Centrifuge (camps)

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This article is about the Christian camp. For the scientific device, see Centrifuge.

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Centrifuge was founded in 1979 by LifeWay Christian Resources, S.B.C.

Centrifuge is the name of a series of Christian summer camps for children, youth, and young adults centered on Bible study, worship, missions work, and recreational activities. It is sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

1 Centrifuge
2 M-Fuge
3 Centri-kid
4 Crosspoint Sports Camp
5 X-Fuge
6 Notes
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Centrifuge

[edit] Background

Since 1979 Centrifuge has been the official youth camp of the Southern Baptist Convention. What started out as a few weeks of camp sponsored by the Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) turned into a youth ministry movement.

Centrifuge camps are unique in that there is not a central camp facility where the program is conducted. Instead, teams of staffers are based at Southern Baptist and Southern Baptist-affiliated institutions of higher learning and retreat centers, such that the student-campers are usually housed in college dormitories or convention-style hotel rooms.

Because of this decentralized approach, Centrifuge staffs -- usually comprised of about 20-30 college students and recent college graduates -- are able to reach students across the United States.

LifeWay Christian Resources states that since the beginning of the minsitry, over 1,000,000 people have experienced Centrifuge and its associated camps.

[edit] Programming

Centrifuge camps are open to students in grades 7-12 and college students. They are centered around the youth groups of Christian chuches, particularly (though not exclusively) Southern Baptist churches. The camps offer a "staff who does the work so that [youth ministers] are free to deepen [their] relationships with both students and God."

The Centrifuge experience includes:

Strong small-group youth Bible study, led by a trained camp staffer (usually a college student)
Team-building recreation
Morning and evening worship services
Camp-wide fellowships, like talent shows, sports competitions, and spiritual exercises

[edit] Typical schedule

Though Centrifuge camps vary slightly at each location due to differences in personnel and available facilities, a typical day at Centrifuge would include:

Time	Event
7:30 a.m.	Breakfast^[1]
8:30 a.m.	The A.M. Show ^[2]
9:15 a.m.	Quiet time ^[3]
9:30 a.m.	Bible study
10:45 a.m.	Recreation
12:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m.	Track Time A ^[4]
2:00 p.m.	Track Time B
3:00 p.m.	Free time
5:00 p.m.	Dinner
6:30 p.m.	Worship ^[5]
8:00 p.m.	Church-group devotion ^[6]
9:30 p.m.	Night life ^[7]
10:30 p.m.	Free time
11:00 p.m.	In rooms
11:30 p.m.	Lights out

[edit] Locations

In Summer 2006, there were Centrifuge camps located:

Ridgecrest Conference Center - Ridgecrest, North Carolina
Glorieta Conference Center - Glorieta, New Mexico
Union University - Jackson, Tennessee
Carson-Newman College - Jefferson City, Tennessee
North Greenville College - Greenville, South Carolina
Mississippi College - Clinton, Mississippi
Gulfshore Baptist Assembly Center - Pass Christian, Mississippi (closed during 2006 due to Hurricane Katrina, and moved to William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center - Lynchburg, Virginia
Springmaid Beach Resort - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Marriott Baypoint Resort - Panama City Beach, Florida
Jenness Park - Cold Springs, California
Skycroft Conference Center - Middletown, Maryland
West Virginia Wesleyan College - Buckhannon, West Virginia
Camp Little Cloud - Peosta, Iowa
Pu'u Kahea Baptist Conference Center - Waianae, Hawaii
Inlow Camp and Conference Center - Torreon, New Mexico
Sivells Baptist Retreat and Conference Center - Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Hesperus Baptist Camp - Hesperus, Colorado
Mountain Top Baptist Assembly - Casper, Wyoming
Bambi Lake Retreat and Conference Center - Roscommon, Michigan
Riverview Bible Camp - Cusick, Washington
Aldersgate Conference Center - Turner, Oregon

[edit] M-Fuge

The first of the Centrifuge "spin-offs", M-Fuge takes the traditional Centrifuge structure and reorients it toward mission work. Instead of offering classes and recreation during the day, those activities are replaced with missions work like building homes for Habitat for Humanity and serving meals at soup kitchens or homeless shelters. It is open to students in grades 8-12 and college students.

[edit] Centri-kid

This Centrifuge spin-off takes the Centrifuge structure and repackages it for students in grades 3-6, with less emphasis on invitations to Christian discipleship and more emphasis on teaching fundamental concepts of the Christian faith. Otherwise, the experiences are very similar.

[edit] Crosspoint Sports Camp

Crosspoint is designed to combine the structure of Centrifuge with the sports-skills teaching of the traditional sports daycamp. The programming -- and sports instruction -- is designed for students in grades 4-8.

[edit] X-Fuge

Begun in 2004, X-Fuge takes the general template of a normal Centrifuge camp and removes many of the traditional "summer camp" aspects, like assemblies and structured classes ("track times") and reorients the experience toward a Christian retreat: spiritual formation is conducted through worship experiences and optional missions work, but leisure activities, such as swimming or sunbathing on the beach, are more prominent. X-Fuge also features "X-Parties", where Christian rock bands host pseudo-concerts.

[edit] Notes

^ Food at Centrifuge camps is usually served in a college dining facility or a camp cafeteria.
^ This event combines elements of morning assembly, in the tradition of camp reville, with Christian worship and a humorous skits designed to hold campers' attention while conveying announcements and information about the day's activities.
^ Staff and campers reserve about fifteen minutes of "quiet time" as an opportunity to engage in a daily devotional.
^ There are two "Track Times" during each normal day of Centrifuge. During these times, campers attend Christian discipleship classes, seminars on Christian topics, recreational opportunities, and the like, all based upon the available offerings. Track times range from "Cults and World Religions" to "Dodgeball" to "Church Music".
^ Each night, the entire camp gathers in the central auditorium for Christian worship, with hymns, contemporary songs, Scripture reading, an evangelistic sermon, and a time of invitation to Christian discipleship.
^ Each night after worship, campers join the other students from the church with whom they came to Centrifuge for a devotion led by the leader of that group.
^ The evening is capped off with a camp-wide assembly that ranges from a talent show to game show-style contests to spiritual exercises.