he bride and groom spoke their wedding vows in a garden outside a rustic cabin with the scent of lilacs in bloom and newly emerged butterflies dancing amidst the guests. The reception was in an adjacent field. It was a beautiful, sunny day – June 12, 2004 – and it couldn’t have been more perfect had a professional arranged every intricate detail. There was a wedding planner – but not the kind typically used. The wedding planner for this blessed event was the Lord himself.

Christian summer camp is a wonderful option for both kids and parents. Sending them off for supervised fun and activities in a Christian environment is a wholesome way for kids to spend a week or two – or sometimes the whole summer. In some cases, Christian summer camp can be the beginning of a lifetime of love.

Andy Barnes grew up attending Sentinel Baptist Camp in Tuftonboro, N.H. His first summer at Sentinel was actually in his mom’s womb. After that he slept in her cabin for several summers while she worked as a camp counselor. The youngest of four, he anxiously awaited the summer he turned 6, when he could finally attend “Mini-Camp.”

Romance often blooms at summer camp, and in a Christian environment it blooms in a healthy atmosphere. While teenagers weren’t forbidden to pursue relationships at Camp Sentinel, the environment and supervision was strict and campers were held accountable for appropriate behavior.

“The summer I met Christina, I was dating another girl,” Andy Barnes says. “I started wondering if I’d made the right choice.”

Andy and Christina Barnes, who met at a church summer camp, enjoy outdoor activities with their sons.

Christina is now Andy’s wife. The romantic wedding scene first described here was theirs, and it took place at Camp Sentinel. The couple now has two small boys; Nikulaus James is 3, and Liam Glen is 1. Meeting at Camp Sentinel while campers, and continuing as camp staffers, Camp Sentinel became a mainstay in the lives of this young family.

“After attending Sentinel as campers, then working there as staffers, Christina and I decided it was the only logical place for us to be married. A year later I was offered the director’s position.”

Budget cuts forced the Barnes family out of Sentinel’s directorship a couple of years later, and Andy went on to be the fundraising coordinator and de facto Director for Friends of Forgotten Children; Concord, New Hampshire’s largest food pantry and service provider. Wife Christina does “the important work,” as her husband calls it – staying home to raise their boys. She also teaches infant and toddler sign language classes at the food pantry. Camp Sentinel, however, is still at the heart of the couple’s Christian endeavors.

“Sentinel is at the top of our tithe list. We support the ministry because we know firsthand the value of Christian camping.”

Andy and Christina Barnes aren’t the only couple in the Barnes family to have met their spouses at Camp Sentinel. Andy’s late sister Davideen met her husband there, and Andy’s sister Beth met her husband Brian while camping at Sentinel.

“Brian and I met at camp when we were teenagers,” Beth Colburn explains. “Meeting at a Christian camp put us both at ease, because we immediately realized that no matter where the other person was in their Christian walk, it was clear we were walking the same path.”

Brian and Beth Colburn.

A couple of summers later, Beth and Brian realized their camping experiences were leading them toward a future together.

“Brian and I knew from the beginning that our Christian faith was going to be a huge part of our lives together. We agreed that our growing as a couple was going to be well within the parameters of a Christian relationship. From very early on, we decided that God was to be central to our dating relationship as well as our future marriage.”

The Colburn family: Beth, Paige Davideen, Pike Brian, and Brian.

Beth and Brian have been married for several years now and have a daughter and a son. Paige Davideen is 4, and Pike Brian is 2. Brian is a civil engineer and Beth works part time at Weight Watchers. They plan on Camp Sentinel being an integral part of Paige and Pike’s formative years, too.

Christian camping affords a plethora of fun and frivolous activities. Both couples are quick to point out that had they not experienced the many entertaining dimensions of Camp Sentinel, they may not have realized the common interests shared with their future spouses. Skits and arts and crafts fueled imaginations. Swimming, canoeing, hiking, and overnight treks into the wilderness encouraged healthy bodies and minds. Hands-on experiences taught important life skills.

Andy Barnes recalls the summer when he was certain it clicked with Christina that he was “the one.”

“I was preparing for a safe burn event with the local volunteer fire department. It was to be held within the Sentinel grounds. I saw her eyeing me from across the room as I got ready. It was definitely that fire suit that pushed her over the edge,” he jokes.

Beth and Brian cite music as one of their favorite camp memories.

“From enjoying contemporary Christian tunes to silly songs in the dining hall and praise songs at Vespers, music brings us back to Camp Sentinel even now, when we hear a certain song,” Brian says.

Summing up their years spent as Christian campers, these couples agree the underlying theme was one of comfort with who each of them was first as children, then teenagers, and later as adults in an environment that allowed them to unabashedly be themselves.

“Sentinel’s greatest impact on all of our lives was teaching us that being Christians was in no way un-cool,” Beth recalls. “Christian camping allowed us all to feel perfectly comfortable in professing our faith to those outside the comforts of Sentinel, and the confidence to be who we are as people, despite what others might think of us.”

The Lord works in mysterious ways, but some mysteries have come to light at Camp Sentinel, with a Christian environment setting the stage for some incredibly wholesome and happy lives.