Blog Archives
Why Camp talks about Malaria
One of my responsibilities here on year-round staff has been to accompany “Boss Man” Glen Egertson on church visits around Southern California promoting the ELCA Malaria Campaign and our Knots for Nets program. Both California synods have been chosen to pilot this church-wide campaign, and LRCC is proud to be an active participant.
Some might ask w
hy LRCC, as a camp, has chosen to participate in this global issue, or ask why it’s important to educate our campers about it. To those questions, I would point not only to the staggering statistics that occur around the world (800,000 deaths attributed to malaria every year, 600,000 of which are pregnant women and children under the age of 5), but to our call as Christians to love and care for our neighbors. Any Sunday School student will tell you that when Jesus talks about who our neighbors are, he means everyone, but sometimes we lose sight of just how expansive and inclusive that really is. It means your literal neighbors, the homeless man on the street, and a child in Africa suffering from malaria. Christ’s love extends to all these and more, as should our love.
The ELCA Malaria Campaign takes this call from Christ to heart, and uses our long-standing relationships with partner churches in Africa to walk with our neighbors to bring about an end to malaria. We at LRCC think this is a powerful message our church is sending, and we want to share it with our campers. We also want to empower our campers to be leaders in the church that care about global issues and all of God’s creation, near and far. We want campers to understand that because of the love shown to us in Christ, we must show that same kind of love to all. My hope is that the Knots for Nets program at summer camp will continue to educate and enable campers to go back to their churches and talk about ending malaria in the same breath as they talk about the love and fun they encountered here at camp.
For more information on Knots for Nets and the ELCA Malaria Campaign, go to 
www.lrcchom.com/KnotsforNets
How can you help the ELCA Malaria Campaign?
- Erin
Fly swatters
Awhile back, it was a monumental day for LRCC and our visits to churches on Sundays. We had staff at four different churches throughout Southern California and were able to attend the Foothill Conference Assembly.
At three churches our staff was talking about the ELCA Malaria Campaign and at the fourth church we were doing a Camp Sunday promoting an upcoming Day Camp that will be happening at the church in the summer.
While camp has been in the ELCA Malaria Campaign for the past nine months this was only my third Sunday off the mountain doing a church visit for the ELCA Malaria Campaign. These church visits are still very new to me and it is fun for me to meet and interact with individuals from different congregations.
A few conversations that stood out to me from yesterday were the opportunity to talk with the grandfather of some one considering attending California Lutheran University, my alma mater. I got to share many of my positive experiences and impart some of my knowledge about the school and as we said our good-byes the grandfather said I should become a recruiter for CLU. Just like the ministry up the mountain it is finding common interests and building upon them.
I also enjoyed conversations with people who served in World War II and shared about their experiences in Malaria infested countries. What they were taught, how treatment has changed and just listening to some of their stories is a humbling experience.
But still more exciting was the response to the material that we presented, a hopeful out look, people committing to help in the ELCA’s effort to work to get Malaria under control by 2015. And yes that’s an ambitious goal, but to me an ambitious goal is better than a goal that is easily accomplished, it is just that much more satisfying to say look at what we did together.
At St. Andrews Lutheran Church, in Van Nuys, a member of their congregation developed a “SWAT Team”. It was their congregation’s campaign to stamp out Malaria, to join the “SWAT Team” a $10 donation was required and for a $10 donation you received a fly swatter. Clever, fun, and simple, what a great idea. I think every fly swatter was taken home that day, so super successful. Our visit to St. Andrews was their kick off event for their ELCA Malaria Campaign.
If you are interested in starting a SWAT team at your church, want LRCC to visit your church and share about how to get involved with the ELCA Malaria Campaign please call (661) 245-3519 to schedule a visit. We’ll be happy to come visit!
Do you know of other ways to help fight malaria?
- Matt
