For one weekend on the mountain at Skycroft, roughly 110 guests heard the same message from the moment they arrived until they left: you belong here.
That was the whole point of our annual Everyone Belongs Camp, the week each year when BCM/D sets aside its normal rhythm to make room for individuals and families affected by disabilities. I believe loving and serving these families honors God, and camps like this one are proof that our convention doesn’t just talk about caring for people on the margins — we build a weekend around it.
Behind Every Belonging
A weekend like this doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because dozens of people quietly gave up their time, their sleep, and in some cases their whole summer to make sure it went off without a hitch.
Katie Matthews, our Disabilities Ministry Consultant, and Margot Painter, who serves BCM/D and its ministries on our support staff, spent months in preparation and then the entire weekend on-site, serving, problem-solving, and loving on our guests in real time. Demetra Bennett of our Operations team ran background checks on every volunteer, the unglamorous work that lets families trust us with their kids. And our communications team gave the camp a new look this year: Katie Lembo, our graphic designer, built branding that captured exactly what Everyone Belongs is supposed to feel like — you could see it in every shirt on the mountain.
Skycroft’s staff matched that effort step for step. Taylor and Andrew Tuel were everywhere, serving guests in ways big and small all weekend long. The kitchen team made sure campers with allergies didn’t just have something to eat, they had food they could actually enjoy. The rooms were spotless. Well done, Skycroft.
The spiritual backbone of the weekend came from our churches. Shannon Diehl of Berlin First Baptist Church wrote the Bible teaching plan, a disability-specific VBS curriculum that shaped everything campers heard and sang all week. Pastor Chris McCombs of Lexington Park Baptist Church brought his whole family to minister through music, conversation, and generosity. Sherri Swanson of Bayside Baptist Church lent her wisdom and hands-on help throughout. And Tommy Rowe of Cresthill Church served as camp pastor, with his son Brian at his side, making sure every camper and volunteer heard the story of Jesus before the weekend ended.
I list all of this not to hand out credit, but to make a point: a weekend like Everyone Belongs takes a village. Every hour anyone poured into it was worth it.
Thank You
To everyone who had a hand in this camp — thank you. For your prayers, your planning, your patience, your presence: thank you.
I’m honored to lead a convention where we look at families affected by disabilities and say: we see you, and God sees you. You are welcome here.
Stories from the mountain, the real heartbeat of this weekend, are coming in a follow-up piece. For now, I just wanted you to know how grateful I am.
— Tom Stolle Executive Director, BCM/D
