A small blue and yellow sign is the only announcement of the entrance to Camp Kaleo. But at the end of the rutted dirt road is a boys’ paradise.

Since 1987 Georgia Baptists have held summer camp for boys from across the state. During each week-long camp the campers are taught how to handle a canoe, shoot arrows, read a compass and even how to stabilize a broken leg with two sticks.

But more than a wilderness experience, each boy also meets the missionaries of the week and hears the stories of what God is doing around the world.

Apparently it’s working – and not only for the campers.

This summer 19 college students serve as staff counselors and program directors at Kaleo. Most were Kaleo campers during their childhood – some have attended the camp every year since first grade.

“We work 17 hours a day and are on call every night, get paid almost nothing and love what we do. We’re the mother, the father, the everything when these kids are here. But we love it,” said Brandon Reddock, staff counselor from Wildwood Church in Kennesaw.

“All our friends back home think we’re nuts. It’s hard work, but it’s not a sacrifice,” said Daniel White, a fourth year staff member from Wildwood Baptist in Kennesaw.

Counselors have a reputation for being long-term at Kaleo. This year 11 of the 19 staff members have worked at the camp before, some are returning for their fourth summer.

“There’s a brotherhood that develops with the kids, but also with the staff.

“God is awesome in this place,” Reddock said.

The brotherhood extends even to the names staff assign each other. After the pre-camp training session, each counselor is “named” by the rest of the group.

“You earn your name through the activities during our pre-camp. That’s your name for the summer. The boys are never to know our real names,” said Forrest Waters, a returning counselor this summer.

Condor, Stallion, Beamer, Finn, Apollo. That’s the only names the boys will know.

Traditionally, the camp has been for members of Royal Ambassadors, a Southern Baptist boys mission program. But because many churches don’t have an RA program, the camp is open to boys who don’t participate in the program.

“You don’t have to be an RA to come to camp, but we’ve found that often churches that send boys to this camp return home to start RA chapters,” said Mike Flowers, director of Camp Kaleo.

In order to support RA programs, Flowers requires his staff members to be certified RA trainers before they leave at the end of the summer.

“I want this staff to work with RA’s and to train leaders. When they go back to college or return to their hometowns, they can lead training for church leaders. That will help RA’s to grow,” Flowers said.

“The word ‘kaleo’ means ‘called.’ We want to lead boys to follow Jesus Christ. That’s really what we’re about.”

Did you know...
Camp Kaleo has camps for boys in grades 1 - 12. For more information or for a schedule of summer camps, see www.campkaleo.org or call the camp at (478) 994-5333. Camp Kaleo is a ministry of Georgia Baptist Convention and is partially funded through your church’s gifts to the Cooperative Program.

Your church’s giving through the Cooperative Program is vital to the missions and ministries of the GBC and the Southern Baptist Convention.

For more information or to order free educational materials on the Cooperative Program, contact the GBC Cooperative Program office at ahill@gabaptist.org or (770) 936-5240 or at 1 (800) RING–GBC.

You and your church may send Cooperative Program gifts to:
Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director
Georgia Baptist Convention
2930 Flowers Rd.
South Atlanta, GA 30341-5532