Lunchtime at the Shores is much more than just a meal— it’s an event. Okay, yes, we do eat lunch but there’s so much more that goes on that makes lunchtime one of the most exciting and fun times of the day.

Every day before lunch all of camp gathers on the porch of the dining hall, where they can compete for that day’s Spirit Stick. Competing for Spirit Stick generally involves a theme, cheering, yelling, and a lot of jumping. Needless to say, when the time comes for everyone to go inside, campers and staff alike are more than eager to just sit down in air conditioning for awhile. Luckily for them, the results of the Spirit Stick competition (or Tuesday’s “Cluster Bomb”, a spirit completion between cabin clusters) is the first thing that is announced when they get inside.

Papayoyo won the Cluster Bomb this week!


Next, we pray and dive into our meal. Lunch meals are always filling and provide energy for the second half of the day. Meals range from honey butter chicken biscuits to grilled cheese sandwiches, and there are always soups and salads available as well!

After lunch, we announce the winners of Pit-N-Palace, the daily camp-wide cabin-cleaning competition (parents, feel free to employ this method back home), and, when we least expect it, the skit characters will interrupt and involve the camp in whatever issue they’re facing that day.


The Shores has seen a wide variety of… interesting skit characters this summer— to say the least. Medieval disk-jockeys, goblins, explorers, reindeer trainers from the north pole, french chefs, a UPS guy, and even a couple of personal trainers have graced our stage this year, just to name a few. Needless to say, skits are always hilarious, engaging, and unpredictable.

Lunch is more than just a meal at Pine Cove. It’s a time where jokes are made, fun is had, and campers and staff find common ground to grow closer together and form a deeper relationship. Ultimately, this is the goal of our mealtimes: For campers to laugh alongside their counselors and have fun, so that they might feel more comfortable here at camp and be more willing to listen to our staff as we preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Psalm 126:2