About
My name is Don Camp. I am a retired pastor and Bible and English teacher living in the American Pacific Northwest. I am married to my wife of nearly sixty years, and we have two lovely children living in Vancouver, Washington, and Lakewood, California.
My wife and I are involved in our church in Tacoma, Washington. Here's a video of a recent service September 15 2024
The single most important moment in both my life and my wife's was when we met the Lord and he became as our Savior. I was 14 years old and she a bit younger. He transformed our lives and took us on a life of adventure that continues even now.
One place the Lord took me was to college where I studied English literature, graduating with a B.A. from Portland State University in 1969. I went to work that year teaching in a small rural town in the mountains of Eastern Oregon. From there life took a turn for us and we followed the path God placed before us. I into photography and my wife into a nursing specialty that was challenging and invigorating for her, open heart surgery.
From there the path turned again and we found ourselves back in school, seminary this time at Western Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. I say "we" because she became our support while I studied. I graduated seminary in 1990 with a Master of Divinity, From there we were led to a small church in Eastern Oregon where we spent almost 12 years. Then to Washington where my wife's parents needed our help, and where I went back to teaching, this time in a Christian high school. Both my education in English and Bible got a workout.
I thought I retired in 2014. It was my intention, but when we shifted (the word Indians use) to India, my daughter who was a missionary in Delhi had other ideas, and I ended up teaching a year in Metro Dehi International School (MDIS). What an adventure that was!
Back to Washington in 2015 and back to teaching. It is harder to retire than you might think. It was at that point I began to write, using the background of a formal biblical education, 14 yrs in the ministry and 15 yrs. teaching Bible. In fact, that is where the first of the series of reading guides began to take shape. The others simply followed as people asked for more.
The rest is history.
About this website. The first reading guide, Messiah: The Story of Jesus According to Matthew, took shape in 2015 and was published as a Kindle book. (You can purchase a paperback copy here Amazon.com) But it was getting little attention. A book by an unknow author on a biblical subject and one with no chase scenes or gun fights doesn't end up on the Best Seller List. So, I turned to the Internet, first publishing one chapter at a time on my blog Biblical Musing . But I was hoping for more. The result was the creation of this website.
This site allows me to gather the guides I've written and the apologetic articles into one place. But more importantly, the purpose of the website is to connect the church in America with Christians in distant places. I want us to connect with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage prayer for one another and to support as the Lord leads us. The "Reading Guides" are intended to provide instruction in the Bible for those who do not have Bible schools or books. For that reason, the guides are written in common language understandable by all.
The website is also intended to provide support for the reliability and authenticity of the Bible on the "Reasons" page. This is technically called apologetics. Sometimes apologetics, which simply means giving a reasoned answer for what we believe, is written in language that is academic and scholarly and requires a seminary education to understand. The intention of this website is to bring that down to earth in language that all can read and slide shows that illustrate the ideas discussed. My hope is that the "Reasons" page will answer questions that are important regarding the Bible and faith.
We live in an electronically connected world, and my hope is that we will meet one another and begin a conversation. We can begin, if you like, on Facebook using messenger. My Facebook page is Don Camp Facebook
I am a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The Alliance is a missions organization that accidently became a denomination, yet still has the largest percentage of its 6 million plus members living outside the United States and is still first and foremost a missions movement.