Salvation in the Soccer Field

Birch Bay Ranch, where to start?  When I was 8 my mom showed me a brochure for it and said, “I know it has Bible stuff there, but if you’re ok with that, it has horses,” and I said “sure, whatever, as long as there are horses.”  There, for the first time, I learned that despite everything that my peers at school were telling me, that I was loved, and not only that, but by Jesus, God of the Universe.  I accepted that love, and when I was 12, on the corner of the soccer field I decided to give my life to reciprocate it.  

For the first few years of my Christian walk, growing up in an agnostic/relativistic family, going to church was my one week at camp.  I had my New Testament that Birch Bay had provided for me, AM 930 The Light, and my week at camp.  The place was super fun and where I found love.  It was easy for me to know I wanted to work there.

As a teen I started with four weeks of working, and I worked there for 10 summers.  It was hard, but it was good, and it was fun and it was a place where I could learn more and more about God.  I learned a good work ethic, and was given so many different opportunities to enhance my skill base; there was always something new to learn.  I was challenged to grow in physical, mental, social and spiritual skills.  As I became an older staff member, I was entrusted with training younger staff members.  This stretched me to find the value that God sees in people that I don’t naturally appreciate and showed me that everyone has that value.  I was humbled and built up in a healthy environment.  It was an honor when I was baptized in their pool.

I could make page upon page of stories on how Birch Bay was a positive influence on my life, but the greatest part was that Birch Bay was a place where I got to be a part of God positively influencing others.  Wearing my old staff shirt, people would stop me and say, “Hey I remember Birch Bay!”  

There are so many stories of people finding their spouse there (including, indirectly, me).  The one story that stands out the most to me, was a week of teen camp, I had two girls that seemed to be resistant to the Gospel.  One girl was mad at God because her father had died and another girl had decided that it wasn’t for her.  The first girl was having a heart to heart with me one night and asking me all sorts of questions, she liked the sound of Christianity, but she needed to know that there was hope for her father.  I told her that scripture says that Jesus has defeated death, so I believed that yes there was hope for her father.  She signed on immediately and wanted Jesus to be her life.  The next morning she was sharing her witness of Jesus with the second girl and telling her testimony of how awesome He is without any prompting from any of the staff.  Later that day, just before camp ended, one on one I asked the second girl if she wanted in on Christianity, she welled up just a little and sniffed out “Yes!”

Birch Bay Ranch exists to provide a natural and nurturing environment where people encounter God and experience positive life change.  It is my experience that God has fulfilled its mission and constantly provides those opportunities in the safe environment that is Birch Bay.

Jacki den Otter