Summer camp—Vietnamese-style

Photo by Karen Willoughby

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP)—More than 130 Vietnamese teens from several states converged on Vietnamese Hope Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, La., for their annual sports-and-spirituality camp in mid-July.

“We just want to see kids turning, preparing, fighting the sin in their lives so they can pursue godliness; that’s it,” said Vinh Duong, youth leader at Vietnamese Hope Baptist Church and this year’s camp organizer.

Breakout sessions followed each worship service. Duong led half the teens in an introduction to hermeneutics or, as he described it, “how to read the Bible.” J.P. Myers, a mixed-heritage student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, led the others in studying the attributes of God through Christ. The next day, the leaders switched groups.

“It was a lot, but I think the way I did it was very applicable to them,” Duong said. He noted, for example, that “Mary had a little lamb” only makes sense in the context of the children’s song, just as each passage of Scripture must be understood in its context. “The kids started to really get into it,” Duong said.

After Friday evening’s message, the teens gathered for questions and answers from a panel of Myers, Hilbun, Peng and Phi Vo from Mobile, Ala.

“We had a box floating around camp the first two days that they could put their questions in,” Duong said. “There were kids who asked about drugs, sex, homosexuality, church attendance, prayer…. It was just very encouraging to see that kids were willing to ask questions, because they do have questions about these matters.

The panel urged the Vietnamese teens “to be sure to find accountability,” Duong said. “You have to ask yourself what you love most. Part of it is about our dependence on the Lord; you have to find that [dependence] in accordance with repentance. What is it we love most? The only thing in the end that can satisfy us is God.”

Skits Saturday night also relayed spiritual truth, such as one about joy. “What would bring you the greatest joy? Is it food? Is it a wife? Real joy comes from God,” Duong said in recapping one skit.

A skit on hypocrisy showed the difference between “walking” and “talking” the Christian life, he added.

Camp drew to a close each night with devotionals “to help the kids reflect about the day and the message,” Duong said. “For us [leaders], that’s when we dig into the lives of the campers.

“I think a lot of kids really enjoyed Vietnamese youth summer camp,” Duong said. “It was a lot more serious than they thought [it would be]. A lot of kids after the camp began putting verses up [on Facebook and MySpace] and said they need to take charge of their Christian lives before the tide of sin and our culture take them away. It was really encouraging to see that.”