MINNESOTA CONFERENCE
Twin Cities African Camp Meeting Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
T
he Minnesota Twin Cities African Camp Meeting convenes each July. This year marked the 10-year anniversary for African camp meeting, and it was celebrated on Sabbath with special dedicatory prayers offered by Dr. Carlton Byrd from Breath of Life Ministries. This year’s camp meeting brought a record crowd, with a Sabbath attendance of nearly 3,000. The 2019 TCACM had nine speakers who presented on different topics. The topics focused on four specific areas: 1. Preaching: Dr. Baraka Muganda, former General Conference youth director, shared the daytime sermons, and Dr. Byrd
conducted a nightly evangelistic campaign. 2. Teaching: Pastor Leakey Nyaberi led a Bible study, Pastor Karen Lewis taught a sanctuary message, Pastor Michael Sims and Elder Joshua Ongoro championed a message about stewardship, and Sister Lenda George and Dinah Monyancha taught about family life. 3. Healing: Sister Deborah Ogeto presented a health program that affirmed Biblical principles of wellbeing of the whole person. 4. Discipling: Nineteen souls gave their lives to Jesus during a baptism on Sabbath. The children’s ministries also had a vibrant, weeklong
program with rotation stations focusing on Bible study, health, crafts, nature, games and outreach. We thank God for the 2019 TCACM, which was led by a team of board members under the chairmanship of
first place, but after a few years of hard work, they took first place in 2014. As it is five years between camporees, it is rare the club will have Pathfinders who attended a camporee continue to be in the drum corps at the next camporee. “This year, we started from zero. We had no kids who carried over from before,” said Migiro. “Additionally, the previous drum corps director moved away, so we had to find a parent to take over.” During the school year, the drum corps and drill teams practice one to two times per week. “It takes a lot of time from both the kids and the parents,”
said Migiro. “During the summer, in preparation for camporee, we held a sixweek boot camp. The kids practiced Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday each week.” The marching and drilling competition is graded similarly to Pathfinder Bible Experience. The teams are scored against a rubric and receive a placement based on how well they complete required tasks, such as saluting, marching in sync and turning either in flank or column march. This year, the Minneapolis Prophets placed first with their junior drill team and their freestyle drill team,
and placed second with their drum corps team. “It was a positive experience overall,” said Migiro. “Having a drum corps helps kids in the church get excited about joining the Pathfinder club.” The Minneapolis Prophets also use the drum corps as an outreach tool. Each year, they march at the Minnesota State Fair. They marched in Class A uniform on Aug. 25, and marched in their club T-shirts on Sept. 1. “We are invited to other community events as well,” said Migiro. “We cut it down during camporee years, though, because it gets to be too much otherwise.”
Pastor Eric Mokua. The 2019 TCACM was one of the best camp meetings we have held. Nelly Torori is secretary for TCACM planning committee and a member of the Mount of Blessings Church.
The TCACM mirrors a tradition practiced in Africa where churches convene daily for one week each year.
Shelina Bonjour summarized the 2019 Chosen Camporee by saying it was a fabulous experience. “We saw our youth meeting Jesus and giving their lives to Him,” she said. “We saw our kids learning new skills, meeting people from around the world, playing together, learning together and having a wonderful time celebrating the fact that they were chosen by God. We’re already fired up for the 2024 Believe the Promise Camporee!” Savannah Carlson is assistant director of communication for the Minnesota Conference.
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OCT 2019 19
