And he said to them,
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
-Mark 16:15

Since 2006 the Valley Church of Christ has been sending young people to experience a week with the Adventures In Missions (AIM) program in Lubbock, Texas. AIM is a missionary apprenticeship program where young people ages 18-25 from all over the world come to attend eight months of intensive Bible training and are then sent in teams of 2-6 around the globe to learn and work alongside established missionaries for 14-22 months. Every spring AIM holds a weeklong event called Camp Adventure. The purpose of the event is to help young people become more involved in understanding scripture, serving others, and serving God. The week of Camp Adventure exposes participants to a week inside the AIM the program and often peeks interest into mission work. This year we had eight high school students from two Alaskan congregation attend the event. Everyone returned encouraged, challenged, and excited to live for Jesus every day.

      - Michael Katkus, Missionary Preacher

Camp Adventure 2019

                  Hi, my name is Riley Scott and I recently attended the week long camp known as Camp Adventure hosted by the Adventures in Missions (AIM) program in Lubbock Texas.  This is a missionary apprentice program designed to train college age students to go into the world as missionaries as well as to equip them for living their lives as Christ would.  Camp adventure is put on by the AIM staff and current class of “AIMers” and is designed not only as a time for high school and college age students to receive encouragement and be uplifted, but also as an opportunity for them to experience a little bit of what the AIM program might be like should they choose to go through it themselves.  This year was my second year attending and it was a truly unique experience full of memories and encouragement as a young Christian. 

                The AIM program is based out of Lubbock Texas and this is where the camp takes place.  Living in Alaska, the location itself makes the trip exciting as we are rather secluded up here and I know that I personally probably get a bit too excited at any opportunity to get out!  This year there was a group of about ten campers from congregations in Alaska and Mike and Annie Katkus, along with their baby Yunity, volunteered to chaperone the group for a second year in a row. 

                Once in Texas we checked in Saturday afternoon and received our apartment assignments.  Throughout the week, campers stay with a current AIM student in a nearby apartment complex.  Saturday evening everyone goes to graduation.  This is the time when the AIM class from two years ago receives their certificates and are recognized by friends, family, and everyone involved in the program.  This is an awesome event to witness and this year was especially impactful to me as four of the graduates were AIMers at my congregation for the past two years.  Seeing them be able to complete this chapter of their life and anticipating their future work for the Lord was a wonderful thing to experience.       

                The rest of the week consists of games, lessons, fellowship, service work, worship and late-night shenanigans ranging from making fried Oreos on a whim to heart-to-heart conversations about tough subjects.  The speaker, Slate Moore, came up from Florida for a second year and delivered God’s word once again in a way that was clear, concise and easy to understand.  They were however, not light subjects and many of the things addressed were very real struggles for today’s young people.  Between lessons, eating and service work, there was plenty of time for games and fellowship.  The people at camp adventure, staff, students and campers, are some of the most welcoming, loving, kind people I have ever met.  I can honestly say that there are no cliques and by the second day it would be hard to tell that many of these people had only just met.  We spent two days out of the week doing service work around the community.  While there were many different groups that went out, and I can not speak for them all, I can say that they all did good in people’s lives and helped to show a Christ-like example to those around us. 

                By the time Friday comes around, the week has passed far too quickly, and no one is ready to go.  Everyone involved has met new friends, many of whom live far away, and the short 5-6 days was not enough time to really get to know them.  Everyone is, however, a different person than when they came and are going home full of encouragement knowing that there are so many people their age with the same goal in life: to live for God.  My time at camp adventure was both encouraging and impactful for me both times that I was blessed with the opportunity to go.  

                I could fill multiple pages with all of the experiences that I had while at camp adventure, but I am sure that you would quickly become bored.  Instead I will finish by saying that if anyone age 16-20 is looking for a wonderful time of drawing closer to God and being around like-minded Christians, by all means go to Camp Adventure if given the opportunity.  It does not matter if you have any intention of going to AIM or doing mission work in your future, that is not what the camp is about.  It is about learning more about our God, learning about how powerful and active he is in the world today, learning how he can work in your life and the lives of those around you for his glory, and about praising him every step of the way.  God’s work is going on throughout the world and you do not need to travel half way across America to see that.  If, however, you or someone you know has the opportunity to participate in this event, I would strongly encourage it.  Everything I said above is sincere and truthful and I can honestly say that it changed me as a Christian and drew me closer to God.  Camp Adventure is an event like none other I have experienced and provides a glimpse into how great our God’s work is.

     -Riley Scott, an attendee of 2019 Camp Adventure