What was originally a fun weekend camping trip to get out of the heat of Phoenix, Arizona and into nature with friends, quickly became an organization touching the lives of thousands of college students across the nation — including those of Point Loma Nazarene University. Kamp Love started at Grand Canyon University with a group of students, but has grown to reach over 100 public and private universities. Kamp Love has a 24-hour camping trip in the fall semester and a full weekend retreat during the spring semester. At both, there are friendly games and competition, small group Bible studies, student-led worship and sermons.While Kamp Love is going into its fifth year as an official nonprofit organization, the Point Loma branch has been hosting Kamps for three and a half years. Kamp Love Point Loma is entirely student-led by Jack Trepus, a fourth-year biology and chemistry major, serving as the senior director; Kate Gerspacher, a fourth-year business major, serving as director of operations; Jackson Taylor, a second-year business administration major, serving as the spiritual director; and Keegan Bramer, a second-year Christian studies major, serving as director of development. These four students oversee approximately 100 other PLNU students in order to make Kamp happen.Jed Rummage, a third-year Christian ministry major at GCU who has been involved with Kamp Love since his freshman year, gave insight to what leadership looks like. “It’s doing the Lord’s work with my friends and people that I care about deeply,” Rummage said. “It’s allowed me to do God’s bidding with people I love.”The goal of Kamp is to gather students out into the wilderness to learn about the Lord, connect with their community, camp and have fun. The leaders have expectant hearts about how God might move and use Kamp this fall. “It’s a really cool opportunity to see college students just come and get away from the normal routine of being on campus and just kind of have like a little bit of a retreat,” Taylor said. With the novelty of Kamp happening once a semester, it’s the leadership’s goal to get as many students there as possible. Kamp Love Point Loma is not affiliated with the school and cannot be endorsed or promoted by the university. The risks involved with camping and the gathering of hundreds of students without supervision has brought about issues before that, if linked back to the university, could cause larger problems. That being said, students have made efforts to get the word out so that all students know about Kamp. With Kamp promotion happening on social media, at other unaffiliated organizations like Garage Worship and through the handing out of postcards, its outreach has informed students from many different places on campus. Hundreds of students have been in attendance at Kamp over the past three and a half years, but the leaders want to reach more. Bramer has been working to put together a committee that will go door to door in residence halls, knocking and inviting people to Kamp. The leaders believe that Kamp is for everyone, “not just the dialed in Christians, but the students struggling in their faith, the students that are closed off to Jesus,” Bramer said. Kamp brings together a diverse group of students from different residence halls and church denominations, coming from different backgrounds, so that students’ lives may be transformed through the knowledge and pursuit of Christ.When asked what students should expect from Kamp this semester, Trepus said to “expect to worship for a long time.”“Expect to be in a small group with people that you don’t know, drive in a car with people you don’t know,” Trepus said. “Expect to realize that the person who sits next to you in your GE class is actually someone who loves the Lord and someone that you can be friends with. Yeah, expect to encounter Jesus. Expect to be prayed over, expect to be challenged, called out, in your walk with the Lord.” Taylor mentioned the importance and beauty of the community that Kamp Love Point Loma offers and provides.“I think we’re not meant to do this walk alone,” Taylor said. “And so to be able to see people come into community with other college students and really just grow in their faith, but also just have a really fun time is always the goal.”
Grace Chaves 
Kailyn Collette