There was a whole lot of shakin’ going on! While anticipating my trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, to be a part of the Christian Camping New Zealand national conference, I confess -- I had hoped to feel a few small jolts -- just to assuage my curiosity. I was happy with the first small rumblings but when the 5.7 quake hit during lunch on Tuesday, my inquisitive spirit was satisfied.

After lunch the staff of Living Springs provided me with the access code to their wifi so that I could get updates on the Dallas Mavericks' Game 6. (I don’t really understand it, but Tuesday afternoon in New Zealand is Monday night back home.) The Mavericks were ahead by about 6 points late in the third-quarter when the 6.3 shockwave hit. No more power. No more internet. No more Mavericks' Game 6.

Fortunately, there were no injuries and no serious damage at Living Springs – a gorgeous Christian conference center on the hills rising above Governor’s Harbor about 20 kilometers from Christchurch and about 10 kilometers from the center of the quake. The same could not be said for the Anglican Church and several other structures in nearby Lyttelton.

Everyone left the building and gathered at the flagpole.  Watching the ground roll and swell under your feet like shallow waves on the ocean is a little unsettling. But what about the Mavericks?  Once the initial concern subsided, I texted a friend in the USA asking him for an update. A few minutes later I got the response, “We won!”

Dinner that night was a candlelight delight! The lack of power (and limited water supply) did little to dampen the spirits of the participants. Those who attended were hardy souls. Some of those who were scheduled to attend the conference had abandoned hope of getting a flight from Auckland to the South Island due to the ash cloud spewing from a Chilean volcano. These determined travelers  piled into a camp van and drove eight hours to Wellington, ferried for several hours from the North to the South Island, and then drove another four hours to Christchurch – a long day and night of travel.

The setting was gorgeous, the hospitality superb, the fellowship inspiring, the instruction invaluable. However, the most moving aspect was a bus tour we took of the earthquake damaged region. The stops included what was once the home of a Living Springs’ staff member. A boulder high above her home broke loose and careened down the hillside crashing through one side of her home and out the other. The house was a total loss but no one was injured. Her parents lived a few hundred yards away in a house also demolished with a multi-ton boulder bounding through the roof coming to rest in a bedroom.

New Zealand is a delightful country with just over four million resilient people, over 40 million sheep and more cattle than sheep and people combined. Only about fifteen percent attend church regularly, but it is blessed with 80 Christian camps. The leaders of those Christian camps are making an impact and sharing God’s love and truth with others.

Not only is Christian Camping New Zealand making a difference in their own country, they also support Christian camp ministries in Latin America, Fiji and Kenya.