During our camp season on Good SOIL, to highlight our seasonal staff, we’re taking a trip around camp to all the favorite places they hold dear. For many, Camp Mount Luther is a haven, a place of peace, good memories, and fun times. Usually there’s one (or maybe a few!) place where a person feels particularly drawn: their favorite place to go. In those special spots, camp becomes embodied, and we grow deep roots into the very landscape of Camp Mount Luther. It’s not just a building. Or a campsite. Or a worship space. It’s a memory, a feeling, a place of community.
Let’s continue our tour of staff members’ favorite places…
Inside the Administration (A) Center is probably no one’s favorite camp spot. There’s (sometimes) this going on:
But not a lot of fun and games and nature. The outside of the A Center is another story entirely. From the front porch, you look out on the road into camp. Not too exciting. From the back porch, however, you look out on the pool and sports field. Off in the distance, you can spy Evergreen, BOF, and the road to Maple Village. It’s a pretty sweet vantage point of some of the busiest places on camp property.
For Joey, sitting on the back porch of the A Center gives him all the feels. If you know anything about Joey, you know he’s usually up in front of large groups, leading silly songs or campfire. His theater background shines through as he skillfully teaches and leads. But sometimes, this introvert likes to kick back, relax, and watch camp hum along. And the A Center porch is the perfect place.
When Chad started as director (25 years ago), there wasn’t a back porch off the A Center. Early on in his career, he worked with the facility manager to build the back deck. Shirley Heasley, a longtime camp nurse, would sit out back with a chair and an umbrella to block the sun. One day, she told Chad it would be nice to have a roof over the porch. He jokingly replied, “Sounds good, Shirley! When you give us the money to build it, we will.” And lo and behold…she wrote him a check! And he built the roof.
Now the porch (recently power washed during this summer’s week two workweek and looking better than ever), expansive and shaded, has been the scene for many camp events. From meetings, to relaxing, to proposals (more on that later!), the A Center back porch is a versatile spot.
The porch is “a nice little shady place where you can take a break from your day,” Joey says, “but also keeps you right there in the action of the camp… and feels wonderful being there.” Joey also holds many fond and funny memories from the back porch, including observing the proposal of one cabin leader to another (yay James and Anne!). Meant to happen in the amphitheater, the proposal ended up happening with campers and other staff nearby on the porch due to rain.
Isn’t that the beauty of the A Center porch, though? It’s a place where really anything could happen… sitting alone relaxing, having a conversation with campers, watching a game of kubb on the lawn, and even proposing marriage! It’s the great Camp Mount Luther mash up: solitude and companionship, distance and closeness, young and old. The A Center’s pack porch welcomes it all.
Next time you sit on the A Center’s back porch, don’t think of it as just another porch. Instead, remember this verse from Romans 15:
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
The A Center porch is the embodiment of welcome, and here at Camp Mount Luther, we welcome everyone! It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation, the color of your skin, who your family is, or anything else. You’re welcome here. Come on by and sit on the A Center’s back porch. You might just find Joey there taking it all in.