The Big Picture
This one-page overview shows the need and the model—at a glance.
A 4-Minute Introduction
* The generation gap is wide--and growing.
* The younger generation longs for belonging.
* Faith must be experienced, not just taught.
* Creates space for belonging and spiritual formation.
* Trains and mobilizes the Next Generation as leaders.
* Gives the Older Generation a lasting legacy opportunity.
This one-page overview shows the need and the model—at a glance.
A 4-Minute Introduction
* Year 1: We lead and establish culture
* Year 2: We train and co-lead
* Year 3: Local leaders fully own the camp
Until the Stars Said Different.
A Spark of Curiosity That Led to a Lifetime of Following.
If you’d like to explore our mission, values, and story in more detail, start here.
Partnering with God to Bridge the Generations and Fulfill Psalm 72:5.
In Swamp Corps' third year, Director Jennifer Rorabaugh made a rather prophetic, albeit back-burner, observation. She said, "The Older Generation plants churches, the Younger Generation will plant camps." This insight has been maturing and developing and is ready to come to fruition.
? Swamp Corps?
A group of experienced campers and counselors who spend three years establishing a Swamp Camp: a safe, spiritual, and relational summer camp specifically designed for 9-18 year olds. See Process Details...
The broader ecclesiastical context in which the Next Generation find themselves has changed as has the missional landscape relative to that experienced by the Older Generation. On some level, the younger generation goes to "their parent's church" and they are searching for their place to make a difference in the wider Christian movement. In addition, they are wary of the way missions has been historically discussed and implemented; together with a greater awareness of institutional failures in education, religion, politics, economics, and marriage, to name a few, the Next Generation has a tainted view of postmodern Christianity . And yet, per the Barna Group's extensive Gen Z research and our own experiences over the last few decades, the one thing the Next Generation longs for is Jesus and a return to his organic movement. The S.C.M.A. Swamp Corps model allows for the Next Generation to find its place in our collective desire to present Jesus and the gospel to a broken world and to guide a forlorn generation back to an organic Jesus focus. By participating in Swamp Corps they establish camps in parallel ways that the Older Generation is planting churches reviving the true spirit of Jesus' missionary desire in them and work in partnership with the Older Generation to spread the gospel.
Make Space for the Next Generation...
Are you a seasoned Christian with a passion for nurturing the future? S.C.M.A. needs you! Join our dynamic initiatives where you, the Hero, make space for the Next Generation by providing the resources (prayers, wisdom, funding) that together change the world—fueling their aspirations with your experience. Together we can partner to build the Christian legacy.
Great Question!
Answer...
A Hero's Reward
a legacy of Christian faith and servant-leadership in the Next Generation by giving young people a space to belong and grow in their faith; after all people who belong, believe.
faith from one generation to the next fulfilling Jesus’ great commission making a difference in the lives of young people.
greater levels of spiritual satisfaction knowing Jesus’ teachings will continue into the future acknowledging all that Jesus has done for you, and expressing deep feelings of gratitude and thankfulness. (We call our Swamp Corps donors, investors, because they invest in the future not just donate to the present.)
the cycle of failed faith conveyance often seen in the Bible. Great is the reward of those who help raise new servant-leaders trained and devoted to continuing the bridge building pattern.
a sense of assurance in salvation and faithfulness to Jesus’ teachings to “go and make disciples teaching them to obey everything I have taught you,” by inspiring young hearts that "love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength," assuaging any guilt or shame, which may come, from using resources for temporal or non-eternal pursuits.
As a hero, you keep alive Jesus’ ministry in the face of competing requests and desires and provide a legacy opportunity allowing others all around the world the opportunity for belonging together in Christ's love, the experience of becoming closer to God, and bequeathing the heart to serve others and pass on Jesus’ teachings from this generation to the next forever.
My child spends more time in one week of camp being spiritually influenced by young heroes and the spiritual, fun-filled Swamp Camp culture than with their church in an entire year.
- Parent of Two Campers
One Week Can Change a Life. One Week Can Change the World.
- Swamp Corps Motto
Watch the amazing journey from a dream to a concept to a single camp in Georgia, USA to 25 camps spanning the globe offering togetherness through play, connection, community, and wonder.
If you’re ready to partner with us in bridging the generations…
Become an Investor 2010
• Jamaica (Year 1)
2011
• Jamaica (Year 2)
• Barbados (Year 1)
2012
• South Africa (Year 1)
• Barbados (Year 2)
• Jamaica (Year 3)
2013
• South Africa (Year 2)
• Brazil (Year 1)
• Barbados (Year 3)
2014
• South Africa (Year 3)
• India (Year 1)
• Bahamas (Year 1)
2015
• India (Year 2)
• Brazil (Year 2)
• Bahamas (Year 2)
• Zimbabwe (Year 1)
2016
• Nicaragua (Year 1)
• India (Year 3)
• Brazil (Year 3)
• Bahamas (Year 3)
• Zimbabwe (Year 2)
2017
• Nicaragua (Year 2)
• India (Year 4)
• GC Camp (Year 1)
• Zimbabwe (Year 3)
2018
• Nicaragua (Year 3)
• Cambodia (Year 1)
• GC Camp (Year 2)
• Kenya (Year 1)
• St. Vincent
• Mozambique (Year 1)
2019
• Cambodia (Year 2)
• Honduras (Year 1)
• Taiwan (Year 1)
• Kenya (Year 2)
• GC Camp (Year 3)
• Mozambique (Year 2)
2020
• COVID Interruption
• Swamp Virtual Camp (36 countries, 1,100 participants)
2021
• Honduras (Year 2)
2022
• Honduras (Year 3)
• Cambodia (Year 3)
• Nepal (Year 1)
2023
• São Paulo, Brazil (Year 1)
• Paraguay (Year 1)
• Taiwan (Year 2)
• Nepal (Year 2)
2024
• São Paulo, Brazil (Year 2)
• Paraguay (Year 2)
• Taiwan (Year 3)
• Angola (Year 1)
• Delhi, India (Year 1)
• Nepal (Year 3)
• Botswana (Year 1)
2025
• São Paulo, Brazil (Year 3)
• Paraguay (Year 3)
• Bolivia (Year 1)
• Angola (Year 2)
• Delhi, India (Year 2) - October
• Botswana (Year 2) - December
2026
• Bolivia (Year 2) - January
• Malaysia (Year 1) - June
• Angola (Year 3) - July
• Mexico (Year 1) - August
• Delhi, India (Year 3) - October
• Botswana (Year 3) - December
“No one knew the girl who smiled the brightest was fighting the darkest thoughts.”
Hidden in the hills of Nepal, far away from noise, phones, and chances… There is a village most people will never visit. A place where life moves slowly, opportunities are rare, and dreams often stay inside the four walls of a mud home.
And in that village lived a girl named Bhumika. To anyone who met her at camp, she was the girl who smiled first. The girl who danced without hesitation. The girl who ran into every activity like joy had been living in her bones forever. But joy wasn’t her whole story. It was the part she allowed the world to see.
Because nobody knew what her mother had carried alone. Nobody knew what Bhumika had carried in silence.
Last year, news travelled quietly through the camp team: Bhumika had a younger sister who wanted to come too. But their mother had no money left. Not for travel. Not for camp fees. Not even for the basic things her daughters needed. And so, in a moment only a mother’s heart can understand, she made a choice that shook everyone who heard it later, she sold her goats.
You see, in a village, goats are never “just goats.” They’re a family’s savings, their safety net, their dignity in the eyes of the community. They’re a lifeline. And giving them up is like giving up the only backup life has allowed you.
Bhumika’s mother gave that up… so her daughters could taste the kind of hope she never had. That decision alone could have been the whole story. But Bhumika’s journey was only beginning.
She almost didn’t come to camp this year. But God made a way for her to come again, through people like you, whose hearts were stirred to give. People she may never meet, but who carried her in their kindness.
This year, Bhumika came again. Not sixteen anymore, but eighteen. A little older, a little quieter, carrying weight most adults cannot bear.
Her father had been paralysed for eight years. Her mother worked the lowest-paying jobs, every single day. There were months when even food was uncertain.
Somewhere inside, Bhumika had begun to believe something dangerous: That she was a burden. That her life created more struggle to the ones she loved. Maybe, her absence would make things easier. But something else stood stronger : Even when she didn’t see her own worth, God did.
This time at camp, she behaved exactly as she always had: smiling, blending in, hiding the heaviness inside. But then tiny, unexpected moments began stitching her heart back together.
A shared meal. A game. A moment of laughter she didn’t expect. A counsellor who remembered her name. A worship song that didn’t ask anything from her. A night under the stars that whispered louder than fear.
And then… she opened up. For the first time, she said the words she had swallowed for years, “I always felt like I was a burden.”
Somewhere between the theme of the camp, the story of Jesus, the warmth poured out around her, and the stillness of that starlit devotion night, something in her shifted. She wasn’t invisible anymore. She wasn’t a burden. She wasn’t a mistake. She wasn’t alone. She walked differently the next morning. She laughed deeper. She danced again, she walked like someone who had finally discovered she was seen, by people, and by God. She didn’t hide the pain anymore because something inside her finally felt safe.
This is what Swamp Camp is. It’s not the games alone. Not the songs alone. Not even the devotion nights alone. It’s what happens when love, people, and God align in a child’s life.
It’s a place where stories like Bhumika’s get rewritten quietly, deeply, permanently. And hers is only one. There are hundreds more, waiting in villages, waiting in silence, waiting for a moment that changes everything.
And this is where you come in. Not to rescue. Not to fix. Not to fill the role of a saviour. But to simply open the door, so the next girl can sit under a starlit sky and hear that whisper of hope for herself.
Your support doesn’t just send a child to camp. It becomes a shared meal, the remembered name, the worship song, the night under the stars, the moment God uses to touch a heart. One gift. One child. One story transformed forever.
Andre had always been a quiet child, the kind whose eyes seemed to carry the weight of things no one else noticed. Life at home had been unpredictable, lonely, and often confusing. He had learned early on to stay small, to hide his curiosity about the world. And yet, something inside him kept asking, longing for something he couldn’t name.
He was first introduced to camp through his church in the Bahamas. That was where he first heard about Swamp Camp, where stories of God’s love and care were shared, even across oceans. In 2014, his church hosted their first camp, and from that moment, Andres began attending regularly. Each camp was a small spark, a gentle invitation to see that God was real, that He was reaching out to him, no matter where he was or what his life looked like.
Then came the summer he traveled to Camp Swamp in Georgia. It was there, surrounded by counselors and other children who welcomed him without judgment, that his life began to change. He met a boy named Jake Kramer. Together, they started questioning, curious, hesitant, but deeply seeking what it meant to be a disciple, how one could follow Jesus. Those questions, born out of curiosity, were the start of something far greater than either of them could have imagined.
Evenings at camp were always special. Around the fire, songs echoed into the dark, and stories of God’s love flickered like sparks in the night. Andre listened, heart racing, unsure what to do with the feelings that stirred inside him. Could God really care about a kid like him? Could He really see all the hurt, the loneliness, the confusion he carried?
Then, something miraculous happened. One of the older kids, Jake, bravely stood and shared how Jesus had transformed his life. Andre watched him, feeling a tug in his chest he couldn’t ignore.
And later, as the water shimmered under the firelight, he witnessed a peer his age being baptized. The child’s small, trembling hands, the awe in his eyes, it was more than a ceremony. It was a declaration that God reaches even the smallest hearts, no matter where they have come from, no matter how broken their world had been.
Could God really be inviting him into this life? For Andre, it was a quiet, intense moment of curiosity. Questions rose in his heart. Hesitations wrestled with hope. And then, in that fragile space between fear and faith, he made a choice. He opened his heart to Jesus. And that choice didn’t just change him, it changed Jake, too. Inspired by Andre’s courage, Jake also decided to follow Jesus. A ripple began, sparked by curiosity, nurtured at camp, and transformed by God’s love.
This is what Swamp Camp does. It doesn’t just entertain children for a week. It meets them in the spaces no one else can reach, the quiet corners, the hesitant smiles, the questions whispered in the dark. It tends to curiosity, nurtures wonder, and turns tiny sparks into lifelong journeys of faith. And it’s not just here, it’s reaching children from the Bahamas to Georgia, from every corner of the globe where God’s love can touch a little heart.
And this is where donors like you step in. Every meal provided, every counselor trained, every activity organized, every night of safe shelter, you make it possible for children like Andre to experience God’s love firsthand. Every contribution plants a seed that could grow into a life transformed. Every gift could reach a child who has never been seen, never been heard, never been told that they matter.
Imagine that child, just like Andre, sitting quietly on the edge, unsure if anyone cares, unsure if they are enough. Your support can be the one thing that changes everything. Because of your generosity and prayers, these children are met by God’s love in tangible ways, their hearts awakened, their lives redirected toward hope, faith, and joy.
Andre's story is not unique. There are hundreds, thousands of little hearts waiting, children across oceans, children in cities and towns, children right in our own neighborhoods. Waiting for someone to give them a chance, to show them that God sees them, and that their life has a purpose. Because of Swamp Camp, because you embrace them, these moments are happening today. A child is being reached. A heart is being transformed. A life is being changed.
And somewhere, a little heart, maybe even across the seas, is waiting for that spark. Will you be the one to light it?
