The ministry of Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je West is real simple: to teach kids and youth about Jesus, using God’s word, the Bible. Our desire is to see people fall in love with the Lord.

Located at 7,000 feet elevation in the western Colorado mountains, Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je West is a non-denominational ministry that runs camps each summer for kids age 7 through high school. It’s a ministry we’ve been doing for over 30 years.

Our camps feature great teaching, lots of fun activities, excellent home-cooked food, contemporary worship, and a loving atmosphere. And all of this is in the beautiful setting of the mountains, rivers, and meadows.

In addition to hosting many retreats and camps for other churches, each summer we sponsor three camps for ages 7-10, Middle School, and High School. Each camp generally has between 55 and 60 young people in attendance. It take a staff of about 25 people to run these camps, including counselors, pastors/teachers, support staff, worship team, kitchen help, directors, and a nurse.

For the staff of summer 2010, we are looking for counselors, a program director, and support staff to work in various ministries like the kitchen, doing sound, worship, and other support jobs. For the position of counselors, we prefer people between the ages 19 and 25, who love the Lord, love kids, and can lead a group of 8 campers in various activities, devotions, and bible studies. We prefer counselors who are actively involved in ministry in their local church, and are studying to become pastors, teachers, or other ministry- minded vocations.  In addition to adult counselors, we need "counselors-in-training" (CIT's) that are of High School age.  They help the counselors.

The program director will help oversee many of the activities, introduce our chapel times, and be an overall leader with both the campers and the staff. This person will also be called on to occasionally lead the staff devotions and perhaps even teach the campers a few times in the course of each camp. He or she should be energetic, love the Lord, and possess leadership qualities.

Support staff are needed who can serve in various tasks, and take on the ministry of being a servant for the Lord. It might be helping in the kitchen, getting ready for each chapel service, starting a camp fire, cleaning, getting ready for a game or activity and a host of other vital needs.

All of these positions are considered volunteer staff and will receive room and board for the 3 ½ weeks of camp.  Housing is limited to tents with cots for some volunteers. While the work is hard, it is also fun and rewarding, not to mention a huge blessing. The atmosphere of the camp is relaxed and laid back, emphasizing teamwork, fellowship, friendship, and servanthood.

We want staff who are able to see the vision of the camp, and the Lord’s calling to us to make disciples of Jesus. In regard to the camps, we are not a ministry that emphasizes a good time with a few evangelistic messages thrown in. We want to see kids drawn to the Lord and to His word, and entering into worship of Him.

In addition to evangelism, God has used us to minister to kids who already know the Lord, but need to be drawn into a deeper relationship with Him. Our desire is that as they mature in their faith, they would share the Lord with the unsaved people in their lives: at home, in school, and in their communities.  For the younger age campers, the emphasis is a combination of both evangelism and discipleship, while the middle and high school camps are more discipleship oriented. Our desire is to go beyond just having a good time, an emotional high, or a pressured decision to follow Christ. We want campers to fall in love with Jesus and serve the Lord with their lives. And we believe the only way to do that is to teach kids the Word.

Our ministry focuses on teaching the Word of God to kids, because we believe that only God can bring lasting change in the hearts and minds of each camper. It’s hard to love and serve a God you don’t know very well. Kids in the church today are inundated with motivational messages and ministry methodologies, but are seldom taught God’s word.

In First Corinthians chapters two, Paul says “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my  preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

It is precisely this truth that motivates us to avoid trying to change kids ourselves, and to let the Lord work in their hearts. We don’t see ourselves as the change agents, merely the messengers of God’s love. It would be so easy to work in the flesh in trying to change the heart of a young person, when in fact, only the Lord can melt the heart of a person and draw them into a loving and lasting relationship with Him.

If you feel called to disciple young people in this type of setting, we’d love to hear from you soon.

The most important positions to fill are counselors, a summer program director and general support staff.

Download Volunteer Application Here

Staff orientation begins Thursday, June 10^th, 2010. Our first camp starts on June 13^th with the last camp finished on July 2nd. We are looking for staff who are willing to commit 3 ½ weeks of their summer to serving young people in the mountains of western Colorado. However, any help this summer would be a blessing.