Every summer, youth pastors everywhere load up vans, triple-check permission slips, and hope the snack budget somehow stretches just a little further. We experience games, sessions, and late-night chaos, and if we’re honest, it can start to feel like camp is just another big event on the calendar. But it’s not. Camp is something far more significant.
Camp is a spiritual marker.
A spiritual marker is a moment in time when God shows up in a way that changes something in a student, how they see Him, how they see themselves, or how they respond to His call. It’s the kind of moment they’ll look back on years later and say, “That’s where something shifted for me.” In Scripture, people often marked these moments physically with building alters (stacks of stones) not because God needed reminding, but because they did. Our students need those same kinds of markers in their lives, and camp often becomes one of the clearest places where those moments happen.
I’ve seen it more times than I can count. There was a student one year who spent most of camp in the back of the room, arms crossed, clearly not interested. He wasn’t disruptive, just distant and the kind of student who makes it obvious they’d rather be anywhere else. But one night during worship, something changed. It wasn’t dramatic or emotional on the surface, just a quiet shift. His posture softened, his eyes closed, and for the first time all week, he seemed present. Afterward, he came up to me and said, “I don’t really know how to explain it, but I think I felt God for the first time.” No hype, no pressure just a real, personal encounter. That’s a spiritual marker.
I think about another student who came forward during a response time and told me they felt like God might be calling them into ministry. Not because we pushed it, not because everyone else was doing it, but because for the first time they slowed down enough to actually listen. Years later, they are a youth pastor and leading other to their own camps. It’s one of the proudest things in my career to see the next generation become ministry leaders. But that moment at camp didn’t answer every question, but it gave direction. It became a marker they could return to.
Then there are the quieter moments that don’t happen in a service at all like conversations on the walk back to cabins, or sitting on a bench late at night when students finally feel safe enough to open up (yes usally after lights out). I’ve had students share things they’ve never said out loud before, about anxiety, identity, family struggles, doubts about faith. Camp creates a space where walls come down, where distractions fade, and where students can be honest in a way they often aren’t back home. Those conversations may not feel like big “spiritual moments” at first, but they often become turning points. They matter more than we realize.
Part of why camp works so well is because everything about it creates space for God to move.
Students are pulled out of their normal routines. They’re less distracted by phones and social pressures. They’re surrounded by intentional community and consistent spiritual input. It’s a perfect environment for them to hear God more clearly. But here’s the tension we have to wrestle with as lead youth workers just because a student has a powerful moment doesn’t mean it will automatically lead to lasting transformation. A mountain-top experience is only as impactful as what comes after it.
That’s where our role becomes incredibly important. If camp is a spiritual marker, then our job isn’t just to get students to that moment it’s to help them build from it. We don’t want camp to be a spiritual high they chase; we want it to be a foundation they grow from. That means being intentional not just during the week of camp, but in how we follow up, how we talk about it, and how we guide students afterward.
Here are a few simple ways to help make those moments stick:
- Help students name what God did in their life at camp
- Turn that moment into a clear and practical next step
- Follow up with them within the first week after camp
- Revisit those moments in your teaching and conversations (what are you teaching this summer?)
- Build ongoing rhythms, not just one-time decisions
- Don’t try to recreate camp—help them grow beyond it
- Talk about those spiritual markers next year when you promote the next ASCENT
Camp isn’t the finish line. It’s a stake in the ground, a moment students can look back on when life gets confusing or faith feels distant and remember, “God was real there.” And if He was real then, maybe He’s still real now.
So this summer, don’t just plan an event. Prepare for markers. Watch for them. Name them. Build from them. Because long after the games are forgotten and the inside jokes fade, those moments with God are the ones that stick.
