Over the past 50 years, Hispanic youth of the Southern California Conference have met at Camp Cedar Falls during Labor Day weekend. This year was no exception to that tradition, but it was not an ordinary camp.

For the last four years, attendance for the Hispanic camp had been decreasing — until 2006, when approximately 500 campers gathered for the event. Of this total, “200 first-time attendees were young men, largely early teens whose interest in the camp had been sparked by their summer camp experiences,” said Pastor Juan Osorio. Although the increased attendance at the Hispanic camp was great, it did not compare to what happened over the weekend.

After Pastor Laffit Cortez, New Jersey Conference youth director, invited young people to accept Christ during Sabbath worship, nine individuals decided to be baptized that same day. The next morning, another invitation was given and 10 more young people were baptized. Finally, on Monday morning, two more young people decided to be baptized after worship.

“In the history of the Hispanic Youth Camp, we had never seen anything like it,” said Alfredo Lee, director of the Hispanic Region. “The time to allow the youth to get involved and lead their peers to Christ is here and now. We are blessed to see the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the youth for the end time. There is no doubt that God is preparing a mighty army of young people to complete the work in Southern California.”

The SCC Hispanic Youth Ministry Committee directed the camp weekend, which young adults ages 16 to 30 attended. Pastor Juan Osorio served as camp coordinator.

The majority of those baptized were youth who had been attending church for awhile; some had grown up in the church. Others had left the church and come back. One young man in particular had come to the camp the year before and since then attended church. Pastor Guillermo Quiroz followed up by contacting the pastors of the new members.

The camp program included a variety of activities. The young people participated in activities in groups of 20-30, with leaders grouping them with young people not from their own churches, in order to acquaint them with others.

On Sabbath afternoon, participants had the option of producing a Bible Bowl or hunting for a treasure. For the second activity, young people hunted for hidden words. The first person to acquire all the words of the hidden sentence won free admission to the 2007 Hispanic Youth Camp. Campers responded with enthusiastic applause when leaders asked if they wanted to return for next year’s camp.

Pastors on the Hispanic Youth Ministry Committee, after witnessing the landmark 21 baptisms during the 2006 camp acknowledged, “From this year’s camp, we knew that young people today are ready to participate in the church. What we learned from them is, ‘Let’s talk less; let’s do something.’” The committee is currently planning the 2007 camp session and know that part of their planning will be a community service project or a youth evangelistic series.