Paul Thorn Blasts MS Youth Camp and COGOP

[jdavis]

My sister sent me this link and I remember a little about the incident but I wasn't there. Any Jude2ers remember Russian invasion night?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-thorn/kamp-kumbaya_b_91267.html

[RamboPreacher]

great article.
it's too bad those kinds of "tactics" are used.

[cndlou]

I don't remember this incident...but I do remember a few other things that happened at this camp... Probably a good reason why I hated camp....

[EagerBeaver]

Good message in the post, if people look past the euphemistic usage of H-E-double-hockey-stick.

[free]

If it happened this way my kids would not go back to that camp and if I were a kid there when it happened I would never go back myself.

I do wish someone could talk to this guy and let him know that all is not bad, evil or mind-controlling in the CoGoP any longer.

[jessicacook]

Well, I read the article and it almost made me sick. I'm not saying the incident to him did not happen, that was way before my time in attending COGOP. What upsets me is that he said it is STILL going on. I have been working camp every year since 2004. I have NEVER seen or heard anything like this going on now. Tim and I are the assistant directors for Pee Wee camp and used to be the assistants for Junior camp. All of our kids come back the next year. Must not be too scared. Tim attended camp and worked in camp for as long as he can remember. He has never seen anything like that either. But cndlou is older than him.

[free]

Jessica, I think you or Tim or someone from Ms needs to get in touch with him and let him know what your experience has been...Maybe then he'll stop bashing the MS camping program.

[oletimer]

When I was in the COGOP years ago and we had youth camp, the worst thing that happen was shoes super glued to floor, mine, and shaving cream in socks, their. We had fun and enjoyed camp. We had a real good people that loved God and kids. Some of those kids are leaders today in both COGOP and TCOG.

[Who new]

And he took it to the Huffington Post too. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. He's right on target about the fear tactics.

[turbotim]

great article.
it's too bad those kinds of "tactics" are used.

maybe WERE used by most of if not all old time COGOP. I don't know. I do know what we do today and that IS NOT it.

I have been in camp since I was 7 years old at Kamp Kumbaya. I DO NOT remember any such things like that happening at all. He is way older than me. I can't say what they did then. I DO NOT at all condone what THEY did. I do know that I have not seen this nor the kids I have been with either. I don't know how old his daughter is or why she was scared. I have seen kids miss their parents, get scared of not having anybody there with them and so on. Macuser own son has been in our camps.

I can't help what once happened but truth be known it probably happened in other states back then too.

I'm glad we as a church (CGP) are moving/have moved past all that junk. And I agree about the fear tactics.

Also, I hate it happened to him. I apologize on behalf of our state and those people, Paul Thorn.

[DaJudge]

In the late 70's we had an evangelist (I don't remember who, so don't ask), who pulled this same trick at my local church. A couple of guys wearing bandanas and holding rifles busted into the service ran to the front of the building and snatched up the evangelist and dragged him out.

I think the point was to show what missionaries in communist countries faced by preaching the gospel there. I'm really not 100 percent sure what the point was because I was so scared I nearly peed myself.

I don't, however, remember any scare tactics like this at any camp I attended (and I attended every year for as long as I could). I do remember one counselor who tried to scare us into throwing away our Rock n Roll records and Proctor and Gamble products, because he said they were satanic, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary. I LOVED camp.

[DeWayneTN]

These are called "Catacomb" services and I was in one at Georgia youth camp in 1984 I think. Like DaJudge said, the idea was to show how it might be like being a Christian in a land hostile to Christianity. It should go without saying that some people got carried away with it. It was one of the many things done at camp back in the day that looks pretty silly in modern times. I also remember evangelists when I was a kid yelling to staff members to bar the doors during the service and "don't let anyone leave" but you don't see me blogging about it. Oh wait, I guess I just did.

I do see his points and agree to some of them. But am I worried to be on the wrong side of the Huffington Post supporters? No way. If you read comments over there about any news story, they have their own share of wackos.

[turbotim]

These are called "Catacomb" services and I was in one at Georgia youth camp in 1984 I think. Like DaJudge said, the idea was to show how it might be like being a Christian in a land hostile to Christianity. It should go without saying that some people got carried away with it. It was one of the many things done at camp back in the day that looks pretty silly in modern times. I also remember evangelists when I was a kid yelling to staff members to bar the doors during the service and "don't let anyone leave" but you don't see me blogging about it. Oh wait, I guess I just did.

I do see his points and agree to some of them. But am I worried to be on the wrong side of the Huffington Post supporters? No way. If you read comments over there about any news story, they have their own share of wackos.

ahhh.. Thanks for clearing this up some DeWayne... What you are saying makes a lot of sense..

[pastorables]

I attended and worked at Kamp Kumbaya under Leslie Porter, and then William Tribble for years. I never witnessed anything like this. To say these practices are still going on without sharing names and documentation paints a gross misrepresentation of what I know Kamp Kumbaya to be.

pa

[MacUser]

I'm invoking the killer kamp kumbaya kode of silence. Until then, Lie low... let's keep the cult practices down till the smoke clears or ELSE.

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