MCC Summer Service workers reach out to campers in Mississippi

MERIDIAN, Miss. — In the din of a crowded camp dining hall, 18-year-old Johnny Miller jokes with children, even as he cajoles them into washing dishes.

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Summer Service worker draws on his experiences as a camper to guide his young charges at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp, which is owned by Gulf States Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

The Summer Service program enables youth of color to serve in their home communities for 10 weeks during the summer. More than 1,000 young people have participated in MCC's Summer Service program since the early 1980s.

Miller listens to campers' difficulties, such as being homesick, encourages the youth to try new activities and shares with them about his faith. "I'm making an impression on kids. I love it when kids look up to me as a role model," said Miller, who recently graduated from Noxubee County High School.

Campers come from conference churches in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana for one-week camp sessions.

On the camp's ropes course, Miller stands on a wire that zigzags between trees a foot above the ground. He reaches out to take the hand of a camper helping him to balance and move across the wire. "Take your time. Take your time," he coaches. And when the youth makes it, Miller and other counselors shout out their congratulations.

Miller still remembers his first day as a teenage camper at Pine Lake. "I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect. That first day, I was shy. I didn't talk to anybody," he said. "After that, I started to get to know people, to have fun. After that, I wanted to come back to camp every year."

In summer 2004, he worked in an unpaid "Leader in Training" position, serving as an assistant to a lead counselor. In 2005, Miller is the one taking charge — not only relishing his leadership role but also delighting in teaching campers about God.

Miller is one of 93 MCC Summer Service workers serving communities from California to Florida, Texas to New York and even Puerto Rico in 2005.

For Jeff Landis, co-director of Pine Lake Fellowship Camp, MCC's Summer Service Program helps address his need for summer staff, while allowing youth the opportunity to hone their leadership skills even as they earn money for college.

Miller, who plans to study to be a respiratory therapist, saw this as a chance to take on increased responsibility. But he is also happy to be able to come back to experience the camaraderie of camp again too.
"Everybody comes together like a family," Miller said. "It's great. I like it here."

Pine Lake Fellowship Camp was founded to create reconciliation amid the racial tensions and violence of the 1960s, according to a brief history on the camp's Web site.

"When it first started in the 60s, it was a safe haven for interracial gatherings," said Cheryl Landis, who with her husband Jeff serves as executive director of Pine Lake Fellowship Camp. "It continues to be a comfortable place for our very diverse conference to meet."

While Gulf States Conference includes white, African-American and Native American Mennonites, congregations usually tend to be mainly of one race or another. Camp, she said, is where youth can come together and bridge those differences.

Miller and Summer Service Worker Oliver Black Jr., both from near Macon, Miss., were impressed by that diversity. "My school is predominantly black. Here I get the chance to be around different kinds of people," Miller said.

Yet what they talk about most vividly when they speak of Pine Lake is how a week of camp can provide spiritual renewal.

Black, in particular, said Pine Lake had touched his heart. "We'd get down there at the campfire and sing and praise God. Those songs have never left me," he said.