Lisa first came to know of Camp Asbury through a woman at church, who encouraged Lisa’s oldest daughter to come tryout camp for a week. This one invitation led to an entire family falling in love with Asbury and becoming lifelong campers, “After that first summer that my oldest daughter went, she told the rest of my kids about how much fun she had and so they all had to go the next year.”
Lisa always felt comfortable leaving her children with the Asbury staff, “talking with everyone involved with taking care of my children, and realizing the intentionality of what they did and how they tried to communicate with parents, sensing their love for this place, the love for God, and the love for the children, I just knew my children were in good hands. I knew they wouldn’t come home the same.”
“Every year my children grew in self-awareness, awareness of others, love and care of creation, self-confidence, purpose and independence.” Lisa recollected, “A big thing I noticed was their spiritual growth. The faith I wanted to share with them was reinforced at camp. When kids see someone cool who has a sense of God, and purpose to glorify God, and doesn’t shy away from talking about God’s goodness, God becomes real and desirable. A week at camp each summer nourished them to grow throughout the rest of the year.”
Lisa notes that passion that camp stirred in her children. Passion for serving the Earth and others, that her kids were taught that we were called to care for creation and show hospitality and service to one another. Those lessons have resonated throughout her whole family to this day.
She watched as Asbury worked on her kids’ lives as campers and eventually went on to continue to work in their lives as most of them went on to become staff at Asbury. Lisa became a maternal figure for the summer staff, often stopping by and chatting with the staff, leaving words of encouragement and eventually affectionately given the nickname “Mama Schwan”. One year, one of Lisa’s daughters encouraged Lisa to start working in the kitchen at camp, “She would always come home from work laughing with the best stories of these funny and fun women she worked with. Each one did something that reminded her of me. One day she said, ‘Mom, you should come work at Camp Asbury!’ I was already in love with the place, so I thought if they’d have me, I’d be happy to.”
Now, Lisa has become a staple for many summer staff, campers and retreat groups, “I see our summer campers, retreat guests and other guests gather around a table, free to enjoy each other’s company and conversation. I see strangers become friends. I see friends become family. I see people breaking bread and sharing a meal. I see God at work.” Lisa cares deeply about the ministry that happens at Camp Asbury. One of the great things about Asbury is that all are welcome here, and we serve guests from various backgrounds and beliefs, but one thing Lisa knows is that no matter the differences, all the guests that come here experience God’s love.
It is thanks to the generosity and gifts of people like you that we can continue our ministry and ensure that as Lisa says, “all our guests are able to experience God’s love,” and our campers are able to have the opportunity to experience the real spiritual growth that happens at camp. Thank you for all of your support!