Written by Aaron Roggow
Aaron Roggow is one of the adult counselors who volunteers their time to lead a group of Campers during Teen Weeks. When he isn’t at Camp Arcadia, he serves as the Associate Pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, where he and his wife, Mandy, are raising their four boys.
As hints of spring fill my senses, the countdown begins to one of my favorite weeks of the year. We’re just three months from June 7. Three months from a week that encourages kids to play like kids. Three months until the snow-covered sand of Arcadia becomes a playground for teens from across the country. Three months until God’s Word is shared with eager hearts that long for the stillness of truth in the chaos of a noise-filled world. Three months until a “camp family” is formed that gives us another glimpse of the Body of Christ in the Kingdom of God.
I love that Alpha Week at Camp Arcadia is unlike any other week of the year. Life moves slower on the shores of Lake Michigan. Minutes in the sunshine can feel like hours when you let them, just how summers felt when I was a kid. Living in intentional community with God’s people is an annual peek into the New Creation sabbath that is coming. The hope and my prayer is that each teen experiences this same rest, beauty, activity, camaraderie, worship, and peace throughout their week at camp. The goal is that they leave this week clinging to the truth of God’s faithful love shown to them in Jesus’ death and resurrection; that they know His grace is sufficient and that each of us is a beloved child of God.
This will be my 13th year as an Alpha Teen Week counselor (and my second as a dad sending a Camper!) In this time, I’ve seen how kids hunger for time away from busy schedules, constant schoolwork, practices, games, rehearsals, concerts, and performances. But each summer, for a week on the lakeshore, things slow down. Teens play a noisy game of box hockey, sing with arms around longtime and new friends, feel the triumph of a completed canoe trip, learn to push in chairs after a meal in the dining room, affirm the gifts they see in other Campers, finish each day with ice cream that hits the spot, and learn about the amazing work of a Savior who has come and is coming again for them.
Teen Weeks – only three months away. Registration is open. Start your countdown.
