Southwestern hosts FUGE campers during summer months

While much of campus slowed down for the summer, from early June to mid-July, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary campus hosted the youthful energy, spiritual growth, and mission-driven service of FUGE Camp, a nationwide Christian summer camp operated by Lifeway.

Each week, middle and high school students from different churches and various states gathered on the Southwestern campus stayed in the dorms, ate together in the Naylor Student Center, participated in activities at the Recreation/Aerobics Center (RAC), and benefited from Bible study and hands-on mission work. Over the course of six weeks, FUGE brought approximately 1,788 students to Southwestern’s campus. Of these students, 43 experienced first-time salvations, 58 rededicated their lives to Christ, and 20 voiced a vocational call to ministry, according to information provided by Kyle Cravens, Lifeway’s FUGE camp team leader.

Various departments welcomed not just the students, but also the interns and staff members who stayed the entire six weeks to run the camp. Southwestern faculty and staff invited them into their homes for meals and also arranged for them to experience area entertainment such as a Texas Rangers baseball game.

“Some of the most impactful parts are obviously seeing the kids respond to the Gospel, but also seeing the Southwestern community rally and put our best foot forward,” said Chandler Snyder, vice president for institutional relations and instructor of missions. He said it was “exciting” to see the way the campus supported the camps. “It is how we present ourselves. And the campus and the events team and our professionalism and in our care, we’re truly living out what we teach and how we care for the staffers particularly.”

Debra Walton, the assistant general manager of the Riley Center and events coordinator, played a key role in the logistics involved in preparing the campus for the young visitors, including equipping the Naylor Student Center so it could host hundreds of hungry campers in one sitting, making sure campus police were on-hand to provide access and safety, and preparing rooms at the Riley Center for the camp staff and interns.

Snyder participated in the camp for a third year as a camp pastor, preaching from Genesis, Psalms, Acts, and Revelation as he followed the theme of “Let there be Light.” He said his goal was to exhort the students with the Word and build on the foundations started by their own student pastors of their home churches.

“Camp is meant to be this disruption in the lives of these students. They’re out of their comfort zone,” Snyder explained. “They’re not sleeping in their beds, they often have limits to technology, their day is fully scheduled over the summer, and they’re with people that theoretically care about the same things. So, it’s five really impactful days.”

He recalled how going to camp as a youth left a significant mark on his journey.

“Camp had an impact on my life. I went to a Lifeway camp when I was growing up, and it was formative for my spirituality,” Snyder said. “So I take the stewardship really seriously of preaching the Word.”

Snyder said hosting the camp is a great opportunity to serve the campers but also promote Southwestern and Texas Baptist College. Already, he has seen a handful of students come to Southwestern after being a part of the FUGE camps on campus.

The FUGE Camp is a ministry-based, nationwide Christian summer camp with more than 30 locations, which hosted roughly 54,000 students this summer alone. The camp is divided into two distinct experiences. Missions FUGE took the Southwestern campers off-site to participate in projects at a women’s shelter, food banks, Mission Arlington, and the homes of shut-ins. And CentriFUGE helped students participate in designed tracks on campus based around creative, active, performance, and classroom activities.

Outside of helping the Fort Worth community, FUGE’s mission focus extended to supporting other mission works as well. Every summer, the camp raises funds for two major initiatives through the International and North American Mission Boards. This year, students raised funds for Ethiopia through the IMB and for Provo, Utah, through NAMB.

Another thing that sets FUGE apart is its student-staff-led model. FUGE’s Student Leader Apprentice program (SLA), open to high school juniors and seniors, gives participants a two-week immersive experience in leadership and camp ministry. They shadow staffers, help run tracks and activities, and get a taste of what it means to serve.