{"id":823,"date":"2009-05-18T05:07:01","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T09:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=823"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:56:14","slug":"summer-is-coming-use-caution-when-choosing-kids-camp-or-vacation-bible-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/summer-is-coming-use-caution-when-choosing-kids-camp-or-vacation-bible-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer is Coming: Use Caution When Choosing Kids Camp or Vacation Bible School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are planning on sending your child(ren) to kid&#8217;s summer camp or Vacation Bible School this summer, please use caution and discernment. Find out if the program you are looking at is going to be including a spiritual formation program and if so, you should avoid such programs. Also be careful about receiving advice or recommendations regarding kid&#8217;s summer camps or Vacation Bible School from contemplative-promoting organizations, such as Awanas. In their book, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20090421080334\/http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com:80\/blog\/index.php?p=950&amp;more=1&amp;c=1\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Perspectives on Children&#8217;s Spiritual Formation<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a>, one of the authors (Trisha Graves, p. 178) talks favorably about &#8220;Vacation Bible School&#8221; at Mariners Church in Irvine California, saying that &#8220;the gospel is presented&#8221; during Vacation Bible School at Mariners. But Mariners is a church with contemplative\/emerging propensities. One example of this is the upcoming Mariner&#8217;s evening with contemplative proponent John Eldredge. And last year, in July of 2008, Mariners Church hosted an evening with the New Age sympathizing book <em>The Shack <\/em>author William Paul Young. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160123201548\/http:\/\/www.marinerschurch.org\/theshack\/av\/index.html\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">1<\/span><\/strong><\/a> In addition, Mariners Church is tied in with Metamorpha. Mariners Julie Barios is part of the Student Ministries Department doing pastoral care and spiritual direction at Mariners and is one of Metamorpha&#8217;s &#8220;Spiritual Directors.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20111007032021\/http:\/\/www.metamorpha.com\/Default.aspx?tabid=154\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">2<\/span><\/strong><\/a> Metamorpha was the subject of a Lighthouse Trails article because the organization, run by Lee Strobel&#8217;s son, is very pro-contemplative touting Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and other mystics and emerging figures.<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20090210192236\/http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com:80\/blog\/index.php?p=1257&amp;more=1&amp;c=1\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">3<\/span><\/strong><\/a> This is just one example of why parents must use care when choosing a camp or Vacation Bible School this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are planning on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[1244,2299,3043,3044],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children-and-meditation","tag-awana","tag-mariners-church","tag-awana-club","tag-awanas","wpcat-185-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - 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