By Kevin Bonnar
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
On July 14/15th Kicking Bear traveled up to Bambi Lake Baptist Conference Center outside Roscommon, Michigan for the annual camp and archery tournament. Longtime Kicking Bear friend Michael Ritchie had an amazing group of volunteers ready to go and we sure were excited for this event.
Friday night was all about Kicking Bear as kiddos traveled to various archery, bb gun, crossbow, and tomahawk stations. This camp had quite a few older kiddos who would be shooting in the next day’s tournament so it was fun to see the little ones watch in amazement as the older archers put loads of arrows in the 3-D targets. A good reminder to us all that younger kiddos learn so much from watching the older ones. It was pretty hot out so after stations we all headed down to Bambi Lake for some swimming and a few trips down the big slide dubbed the “bouyah”! After some fun in the lake we gathered up for a delicious pizza dinner together and Ray shared his testimony. One highlight of camp for me was when a four year old youngster climbed up the bleachers as Ray was sharing, plopped down next to me and opened his Bible asking if I wanted to read it with him. Later that night we decided we were best friends. Now if that isn’t a cool camp memory, I don’t know what is!
Next up we all stomped out onto the big field for games and tug of war. I have to say that the foot race at this camp had some of the fastest kiddos I have seen all summer and they were pretty hard to hit with marshmallows too!! After fun in the field we went down to the beach were Pastor Kevin gave the Gospel message and we all celebrated with fireworks over the lake. An incredible time was had by all but we weren’t done with the fun yet!
Saturday morning there was such a buzz as dozens and dozens of archers were geared up for the annual Centershot Michigan Tournament. After an awesome flag raising by the men of Trail Life and everyone joining together to sing the Star Spangled Banner we were all fired up. Bob Fritz continued to start us off right with a beautiful devotional and then Lucas Holbrook shared his testimony and also about the current ministry work he is involved in. Our hearts were right and ready!
The tournament was beautifully run by some amazing volunteers and I was just amazed by how safe, organized and fun everything was. Over 60 archers were able to shoot at bullseye targets and 3-D targets in this multiple round tourney. The coolest part was the way families could all enjoy the event together. Adults and kiddos were shooting right alongside each other, very cool! Just like we had seen in Kansas in June I really noticed many different churches coming together to support an event for families, really affirming to see a body of believers coming together in an awesome way.
The shooting was very impressive that morning and after all the scores were tabulated awards were given out in various categories to the skilled archers that came out on top. We also had a tomahawk tourney which was so fun as the crowd was very involved during the elimination round to declare a winner. Everyone chipped in to clean up and we headed down to the beach for one more celebration. Seven folks made the decision to declare to the world their love for Jesus and that he is indeed their Lord and Savior by being baptized. Such a cool setting for this and a beautiful way to wrap up another awesome camp in Roscommon!
Check out more here: Kicking Bear Centershot 2023 Bambi Lake