Todd Iddings

My name is Todd Iddings. I was born and raised in Kelso, WA. My father never had the opportunity to learn how to be a parent. Violence was the only thing he knew. His children felt the force of that violence daily. I personally lived in fear every day. I felt like there was no escape. Every once in a while we were allowed to get on the church bus that took us to the Nazarene Church in town. I was in elementary school and I had no idea what or who Jesus was. All that I knew is that this place was so much better than the fear and violence I faced at home. I used this church as an escape and I never developed a relationship with Jesus Christ.
    While in junior high I was still living in fear, but was able to go to a Baptist Church with a neighborhood boy. I even was baptized, but this still was just another place that was an escape from my home life. It seemed I needed to follow their rules, which included being baptized in order to continue going, so that is what I did. I followed the rules. I still felt like I had no escape from my home situation and I still did not have a personal relationship with this entity or person named Jesus Christ.
    Just before high school my parents divorced and this new found freedom caused me to act out in very violent ways. Many fist fights with kids at school and violent fights with my brother as well occurred. Then there was a change. A woman knocked on our front door and told us her name was Karla and she was the youth director at the Presbyterian Church in town. She said the group did many activities and if we were interested in attending we could attend the church on Sundays and come to the youth group on Wednesdays. Something about Karla, I now know is the love of Jesus Christ, was so inviting and warm and my brother and I chose to check out the youth group.
    I know this meeting is about the impact of Sound View Camp on my life, but it is important to know that the mission of spreading the love of Jesus Christ to those that suffer does not always start with the camp experience. It first has to be shown by those who work diligently caring for others like so many youth directors do. It was during this time of attending church and the youth group that the idea of attending a church camp was first brought up and I decided to give it a shot.
    It was here at these camps that I finally recognized what it truly meant to have an actual living, breathing relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. How did I learn this. It was the loving actions of the camp staff that showed me that faith in Jesus Christ was only real if it was accompanied by the act of loving others. I had a rough childhood, and so many other kids just like me had a pretty rough go of it, but the staff didn't care where you came from. They didn't care if you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior or not. The only thing they cared about was every single one of those campers, including me. These simple acts of kindness, done out of their own relationships with the living Christ had a major impact on the rest of my life. I learned to accept others just as they were, and I learned that a faithful life is not mine. I have the obligation to give to others.
    I had many opportunities at Presbyterian Outdoor Ministries. I went through the LEAD program as a camper, I was a camp counselor, I oversaw the LEAD program for a summer, I was able to dean a camp at Sound View and I was a ropes course facilitator as well. These opportunities to serve really only were available to me because of my obligation as a Christian to serve others as I had been served by those before me and through the relationships built through the camping ministry of the Presbyterian Church. There are too many people to thank by name who have shaped and molded my life, but all of those people would forgive me for not mentioning their names knowing that one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle of shaping my early adult life came in the form of a piece of property known as Sound View Camp.
    I learned that life is not going to be perfect, but you can overcome any obstacle thrown your way. I learned that you need to live a purposeful life. I have not always done this, but I am still motivated by the lives of the staff that i served alongside all these years later. Parts of my heart and my soul are still there on the grounds of Sound View Camp. I can never do enough good deeds to repay the goodness and the love that was shown to me. I try to continue living every day in this light that I experienced at Sound View Camp.
    You see Sound View Camp is not just about saving the lives of its many campers. Sound View is about enriching the lives of everyone that comes in contact with it. Sound View Camp has truly been the life saving, living, breathing, caring, nurturing, all encompassing personification of Jesus Christ. I can truly say that my life has been blessed because of this. Please do what you can to keep this place, this wonderful place, in the family.
    Thank you for listening to my words,  Todd Iddings