Call Statement

My name is Caroline Truelove Camp and I have been called to a life of ministry and service. 

The United Methodist Church has raised me and I call it my home. Growing in faith at multiple Methodist churches across the Western North Carolina conference, I have had many experiences that have comforted me and also some that have challenged me. Vacation Bible School taught me that church is fun. Every level of church choir has taught me how to make a joyful noise. Every youth retreat taught me that friends in faith are sacred. Every mission trip was and is a mountain high experience. Now as an adult, God has tapped me on the shoulder and pressed on my heart to go into the field and embody Christ for others.

Clemmons United Methodist Church taught me that church is for families. A young couple looking for a newlywed activity joined the choir and through the years would bring their three children to be baptized at this location. Those children were raised by children’s choir practice, Vacation Bible School, and Children’s Church. I was raised by those spiritual practices. My childhood was engulfed with the sound of music and I traveled the southeast with my father’s southern gospel quartet: the Sons of Thunder Quartet. I would help set up sound equipment and then scamper off with my siblings to explore another church. The architecture and the art would amaze me even as a young child and it solidified my comfort level with the church even as a young child. Churches have always been a place of refuge and not a detached location of stuffy liturgy. 

Boone United Methodist Church taught me that church is a tradition. Under the direction of AJ Thomas, I learned the roadmap of the Methodist church starting with the strangely warmed heart of John Wesley and his theology of grace. I participated in a liturgical tradition that required me to stand before the congregation and remember my baptism. I spoke a vow to be faithful with my presence, my gifts, and my service. I had a level of maturity to begin to focus on the words I was saying every week, every month, every Christmas and Easter season. Liturgy started becoming a place that I could look to that would connect me with the congregation around me and the congregations that had come before me. 

Oak Ridge United Methodist Church taught me that church can be a challenge. Adolescence is a difficult time for some and as a deep theology seeker, I was wrestling with my own obstacles. At a critical social development point, I attended a church that was out of my school district so I knew very few people. I wanted to connect with people my age but felt ostracized for my desire for a deeper dive into the Word. Thankfully, a few other youths were feeling the same desire so under the direction of Karen Kurtz, we completed the full version of Disciple I. I was thrilled to find that questions of faith can be challenged and pushed to think broader and go deeper.

University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina taught me that church is for the wayward traveler, not just the faithfully secure. College is a dark and depressing time for many and for me, it pushed me away from my faith. I was known in my circle of friends as the Christian, the Bible nerd, the believer, but underneath my ability to think critically, I had no emotion for anything. I was struggling to discern my direction in life. It wasn’t until I dragged my suicidal self down to the Methodist church on Franklin Street that I experienced a resurrection of spiritual life. Just being in the building, I could feel the arms of God around me. I left the church that Sunday afternoon sobbing knowing that I would survive. God loves me, all of broken yet redeemed me.

Christ United Methodist Church taught me that God would use me. Moving back to Greensboro, I started attending church with my family again. It would be here that God set in motion a series of events that would lead me to sit down to a lunch meeting with Louis Timberlake and say I want to go to seminary. I want to be a pastor. I initially was just a volunteer youth leader. I love those youths will all of my heart. The spiritual resurrection I had experienced in Chapel Hill was still fresh and loving on those kids awakened a whole new perspective of what it is like to be a leader in the church. I would eventually join a choir again. Being in the choir has come full circle. It once was an activity for my newlywed parents and now it is something my father and I enjoy together. Sitting in a room as the youngest participant, I learn a lot of what it means to be a Christian: humble, kind, full of life. I am on two committees, one where we try to engage newcomers to the church and one where I am the young adult representative for our Discipleship ministries. I lead the young adult small group which has opened an avenue to engage and discuss multiple theological viewpoints and also where I have found wonderful friends. After our merge with Glenwood United Methodist Church, I connected with Carter Ellis as we took the Table and turned it into a spaceship for Glenwood’s first-ever Vacation Bible School. In the summer of 2019, I stepped into an interim position as the Communications Director and I felt like I was just getting a taste of what God has called me to do. I thank Morris Brown for his trust in my efforts. I helped create a new ministry movement in my time on staff and it was thrilling. In the fall of 2019, I returned home from a construction based mission trip under the direction of Virginia Reynolds and our partnership with ReHace. Seeing my work resonate with my team members and with people around the world and their faith journey has been life-changing and validating.

Every church experience has taught me something. Every person that I have encountered, whether it be a positive or negative experience, has taught me something. God loves all. God uses the smallest characters to create a monumental impact. Jesus Christ used a little boy’s small offering of loaves and fish to feed a mountainside full of people with plenty to spare. The Holy Spirit has asked for my loaves and fish and I would like to share.