Yep, we're at it again. Not quite satiated from our Evangelical extravaganza that is Jesus Camp, we elected to spend yet another summer at a different kind of Christian enclave. The result is The Lord's Bootcamp, a television collaboration with CBS 48 Hours that looks at another angle of the ever-fascinating American born-again experience.
Here's how it goes: Over 700 kids from around the US say goodbye to their pals, give up their ipods and Pepsi, and head to Merritt Island, a mosquito-infested swampland in central Florida. Here they sleep two to a tent, are denied showers (swamp juice will do), pour concrete, cut sheet metal, pull weeds under an unforgiving sun and attend intense nightly revivals under a massive circus tent. And of course they pray. They pray a lot.
At the end of three grueling weeks at the boot camp these revved up teens spread out to over 50 countries including Mongolia, Zambia, Cameroon and Egypt to "save souls" for Jesus. On motorcycles, by foot, bike and on horseback, these kids fan out to remote and off-grid locations to dig wells, build houses, hand out shoes to orphans and most importantly, to spread the Gospel of Christ.
The genius behind the Lord's Boot Camp is a robust yet elfish 70 year-old man named Bob Bland, a lifelong missionary who bought this massive plot of swampland in 1971 with the vision to train kids to learn the ways of the full time evangelist. To do this effectively, he must recreate the uncomfortable (prickly, sticky, itchy, stinky et al.) conditions faced by the majority of adult proselytizers. As Bob likes to put it "This is not pamper camp. If you're lookin' for pamper camp, it's down the road." And, while the kids learn to grin and bear it, Bland -- that wily man! -- gets all the landscaping, weeding and pipe laying his property needs for the year.
And guess what? The weirdest thing that we found here is not that punishment doled out by stern counselors (for showing too much skin, taking the Lord's name in vain) is called a "special blessing," or that a favorite event at LBC includes electing a "peanut butter queen" based on the best biblical story built into a camper's peanut butter engorged bouffant. Both odd, but not that shocking.
The most surprising thing we found at this swampy backwater of a summer camp is that, despite the grumbling, whining and moaning, most of them actually LOVE IT. And they come back for more, year after year.
The majority of these kids - most from middle class families - spend months raising the $4,000 from their church, relatives, or anyone who will dig into their wallet to pay for the mission trips. These kids are motivated. They feel a sense of purpose, they have something to live for. Like the kids in Jesus Camp, these teenagers feel empowered, energized, and alive. Compared to the scores of deflated, depressed and directionless, teens we encounter daily, the kids at this odd and radical camp were at times downright refreshing.
Should we mandate Lord's Boot Camp for all American kids between 12-18? Should Christianity become the law of the land in order to motivate our somnambular children? Hell no. But encouraging kids to drop the remote, the joystick, the i-phone, and get a little dirty in a poverty-stricken foreign land may awaken them to just how lucky they are, and how much needs to be done.
"The Lord's Boot Camp" is airing 8pm EST, Saturday April 12 on CBS.