The purpose of Camp Pattersonville is to present children with the saving gospel of Jesus. At camp children will learn who Jesus is, why He came, and why they need Him. In order to teach them these important truths, several things happen in a typical day at camp. There is a morning lesson with the Counselor, a morning lesson with the Director, an evening campfire, and evening devotions before bed.
The morning lesson with the Counselor is short and is where the campers first learn the memory verse for the day. During the course of the week the campers will memorize an entire passage of Scripture, but they learn it one verse a day from their counselor. This lesson time will usually last less than 20 minutes and the counselor may use a short object lesson, or just make sure the campers understand the meaning of the verse they are learning. The morning lesson with the Director also stays within the attention span of the average 7-14 year old kid on summer vacation! The Director will almost always use an interesting object lesson to present a truth from the gospel to the children. He will tell a Bible story that goes with the object lesson and the theme for the day. The theme for the day may be anything from God's power, exhibited through his control over nature, to his love and grace. The evening campfire, which takes place just after sunset is always a fun time. It includes singing (the books of the Bible are a favorite campfire song), skits by the staff, sword drills (to practice finding Bible verses), and another story from the Director or a guest speaker.
Finally, before our day ends, we have cabin devotions. This is also a teaching time, but usually oriented more toward the specific needs of an individual cabin group. The counselor has complete control over the content of cabin devotions, and that content can include answering any questions that campers may have, reading a short Bible story or having a short object lesson to help the kids wind down for bed, or with older campers doing a devotional with a Bible passage that the campers can apply to their own lives. Camp is not supported by any particular denomination, but strives to teach children the basics of who Jesus is.