Camp Fire Talk – Week 1

June 14-19, 2026

By Nick Benson

Image: Nick is pictured welcoming campers with other staff, third from the left.

Hello everyone! My name is Nick Benson, and it is my second year on Life Squad. Tonight I’m going to talk a little bit about community and an experience I had that made it clear to me that community is not only about having a group of people to have fun with, but can actually be much more than that. Community can be something much more meaningful.

Last January, I spent a couple of weeks in Quito, Ecuador, where I volunteered at an organization called A Family of Families. That name might seem a little weird, and the idea of community or a close friend being “family” is something that can be hard to grasp, as we are used to family only being the people you are related to or grew up next to. But as I was in Ecuador, the name made perfect sense. The organization is rooted in families supporting other families, and it truly felt like one big family while I was there. Everyone seemed to know each other and was always checking in on each other.

This idea of Family was especially evident in Ecuador when we participated in a Minga. A minga was an old indigenous concept that the organization adapted. During the Minga, we went along with a group of helpful members of the organization to a community member’s house and helped them out with projects that they needed done, that were too big for them to get done alone. Overall, this experience was wonderful, and what really stood out to me was how so many people were there to support this family, even though it was hard work that they did not need to show up for. It was also really cool to see how thankful the family was for the help we provided. They baked us cake and gave us lemonade, and they were so grateful for the work that we did that day. This experience showed me how powerful a community can be, and how when we treat a community like a “family”, you can truly be there for others and have the same support back.
This also reminded me a lot of camp, and how it is the community and the family here that make this place so special, and thinking back on it, the community here is one of the main reasons I am working here today.

Whether it’s your first time here at camp or you’ve been here many times, you are part of the camp family. This place is special because this family accepts you no matter what, and there are countless people here who will support you and be there for you when you need them.

I want to take you back to one of the songs we sang tonight: “Lean On Me.”

“Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on.”

This shows us how powerful a good community can be, as a good community is about being there for one another, being there for people when they need you, and also having people be there for you when you need them.

This week, you’re going to experience a lot of this community, whether it’s bonding in devos with your cabin, learning as a group during bible study, or playing team games, working together. I hope the rest of this week, through these activities, you can feel this wonderful community around us, but even if you don’t I encourage all of you to find a community in your life, whether it’s a sports team, a club, your family, or just a group of friends… where you can … of course, have fun together, but also truly be yourself.

God surrounds us and is present in all of these communities, and he shows his love through the people around us. I hope you can find a community where it feels like a family, surrounded by God’s love, where you support others, and they support you.