Called to Salt Lake City, Part 1
Arin's Story
I served with Camp Pinnacle from 2012 through 2016. I had just about every job you could have at camp and got to spend my last year as the Program Coordinator. With this job I got to be silly on stage, use the golf cart, and work with an awesome leadership team; but God had big plans for that summer far beyond the end of camp. In April, before camp, some of the leadership team had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City and meet the Catherman and Kern families, our missionaries for the summer. From the moment we stepped off the plane I knew that Salt Lake City was going to be a part of my life in some way. The funny thing was in that same moment I also told God I didn’t want to move there. I pushed any idea of this out of my mind and focused on the planning for camp.
This wasn’t the first time I hesitated about an opportunity to serve in an unfamiliar way. When I first heard about Camp Pinnacle from my sister and former staffer, Alexis Harrison, it scared me to think about all the unknowns. By God’s grace, I trusted Him and He used my first summer to show me how to own my faith which was really hard and sometimes painful. The following summer I had that same feeling of being unsure if I wanted to follow Jesus in what He knew was best for me. Once again, He was faithful and gave me boldness to follow Him and go back to Camp Pinnacle for a second summer. That summer with all my hesitations, God still made it the best summer of my life! After that I wanted to be at camp every year. So when I found out I was going to be the Program Coordinator and help make camp special for campers and staff, I was super excited.
It wasn’t until the Catherman family came to visit Camp Pinnacle that summer, that I felt the strong pull towards Salt Lake City; the Rose Park area specifically. Bryan Catherman, lead pastor at Redeeming Life Church, ended his Mission Commission time by having the staff pray over the campers, that they would be a missionary wherever they go. I gladly did this, laying hands on them praying blessing over their lives. Without warning he asked the girls to lay their hands on the staffers and pray that one of us would be intern with their church. A sinking feeling fell in the pit of my stomach, I wasn’t ready to ask God, but I was pretty sure I was the answer to that prayer.
Camp ended and I still hadn’t told anyone about what I was feeling. The Lord continued to put reminders of Salt Lake in my path for the next four months until one day in October I finally broke down. I was sitting at my kitchen table filling out an application for another job when it hit me, I didn’t want anything that wasn’t in God’s plan for me.
I wouldn’t have known I could trust God in something as big as moving across the country without any money if I hadn’t trusted Him in the smaller thing of working at camp. All my summers at Camp Pinnacle taught me that God has an awesome plan for my life and I just need to take the steps He shows me. As I look back at each moment when I didn’t want to follow God, those are the opportunities that have been the most fun and brought Him the most glory.
Submitted by Arin, a former staffer from 2012-2016.
Posts
Although I grew up in a Christian home and have been taught the Gospel since I was a little girl, it wasn’t until I went to camp that year that it finally clicked.
God used camp to teach me how to rely on him and trust him with all things. I experienced firsthand what it looked like to serve him wholeheartedly.
A camper confessed some sins and I told her how, because of Christ, we are no longer slaves of sin. We discussed Romans 6-8, Ephesians 6, and 1 Samuel 3:1-10. The next morning, she told me she couldn’t stop smiling when she went to bed.
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