(I don’t often post about activities in my home church, but this is a ministry that I believe is making a huge impact in our local community of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.  New Heights Summer Camp is an eight-week, five-day-a-week, 8:30 – 4:30, academic and spiritual enrichment and summer food service ministry for children in our community, most of whom are from low-income families.  Two hot meals a day are served free of charge and the enrichment program is provided for a nominal fee of $10 a week per child.  Earlier this year, a friend posed this question on Facebook, “If your church suddenly disappeared, how long (if ever) would it take your community to notice?”  New Heights, which just competed its sixth summer, is at least one ministry that allows me to answer, “Immediately!”)

Among the many who are starting a new academic year in elementary and middle school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, this week, there are 240 children who will be pleasantly surprised at how much they know after a long summer break.

Their reading comprehension skills will be quite a bit sharper and their vocabulary significantly stronger.  Their ability to tackle basic math functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division will be greatly enhanced.  When concepts are introduced in their science classes, they will remember experiments and activities in which they had real hands-on experience over the summer.  When they go to the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch, they will remember the two nutritious meals that they enjoyed somewhere else five days a week for eight weeks during the school break.  When they get a bit discouraged over a test grade or when they experience conflict with a classmate or teacher, they will remember Biblical principles to help them cope with the situation and what Jesus said about the way they should treat other people.

They will remember the adults and teenagers who, even though they weren’t their family members or school teachers, cared enough about them to teach them, encourage them, and even lovingly correct them when they needed it.  They will remember the people who read to them, answered their questions, listened to their stories, and smiled at them when they handed them their breakfast and lunch trays.  When their parents or guardians say, “You know, we really need to get connected with a church,” or “It’s the Sunday before Christmas, let’s go to church somewhere this morning,” or when these children reach their older teen years or young adulthood and feel a serious spiritual hunger, many of them will think first of the Broken Arrow Church of Christ.

Why? Because of New Heights Summer Camp!

Yes, the facts and stats alone are amazingly impressive.  14,202 meals and 7,290 snacks served.  Beyond the 240 registered children from 146 different families, there were 30-40 additional walk-ins fed daily.  3,127 volunteer hours were logged (a number which is likely dramatically lower than the actual hours volunteered, since not everyone signed in and out on the volunteer sheet).  23 community volunteers assisted with New Heights who had no prior association or connection with our church.  New Heights was granted its 501(c)(3) status from the IRS this summer, which will greatly enhance our ability to qualify for additional grants and partnerships.

All of that is incredible, but not nearly as significant as all of the intangibles that are mentioned a couple of paragraphs above.  There is no way to calculate and measure the spiritual influence, the confidence, the positive attitudes, the moral sensitivity, and the academic achievement that will result from New Heights Summer Camp.

Thank you for believing in and supporting this ministry!  Thank you for loving and serving these children!