N. Clifton Satterwhite



        It was the spring of 1975, and I was finishing up two wonderful years as Campus Minister at Anderson College and looking forward to my new calling as director of the largest Royal Ambassador Camp in the Southern Baptist Convention. I will admit it was a challenge to come in as the new director with a staff hired by my predecessor. I knew camp was where God wanted me to be in my journey to work with others in sharing Christ. I was well prepared as a youth and recreation minister and coach. I would develop my staff as a team, and we would prepare ourselves to minister to men and boys. We had a good summer, my first as director, and we made changes that would benefit camp in the future. We started working on the accreditation process through the American Camping Association and became only the second R.A. camp in the Southern Baptist Convention to hold that honor. Our staff continued to grow as the number of campers increased. In 1977, we held our first trip camp (backpacking), and it proved a great success. With the leadership of camp pastors from across South Carolina and missionaries from the international, home and state, we rounded out our emphasis on spiritual growth and mission education. In 1978, McCall was one of the first camps to implement high and low ropes into our program, giving our campers an opportunity to experience the thrill of adventure recreation with safety in mind. This gave our staff numerous opportunities to use spiritual applications after each event. 
      Beginning in 1974, McCall had started lad camps for boys in the first through third grade with an adult male with at least every five boys. The overall attendance for these lad camps gradually increased to overflow capacity. Crusader/Challenger camps for campers in the fourth through twelfth grade have held steady over the years. Adventure Recreation camps for campers ninth through twelfth grade in flat water kayaking, Yak and Pac, and Rock Climbing gave older campers a challenge with spiritual applications. These camps are limited in numbers. 
      The strength of the ministry of McCall has been outstanding college age staff who work and live with campers and create a Christian atmosphere 24/7. It is these staff that make a difference in the lives of campers. 
      There are hundreds of memorable stories that I can recall at camp. 
      One of the opening nights of camp back in the 1970’s, a staff member came to my cabin to inform me that the staff had LOST a camper. We followed all lost camper procedures and had law enforcement officers assisting my staff in the search. Just as we were preparing to drag the lake, I heard the most beautiful sound as the deputy called on the radio and told us that he had found the camper. He was all right, but the deputy told us to come up to unit three and see this for ourselves. When I arrived in the unit on top of the hill, I walked toward his cabin and was told to go to the cabin next door. What had happened is that, in going to the bathhouse, the camper got confused and walked back into the wrong cabin, found an empty bunk in the staff room, and closed the door and slept through the entire ordeal. As I asked the camper if he knew he was lost, he had no idea. In this case, the camper was LOST and didn’t know it. A number of campers have come to McCall over the years that were lost in another way and found Jesus before leaving. 
      Another unforgettable time is the last night of camp when, on my way up the long road to our chapel on top of the mountain, I walked up on a camper who had just tripped and burst open his elbow. I called the camp nurse on my walkie-talkie, and she came in the medical golf cart and attended to him. Every time he would move his arm, it would continue to gush blood. We then decided to take him down the mountain and get a couple of stitches at the hospital. As my wife, Barbara, and I made the trip down the mountain with the camper, he started telling about his family. He had been to camp in previous years with his dad at lad camp. His dad had lost his life over the winter, and the camper told us that he was now the man in the family. I told him to be brave when they put the stitches in his elbow. After we got him fixed up, we were on our way back up the mountain, and things were quiet in the back seat when the camper asked me, “Do you think my dad would have been proud of me today”? I looked over at my wife and, with tears running down my face, I said, “Your Dad would have been very proud of you, and I’m proud of you, too.” 
      Another night I will never forget was the night that, as the staff was singing the specials before the camp pastor came to preach, Honcho and I both noticed this camper causing havoc on the next to last row in the chapel. As we left the stage, we both marched to the back of the chapel and motioned the camper to come outside with us. He reluctantly came, and, as we moved out of ear shot, we both asked him what in the world was he thinking disrupting the service. He looked down at his feet and said, “I dunno.” I said, ‘What would your parents say if I called them about your behavior?” He mumbled that His dad was in jail for killing his mother. He said he was staying with his aunt but was going to be sent off to Ohio, because he had a hard time staying out of trouble. For one of the only times in my ministry, I was almost speechless. We spent special time with this camper during the week, and, on decision night, he came and asked if God would forgive a boy like him who always was in trouble. We prayed with him and assured him that God loved him and will always forgive. 
      In the 47 years of ministry at McCall, more than 104,000 boys have come to the camp in the mountains with the Lake called Chilliwater. The chapel on top of the mountain has experienced 21,000 boys making life-changing decisions for Jesus Christ as their Savior. I look forward to climbing that mountain again this summer for my 31st year and will give God the glory for all He has done.


      Cliff Satterwhite is the R.A. and Disaster Relief Director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.



Related Story:


                      Friends of McCall: Changing Lives
                                                By M. Karen Brewer

      Five men had a vision—to give back to a place that has meant so much to them and to help young boys form the same kind of bond with the Royal Ambassadors McCall Camp, located in Sunset, north of Pickens, South Carolina. Since 1995, Friends of McCall board members, comprised of former Camp McCall staff members, have provided scholarships to send boys to the camp, provided capital improvements, and given gifts to current staff members, all through funding from dues-paying members of the organization.
      “The McCall RA Camp changed my life,” said Michael Barnes, one of the five men who formed Friends of McCall and who is still active as a board member. 
      Barnes was once a camper at Camp McCall. Now, he takes his own sons there. 
      He still remembers his first year as a camper, as a nine-year-old boy who formed a bond with a staff member. “I know that guy now,” said Barnes. “At the time, I thought he was a grown man, but he was just 18 years old.” 
      The camp has made such a difference in Barnes’ life, in more ways than one. The Florence native lives in Easley, to be close to the camp. Moving to the Upstate led him to meeting his wife, Deanne. “Just about everything in my life goes back to that place,” he said of Camp McCall. “That’s why it’s special to me. Plus, I’ve seen what it does. I’ve seen kids come through that place, and it has changed their lives. I know that the McCall RA Camp works.” 
      Barnes wants to give back to the camp by investing in the lives of the current campers, through Friends of McCall. 
      The organization is committed to three main objectives. 
      “Providing scholarships to boys who could not have gone to camp otherwise is our number one goal,” he said. “Our constitution states that we will send at least five kids to camp each year. We decided that, this year, we would like to increase that to the number of years we have been in business. Every year, we’ll increase by one scholarship. 
      “We also provide money for some capital improvements to the camp,” he said. “One of the first things we did was to provide $9,000 to start dredging the lake. The Convention provided a lot of money to get it done. We spent $16,000 four years ago to have a rock façade put on the outside of a cement block building, to make it complete. We have helped with refurbishing some buildings. Two years ago, we paid $25,000 to have a 150-foot waterslide installed that runs up the side of the mountain and goes into the lake. This year, we will spend $25,000 to install a 65-foot waterslide into the swimming area for the younger boys.
       “The third thing we do every year is give a gift to all of the current staff members, usually in the form of a t-shirt to designate that they’re on staff. When I was there (as a staff member), from 1979 to 1982, about 26 people were on staff. Now, about 55 are on staff.” 
      All of the contributions from Friends of McCall are made possible through the donations of the 40 dues-paying members, who each contribute a minimum of $75 a year. “Some people are very generous and give much more than that,” said Barnes. “We’re very appreciative of that. We do a lot with very few people. We’re thinking, ‘What could we do if we had a lot of people?’ 
      “I love the place. I want to see the best for it and anything we can do to promote it. 
      “So many churches are doing away with RA’s and GA’s now and are going to other things. A lot of churches think that, if they don’t have an RA program, they can’t send their kids to Camp McCall, but that’s not the case.” 
      This year, the Friends of McCall organization is making a promotional DVD, a copy of which will be given to at least one person from each church represented by the campers. The DVD will also include a slide show of photos taken at camp. “There will be a part at the end, to encourage kids to come back and bring a friend,” said Barnes. “We’re hoping that will be a plus as far as promoting the camp for years to come.” 
      Cliff Satterwhite, R.A. Director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, called Friends of McCall “a very dedicated collection of former camp staff and friends of the ministry of McCall. 
      “Friends of McCall have consistently provided camper scholarships to a great number of boys who would not have been able to have attended camp without this assistance,” he said. “They also have been a driving force in the physical development in multiple areas, such as the lake improvement, archery range, riflery range, mountain rock on the activity building, rocking the Horton-Hyatt outdoor facility, and providing the new slide for the non-swimmers at Lake Chiliwater. This group in Friends of McCall seeks to be a positive influence and continues to assist McCall as we help boys and men grow and develop in Jesus’ name.” 
      Anyone wishing to contribute to Friends of McCall may send donations to P.O. Box 83, Pickens, SC 29671. Barnes may be contacted at 864-525-8424.