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Northbrook Baptist Church Campers Enjoy Mississippi College Visit


Northbrook Baptist Church students: (L to R) Abby Cockerel, Cabri Adams, Claire Thompson, Paul Ingram, Jordan Ray, Miles Warner, Eli Ratliff , Andrew Ingram, Colin Teichmiller, and Isaac Rasberry. Photo by Charles Childers.

Josh Ingram feels blessed to be at Mississippi College for a week-long Christian camp.

Part of a 36-member delegation of kids and parents from Northbrook Baptist Church of Cullman, Alabama, Josh relished every moment of Centrifuge on the Clinton campus.

“It’s really been fun. I enjoy hanging out with all the people from different churches and growing in God’s word,” says Josh, a 14-year-old freshman at Cullman High School.

Whether they played basketball, acted in dramas or enjoyed praise music supplied by Yeshua’s Brand of Huntsville, Alabama, hundreds of children stayed busy at the Baptist-affiliated university.

They slept in college dorms, got noisy at times during meals at the school cafeteria and drew closer to the Lord. They traveled from communities across the South and as far away as southern Illinois.

Their visit to Mississippi College in late June was a nice change of pace for the kids from Cullman, a close-knit North Alabama city of nearly 15,000 people. The home of Wallace State College and the Cullman Regional Medical Center, the city on Brindley Mountain sits 35 miles south of the Tennessee River.

“I learned to get out of my comfort zone,” said 13-year-old Kirsten Campbell moments before joining scores of running off to yet another camp activity at America’s second oldest Baptist college. “This was my first year here and I will definitely come back. I’m impressed.”

So are the Alabama parents after making the five-hour 293-mile drive from Cullman that’s located 50 miles north of Birmingham.

“I’ve been to 18 to 20 camps and this is as good as it’s ever been,” says Charles Childers, the parent serving as the group’s chief photographer. “The staff is excellent – they are super nice.”

When it comes to summer camps that annually draw more than 6,000 children from 14 states, Mississippi residents lead the way. That’s followed by Louisiana, Alabama and Texas in the No. 2, 3, and 4 spots.

“There are tons of kids from Alabama – from Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville and Dothan,” says Mississippi College continuing education director Ken Gilliam. He oversees the wave of youngsters coming from the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay camps – from Centrifuge to Mission Fuge. Other church camps at MC this summer are run by the Birmingham-based Student Life group.

The kids liven up the Mississippi College campus in June and July for a blitz of church camps as well as camps for high schoolers to develop their basketball, football, softball, soccer, volleyball and cheerleading skills.

“The camp and campus have been amazing and our students have very much enjoyed being here this week,” said Paul Ingram, director of music ministry at Northbrook Baptist Church. “They have bonded together well and are really seeing how they can be used by God.”

There are 30 children and six adults from the Cullman church along for the summer journey to MC. “Serving God by serving His people is the lifeblood of Northbrook Baptist Church,” its website says.

The Northbrook adults and children at Mississippi College for summer camp, Paul Ingram believes, will “help inspire our church and reach our community.”