Local camp emphasizes nation’s Christian values

It’s not the kind of school days our country’s forefathers would have experienced but there’s little doubt in Jamie Akin’s mind that they would wholeheartedly approve.
   
Akin, a patriotic pied piper of sorts, strongly believes that the Christian values on which our nation was founded are being eroded in today’s school curriculums and materialistic society. So strong are his convictions that he has dedicated his life’s vocation to making sure that Alabama’s kids know and understand the roots of their freedom.
   
The 6 foot, 7 inches tall, lanky, laid-back educator has turned his energies into a four-day patriotic camp experience known as Project Life.
   
By the end of the educational adventure, the majority of the young attendees have a new appreciation and deeper understanding of the meaning of the United States Declaration of Independence and the core values on which it was based.
   
Akin, who grew up in the Baptist church and served as a Methodist youth minister early on in his career, has created a one-of-a-kind character-building camp that subtly emphasizes the Christian principles that are the backbone of the country’s Declaration of Independence.
   
Because Project Life is targeted to third through eighth graders in the public school systems, Akin and his staff have to tread lightly in presenting religious overtones.
   
As Steve Johnson, bivocational associate pastor at North Shelby Baptist Church in Shelby Association and camp counselor put it, “We are able to use the Declaration of Independence as a springboard to discuss the foundation of Christian principles on which all of us as Americans can stand, regardless of our religious beliefs.”
   
According to Akin, the heart of the Project Life philosophy is the belief that there are core values that can be shared regardless of ethnic, religious or cultural differences. “The Declaration of Independence gives us all a shared foundation for our worth, a reason for our rights and a compass for our dreams,” he said.
   
Johnson, who also serves as Project Life’s public relations director, is intense in his desire to expose the camp attendees to the universal truths that laid the foundation of our country.
   
“In God We Trust” was part of America’s birthing process,” he stresses. “We explain to our campers that this belief was the basis for our country’s principles,” he said.
   
Johnson says the core values that our country was built on are also taught and discussed in different camp activities. Values such as integrity, loyalty, commitment, patience, respect, discipline, honesty, courtesy, responsibility, cooperation, endurance, honor, friendship, forgiveness, courage, kindness and trust are emphasized throughout the four days.
   
“These kids leave here with a new outlook,” he said. “We discuss that in our country’s history our forefathers prayed to God for guidance. We make no apologies about discussing our Creator because He is mentioned in our country’s founding documents. We point out that when you take “God” out of the equation there is no basis for our rights,” the Birmingham native said.
   
Akin and his small staff of counselors get the attention of their wards in a big way as soon as their feet hit the ground on the beautiful campus of Camp Mac which is situated in the Talladega National Forest. The camp is nestled between two lakes in wooded acreage that serves as a perfect setting for ongoing games and activities. “Our goal during the Project Life experience is to teach these kids how to think,” said Akin.
   
If the kids are expecting a schoolroom setting with a typical lesson plan — they’re pleasantly surprised. What they do learn is what it is like to be a part of a caste system, the reality of life in a third world country and the impact that communism has on a person’s rights.
   
The most powerful and eye-opening experience for the campers occurs on their last night. They are divided into small teams that have to escape over a fence that represents the Berlin Wall. Counselors play the part of communist patrol guards who “capture” each group. Before they are released, their captors explain to them that in real life people have been imprisoned or killed when trying to escape to freedom. Upon the campers’ release, a staff member who represents a U.S. Marine leads them to freedom over the fence. “Welcome to the U.S. Embassy and freedom,” he says among rousing cheers from the students.
   
“These kids have a new appreciation for what our forefathers sacrificed for them and why the United States has fought in wars to maintain our freedom,” said Penny Shell, a fifth-grade teacher from Huntsville’s Whitesburg Middle School and a member of Willow Brook Baptist Church, Huntsville.
   
And what did the campers learn from their experience? “I learned about the people who gave their lives so we could have rights as a nation,” one said. “I have new respect for my parents and my country,” a girl said softly. “This camp has changed us,” her friend added.