Can faith and fun go together?
Echo Ranch is a place where you can have an enormous food fight and then spend an hour in chapel. A soccer player can learn the concepts of the game and be introduced to God’s concepts on how to live life.
The key is having balance.
If all we did was play games then Echo Ranch would be like any other summer camp. But when you add the element of faith, now kids are being asked to think about the larger questions of life.
Balance is the key. We believe that activities like chapel and allowing kids to ask questions about God is important. But we also know that not all of our campers come from faith backgrounds. We have to be sensitive to everyone's needs.
 Campers in chapel
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Echo Ranch holds that Jesus Christ is the answer to life's biggest questions. We also believe that each person is responsible for making a decision about whether they want to follow Jesus Christ. It is not our job to force anyone into believing anything. That would ruin all the fun of camp and be a poor example of what being a Christian is all about. In fact, a camper can visit Echo Ranch Bible Camp, have the best week of their summer and not have anything to do with Jesus.
Echo Ranch is a ministry. Through the fun activities of camp, we are able to tend to the emotional and spiritual needs of our campers.
This doesn't mean anything dramatic. It could be as simple as a camper having a counselor to listen to them. The counselor is able to share how their faith in God helped them in a similar situation. The camper is free to accept or reject this advice based on their own personal experience. Another ministry activity could simply be a trail ride with the horses. The camper loves horses or maybe has never ridden and is just enjoying life. We believe that God has given us the horses and all the programs at camp to honor Him.
Studies have shown that kids who have an element of faith in their daily activities deal with life's situations better. One example can be found in the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health done by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In youth, ages 12-17, who agreed that religious beliefs are a very important part of life, their past month illicit drug use was reported as 7.6 percent, compared with 17.1 percent among those who disagreed with that statement. It is clear that drug use is a problem in America but there was a difference in the youth who felt that religious beliefs were a very important part of life.
The message of Echo Ranch is that faith in God through Jesus Christ can help people in all aspects of their lives. Following Christ isn't about feeling sorry for yourself but experiencing life the way God intended it. Echo Ranch is simply a place where faith and fun combine together to create a memorable experience.