of home, away from the noise of peer pressure – away from the voices in my head telling me I didn’t measure up.

I have talked with camp leaders across the U.S. about the anticipation they feel about the arrival of the season’s first campers. The anticipation of knowing the world is about to change. Literally. When one life is transformed by the love of Christ it is not only Good News for them, but it will be news that has the power to transform their families, neighborhoods, towns and world as they take that love back home with them.

I cannot wait to hear the stories that emerge this summer about docks, boats, cabins, trails, leaders and campers. I’m so grateful for each of the summer staffers, full time staff and volunteers who will be serving campers all summer long. Their efforts change lives.

If you’d like to help send a kid to camp — a kid who otherwise couldn’t afford to go — you can make a gift at www.thepowerofcamp.com.