As a boy sitting in his Royal Ambassadors class, Wesley G. watched a grainy video of a Camp McCall staffer serving on the mission field in a closed country.

That moment of seeing someone he knew living out the Gospel overseas lit a spark for him that would one day carry him across the ocean to do the same. 

Wesley is just one of more than 148,000 boys and men who have come through the gates of Camp McCall over the past 66 summers since the camp began in 1960. As the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s camp for boys and men, Camp McCall exists to prepare the next generation to live on mission—whether in their hometowns or on the other side of the world. Each summer, Camp McCall makes a point to intentionally promote and teach campers about missions. “We’re constantly bringing in missionaries, talking about missions, having our staff guys live missionally, and just encouraging them to go into their own communities and live missionally,” Phillip “Snoball” Jewel, Associate Director of Camp McCall, said.  

Sending Staffers to the Field 

The missions equipping doesn’t just end with the campers, though; staffers are challenged to go as well. “It’s not enough to just learn about missions. We think we’re called to go and do missions,” Matt “Spinner” Allen, Director of Camp McCall, said. “We have a goal to provide a short-term missions opportunity for all of our summer staff by the end of their second season with us.” Over the last seven years, Camp McCall has sent 154 summer staff on 72 different short-term trips around the world.  

Each year, these mission trips are partially funded by the Janie Chapman Offering for State Missions, providing an opportunity for staffers to experience national and international missions firsthand. Most of the staffers are in late high school or early college, and they often don’t have the extra money to go on mission trips. “Janie Chapman provides a dedicated source of funds that we use solely for missions and missions education to help introduce these young men to practical mission opportunities,” Allen said. “We have staff on the mission field right now because of mission trips funded by Janie Chapman,” Allen said.  

Living Intentionally in Norway 

Among others, two former staffers are currently serving as Journeymen with the International Mission Board in Europe. Aidan B. grew up as a missionary kid in Asia, so he is no stranger to the mission field. While in college at North Greenville University, he decided to apply to be on staff at Camp McCall, where he first felt the call to long-term missions. “During my time at Camp McCall, I got challenged in so many ways in my faith, but I also got challenged in how I share the Gospel,” he said. Aside from equipping him, Camp McCall also connected him to others with a heart for missions, many of whom he continues to keep up with today for encouragement and prayer.  

While praying about where the Lord would send him and his wife, Hannah, after college, they felt the Lord leading them to Europe. “God put a burden on our hearts for the European people and the lostness that is evident here in a continent that was so heavily Christian,” he said. Both Aidan and Hannah now serve in Oslo, Norway, helping to plant a church, training believers to share the Gospel, and living intentionally in a post-Christian environment. Their team plans to launch a coffee shop in the next year. “We’re hoping for that to be a place that we can meet as a church but also a place where the Gospel can be proclaimed, and the workers in the coffee shop get to share the Gospel with those who come in,” Aidan said. 

Reaching the Nations in London 

Like Aidan, Wesley’s journey to the mission field also began with seeds planted through South Carolina Baptist ministries. Wesley has lifelong SCBaptist involvement, from Royal Ambassadors to attending Camp McCall every summer to being on staff at camp for four years and going on short-term mission trip opportunities provided by Camp McCall and the Janie Chapman Offering. “Being able to go on a short-term mission trip really helped launch me into where I’m at now,” he said. His trips took him to a Native American reservation in South Dakota and North Africa, where he spent a full summer.  

Wesley first heard about the Journeyman program through Camp McCall. “I heard about this program that I could go for two years to be part of a missions team, and I was like, ‘What’s the catch? Why would I not go towards that?'” he said. Currently, he serves in London on university campuses, an opportunity that allows him to reach students from countless nations for the Gospel. “The nations are coming to London. Being able to have Bible studies, disciple them, and actually reach them for the Gospel in an open country is an amazing opportunity,” he said. One of the students Wesley connected with in London was Daniel, a university student wrestling with assurance of salvation. “Being able to walk with him through the Gospel of Mark and see him take that step of baptism—it was amazing,” Wesley said. 

Cultivating a Missions Pipeline 

Though these are just two stories of many sent to the mission field through Camp McCall, they tell a larger story of how South Carolina Baptists are actively sending the next generation. In partnership with the Woman’s Missionary Union and the Janie Chapman Offering, Camp McCall is helping to create a pipeline from missions education to missionary. “I’ve seen firsthand how the Janie Chapman Offering has led from me learning about missions to going on short-term missions to being here in an international context,” Gilliam said. “Thank you for giving to the Janie Chapman Offering so I can learn how to live on mission wherever I’m at—whether that’s in South Carolina or in London.”