June 2023
Tending the Fire is a monthly series sharing a deeper look at the people who make up Camp and Retreat Ministries. Each month we will share a story from our campers, donors, staff and volunteers and what impact Camp and Retreat Ministries has had on them, and them on us. We hope these stories will educate you, uplift you and inspire you to get involved in whatever ways you can.
When you attend summer camp, you can explore paths that lead to new insights into your life. One of those paths may lead to experiencing the immensity of God through creation. Another path may have a direct impact on how you will serve others through your life’s work. Jared Sene didn’t know that was possible when he signed up for camp. And yet, there were moments at camp that led him to take a path he is still walking.
Growing up a pastor’s kid, Jared moved around, living in Oregon and then in Idaho, attending camp each summer: elementary and middle school camps at Suttle Lake Camp near Sisters, Oregon and Sawtooth Camp near Fairfield, Idaho, and then, during high school in the early 2010’s, MADD Camp at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast.
An important memory for Jared happened during one summer at Sawtooth camp. While on a challenging hike to Goat Lake, a couple counselors took a few campers and hiked up one of the tallest peaks, 10,000+ feet high. “Looking over the mountain range was such a neat moment I would not have experienced except at camp.”
A self-proclaimed “band geek,” Jared played electric bass at school and in his church’s praise band, so he brought it along to MADD Camp. A volunteer with an upright bass asked Jared if he’d ever played one and allowed him to try his. That was the beginning of something new, the affirmation of Jared’s gifts that led to a change in direction for his life.
After graduation, Jared enrolled at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, majoring in Political Science. Two weeks into his freshman year, Jared switched to all music classes and studied both the electric and upright basses, earning a degree in Music Education. Jared is now a middle school band director in Idaho and credits being introduced to the upright bass at camp as having a direct impact on his career. He also expresses this musical passion by playing gigs on the upright bass four to five nights a week.
Camp provides the opportunity to walk on life-changing paths that impact who we are and who we will become. Camp can lead to the “best time of your life.”
(photo by Adriana Sene, Boise, Idaho)
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A partnership between The Oregon-Idaho Conference of The United Methodist Church
and The Episcopal Diocese of Oregon