Royal Family Kids Camp helps to heal children's wounded souls

His name is Tommy.

Most people will never know him, but the Rev. Scott and Tricia Murrish will never forget the angry boy who would ultimately redirect the course of their ministry.

Tommy was about 8 years old when more than 80 percent of his body was burned after he was put into a tub of scalding hot water.

By the time he went to a Royal Family Kids Camp in Kansas, Tommy was so full of rage and withdrawn that he wouldn't respond to any activities.

No one could get through to him. Not the fishing guide. Not the woodworker. Not the camp grandma or grandpa.

Only God would be able to start healing the child's scarred soul. And after seeing the camp's effect on that boy, the Murrishes knew that Royal Family would always be part of their summer routine.

Scott Murrish was the children and youth pastor at Full Life Assembly of God Church (then called Calvary Temple) in Fremont from 1990-94. He later served as senior pastor at Full Life from 2001-03. He was a children's pastor in Kearney before becoming a regional field representative for Royal Family in October 2005. His job is to establish camps throughout the Midwest.

Murrish compares the weeklong camps to the North Platte canteen, where townspeople served sandwiches, coffee and pie to servicemen headed to battle in World War II. As troop trains stopped in the Nebraska community, some 6 million soldiers were treated to 10 to 15 minutes of friendship and encouragement along with the food. Those few minutes of kindness would sustain men in foxholes and on front lines.

“The local people literally changed the face of World War II,” Murrish said, “because soldiers on the front lines would say, ‘Do you remember how that food tasted in North Platte and how much those people loved us?' Those positive memories gave them the courage and endurance to make it through the heat of battle.

“In Nebraska, we're facing an epidemic of children who are being abused, neglected and abandoned,” he said. “These children are living in a war zone of their very own in the forms of bedrooms and basements and kitchens and closets.”

That's where Royal Family Kids Camps help, providing love and kindness to children who've lived in a world of pain. Established in 1985 by Wayne and Diane Tesch of Costa Mesa, Calif., the camps are designed to provide a week of positive memories “to our nation's most hurting children,” Murrish said.

This summer, there were

160 camps in the United States and 19 in foreign countries, staffed by more than 6,000 volunteers who gave up a week of their vacation. Camp volunteers strive to help boys and girls - ages 7 to 11 - who have been molested, beaten or otherwise taken from their homes - some of whose parents have succumbed to drug and alcohol addiction.

The first camp in Nebraska was founded

15 years ago in Hastings. This summer, approximately 300 children attended one of five camps that took place in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings, Murrish said.

Each camp has fishing, boating, crafts, woodworking, chapel times, swimming and lots of individual attention for campers.

“We have a camp staff ratio of one adult counselor for every two children,” Murrish said. “Every camp has a professional counselor, camp woodworker, fishing guide and ... camp grandma and grandpa who give hugs and tell stories.

“We have a photographer take pictures of every child to assemble a photo album, because most foster children lose track of baby pictures and other childhood memories.”

Each child also gets a birthday party, complete with a cake and gifts.

“These are things most children experience and take for granted,” Murrish said.

The Murrishes, who have four children of their own, became sensitized to the needs of foster children in 1997 when they brought a 14-year-old girl into their home in Kansas, where they served as children's pastors.

They went to a week of training to become volunteer directors of a camp in their area.

That's where they met Tommy.

Murrish still remembers how enraged the boy was.

“If you tried to high-five Tommy, he'd clench his fist and get in a stance to punch whoever would get close to him ... He'd lost all trust in adults,” Murrish said.

Finally, during a closing ceremony on the last day of camp, the children each were given a slip of paper on which they could write about a wound they'd like to forget or a memory they wanted to leave behind.

Typically, slips are buried in a hole in which a tree is planted. The tree becomes a symbol of life coming from death and good coming from bad - and that this is a place to leave the past behind. But at this camp, someone had carved the word “confidence” on top of a limestone boulder that would serve as a marker for the memories, Murrish said.

It took three men to pick up the huge rock and as they rolled it into place, the ground shook.

“It was as if something in Tommy's heart shook as well,” Murrish said.

During the closing moments of the camp, as everyone walked back to the bus to head home, Tommy tugged on the shirt-tail of his counselor, Ted.

“I've never felt this kind of love in my life,” Tommy said.

“Tommy wrapped his arms around Ted's neck and both of them wept ... and Tommy asked Jesus to come into his heart and make him new,” Murrish said.

The next week, the Murrishes attended a social services meeting where almost two dozen case workers told how the camp had positively affected the children. They talked about Tommy, who was singing camp songs, smiling and laughing - something they'd not seen in more than a year.

“You've done more in five days to break down the walls of hurt and abuse in the lives of these children than we've seen done in nine months to a year. What did you do?” the case workers asked, before saying, “Whatever it is, please don't stop because it's the best thing we've ever seen.

“Trish and I were hooked,” Murrish said.

After almost two years with Royal Family Kids Camp, the Murrishes are still hooked.

“It's been wonderful,” he said. “This has been an incredibly positive experience as we've networked with local faith-based communities - not just churches - social workers, and civic organizations for the purpose of putting new camps on the map.”

Churches or a partnership of churches attend a full week of training. They take one year to locate a facility, recruit and train the staff of volunteers and raise scholarship funds necessary to send foster children to camp for free.

“It's hard work, but the results are miraculous,” he said. “Every staff person at Royal Family is a volunteer, including myself, as I have to raise my own financial support ... Without the monthly donations, Trish and I wouldn't be able to do what we do.

“We're very literally living by faith,” he said.

But the Murrishes have seen the lasting effects of this ministry.

Recently, Murrish was in a restaurant when a young woman, who was the hostess, noticed the logo on his shirt. She said she'd attended the camp for three years in a row and didn't know where she'd be without the love she'd found there.

“I lived in 22 different foster homes and found out that I could be an OK person from my experience at your camp,” she said.

Murrish anticipates even more stories as increasing numbers of young campers grow into adulthood.

“There have been hundreds of success stories of children who have clung to the rope of hope that they found at Royal Family Kids Camp,” he said.

“We believe Tommy will among those.”