What does camp meeting mean to you? Why is it important to you?
Delanco Camp Meeting is an event that connects me with my past—with where I came from, with who I am, and with why I am who I am. It was at Camp Meeting when I was seven years old that I responded to a clear salvation message and went to the altar to give my life to Jesus. My Dad did the same thing many years previously. My grandfather’s life was profoundly impacted by Camp Meeting at Delanco. So my connection with Delanco Camp keeps me rooted and in touch with who I am.
But the leadership is always thinking about how Camp Meeting is going to continue to be relevant. If it were just about what Delanco Camp used to be, then a time would come when it was no longer worth investing in. I think that the value of an event like Camp Meeting is that people of all ages still are able to get away from their daily life and get together with God’s people in an environment that promotes God’s work in the individual and the community. If that didn’t still happen at Delanco, it wouldn’t be viable.
But it does. It’s a time of getting apart, hearing God’s word proclaimed, being challenged to reconnect and recommit and be restored. Besides renewing old friendships, you can initiate new ones. And many of the relationships developed through Delanco Camp Meeting are ones that point you toward Jesus and keep challenging you across the years to keep serving and loving and following Jesus.
That’s why, God willing, I will continue to be involved with Camp Meeting and to invest in its ministry. I’ll pray for it when I’m far away and I’ll be here as often as I can.
-Andy Bowen, evangelist for Camp Meeting 2014
