Christian Church Camp: An Affordable Summer Experience

Oilbelt Christian Service Camp is located near Charlie Brown Park in Flora, Illinois. This Church camp is sponsored by numerous local churches in the area.

Its goal is to Make Disciples by teaching kids about Jesus Christ. The camp offers various weeks with different themes or age groups, such as wilderness, athlete's week, music camp and deeper life. Each week is led by a volunteer leader and team. The kids often break up into "family groups" for classes and other activities. Often, there are teams from various Christian colleges that are there to help with the week.

These teams also are available to tell a little about their schools in hope of encouraging kids to attend a Christian college. However, the week is designed to help kids understand that Jesus loves them; that Christians have a lot of fun; and hopefully, they will go home with a desire to become a better person.

I was never lucky enough to attend church camp as a child. My children, however, absolutely loved going to Oilbelt. Given the chance, they would attend more than one week each summer. Two of my children chose to work at the camp for their summer jobs during their college years.

Oilbelt has great facilities that are available for use year round. The facilities are often host to various retreats and meetings. The grounds are expansive with several secluded areas and gazebos for small sized classes, or quiet meditation. There is a team building ropes course on the premises as well. During the summer, the camp currently utilizes the city pool for after hours swimming.

One of the greatest things about this camp (for the parents) is the cost. They strive to keep this camp affordable with costs for a week of camp averaging around $85! All costs are listed here on its Web site, http://www.oilbelt.com/436/Oil_Belt_Registration.pdf

If you live in southern Illinois (or near there) then you should send your child to a week of summer camp. They will have a lot of fun and maybe come away from the week a better person. For more information, visit its Web site, http://www.oilbelt.com/301.html .

The posted schedule for 2008 is as follows:

Discovery May 27 - 31 Claude Howell