Kids love camp worship services because they are fun and provide experiences where campers can encounter the Lord in new ways, realizing that God speaks in music, through sermons and skits, and in the silence or sounds of creation. One of our goals as summer camps is to partner with the local church to ensure that our camp worship experiences build on what campers experience at home. At January’s National Gathering, we will seek to do the same thing for camp and retreat leaders.
Each evening of the event, our worship services will aid us in reflecting on each day’s theme and will do so through liturgy, music, spoken word, and prayer. As a gathering of primarily United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministry leaders, we will have a wide range of experiences that will keep us close to our Wesleyan theology, but will be diverse in musical styles, reflecting the diversity of camp and local church musical experiences. Our worship leader for the event, Chuck Bell, and the other members of the band will lead us musically each night.
Chuck loves to help folks consider ways they can take something familiar and make it unique and provide opportunities for participants to become leaders. Know the chords G, D, E minor, and C? If so, plan to bring your instrument and join in with the instrument choir during a service. If you like to sing, plan to lift your voice in song as part of the congregational “choir,” with and without other instruments. Got rhythm? Be a part of the interactive percussion segment. Not so much a musician? Join us to read, sign, or simply listen and reconnect as Rev. Junius Dotson brings us the Word each night.
This is one table that mom won’t fuss about you singing around!
Established in 2002, Chuck and Kim Bell have been serving in ministry from the start of their relationship. Over the years they have led youth choirs and orchestras, young adult ministries, children's worship services, workshops, youth and children's retreats, small groups, and family dinners at the table together. Blessed with two awesome daughters, Lucy (13) and Blakely (9), their ministry has expanded to include their whole family, as both girls love to sing and play instruments while leading others in song and worship, and are often referred to collectively as Team Bell. Kim currently serves as a Director at Glisson Camp and Retreat Center in North Georgia and serves as a Worship/Main Stage Coordinator for the upcoming National Event. Chuck is a Worship Consultant and CEO of Chuck Bell Music, serving churches, retreat groups, annual conferences, and more, and is the Worship Leader for @the Table. Team Bell loves living in their Hallmark town of Dahlonega, GA with their outdoor cat, Mr. Fluffy Pants, and thousands of their closest friends every summer camp season.
