How can we equip high school students to withstand the assaults on their faith that await them in college?
How can we keep them from “graduating from God” after they graduate from high school?
How can we keep our teens from becoming sad statistics of spiritual shipwreck?
A recent study by Fuller Seminary found one factor that proved most effective in helping young people retain their Christian convictions during high school and after graduation: having a safe place to wrestle with doubts and questions before leaving home. The study concluded, “The more college students felt that they had the opportunity to express their doubt while they were in high school, the higher [their] levels of faith maturity and spiritual maturity.”{1}
Mind Games Camp is tailor-made for giving students this safe place to ask questions and express doubts. Probe teachers delight to reassure students that not only is this good and important for spiritual health, it is one way we can love God with our minds!
Loving God with our minds is the most ignored part of the greatest commandment, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). We believe that the same God who invites us to “Come, let us reason together” (Is. 1:18) welcomes us to discover that His word is trustworthy, that biblical teaching is intellectually robust, and that there are good answers for our questions.
This 6½-day conference (Sunday evening to Saturday morning) is a total immersion, give-it-all-we’ve-got experience for high school and college students that changes minds and hearts forever. We lay a foundation of biblical worldview, which equips students to recognize truth and error in both the classroom and the culture. They are able to discern the explanations of life offered by their college professors, media figures and entertainment producers.
Then we build confidence in their faith through classical and cultural apologetics. They learn the evidence that Jesus is God and their Bibles are trustworthy. They grow in a biblical understanding of science, sexuality, human nature, art, evil and suffering, and world religions.
• Instructors engage in lively conversations, eating all meals with students and not each other.
• Daily small-group discussion times assure the opportunity to process what students are learning and how they are challenged.
• Instruction and discussion in how to watch a movie. It’s not just entertainment; there are always worldview and value issues behind every film and movie. Students won’t ever watch a movie the same way again.
• Probe staff members engage in recreation time and informal conversations with students.
• Morning devotionals and prayer time
• Not just lecture: teachers use video clips, role play, Q and A, and other teaching techniques
• Questions and doubts are met with respect and engagement; if we don’t know the answer, we’ll find it out.
• Plenty of free time is built into the schedule!
Instructors build confidence in Christianity as a reasonable faith, not one dependent on warm and fuzzy feelings. We believe there is no “silver bullet” evidence that will blow away objectors, but we can equip students to defend their faith with gentleness and respect (1 Pet. 3:15).
Mind Games Camp doesn’t just build confidence—it builds leaders. Alumni of Mind Games have gone on to become leaders on campus, in business, in politics, in ministry and in the military. Many students make lasting friendships with other Christ-followers from around the country who are serious about their faith.
Location: Camp Copass in Denton, Texas, a 45-minute drive northwest of Dallas.
Cost: $495.00 for lodging, meals, notebook and instruction.
Time: 4:00 p.m. Sunday, June 13 to 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning, June 19, 2021
Age guidelines: Completion of sophomore year of high school. Mind Games is geared for high school juniors and seniors, and college freshmen and sophomores. (Especially motivated younger students are welcome, though!)
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Note
1. Lillian Kwon, “Survey: High School Seniors ‘Graduating From God’,” The Christian Post, 10 August 2006.