Church Camp Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation

Cara Meredith, Jessica Humphreville

eAudio - 2025

Excavating a sometimes wacky, and equally harmful, part of white Evangelical cultureRoasted marshmallows, campfire stories, shaving cream battles—for some of us, Christian summer camp is where we felt most at home, where we could be the most authentic versions of ourselves. But for campers at white Evangelical church camps in particular, camp was also often the place to inherit a toxic image of God and of each other. From purity-motivated admonitions not to "make purple," to the emotional manipulation of "Cry Night," to the utter lack of diversity among campers and staff, the culture of white Evangelical camps has too often betrayed a generation.In Church Camp, longtime camp speaker Cara Meredith exposes the ways in wh...ich white Evangelical camps sold individualized versions of Jesus to impressionable youth. Campers were forced to "sit with their sin" so they could fully understand God's conditional love. Camp life emotionally coaxed campers into making a... more