"This is all real," I whisper, the last word catching in my throat. "God is real."

“This place… these people… the presence of a God I never knew—in the blistering heat of my heavy heart, here among the open sky, sweat from the daily grind of my sport, everything speaks life.

I’m from a place that paralyzes and beats you down. Where it’s survival mode, where you scrape and climb your way up a pit just to be pushed back to the bottom. In a city that suffocates, one of the first pieces of your heart to go is hope. There is no room to breathe easy.

Immediately, I think back to all the wrongs I’ve done. All the lies, all the heartbreak, all the black and blue I’ve inflicted because I was bruised first. But what all the speakers have been saying at worship each night about God’s love, how I’ve been embraced by encouragement from every staff, coach, and camper I encounter, and the patience of my Huddle leader as I’ve wrestled with my past and Christ’s piercing for my future —how could He forgive it all, just like that?

God is good. Evidence of this all around. Learning to read the Bible in quiet time with His voice singing over me. The thrill of running free at practice, surrounded by teammates who become spiritual siblings. How I am accepted, just as I am. No one has cared for me like this before. They loved on me—they loved for me —when I couldn’t love myself.

‘This is all real,’ I whisper, the last word catching in my throat. ‘God is real.’

Last day of camp. I don’t want to leave. But as one of the staff and I pray together, I feel that this is not the end. Camp gave me the beginning of one great adventure after another with Him.”

FCA Camp 2016 saw a record-breaking year across the globe, and while numbers can speak for themselves, let’s put a heartbeat between the digits.

Total Camps: 740 Scattered across the soil of this earth, seeds were planted in 456 U.S. camps and 284 camps throughout the world.

First-Time Commitments: 8,788                 8,788 hearts fell in love with Jesus and said yes to His saving work on the cross.

Recommitments to Christ: 11,256                 11,256 made a promise to put Him back in their lives, first and foremost, front and center.

The Heart of It: 

55,869

That's 55,869 coaches and athletes on record surrendering their lives and their sports to Jesus Christ through an FCA activity.