The Great Race: 2025 Camp Theme
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” (NIV)
In the spring of last year, our program team sat down to discuss what the theme of 2025 should be. While many ideas were brought up, The Great Race was one we kept coming back to. My predecessor, Jeff Andridge, had the theme written on the wall in his office with a big question mark next to it, as we had talked about doing a theme like this for the past couple of years. Like a song whose melody you can't get out of your head, but whose lyrics you just can't remember, the idea of The Great Race was on the tip of all our tongues, but it was missing a key element, the verse!
I should say, the problem wasn't a lack of verses, but rather an over abundance of them! 1 Corinthians 9:24 - "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." Isaiah 40:31 - "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." 2 Timothy 4:7 - "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." All of these verses circled our minds. When we broke down the verses into their base ideas, we settled on Hebrews 12:1 with a lot of peace.
The message is clear, THROW OFF the things that are hindering you and the sin that can so easily ENTANGLES you. And instead, RUN! Run with perseverance the race that was marked out for you. The author of Hebrews finishes the thought they started in verse one with the focus of our race, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” The Gospel message is clear, Jesus is our goal, and sin is holding us back.
We love the idea of racing, and the opportunity it presents for games and competitions. We haven’t seen a car racing theme before, and we believe it would be a unique theme that will be a great vehicle to communicate the verse.
We hope speakers will really take this theme and run, (or drive if you will.) The beginning of the verse creates a question that will have to be answered, “Who is in this great cloud of witnesses surrounding us?” Old Testament heroes whose stories of faith help reveal the character of God. Campers will be forced to reckon with questions like, “What in my life is hindering me from running the race?” “What sin entangles me?” “What does it mean that a race has been marked out for me?” Ultimately, campers should leave a program having wrestled with these questions and having been presented with the reality that the only race worth driving, is the one that Christ has set before us.
This summer, campers will be invited to join in the race marked out for them. They will see running the race modeled for them so that they continue the race when they come home. We are so excited for what God has in store for the summer as campers join in, The Great Race!
Anthony Ramirez
Program Director
Comments