Urban Kids Meet Wilderness and Christ

A wilderness camp in the Missouri Ozarks that offers a free week of fun—and evangelism—to inner-city kids who live in gang-infested neighborhoods has just finished its twenty-fifth year with a record number of attendees and converts. This summer at Camp Penuel near Ironton, Missouri, 90 miles southwest of Saint Louis, 2,403 kids ages 7 to 11 attended, with 1,180 of them making decisions to become Christians. The trip and stay in the cabins and dorms cost about $200 per child, but the entire amount is subsidized by donors.

“Our whole mission is to go into gang areas, take kids to the camp, win them to Christ, and get them in church before they join gangs,” says the camp’s founder and director, Harry H. Douma, 65. Workers from neighborhood churches and parachurch groups, particularly inner-city missions, select the participants. Three-fourths of the children receive follow-up ministry from churches and parachurch ministries once they return home.

The camp encompasses 650 acres. A second facility, Camp Penuel East, covers 100 acres and has been operating for five years at Eldred, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountains, serving 730 children annually. In the past quarter-century, 33,000 kids have been bused in from Saint Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, Chicago, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and Washington, D.C., to the two camps.

The camps cost $500,000 a year to operate, and a $1 million building program is in progress.

Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend: The amazing story of Christian efforts to create and sustain the modern nation of Israel.

Cover Story

How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend

Giving and Getting in 1997

Unreached People Group: Classical Musicians

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from October 05, 1998

The Good HMO

Is Hell Forever?

The Baroness Cox: The Homeless Church of Myanmar

Theology for the Rest of Us

PAX TV off the Ground

Reconcilers Fellowship Folds

Evangelicals Are Not an Interest Group

LifeLine Subscribers Get Busy Signal

Bringing Up Babies

U.S. Churches Join Global Warming Debate

60,000 Churches Join Prayer Effort

In Brief: October 05, 1998

Party Calls for Immigration Cuts

Religion Law Jeopardizes Evangelism

In Brief: October 05, 1998

Signs of Canaanite Jerusalem Found

New Coptic Church Forcibly Closed

C. S. Lewis Birth Bash Draws Crowd

Editorial

The Prodigal Who Didn’t Come Home

Obsessed with the End Times

Letters

Methodists: Council Bans Same-Sex Rites

More PK Downsizing

Congress: Curbing Religious Persecution Difficult

Split Deepens over Religious Liberty Bill

Christian Science: Sect Polishes Image

Terrorism: Bombings Inflame Religious Tensions

Vineyard: Costa Rican Coffee Finances Urban Outreach

Champions for Christ Pulled into NFL Convert Controversy

A Postmodern Primer to Doctrine

Jerusalem as Jesus Views It

Smuggling Jesus into Muslim Hearts

The Muslim Challenge

Satan with a Stethoscope

Putting Death in Your Daytimer

The Lord Puts Strange Hooks in the Mouths of Men

Finishing Well

The Unmoral Prophets

Me? Apologize for Slavery?

View issue

Our Latest

New Archbishop of Canterbury Steps into Anglican Divides

Conservatives call on Sarah Mullally, the first woman at the spiritual helm of the Church of England, to uphold biblical faith amid same-sex blessings debate.

News

FDA Approves Generic Abortion Pill

Students for Life leader calls the move “a stain on the Trump presidency.”

News

John Cornyn’s MAGA-land Challenge

The incumbent senator is up against his strongest challenge yet in populist-right leader Ken Paxton.

Fighting Korea’s Loneliness Epidemic with Cafés and Convenience Stores

Seoul recently introduced free public services to tackle social isolation. Christians have been doing that for years.

You Haven’t Heard Worship Music like This

John Van Deusen’s praise is hard-won and occasionally wordless.

Excerpt

‘Don’t Take It If You Don’t Need It’

The Trump administration releases new recommendations for Tylenol use during pregnancy.

The Russell Moore Show

BONUS: Lecrae on Reconstruction after Disillusionment

 Lecrae joins Russell Moore to take questions from Christianity Today subscribers

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube