Many had special memories of Junior High retreats and Saturday Happenings.
Here are just a few:
- One year during a Junior High retreat, John Bayer borrowed a search light. He put it high up on a high lift. The search light kept shining as it circled around. It could be seen the whole way to Hagerstown. Matt 5:14-16 (Camp also received a donated scissor lift as a result of this!)
- One Saturday a month during the school year, John Bayer led a Saturday Happening. It started in the afternoon and went till evening. We competed in activities month after month. The winners for the year got prizes at the last one in the spring. Basketball, Uno, table football, peg wall, Boggle, word search, volley ball, Bible quizzing, vocal and instrumental competitions… we watched a movie, had a Bible study, played a group game and ate supper. We even paid money to lock staff to a bowling ball and chain. One Saturday we carved a potato village. Each team made their own village. Imagine giving knives to Jr. High kids.
- When I was young nurse, I served at several of the Saturday Happenings. I was shocked at some of the activities that were done and spent much of my time praying that nothing would happen! Why? Well…there was the game where the kids wore a cowboy hat with a lit candle on top and were given water guns to “shoot” out the flame. Another time, they had a pumpkin carving competition. I was sure there would be a week where I had to send a kid to the ER for having their head burnt or a finger amputated! Nevertheless, the kids had a great day every time they came and I never had any injuries that a Band-Aid couldn’t handle! John was a lot of fun and kept the kids engaged with the theme of the day. Lives were significantly impacted.
- Every Saturday Happening had a theme. I always looked forward to what we would do next. Would we pretend we were breaking out of jail? Would we eat in a 50’s style diner? John Bayer always kept us guessing what was next. We had so much fun, but learned so much about God on those Saturdays as well.
John was one of the speakers for our 50th Anniversary Celebration. He too has fond memories of junior high retreats and Saturday Happenings. The way God always provided amazed him and that God would use him to reach so many kids was a humbling experience for him.
