Jesus Camp - thoughts

Wow. I had heard a lot about the movie, but I was not ready for what I saw. I have never been a big fan of causing people to make emotional decisions about their life with Christ. Yes, I know part of faith is emotional and you cannot have a completely emotionless-based faith. I have seen too many teenagers make emotional decisions and never stick with them long-term. So watching this movie brought up a great amount of thoughts and feelings about the whole subject when it comes to working with children (younger than the age group I am currently working with).

There are so many moments in Jesus Camp where I wanted to step into the scene and just stop what was going on. Some were purely personal preferences, like when the campers were not allowed to tell stories before going to bed. (Though I do not know what time it was or the context of the situation since all I saw was what the filmmakers wanted me to see.) Other moments were theological in differences, like the scene where all the kids are speaking in tongues and falling on the ground.

It was amazing to watch the kids consumed by the experience. To see the level of commitment and desire the kids had for God was akin to the level of commitment and desire I’ve seen kids have for sports or video games. My biggest question has to do with what will these kids be like in 10 or 20 years. Will they have the same zeal? Will they be leading others to know God? Will they walk away from God?

The part of Jesus Camp that really got me thinking was listening to the commentary. Listening to the commentary was challenging. It was challenging because the directors spoke about the experience they had making the film. The commentary reinforced that people who are not believers will see this movie and assume all Christians are like this. The people are real, nothing was staged and still I find it hard to imagine this camp occurring each summer.

(sidenote: the directors’ commentary confirmed what I thought about Ted Haggard’s clips in the movie. He came across as arrogant and slightly annoying and apparently that is the feeling they got from the experience too. His sermons were the only part of Jesus Camp, besides the interviews, where the people talked to the cameras. He just couldn’t seem to act like the camera was not there while he was preaching.)

My advice - watch it & watch the commentary!