Big Stuff at “BigStuf Camps”

On Monday, June 20th, one hundred and eleven students and over twenty adults from East Ellijay Baptist headed to Panama City for another year of BigStuf Camps. BigStuf Camps is a nondenominational, nonprofit ministry based in Alpharetta, Georgia. It was founded in 1988 by a man named Lanny Donoho. BigStuf and the 410 Bridge partner up every year in order to provide students and adults with new opportunities to enter into a deeper relationship with God and to serve God in all nations and all continents, including Haiti,Africa, and the United States, that are in need of help getting education, food, and clean water.This year’s theme of BigStuf Camps was “Konnekt.” In order for the students to connect with children in Africa this year, the BigStuf team put together a room known as the “Konnekt Lab.” In the “Konnekt Lab,” each student would find a new letter everyday from an African child, and would have the opportunity to write back to the child using a whiteboard and sending the picture via iPad. Thousands of letters were sent off each day, with the intent of providing both the sender and receiver with hope.

The hosts this year were Lanny Donoho and the Skit Guys, Tommy Woodward, and Eddie James. The Skit Guys are two men that have been friends since high school, and have been teaching God’s word through comedy, drama, and whatever else comes to mind for over twenty years. Jared Herd and Louie Giglio were this year’s speakers, speaking on topics each morning and each night that really opened the eyes of many students as to just how big our God really is, and how each of us could be used by Him.

The main goal of this year’s BigStuf Camps was to teach each student how to “Konnekt” with friends, strangers, themselves, other nations, and God. Not only did they capture this with the hosts and speakers, but with this year’s incredible BigStuf band, made up of Chris Coleman, Seth Condrey, and Chrystina Fincher, along with Christian illusionist, Brock Gill.

BigStuf was definitely a life-changing experience for the one hundred and eleven students who attended from EEBC, especially for the two students who allowed God to come into their heart and make them a new person.