Sweden 2024: Beach Camp

Every time I go to Sweden I find it hard to put into words how impactful the experience realty is.

There isn’t one thing that sticks out as the best or the most important—all of the pieces come together to provide a profound mark on your heart and on how much Jesus really loves the world.

The kids kept asking us why we were there. Why Sweden? Why this camp? “How did you find us?”

It was an easy answer on the surface, FCA, but extremely hard to explain. How, like this blog, do I put into words how God brought us here? How do you explain that God loves both of us so much that we are both here at this camp learning more about the sport of beach volleyball, each other, and Him?  

How do you put words to the moving of the Holy Spirit, when you can’t explain it yourself?

Needless to say, we found ways through showing them, and hopefully the love of Jesus that shines through us reflected onto them.

However, I guess I should start at the beginning.

It’s almost unfair to relay the details of camp because even though it was still camp, it was in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Öckerö is an island off the west coast of Sweden about 40 minutes from Gothenburg. It’s only accessible by ferry, and most of the residents never leave the island community that extends both ways up and down the coast of Sweden.

There are two small churches on the island that join with others nearby to put on a camp every summer called Camp West. Two years ago, Sport for Life (FCA in Sweden) established a sports track for the kids attending the camp—so we were a small part of the larger church camp going on.

The camp is limited in space because we only have two courts—this year there was a waiting list for kids to join! (Praise God!)

From 9-12:30p we would have practice sessions separated by skill level and have a “Time Out” or small group session to talk about the FCA theme 24/7 and open up the Bible. All of our 24 campers got a Swedish Bible to take home.

Then after lunch we would simply play until free time—and at night we would attend the big service with the rest of the other 200+ campers.

The kids kept telling us how much it meant to them that we came & hoped they would be able to see us next time. All of them said they wanted to join again next year!

While simple, I think the biggest and most impressive part of any SFL camp is the leader team. The main leader, Lukas, is simply a youth pastor at one of the island churches and he helped recruit others who are not only great at playing beach, but one played at the elite level in the country.

With the three of us from the U.S., plus the head coach Johannes, who has extensive experience, the kids got top notch instruction.

In addition, almost all the Swedish leaders went to Bible School & love Jesus in such a genuine way. It was one of the best groups I have ever been a part of at a camp & felt so blessed to be included with them.

I’m hoping all of them will continue to volunteer at other camps!

Separately, I got the opportunity to go into Gothenburg to visit Charlie, one of our SFL staff, who works through one of the largest churches in Sweden. He is heading up a project with the church to create a commercial gym to help reach the community using the pillars of our 360 Coaching curriculum.

I got to meet one of the pastors and see the facilities they are transforming into the gym in their brand-new building.

It really fired me up for what is possible and what can be done in Sweden through Sport for Life. The growth, even in the last year since I was there, was amazing. I feel so privileged that I get to be in the front row seat for what God is going to do in Sweden & help our friends on staff in anyway that we can.

Sweden’s Jesus following Christian population has fallen below the 2% threshold and is now considered an unreached people group. SFL is the only organization of its kind in the country sharing the gospel through sports.

I am so blessed to do this work, and as you can see, there is a lot of it. This was just one of 9 camps SFL had this summer—almost exclusively run by volunteers owning the camp and the SFL ministry vision & mission to make it happen. I’ll be the person here who can advocate for them at any time within FCA so they can get the training and resources needed to do the work.

Which leads me to the need I have to be back fully funded so I can do this full-time without other job distraction. If everyone who sees this could commit to at least $50 a month I would be at my goal. Would you be willing to help spread the gospel in the Nordic countries—specifically Sweden at this time? All of us together can make a big impact.