Jesus | Todd the Hiker

Most of us have heard the term most valuable player, or MVP, in the context of the secular, sports world, and understand it as an honor bestowed upon individual athletes who excel in their chosen sport. In 2011 the youth pastor at our church (North Cincinnati Community Church in Mason, Ohio) decided to take a different approach to summertime youth ministry. Rather than offering one of the traditional Vacation Bible School (VBS) programs found in many churches across America, he chose to design a new program. The name chosen for this program was MVP, which in this case stands for Most Valuable Pursuit.

The idea behind MVP Camp is to expose children to the gospel message through the arts (art, music, & ballet), athletics (baseball, basketball, football, soccer, & golf), and outdoor adventure (cool stuff like hiking, camping, orienteering, & roasting marshmallows over a campfire), activities pursued passionately by many in today’s society, Christian and non-Christian alike. We teach the children skills in their chosen pursuit, and that these activities are wonderful gifts from God that should always be pursued with honor and excellence; but, ultimately, the Most Valuable Pursuit of all is a personal and life-long relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

At the start of each evening the children gather in the church sanctuary to hear an opening speaker who is a leader in one of the offered pursuits, and who is also a devoted follower of Christ, demonstrating that the pursuit of these activities can indeed be God honoring, and that Jesus is our Most Valuable Pursuit of all. The children then disperse into smaller groups for instruction in their chosen activity for the remainder of the evening. On Friday evening, the final night of the week long MVP Camp, we hold one large gathering where parents are invited to attend, along with their children, to learn about the week’s activities and hear a closing speaker’s testimony.

From the beginning of the MVP program I have been blessed to lead the camp’s outdoor adventure track. I frequently tell others that I have just as much fun as (maybe even more than) the kids in my camp, and that serving Christ in this manner is a tremendous growth opportunity and blessing for me personally. In the interest of keeping this post from getting too long I will save a more detailed description of my outdoor adventure camp activities for a future post.

In the first two years MVP Camp has been well received by those within our church and by those in the community around us. We started big the first year, with around 150 children, and had nice growth in participation the second year, with nearly half of the children coming from outside our church both years. We are now preparing for our third year and praying that the growth trend continues, despite a major road construction project limiting access to our church driveway.

By taking advantage of society’s fascination with sports and other extracurricular activities the hope is to attract a more diverse cross section of the community, particularly those who are un-churched and may shy away from the more traditional VBS offerings. I believe this mission is being accomplished and that the gospel message is being proclaimed quite effectively through this ministry.

To God be the glory!!!

Yours in Christ,
Todd the Hiker

In the Bible we are told the story of God’s creation of the universe, the heavens, the earth, skies, waters, plants, animals, and ultimately of mankind, in God’s own image. In Romans 1:20 we are told that God’s creation is sufficient to make us aware of his existence.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (ESV)

And, while God has most certainly given us an amazing world filled with natural beauty that points us to his glory, without his inspired, infallible word, the Bible, we cannot truly know God nor his plan for our salvation in a fallen world. Modern society is certainly out of touch with nature, but more importantly we are out of touch with our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, the God of the Bible.

This blog is written from a Christian perspective and assumes that God is the master and creator of all things. I hope to not only highlight some of the amazing wilderness that God has blessed my wife and me to experience, but also to bring a Christian perspective on nature and the outdoors, particularly how we use hiking as a ministry for Christian fellowship and retreat as well as evangelism and outreach.

By no means do I intend to elevate nature to an object of worship! God’s creation is a magnificent gift for us to enjoy, however, the glory must always be God’s. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, himself, used the outdoors as an integral part of his ministry while here on earth. And, I believe this is a model that we can use in our own ministries today. I plan to share more thoughts on this subject in future posts.

Posts you find here will range from the theological to the secular and will cover a broad range of topics all generally relating to the outdoors and outdoor ministry. I hope to include reviews of books (Christian and secular), parks, trails, and gear. Some posts will be shorter snippets, resources, ideas, tips, and techniques for outdoor ministry, hiking, camping, wilderness survival, and whatever else may seem fitting to the outdoor ministry theme of this site. And, from time to time, I hope to dig deeper into the biblical and theological principles behind my ministry, under the category of “The Hiker’s Ramblings,” as this post is categorized.

This is my first time venturing into the world of blogging, so please bear with me as I learn!

I hope that you will find my posts useful, thought provoking, and edifying. But, most of all, I hope that God’s glory will always shine through. Because, our God is truly an awesome God!!!!

Yours in Christ,
Todd the Hiker

Who is Todd the Hiker? See my About the Author page.