Camp Agape

 
"There's Beer Up There"

Charles, Jim, and I all had Christian camping experience when we moved to Jamestown.   We developed good relationships with churches in Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Shortly after arriving in Jamestown, we learned that the brothers and sisters in Western New York were anxious to begin a camp in that area.

Camp Hunt had a fine program in the central part of the state, but many of the folks in the Western New York churches thought the geographical distance was too great.   Through a series of misunderstandings, I was somehow perceived to have a hostile, or at least uncooperative attitude toward Camp Hunt.  Our involvement in beginning a camp in Western New York came solely at the urging of church leaders in that part of the state.  Eventually things settled down and I shed the reputation of agitator. None of us were obstructionists.  We simply chose to get on board with the stated desire of churches in that area. 

Another person who got involved in this project was John Featherstone.  I first met John when I was preaching for the church in Rosebud, Texas.  His sister was a member of our congregation.   By the time we moved to Jamestown, John had also made the decision to move to upstate New York.  He worked with a new church plant in Hamburg, New York.   John had worked with us in camp, so it was something of a reunion. 

We were able to locate a facility to rent in Allegheny State Park.  It was a beautiful location in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains.  A camp board was put together, and we were underway with the camp.  Charles served as the first director.  I think I was a Bible teacher and athletic director.   The camp was named “Camp Agape” while we were there, and it’s still going on under that name.  The last year we were there, I served as camp director, and soon decided that I had been promoted to my highest level of incompetence.

We continued to work with the camp throughout our time in Western New York. In many ways, it was a different challenge from what we had known in Texas.  For one thing we had inner city kids from Buffalo.  They were street wise and courageous, but really afraid of nature.  One day, I took the boys on a hike up a heavily wooded hill that lay behind the camp.  The inner city boys didn’t want to go.  I asked them why.  I understood them to say, “There’s beer up there.”  I was completely mystified.  First, I wondered how they got the idea that somebody might be hiding a keg of beer at the top of the hill.  I also wondered why they would care.  I didn’t expect boys from the inner city to have a fear of beer.  Finally, I realized what they were calling “beer” was their pronunciation of “bear.”  A few black bears were known to be in the park, and they were afraid of a possible confrontation between beast and man. Being a country boy, I knew that it was extremely unlikely that we would meet up with a bear.  A bear wouldn’t have come close to our  whooping and yelling.  As they say, “You live and learn.”