If you’ve been to a CFO Camp anywhere in the world you have received three things upon arriving at camp… 1) A hug, 2) A hearty welcome from the Camp Council Ring, and 3) A name tag. Hugs and hearty welcomes are wonderful, but it’s the name tag we are going to focus on for just a minute.
A name tag is a very functional tool at big gatherings. In CFO, the name tag is as much a symbol as it is a help for learning who’s who in the… camp. Upon arrival at camp you were probably told to wear your name tag all week long. There’s a reason for that. By putting on a name tag and committing to wear it for the entire CFO experience, we are expressing that we WANT to be known. CFO is a place where we can be who we are and know that the Council Ring and those in attendance will love us for who we are and who God made us to be. As we walk through the CFO Daily Program with other campers, the connections we make lead to relationships, and relationships lead to transformation as we begin to discover that…
“Camps Farthest Out is based on the knowledge and the belief that society is a living whole, and must become conscious of this wholeness and integrate as a whole, or it will never be at rest. Moreover, this consciousness and this integration must come from within or it will rot and die.” – Glenn Clark
The CFO name tag is the ultimate camp keepsake (though other neat things like the two keepsakes pictured here certainly abound in CFO camps around the world). Many camp Council Rings go all out in crafting and decorating name tags. Campers can’t help but take theirs home! Some folks write the names of those who were in their prayer group on the back of the name tag. Some campers decorate their name tag during creatives time. I’ve even heard there are a few CFO’ers out there that decorate their Christmas trees with all of their CFO Camp name tags. (Oh we love you, love you, love you!)
The German CFO Camps boiled the CFO concept down to its most simple expression. CFO is “Learning to Live Love.” Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8. Putting on a name tag at CFO (and keeping it on) is an act of love. It is an invitation to others that you are willing to be open and vulnerable, and that you will lovingly hold space for others to do the same.