David Sellers doesn’t think God speaks any louder at Camp Patmos, tucked away from the tourists on Lake Erie’s Kelleys Island. But he understands if it seems that way.
“The distractions of the world are a whole lot quieter,” he said.
Mr. Sellers is the executive director of the nondenominational summer camp, where a hundred or more children arrive by ferry each week beginning in mid-June and continuing through July. That’s some 500 to 600 in the course of the summer.
On Monday, their ranks will include a handful of fourth, fifth and sixth graders from Toledo’s Emmanuel Baptist Church, one of several local churches that arranges for its youth to spend a week on the island. They’re among the latest of generations of campers who have been soaking in sun and spirituality there for nearly a century.
Of the hundreds of faith-based summer camps that welcome youngsters each summer – there are nearly 900 of them in the United States under the Christian Camp and Conference Association – Mr. Sellers thinks there’s something special about the outdoor classroom he runs on Kelleys Island, where counselors encourage their young charges to experience the divine in the wind and waves and walks that their site can uniquely provide in the midst of a Great Lake.
“Just the ferry boat ride on the way over,” Mr. Sellers offered. “It’s a natural disconnection from the world.”
Alex Coker thinks about a night hike.
A former camper, former counselor and current summer director, Mr. Coker, 25, describes a night hike as one of his favorite outings at Camp Patmos. As a counselor, he used the no-flashlight experience to open a conversation with his campers on faith and trust.
“We use nature as a teaching point for them,” he said. “We can look up at the stars. The stars are so cool at camp because there’s hardly any light pollution. It gives the campers an opportunity just ... to be still, to listen and to think.”
Mr. Sellers describes it similarly in his oft-repeated reflection.
Camp, he says, is an opportunity “to be still and to hear God’s voice.”
Camp Patmos has deep roots as a faith-based getaway on Kelleys Island. A Cleveland Catholic parish first acquired the facility in the 1920s, transforming it from a secluded island vineyard and farm and into a summer camp for parish children, according to a history of Camp Patmos.
At least one of its original structures remains; campers head to a renovated stone farmhouse for their dining-hall meals today.
The Ohio Association of Regular Baptist Churches purchased it in 1952, when it became what today is known as Camp Patmos, Mr. Sellers said. Although the camp has been operated independently and non-denominationally since 2000, he said it retains its original affiliation in its doctrine; the pastors who lead chapel during the week are not exclusively but often Baptist.
Mr. Sellers said they draw campers primarily from northwest Ohio, including youth groups from CedarCreek Church’s Whitehouse Campus, Bible Fellowship Church of Arlington and First Baptist Church of Kenton. They are also some from Cleveland, he said. And it’s not uncommon to see out-of-state campers, especially if someone in their life spent time at the camp as a child.
In addition to the summer camps that staff run for children in the fourth through 12th grades, Camp Patmos also hosts a multi-generational family camp and various retreats geared at adults. For more information on specific opportunities, go to camppatmos.com.
The longevity of the faith-based summer camp model on Kelleys Island doesn’t necessarily surprise the executive director, but he said he is thankful for the families and churches that continue to see value in it. He sees it “as valuable, if not more valuable, today,” he said.
“In many ways, … camp is becoming even more and more important for those campers who are coming to camp,” he said, “Camp used to be that opportunity in the summer where you could have big group games and big worship times, just this big experience you just ran, ran, ran all day long. But now, actually, as culture has changed, they’re running so fast at home and they’re so over-scheduled, that camp becomes that place where you can rest.”
“Our campers need more rest,” he said. “They need this time to get away with God.”
God is at the heart of a week at Camp Patmos, whether that’s twice-a-day chapel sessions; an otherwise secular activity that illustrates a spiritual theme, like hikes Mr. Coker described; or the relationships with campers and counselors that develop even as they fly down a 60-foot water slide or whip through the lake on an inflatable tube tugged along by a boat.
(“We don’t drive like your uncle,” Mr. Sellers joked. “We want you to come back again.”)
Mr. Coker said the relationships with his counselors in each of the two summers he spent there as a camper were an important factor in why he had such a positive experience there.
“I don’t remember specifically anything they said or taught or preached on, but their actions are what spoke really loudly to me,” he said. He recalled one counselor, in particular, who took him out on a tandem bicycle when he was sick his second summer at Camp Patmos; the counselor effectively pedaled for both of them.
“I think back on that a lot,” Mr. Coker continued, “especially when I think about how I counsel campers. I look to that as an example.”
Those relationships are what Pastor Dan Neighbors, who oversees student and family ministries at Emmanuel Baptist Church, said he hopes the campers from his church will experience this week at Camp Patmos.
Their church has had a long-standing relationship with the camp.
“We send them to camp for the purpose of really getting them away from their normal routine,” he said. “Not only giving them a fun week at summer camp, but also to get away from the routine and give them an opportunity for someone else to speak into their life.”
And, of course, for some fun in the sun.
“They love banana boating,” he said. “That’s one of their favorite activities.”
First Published July 15, 2019, 1:32 p.m.
