Program trains students for careers in camp ministry

During the summer months, Liberty University students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned through classes in Adventure Leadership and Outdoor Ministry (ALOM) at camps across the country.

A program within the School of Divinity, ALOM is designed to equip students to be in full-time camp ministry. Currently, students can receive a minor in ALOM or a specialized cognate while earning either their B.S. in Christian Leadership & Church Ministries or a B.S. in Youth Ministries.

Keith Oglesby, founder and executive director of Carolina Creek Christian Camps in Huntsville, Texas, was recently hired to become the director of ALOM beginning this fall.

“The goal of this program is to prepare students for a career working at Christian camps,” he said. “There is a great need in the U.S. and all over the world for training qualified people to direct and lead camp ministries.”

According to Oglesby, there are currently only 33 other schools in the U.S. that specifically train students in the area of camp ministry.

“We want our program to become the best at training people to go out and know how to run a camp,” he said. “At Liberty, our students learn how they can take 100 acres of unused land and turn it into a ministry epicenter.”

Oglesby said that Carolina Creek Christian Camps has been recruiting Liberty students for 11 years and that this summer 70 students are on staff.

“We hire Liberty students because they have a passion to reach kids with the Gospel, and they are very evangelically minded,” he said. “It is a great opportunity for them to take the principles they have learned in the classroom and apply them in a real ministry setting.”

Brandt Grauss, a rising senior pastoral leadership major, said that working at camp every summer has made him a stronger leader.

“My time on student leadership at Liberty has prepared me for camp because I learned about biblical discipleship and project management,” he said. “The Lord has used my time at Liberty and Carolina Creek as mutually beneficial experiences that are shaping me into a Christ-focused, Christ-honoring leader.”