October 2, 2026
Georgia Baptist youth camps saw significant spiritual response this summer as more than 1,400 students gathered for Impact and SuperWow, two camps designed to help churches disciple teenagers and mobilize them to advance the gospel.
Across Impact and two weeks of SuperWow, 1,412 students attended camp. Those weeks resulted in 87 reported professions of faith and 48 students indicating a call to ministry.
Impact, Georgia Baptists’ discipleship-focused camp, hosted 575 students from 29 churches. During the week, 38 students made professions of faith and 23 indicated a call to ministry. SuperWow, Georgia Baptists’ beach camp, hosted 837 students from 26 churches across two weeks. At SuperWow, 49 students made professions of faith and 25 indicated a call to ministry.
For Georgia Baptist leaders and volunteers, the numbers reflect more than a strong summer camp season. They point to the need for strong youth groups in local churches as Georgia Baptists seek to reach the next generation.
SuperWow exists to be a catalyst for strengthening youth groups, while Impact serves as a discipleship camp that invests deeply in students for a week with the goal of creating an inflection point in their lives. Though the camps have different formats and emphases, both are aimed at helping students know Christ, grow in Christ, and return home ready to make Christ known.
David Williams, a youth ministry volunteer at The Church at Godley Station in Savannah, said Impact gives students an opportunity to practice discipleship in ways that stretch them.
“Leaders are encouraged to facilitate conversations and model what it means to be a disciple,” Williams said. “Impact is often the first time they’re truly challenged to step up as leaders and live out discipleship among their peers by asking questions and talking about personal struggles.”
Williams said he has seen students grow in openness and maturity through the camp’s discipleship environment.
“Each year I’ve seen some of the quietest students start to open up to students their age for the first time and be honest about struggles and questions they have about faith and what it looks like in a practical way,” Williams said. “It’s my goal for Impact to be a launching point into the real world so they can replicate the model they’ve seen lived out at camp in their daily lives.”
That kind of discipleship, Williams said, often continues after students return home.
“This year my group had an awesome conversation about discernment in finding a local church and getting plugged in after they graduate,” Williams said, “and I heard one student found a new church in their area a few weeks ago.”
At SuperWow, leaders saw students respond to the gospel while also growing closer together as youth groups.
Candy Sangster, a youth leader at New Richland Baptist Church in Jeffersonville, said SuperWow has been her camp of choice for nearly three decades because she has repeatedly seen God work in students’ lives.
“I have been going to SuperWow for 29 years,” Sangster said. “I have watched Jesus move in mighty ways in our youth during SuperWow.”
Sangster said the camp strengthens the relationships within her youth group and helps students and leaders see where they need to grow.
“It gives our group the opportunity to strengthen our bond with one another,” she said. “SuperWow helps our group see our areas of weakness along with our areas of strength. Camp always ignites a fire that fuels us during the year.”
For Sangster, the impact of SuperWow is not only measured in attendance or decisions, but also in the stories of individual students whose lives are changed. This year, she said, one student realized she had been placing her value in the opinions of others rather than in Jesus.
“It allowed her to fully be free,” Sangster said. “That was one example from this year. I have watched many students give their lives to Jesus at SuperWow over the past 29 years. I am forever grateful that I got a front row seat to every single student’s life I have ever brought to this camp.”
Sangster has also seen the long-term fruit of camp in her own family. Both of her daughters have served on SuperWow staff. Her oldest daughter served from 2022 to 2024, and her 18-year-old daughter served for the first time this year at both SuperWow and Impact.
“To watch my girls being the ones who are served to the ones doing the serving is a full-circle moment for me,” Sangster said.
Stories like those point to one of the central goals of Georgia Baptist youth camps: sending students home ready to live on mission.
Leaders know peer-to-peer evangelism is one of the most effective ways to reach teenagers. Students who have been changed by the gospel are often uniquely positioned to speak to classmates, teammates, friends, and neighbors who may never attend a church service on their own.
For that reason, Impact and SuperWow are not designed to replace the discipleship ministry of the local church. They are designed to strengthen it.
When students return home from camp, youth leaders often see renewed openness to Scripture, deeper relationships among students, and greater willingness to share the gospel. A student who arrives at camp spiritually distracted may leave with renewed passion. A student who arrives unsure of where to find identity may leave resting in Christ. A student who has never trusted Christ may return home as a new believer. A student who has never considered ministry may begin asking whether God is calling him or her to serve the church vocationally.
That is why Georgia Baptist leaders continue to emphasize the importance of investing in the next generation through strong local church youth ministries.
This summer’s response at Impact and SuperWow reflects a larger prayer among Georgia Baptists: that students would not only be reached by the gospel, but also raised up to carry the gospel forward in their churches, schools and communities.
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