Stories

Flashback Friday: CentriKid History

October 16, 2015 By jeremyechols

Here is a fun look at CentriKid Camps history. I realized that while the logos and the themes have changed, there have always been summer staff committed to sharing the Gospel with kids.

When CentriKid began, there was an huge need to connect the name of the camp to Centrifuge Camps, which was the camp we got our name from. In the original logo there was even a dash and a bunch of colors to demonstrate the kid-friendliness of this new camp. (By the way, we now format our name as “CentriKid.” NOT “Centri-Kid” or “Centrikid.”)

This is the inaugural team that piloted CentriKid at Linden Valley in 2000. I only know a few of people in this picture. I remember that my friend Tim directed this first pilot week of CentriKid, but these guys are not celebrities, in fact CentriKid culture has never been one that is a “green room” culture, nor have we tried to create celebrities.

We’ve had some pretty awesome people through the years, but basically our staff are a bunch of ordinary college kids and young professionals who choose to give their summer to serve in kingdom work and promoting the Gospel.

This picture is the very first stack of OMC cards that weren’t printed on computer paper and hand-cut during the summer at camp. OMC began as a grab bag adventure… And has evolved and improved every year to become the phenomenally fun game that you know at camp now!

CentriKid has used a lot of themes through the years, we’ve played a lot of games through the years, and we’ve offered a lot of track times through the years. All of these are tools to help make the message of Christ clear in the lives of kids.

How many themes did you attend as a camper, staffer, or church leader?

Celebrating an Awesome Teammate— Collin Spindle

May 13, 2015 By henrydutton

Today we celebrate a truly incredible teammate—the one and only Collin Spindle. Collin has been a part of CentriKid Camps since 2010, and he has served as a team leader, a recreation leader, and a camp director. For the past two years, Collin has also served as a very integral member of our office team. Sadly, this is Collin’s last week to serve with us, but we are excited about his new opportunities. Collin will be serving with Preston Taylor Ministries in Nashville, TN, and he will be helping impact the lives of countless children and youth.

While many of us would like to curl up in the corner and weep unconsolably because of Collin’s departure, the only fitting way to honor him is by remembering some of the best times we shared with Collin.

On one of Collin’s first days on our team, he plunged into a mirky pond to find a frisbee. We knew right then there is almost nothing this guy won’t do. As such, he frequently got “volunteered” to appear in CentriKid videos.

He is never really one to seek out attention, but somehow Collin often found himself in the limelight. This is a testament both to his incredible skills and his outrageous sense of humor! Why wouldn’t we put him on stage?!

Collin liked to FREQUENTLY remind us of his Texas roots, and although many of us have tried to compete with his mustachio, he clearly has the corner on that market.

At the end of the day, what we expected from Collin was a hardworking teammate. What we got was so much more! He is an incredible friend, and he is fiercely loyal. He’ll be the first to jump on the back of a Speeder Bike with you (even though he has no idea what it is), he’ll tag along to any sporting event or concert, and he’ll even jump out of an airplane with you! We’ll miss you very much, Collin. Here’s to you, buddy!

Transformed

October 15, 2014 By centrikid2018

The Kids Ministry Conference was last week. The theme of the conference was transformed. We believe if you are not transforming kids hearts, if you are not shaping culture, and if you are not expanding God’s kingdom then you are not participating in anything important. We are thankful to be a part of the discussion of transformation in kids ministry.

At KMC we had some of our CentriKid Staff helping us out. Each summer of camp they get to watch life transformation in kids lives and they have agreed to share some of their favorite verses and stories.

Taylor Brown

This summer I had the unique opportunity to host my home church while at camp! My church brought a girl who had just started coming within the past year and had a pretty rough home life. She moved to my home town after her mother decided she didn’t want to take care of her anymore, which resulted in her moving in with her father and a whole new set of difficulties. This all caused a lot of bitterness and anger in her heart and she took out that anger in fights, and disrespecting authority. Throughout camp I had the opportunity to have many conversations with her about choosing to go to the Lord with that anger, on Thursday night she made a decision to follow the Lord and go to him with that anger and bitterness. Since coming home from camp I’ve gotten the opportunity to see how her decision has completely transformed her life and she is using it to tell others about Him!

Meg Brown

“and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” Galatians 2:20

Vincent Thomas

I had a little girl in my Bible study who came into the week not wanting do anything. She refused to play games at recreation, and would sit off to the side and not respond to me during Bible study. Needless to say she was making my job a bit tougher that particular week. One of the adult leaders with her church group spent a lot of time investing in her as did one of the female staffers I had asked to hang out with her. She was difficult throughout the entire week, but on the very last day as I was taking roll to make sure I had everyone for Bible study, she walks up to me with a tract of what it means to be a Christian someone had given her. She taps me on the shoulder and asks me if she could read it to the rest of the group because the night before she had become a Christian and wanted the others to become Christians as well. It was the greatest display of life change I had ever seen. She went from a hard-hearted child who didn’t want to obey or even listen, to someone who was very polite, cared for others, and wanted to share the love of God she experienced.

Celebrating an awesome teammate – Ellie Doom

August 6, 2014 By centrikid2018

Today we celebrate the ministry of Ellie Doom. This marks Ellie’s fifth summer working CentriKid Camps. She has worked as a team leader, assistant director and has directed CK6 the past two summers. Her years of serving with CentriKid are almost over, but first we wanted to share some of the fun times we had with Ellie in the office.

If you didn’t recognize her already you will probably recognize Ellie as the giraffe from the CK rules video. Although she made a great giraffe, we all know her best avatar was Queen Elsa. Few Frozen fans can rival the amount of times Ellie saw this movie in theaters. When Ellie was not being the talent for the CK rules videos she could be found playing recreation. She makes the best ant for a CentriKid favorite called Ants and Anthills. We learned quickly Ellie had the power to persuade us into anything, look at those puppy dog eyes. It is like OMC, you can’t say NO!

America has Ellie’s heart, along with fat puppies, the Kentucky Wildcats, and Mountain Dew. If we could get all of those things on one pair of sunglasses she would wear them. Ultimately, Ellie had our team’s heart. She was the only girl on our office team this past year and she was everyone’s favorite. No one ever worried about Ellie keeping up with the boys, she could beat us all at basketball or tennis any day of the week. She made her leaders proud and she knew how to create a CentriKid “make it fun” culture.

Here are a few photos from Ellie’s last summer directing CentriKid Camps. CK6 was blessed with a fantastic leader at their helm and churches loved Ellie. We ask you to join with us as we celebrate Ellie’s accomplishments with CentriKid Camps. We are proud to announce Ellie’s next step in life has her as a children’s minister at a local church. Ellie, you are our hero!

Ministry through Relationships: Two Years Later

May 7, 2014 By centrikid

This is a guest post by one of our former camp directors, Mary Chase Mize.

One of the foundations of CentriKid Camps is the promise of ministry through relationships. During my three summers of camp, I got to experience meaningful relationships with children, adult sponsors, and fellow staffers. On June 27, 2012, my life was changed forever – and the relationships I made with some amazing kids and adults from Point Harbor Community Church didn’t end when camp was over.

Before you continue reading this post, I’d love for you to get the whole backstory behind this incredible experience. You can read all about it here. Long story short: two campers, Hope and Rose, lost their mother to a gruesome battle with cancer while they were attending camp at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. The children lost a mentor and teacher. The adult sponsors lost a friend and ministry partner. We were all devastated.

But that was not the end.

This past February, nearly two years later, several staffers from our team that summer (including myself) hopped on a plane from Atlanta to Norfolk, Virginia, and attended Point Harbor Community Church’s winter lock-in for their preteen ministry.

The last time we were with the amazing kids and adults from that church, we were weary with grief. This time, we greeted each other like lifelong friends and spent an evening playing games, eating pizza, and spending quality time with the kids we met two years prior, as well as other new faces from the community.

After the lock-in, we spent the rest of the weekend with group leaders and kids who endured that painful week of 2012 with us. Only this time, we were overjoyed. We shared laughter and fellowship with Hope and Rose and their father, Steve. We could rejoice because we knew that the loss of Helen, the mother, not only led hundreds of children to a relationship with Christ, but also led to a wonderful friendship with some CentriKid staffers. We plan to attend the lock-in next year.

This is only the beginning.

If I think too hard about it, I get emotional. I get that ache in the back of my throat and water in my eyes. The timing, the events leading up to that week of camp and the ones proceeding, and how perfectly God orchestrated this whole friendship is too much for me to process. My heart really might explode.

Mary Chase (Breedlove) Mize is a former production leader and camp director for CentriKid. She graduated from Mississippi State University and currently resides with her husband in Atlanta, Georgia. She currently works as a production specialist for the North American Mission Board. She can be contacted at marychasemize@gmail.com