Theological Foundations Backpacking Trip (TFB) is a program hosted by the Westminster RPC with the help of other congregations along the front range of Colorado and Wyoming. The ultimate purpose of TFB is to teach young people about the church of Christ so that they will love Christ and His church more and engage in the church as active disciples of Jesus Christ.

In the past five years, more than 50 young people have flown to Denver, Colo., walked into the woods, and come out again safely with a wonderful experience that we hope has encouraged them in the Christian life and in the blessings of life in the church. Pictures alone cannot capture this experience, so we would like to share three perspectives that paint a fuller picture: the view from a leader, the view from a hosting congregation, and the view from a participant.

Breaking Down Walls with Tent Walls

by Shane Sapp

Teaching is difficult, until you break down walls and build trusting and open relationships with people. Usually these relationships are built over a long period of time, but sometimes they are built by physically removing the walls between people, hiking in the woods for 6 days, sleeping in a cramped tent with 3 other smelly people, digging cat holes in the woods, huddling around a fire in a rainstorm, reaching into the belly of a trout with your bare hands, and climbing a mountain with 1,000 feet of air just inches away. What do these things have to do with teaching? These things help a group of people quickly break down walls and build relationships so that each person is ready and willing to ask honest and probing questions in their hearts and examine the biblical answers.

TFB attempts to provide an adventure that serves the goal of learning. We try to fulfill this purpose in the context of a local congregation. We begin and end TFB with public worship on the Lord’s Day at Westminster RPC. During the first weekend, the students attend intense classes. We teach about the Scriptures, worship, the person and work of Christ, and the nature and function of the Church.

Then, during the week, Shane Sapp and Patrick McNeely take the students deep into the wilderness. Each day is filled with climbing mountains, making camps, cooking in the woods, sleeping outside, and enjoying God’s creation. Each day ends with a devotion on the material we learned in our classes. Sometimes, these devotions explore the subjects with a greater depth. Other times, these devotions engage questions the participants have from the classes, such as the implications of Christ’s kingship in our lives and in the Church. The leaders take every opportunity—whether informally while hanging off a mountain or formally as we gather together for a meal—to listen to the students and help them apply the Scriptures to their lives.

We return to Westminster RPC at the end of the week to worship with God’s people again on the Lord’s Day. Following the evening service, we ask the students to share what they have learned and some of the highlights of their experience with the congregation.

I have seen fruit from the program manifested in two ways. First, I have seen the work of Christ as people from our local congregations give of their time and talents to serve the students. I have benefited personally from the teaching and preaching of local pastors, elders, and deacons. Second, I have seen the work of Christ in the students’ lives. Subtle reports come back to me, and I am encouraged by how Christ would use our little adventure for His glory. Some students have become communicant members in the church. Students from isolated circumstances have returned home encouraged by the fellowship they’ve had with the broader church. Pastors have reported how returning students have more fully engaged in their local congregations. Sometimes, the greatest encouragement is simply seeing the TFB students faithfully persevering in Christ within their local congregations.

The TFBers are coming!

by Tara Welander

Every summer our congregation prepares for 10-13 high school and college-age students to arrive, sleep in our homes, eat our food, interact with our children, and send us on errands to make sure they’re ready for the backpacking portion of their trip. We love it! The entire congregation comes together to make this happen: from our pastor who teaches, to his wife who organizes the huge task of filling their backpacks with food for the trip, to the airport runners who drive to the airport picking up teenagers who look like they might be TFBers (the huge backpack usually gives them away), to the errand runner who picks up and delivers lunch. We have committees within committees, and I’m pretty sure everyone has found their niche.

That’s part of the beauty of repeating this large endeavor every year. People have discovered the task they most enjoy, they claim it every summer, and they set out to bless the group of young people in our denomination. The funny thing is, we are the ones being blessed. We try to encourage the teens who come into our homes by asking them questions about their faith, their friends, and their future hopes and dreams. We come away feeling blessed by them as we listen to their biblically grounded answers and see them encouraging our children’s faith.

Yes, encouraging our children in their faith is a personal highlight. The last night of TFB is a fellowship meal with a slide show and a question-and-answer session so the TFBers can tell their stories. We hear a lot of inside jokes, repeated quotes, and poking fun at their respected teachers, but we also see a lot of challenged and changed hearts. And there is always mention of our children. We have 26 children in our congregation, and they love the TFBers. Watching the TFBers play basketball with my seven-year-old son, play cards with him, draw with him, read with him, and pray with him touches my heart every year.

He wants to be a TFBer. There’s a lot behind that statement.

What does it take to pull off TFB? Host homes, airport runs, teams to prepare for meals that the TFBers eat, a crew to plan and pack the food for backpacking, someone to write and print their program for note taking, equipment checkers, large borrowed vehicles to drive into the mountains, pastors to preach and teach, and people on standby for the last-minute things we have forgotten. It’s truly exhausting. But every year we look at the blessings we meant to give compared to the blessings we received, take a nap, and decide to do it all over again.

The TFBers are coming!

A New Adventurous Memory

by Andrew LaMay

My home is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but some of my fondest memories come from my adventures in rural Iowa with my extended family. My cousins and I would shoot guns and tear through cornfields as fast as my aunt would let us. Then, in 2014, I received an invitation to attend TFB and spend a week in the Rocky Mountains! I had been to the Rockies, but never went far from civilization. This time, I would go into the wilderness with 14 other people, carrying on our backs everything we would need to survive.

When I arrived in Colorado, the Westminster congregation welcomed me with open arms. On the first weekend, the congregation fed us, housed us, and taught us. I knew that we would have classes, but I never could have been prepared for what happened. The church’s deacons and elders took time out of their week to talk to us about finance, spiritual growth, the sacraments, our membership vows, and God’s will. They even took time to speak with us individually, asking how they could pray for us, and graciously allowing us to bombard them with questions.

Then, we packed our gear, said goodbye to the congregation, and spent most of a day hiking into the mountains. This city boy discovered that backpacking is a lot harder than it looks. We made camp just below the tree line near a place called the Lake of the Clouds. During the week, we took several day hikes to climb the peaks around us. I cannot explain the exuberant feeling of reaching the top. The wind, the view—it was amazing! At night, we would sit around the fire singing psalms, reading the Bible, and getting to know one another. I met believers from all over the country and as far away as Great Britain. Even with all of this, I would have to say that my favorite memory from the trip was the sunrise hike. A few of us awoke at 4 a.m. and hiked east just in time to see the sun crest over the horizon. I am not a morning person, but I am glad I did this.

I doubt that I will ever forget the memories made on this trip or the hospitality of Westminster RPC. Thank you, Shane Sapp, Patrick McNeely, and Westminster congregation!

The Burden of TFB

by Patrick McNeely

I cannot seem to escape life under a backpack. I carried a tactical medical backpack through various countries for almost 6 years in the US Air Force as a pararescueman. Carrying the necessary equipment to execute the job of a rescue specialist often made for quite the burden. Yet, the burden of saving lives and aiding the injured almost made me forget the burden of my 60-pound pack. The backpack was a necessary burden for a much greater burden.

Thanks to TFB, I still get to carry a 60-pound backpack. And still I almost forget the burden of my pack as I bear the greater burden that TFB places on my shoulders. My job is not merely to lead the students safely up a mountain peak and down a scree field, but to lead and stir them up to love and good works. Loving Christ and His church is the primary burden of TFB. TFB then, like a good backpack, is really a vehicle for something far greater: doing the work of ministry. After five years of development, it is time for some self-examination; so I have asked, “How is TFB doing in this regard?”

Having been privileged to attend TFB and assist in some capacity for the past four of the five years, I know that it is impossible to offer an unbiased assessment. I have my criticisms of outdoor ministry in general, but I believe the TFB program has been able to avoid these thus far. As partial as I am to the great outdoors, I doubt that I could endorse outdoor ministry in an unqualified manner. I believe that outdoor ministry must live up to its name; actual ministry must actually take place. If ministry does not happen, then I think a wonderful opportunity has been missed.

For instance, if TFB only teaches how to gut a trout, build a fire with wet wood, and hang food in bear bags from tall trees, the program cannot honestly be called outdoor ministry. Teaching outdoor skills and leadership must always remain supplemental to the primary task of training in godliness to raise up faithful servants of Jesus Christ. As Paul told Timothy, “Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7-8, ESV). This training wasn’t only for Timothy, but “being trained in the words of faith and of the good doctrine” that he had followed, he was “to put these things before the brothers” (v. 6). Outdoor ministry, like any ministry, is only ministry when there is training in the words of faith and doctrine. Missing this aspect of training is not just a missed opportunity, but counterproductive. Some may walk away with a distorted view of what ministry really is.

Here is where I think TFB has its greatest value. Since TFB emphasizes the primary ways Christ ministers to His people (through the public means of grace and the communion of the saints), real ministry is reinforced rather than replaced. This emphasis seems to be the primary difference between TFB and some (not all) of the other so-called outdoor or niche ministries. Each year I get the overwhelming sense that no participant (myself included) wants to leave the church to do outdoor “ministry,” because spending time outdoors in God’s creation is never presented as an alternative to spending time in church in God’s special presence, with His special people, on His special day. Rather, when we go outside, we jostle the normal patterns and scenery of life just enough to encourage greater receptivity and memorability of all that God commands and promises to His Church. Just as Abraham could look to the nighttime stars to be reminded of God’s promise, and just as Jesus can call the anxious to look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, TFBers can be reminded afresh of the goodness of our heavenly Father by greater exposure to the things He has created and sustains.

Hence, upon returning from the great outdoors, there always seems to be a greater eagerness to serve the church, engage in the Great Commission, and experience the blessings of being in the church, in all its mundaneness—even when it requires being indoors. It is particularly in this regard that I believe TFB serves an extremely valuable function within the body of Christ in general and within the RPCNA in particular. Seeking adventure in the great outdoors with great fellowship is a great blessing, but the true burden of TFB is seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I may eventually escape life under a backpack, and TFB graduates may never carry a pack again, but it is my prayer that none of us escapes life under the great burden and joy of loving Christ and His Church.