When we pray for camps and leaders, it is a joy to hear God’s answers. This time the joy doubled: Nastya, a camp director from Tatarstan, called me right after camp to share what happened—fresh, unfiltered, and grateful. A few weeks earlier she had sent a voice message with a real dilemma: too few kids and too many staff—should they cancel? I shared with her about my own experience of leading a camp for two kids and we chatted about "the one vs the ninety-nine", i.e. the worth of each child. Later she said the internet went out for a while, and during those moments of doubt she reread our messages and found courage to continue.
They did not cancel. They embraced a smaller, more personal camp. With fewer participants the pace slowed, the attention deepened, and there was space to notice what God was doing in each heart. Two lines from kids have stayed with me: “I want to know the God you know,” and, “I want to be a mentor like you!” Nastya kept pointing back to what they had received through CCLC (CCI/Russia's annual conference) and to her experience of serving on our program team: the importance of every person having a clear role, the need for love and mutual help, and the simple truth that while the program matters, people matter more. She also said they felt protected by prayer—“under His covering”—and described our training as a foundation on which they could build, with God Himself as the roof. Hearing all this so soon after the camp was a gift. It reminded me how timely support and simple encouragement can steady a leader’s hands—both before the decision and after the fruit appears.
