A Kamp Tradition You Should Know About

Here at Kanakuk we have many, many special traditions that have remained strong over the years. One long standing tradtion here at K-7 is the Rice Crispies Song on Sunday mornings.

Every Sunday three of our Leadership Guys put on their aprons and hats, grab their bowls and perform the rice crispies song! It's a long standing tradition that is a crowd favorite!

The best part of the tradition is the encore! As soon as the performance is over the Dining Hall erupts in cheers and chants of "one more time," "one more time." The Rice Crispy guys climb back on the counter for an encore performance with a twist. They will perform with a twist including (but not limited to) a mouth full of grapes or water, backwards or my personal favorite: spanish version!

Kamp traditions are part of what makes Kanakuk so special, unique, memorable and fun! What is your favorite kamp tradition??

FitNut Class: Salsa!

Our Fitness and Nutrition Class, affectionately called "FitNut," is quite the popular new addition to our schedule, at least for the girls! In FitNut class we spend an hour working out and learning fitness and exercise techniqies and then we spend an hour discussing nutrition and healthy eating! Of course, if you're learning all about nutrition and healthy eating you HAVE to practice making some of those healthy snacks, right? We make a spinach smoothie and homemade salsa!

Want to try to make this salsa on your own? It's simple!

Ingredients:

-1 can of Rotel

-1 can of tomatoes

-1 handful of cilantro

- 1 teaspoon of Cumin

- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1/2 lime

Put all ingredients in the blender together and blend for a few seconds!

Grab some tortilla chips and enjoy!

Comment below and let us know what you think!

If Komo's Ran the World...

According to the Komo's...the world would be a little different if they were in charge:

If Kuks Ran the World...

According to Kuk 14, if Kuk's ran the world, the world would look like this:



My favorite:

2 hour naps.

FitNut Class: Spinach Smoothies!

We LOVE having an extra day of Kamp because not only does that mean we get another full day with our Kampers but we also added several new classes to our schedule. Perhaps the favorite new class (at least for the girls) is FitNut class! This is a 2 hour class in which our Senior Kamp TP's spend an hour talking about nutrition, healthy eating and treating our bodies like temples of the Holy Spirit. The second hour is spent learning about and practicing fitness and exercise. More about that in another post.

Of course, in the Nutrition part of the class we not only learn about eating healthy, we practice it as well! We show our Kampers a couple of healthy snacks including spinach smoothies!

In case you want to try one of these nutritious snacks for yourself here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups of ice

2 1/2 large handfuls of spinach

12-15 pieces of mango (or fruit of your choice. I like blueberries!)

1/2 fresh lime (squeeze as much as you can into blender)

10 mint leaves

1 cup of water, lemonade or orange juicen (I use Odwalla SuperProtien)

1 1/2 packets of sweet in low, honey (or my favorite: agave nectar!)

Blend well...

And your finished product will look like this! It looks a little scary but tastes oh-so-good! It tastes even better knowing how healthy it is!

The spinach smoothie (otherwise referred to as the Green Monster in the health food world) has several variations. In fact, you can add really whatever fruit, seeds or supplements that make your taste buds happy! It's perfect for breakfast or for an afternoon snack!

Enjoy!

Tomorrow I'll post the recipe for the salsa!

If you try out the smoothie comment below and let us know how you like it!

Every Tuesday night we have our K-Factor Talent Show! We love seeing the many talents of our K-7 Kampers ranging from musical talent to gymnastics to drama! Last week we had one particularly moving talent from a Kamper out of Super Deal. He memorized a 4 minute speech from pastor S. M. Lockridge describing our God and who he is. It was unbelievable! Check it out!

You can check out the S.M. Lockridge version here.

Kamper Spotlight.

Role Models.

Yesterday, with off-the-charts energy, our staff welcomed 300 new Kampers to K-Seven! They came on busses, cars and airplanes all geared up for the best week of their summer! All afternoon we enjoyed snow cones, pool parties, new friends and dance parties in the street. It was an exciting day from the moment Kampers arrived until the moment we went to bed.

We love the parties and cheers and all the fun that we have here at K-Seven but what we love the absolute most is teaching our kids about Christ and equipping them with the Biblical knowledge they need to glorify God at home. We are so fortunate to have counselors that love Jesus and get excited about teaching their kids about Jesus! Kids get to see the gospel lived out as our staff love them, teach them and serve them.

Thank you, Jesus for placing these wonderful counselors in the lives of our Kampers! It's truly amazing to watch as the Lord uses these role models to change kids lives forever!

Who is your role model? Comment below and let us know!

Meet Our Leadership Team: Programs

Kamper Spotlight.

We are blessed to have Kampers with hearts for evangelism! Check out this Kamper's story of how she shared Christ with a new friend in Africa.

Kamper Spotlight.

We've said it before and well say it again: we have incredible Kampers here at K-Seven!

We have story after story of our Kampers raising money for a charitable cause or going on mission trips. Meet Sydney! She challenged her schoolmates to raise money to build a new church!

- SLN

The Most Requested Song Of The Term.

#OnlyAtKanakuk

If you head over to our Twitter feed (click here) you'll notice that we've had some conversation about Kanakuk memories and traditions. For instance:

• Only at Kanakuk do you wear 50 friendship bracelets at at time.
• Only at Kanakuk can you make best friends that live 1000 miles away from you.
• Only at Kanakuk are you on a constant search for friendship rocks.
• Only at Kanakuk do you have "chocolate chip cookie dough" flavored ear drops after the pool.

Do you have an #OnlyAtKanakuk moment? Comment below and let us know!

-SLN

Scripture Tattoo's

One of the things we are passionate about at K-7 is memorizing scripture. We know how powerful the Word of God is and have seen it radically change our lives!

Hebrews 4:12 says:

"For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The Word of God is our sword against the enemy and is a fundamental aspect of our spiritual formation!

One of our favorite things, then, is to see our Staff and Kampers develop a heart for the Word and begin the scripture memory process!

One of the most efficient ways to memorize at K-Seven is scripture tattoo's! Each morning our staff and Kampers who are working on a specific passage will write the verse on their arm so they can refer to it all day!

Each morning we love seeing what new verse our Kampers and staff are working on! Have you ever memorized scripture before? What method do you use?

Flag Retiring Ceremony.

Today was a special day in K-Seven history! We

raised a new American flag and had a traditional flag retiring ceremony for our old flag! According to US code an American flag is to be retired when it is faded, torn and no longer fit for display.

We lowered the old flag while singing "God Bless America" then raised our brand new flag reciting the pledge of allegiance once it was raised. Two of our own staff, 2nd Lt. Monplaisir and Officer Bowen, dressed in their full uniforms, led the ceremony and explained to staff and kampers the procedures for a proper retirement and how to dispose of an old flag in an honorable and dignified manor!

Kampers and staff alike were honored to be a part of this special ceremony!

Kamper Spotlight.

-SLN

Meet Our Leadership Team: Assistant Director/Safety Officer

- LN

Wipeout.

One of the favorite parties of the week is most definitely Wipeout night. Kids love getting muddy and dirty, playing in the oatmeal pit, real life angry birds and of course the foam pit. Who doesn't love playing in mud on purpose!?

Can you remember the messiest you've ever been? Comment below and let us know!








- SLN

Meet Our Leadership Team: Store Manager/Scheduler

Opening Ceremonies

Term 2 is off to a fantastic start! Kampers arrived Saturday afternoon to a bunch of excited and energetic counselors! After a pool party, some shopping time at the store and dinner, Kampers headed to Opening Ceremonies!

This summer Buzz and Woody from Toy Story lead a team of characters, including Bo Peep, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and Jesse, through Andy's room! There are, of course, a few glitches along the way but ultimately they invite all the new "toys" to a huge Welcoming Party later in the week!


The Toy Story cast ready for Kampers to come down!

After Opening Ceremonies Kampers enjoyed Opening Ceremonies followed by a huge welcome from our Director, Keith Chancey!

What a great way to start off Term 2!

- SLN

Term 1 Recap.

It's hard to believe that we are done with our first term of Kamp! We had an unbelievable week and the Lord moved in so many ways!

Here are some of Term 1 highlights:





Sunday night we had our Wipeout party!





Toy Story Party! Woody's Roundup followed by Buzz's Intergalactic Space Party!





Krosstalk. We had over 100 kids make a decision to follow Christ...either for the first time or the re-dedicate their life to Him. Praise the Lord!

We had an incredible first week of Kamp and miss our term 1-ers already! Kamp sure is quiet this morning! New Kampers come this afternoon!

Term 1 Kampers and Parents: what was your favorite memory of the week?? Comment below and let us know!!

-SLN

Kamper Spotlight.

-SLN

GAME ON!

Our theme this summer is Game On! We're having a blast spoofing ESPN videos, watching sports highlights and reliving the college football season! Our K-Life is "KSPN" themed complete with sports anchors and referee's.

In addition to creative and exciting parties Game On also serves as our daily devotinal! We are studying James this summer and each letter of "Game On" acronym corresponds with a verse from James.

G- Gladness: "Count it all joy brothers when you encounter trials of various kinds, for we know the testing of your faith produces steadfast." -James 1:2-3

A- Attitude: "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger." -James 1:19

M- Motives: "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory"- James 2:1

E- Encourage: "But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so." -James 3:2-8

O- Opposition: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." -James 4:7

N- Now What?: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise." -James 5:13

Game on,

-SLN

Krosstalk.

Last night was Krosstalk night, the night the Kampers see the gospel presentation. In years past we have done this is numerous ways from a gladiator themed analogy to a mock wedding. This summer Kampers walk the Emmaus trail and witness seven characters dialogue about their encounters with Jesus. Mary Magdelene, Paul, John the Baptist, Peter, The Woman at the Well, Zacchaeus, and the Roman soldier who arrested Jesus all give their own perspective of how Jesus changed their lives. Wrapping up the night Kampers sit beneath a big wooden cross as Chancey presents the gospel.






Its is a night that we cover in prayer and a night we see the Holy Spirit move in big ways! When a Kamper asks Jesus into their heart they head up to the office a ring a bell. We heard that bell ringing all night long! Praise the Lord!


- LN

Kamper Spotlight.

Meet Annelise. She's from Joplin, where the devastating tornado hit on May 22. Her house was not personally hit but she and her family led an effort to help those that were affected. Watch her story below.

-SLN

Character Traits.

This summer we are focusing on character: the character of God and character qualities that we as believers are called to live by. Each TP is assigned a different character trait that they spend the week learning about, studying in scripture and applying to their lives. We encourage you, as parents, to continue the study and application of your child's character quality after they leave Kamp!

The following is a list of the TP character traits:

TP 1. Honesty

TP 2. Patience

TP 3. Forgiveness

TP 4. Joyfulness

TP 5. Kindness

TP 6. Respect

TP 7. Teamwork

TP 8. Unselfishness

TP 9. Faithfulness

TP 10. Integrity

TP 11. Perseverance

TP 12. Passion

TP 13. Compassion

TP 14. I'm Third

How fun would it be to spend the week studying the same character trait as your child?! That sounds like great a conversation for the drive home from Kamp!

-SLN

Meet Our Leadership Team: Kamper Kare

Meet Sarah Ashby, our new Kamper Kare Director. She's a long time kamp veteran but new to our team here at K-7. We are incredibly fortunate to have her here!

- LN

Kamper Spotlight

We have AMAZING kampers here at K-7 and want to share some of the incredible things they do outside of Kamp!

Meet Lance. He is in boys TP 4 and has a heart to serve! This year he did some pretty spectacular things! You can watch his story below:

- LN

Kamp Begins!

There are a few bugs were working through in order to post videos on the blog so until we get those worked out I'll put the "Meet the Leadership Team" posts on hold.

Well, today marked our first official day of kamp! Staff training was great but we are SO glad to finally have Kampers here! They arrived starting at 2pm yesterday and we've been going full force since then! Last night was our Opening Ceremonies and it was awesome! We met Woody, Buzz, The Potato Heads and Bo Peep from Toy Story! I have a feeling they might make another appearance this week.

Our theme for the summer is Game On. Today we learned the "g" stands for goodness coming from James 1:3:

"Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

Kampers have spent today in classes ranging from Basketball to Blob to our brand new Slip-n-Slide and are eagerly awaiting our Wipeout party tonight!

It's only day 1 and we can already tell this is going to be the best summer yet!

Game On!




- Lauren Nix
K-Seven Social Media Director

Meet Our Leadership Team: Director

Here at K7 we are so fortunate to have Mr. Keith Chancey as our fearless leader. Keith has worked at Kanakuk for over 30 years and has a true heart for seeing kids come to know the Lord. He loves his wife and two kids more than anything on earth and brings a fun-loving, contagious energy


leverywhere he goes! During the year Keith runs the Kanakuk Institute, a year long program for college graduates that equips men and women with Biblical skills for a lifetime of ministry. He is a dynamic leader and we are so blessed to serve under him. Meet Keith Chancey:





- Lauren Nix
K-Seven Social Media Director