This is a guest post by Bryan Mauldin. Bryan has been serving as a CentriKid staffer since 2010, and he excels at building relationships with kids and adults that attend our camps.
“See you next year maybe, heaven definitely,” this is one of my favorite quotes from camp. My friend Henry Dutton used to say this on the last day of camp as we were saying goodbye. It’s so true that the chances of us seeing kids and adults after camp are slim at best; however, in some cases, the “maybe” does happen.
I have one church that I have kept in contact with over the years. The church is First Baptist Church of Marion, Arkansas. God has truly had his hand of guidance over our lives and has kept us in each others’ paths. FBC Marion has attended CentriKid for several years now. They previously attended camp at Millsaps College, but one summer they decided to change locations and go to camp at Shocco Springs. This just so happened to be my first year working for CentriKid, and I was randomly assigned as their church group host. I got to hang out with them all week. The next year they decide to change locations again and attended camp at Southwest Baptist University. My team happened to be at that location, so I requested to be there church group host again.
Last summer was my third year working, and I was assigned to work all summer at Campbellsville University in Kentucky. I knew at this point that our paths would not cross again. Then, a staffer on a different team was injured, and the team needed someone else to help out with recreation for their biggest week of the summer. I agreed to go serve with them at Ouachita Baptist University. At that point I didn’t even think about the fact that Ouachita might be the location that FBC Marion would attend. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I saw their bus pull up on campus.
This church group has encouraged me in so many ways over the years. We have become really close even though we live so far apart. Because of our continued relationship, the children’s minister from the church contact me and asked me to speak at their children’s revival later in the Spring. It’s amazing how God has allowed us to grow together and maintain a relationship over the years. I love this church so much, and look forward to continuing to grow with them in the future.
At CentriKid, one of our promises is ministry through relationships. We would love to have the opportunity to minister to you and build a relationship with the kids and adults from your church.