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Area Children Participate in Child Evangelism

Fellowship Day Camp in Fort Fairfield

Second Annual Camp Held at Flannery’s Private Pond on Dorsey Road

By: David Deschesne

It was a busy week at the Flannery pond on Dorsey Road last week as nearly 60 area children and a dozen chaperones converged there for a daytime Bible Camp.

The second annual camp was hosted by Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and featured Bible stories read by Pastor Mike Shaw from State Street Baptist Church in Presque Isle.

“This is the third camp of three for this year,” said Alex Bourgoine, Northeast Director for CEF. “We had a week-long camp in Mars Hill and another in Eagle Lake last month.”

The children pay a modest fee of $10.00 to attend the week- long day camp, which is substantially cheaper than any of the other Christian camps in the area. They arrive early in the morning, around 9:00 a.m. and stay until 5:00 p.m.

“We keep the children very busy,” said Pastor Shaw. “There is a story told by a local missionary, fishing, lunch, a nature hike, Bible reading and arts and crafts.”

Each child has a chance to fish on one of the days, and take a guided nature hike on the many trails cut through Ruel and Gloria Flannery’s 105 acres of woods. There are also three days of arts and crafts. Each day consists of a different Bible story from either the Old or New Testament. “We do a little of each,” said Pastor Shaw, “with an emphasis on preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the redemptive power of His Holy Blood.”

While they brought their own lunch on Monday through Thursday, Ruel and Gloria treated them to a barbecue picnic on Friday.

Each child had the opportunity to fish in the private fish pond behind the Flannery home. The fish that were caught were cleaned, bagged and iced for each child to take home with them.

On Thursday morning, the day campers were treated to a couple of unexpected guests as a cow and calf moose wandered into the camping area.

“I have a salt block down by the pond,” said Ruel Flannery. “The mother thought about it for some time, then decided to come out to lick it. Her calf soon followed.”

The moose posed no threat to the campers and seemed to be ambivalent to the activity there. “I walked up to within twenty feet of the mother and explained to her that this camp was only for registered campers and that she’d have to leave,” Pastor Shaw jokingly said. However, the moose paid him no mind.

“It’s very fun to watch the kids,” said Flannery. “They seem to have a really good time.”

Sharing the good news of the Gospel is nothing new to Flannery. As a former potato farmer, his harvest crew would join him in morning prayer and as a current member of the Fort Fairfield Town Council, he still leads the monthly Town Council Meeting in an opening prayer to the Lord Jesus - a very bold act, indeed in this day and age where the Anti-Christ Litigation Unit (ACLU) is shutting down Christian prayer wholesale across the country.

This is only the second year, but the numbers in attendance are up over last year. “We had about fifty attend last year,” said Flannery. “This year we’re right around sixty. We have four children attending from Canada and one who was visiting from Indiana.”

Pastor Shaw says some of the parents report their children are so excited about camp that when they come home at night, it’s all they can talk about until finally going to bed.

The camp continues to grow and directors are already looking forward to next year.

Photos:

Above: Pastor Mike Shaw from State Street Baptist Church in Presque Isle shares Bible verse with Isaac Michaud at the Christian Day Camp at Ruel Flannery's fish pond on Dorsey Road.

Right: Ruel's Retirement Resort was the location for the 2nd annual Child Evangelism Day Camp in Fort Fairfield

photos by: David Deschesne