Conversation - with Matt Ritzert - Royal Family Kids Camp

Here’s a polished podcast description you could use for the Kingdom Conversations episode about Royal Family Kids Camp:

Kingdom Conversations welcomes special guest Matt Ritzert for an inspiring and heartfelt discussion about Royal Family Kid Camp and the life-changing impact it has on children in foster care. Hosted by Pastor Robby at Church of the Lakes, this episode explores how RFKC creates a safe, faith-filled environment where children ages 7–11 can experience joy, encouragement, positive memories, and the love of Christ through the beauty of the outdoors.

Matt shares what it’s like to serve as a camp counselor, the unique challenges foster children face, and the incredible moments of transformation he has witnessed through this ministry. Together, Pastor Robby and Matt discuss why one week at camp can make an eternal difference, where they see God moving in the lives of these kids, and how the Church can come alongside foster care ministries in meaningful ways.

Whether you’ve served in foster care ministry, are curious about getting involved, or simply want to hear a powerful story of hope and compassion, this conversation will encourage and challenge you to live with a Kingdom mindset and courageous love.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes podcast, where our mission is connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and greatest in life. In 2026, we're emphasizing a kingdom mindset in all of our ministries and missions of being more like Jesus and countercultural in our living. Today's podcast highlights one of the many foster care ministries at Church of the Lake, Royal Family Kids Camp, or RFKC. Listen, as Dr. Robbie interviews one of the veteran camp counselors at RFKC, Matt Ritzert. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Hey everybody, welcome in to another Kingdom Conversations here at Church of Lakes. And today we have another special guest, uh Matt Ritzert. Matt has been kind enough to come on and help us explore Royal Family Kids Camp, which is one of our foster care ministries here at Church of Lakes. And if you're unfamiliar with Royal Family Kids Camp, our RFKC for short, it operates under our Grace 68 ministry umbrella and it provides foster children all the way from 7 up to 11 a safe outdoor camping experience. And this camp is focused on, of course, building faith and self-esteem, but probably more importantly, just offering hope and positive memories through what the founder calls the Cathedral of the Outdoors. And this year we're going to host our 18th camp, which has steadily grown to hosting, believe it or not, can you believe that, Matt, 60 plus foster children. And we're so grateful for not only our faith community who supports it here at Church Lakes, but also for Cross Point United Methodists, which partners with us because it takes a lot of volunteers. Over a hundred people help organize camp just for the one week and countless of hours. And there's no better way to talk about it though than that. Invite in Matt. And uh Matt, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, Robbie, thanks for having me. Uh it's such a a blessing to be able to speak about this ministry that we do here at Church of the Lakes. And uh really glad to be able to share some of what I see and some of my experiences to hopefully help others as they you know think about ways in which they can get involved. And is this a ministry that maybe tugs at their heart a bit? So glad to be here and uh you know appreciate the opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Well, there's no one better to talk to about it because not only are you one of the leaders in our congregation, but you're certainly one of our leaders at RFKC. And I was hoping you could help us walk through maybe what a generic day at camp looks like. Maybe tell us a little bit about your role at camp. Uh uh what what has your experience been down at Camp Wakanda where we have RFKC?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah, so it's it's interesting, you know, as I was thinking about this and and kind of preparing a little bit, I was thinking about how long I've been doing it. Uh this will be my 13th year. That's awesome. So I started in 2013.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Um that's before you you before you even had kids either. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Yeah. So uh my oldest son was was born in August of 2013. So when I went to camp in July of 2013, we still had not had kids. And honestly, it was a Holy Spirit thing that got me involved. My wife and I uh had gotten married in 2012 and we're starting to try to get a little more involved with the church. And uh I remember very vividly uh Bill Wendell coming up on stage and and kind of making a call that he needed people, that they needed people to come to camp. And I can remember at that time kind of saying a prayer, and uh, you know, there's not a lot of times in my life that I can be like, yeah, the Holy Spirit was definitely nudging me towards something, but that's one of them for sure. And uh it's been such a great experience, right? I like I said, 13 years, or this will be my 13th year. And uh when you think about camp and you kind of ask, what does an average day look like? I I kind of jokingly say it's busy, but it's good busy because we want to get the kids out and having fun and doing things and kind of getting them away from their life, uh, kind of concerns, worries, things like that. Can they be a kid? Can they come and have fun? So we are very regimented with our time, and it's important to be so so that we can kind of move along throughout the day. But usually in the morning we're up and afford the kids an opportunity to go swimming down at the lake. Polar bear swim, right? And there are some mornings where you really don't want to get out of bed because it's so cold, and there's others when that's the first thing you want to do because it's so hot. You know, the weather camp can be all over the place. Uh, but after that we have breakfast, uh, the kids go to what they call kids' camp. And this is one of the things that we do throughout the camp where we give them or or we have a platform to kind of share the gospel with them, but in ways that resonates with kids.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

So how how how how does RFKC do that?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, so through song, we do a lot of songs, uh, which is an awesome thing to do, and it gets them up and moving around.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Some motions, yeah, you get energy, high energy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, we do um skits, so a lot of skits, and and Amy George does a great job with the drama team of getting them ready to go to kind of work through different skits and different things to help the kids hear scripture, kind of understand what it is, but in a fun and energetic way. For the visual for the visual learners, right, especially and sometimes the kids get so into it that they forget what's real and what's not, and they'll be yelling at the folks on stage like, hey, don't fall for it or don't do this, which is pretty hilarious when they do that kind of stuff. Uh, and after that we get into activities, and we really do try to keep the kids busy. So when it's camp activities, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Which maybe they don't always have the opportunity to do. I know my kids don't get uh outdoor camp experience until they go to camp themselves. So I'm sure these kids are exactly the same, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Right. So we have the way the camp is set up is is really neat because there's a an area kind of in the general center of where camp is that we do a lot of our activities. So we have woodworking, crafts, uh, this cool spot that's called Grandma and Grandpa's. So really kind of an area for the kids to just go and hang out. There's board games that can dress up. There's tons and tons of costumes where the kids get to dress up.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Or dress up their fellow counselors. Yeah, that happens quite often for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Uh, there's uh a basketball court where they can play tennis and shoot hoops.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Gaga ball.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yo, gaga ball is one of the don't get hit, man. Man, it is it is wild.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

If you haven't, if you don't know what gaga ball is, you're missing out.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

And if you come to camp, you'll know what it is for sure because the kids play a lot of it. Uh, but then we have waterfront activities, so fishing, canoeing, swimming, things like that. Um, and it's just a lot of fun. So we we spend a good chunk of the morning outside doing those kind of things, break for lunch, and then do some more activities, which we we talked about where it's kind of camp club, where again we're singing songs, we're hearing about scripture, and we work on our our scripture verse of the week. So the camp usually has a dedicated verse or set of scripture that we help the kids learn. And again, it's through hand motions and repetition, and so we're really excited to teach them that. Then we're back outside for a majority of the afternoon doing a lot of the same activities, having fun. Then each night we try to do something special for them. So um, you know, we have the kids come in on Monday, and it's an overnight camp, right? So they're with you from Monday morning until Friday afternoon when we leave camp. Okay. So at the on the evenings, we try to do some fun stuff. So uh each night is something special. We've done stuff like magic shows, we've had Outback Ray bring exotic animals. Yeah. We have a birthday party every year for the kids, which is awesome. And they each get to celebrate their birthday. They each get their own individualized cake. Uh, we sing happy birthday to them, which is a ton of fun. And then on the last night we're there, we take a boat ride over to Camp Aldersgate where we have a cookout and the kids get a chance to swim over there and have some fun. And then after all of that, when I which I said, you know, every day is busy, but it's good busy. Uh, we get the kids settled in, and so usually bedtime, we try to get lights out by nine, nine thirty.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Well, it's not dark in the summer until then, anyway. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Right. And we've worn the kids out pretty much. Just again, they they're running around and they're wearing us out, too. So by that point, um, you know, everybody's kind of ready for bed, and then we we start it over. And it's and it's a a lot of fun. And and I talked about the need for kind of a regiment, right? We have to be on time, we have to be able to move from one one activity to the next. So there we're giving them a chance to do some things. So it's a ton of fun. Ton of fun.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Now it's certainly structured because you had you have to have some type of logistical structure when you're trying to organize a hundred plus people. But Matt, how how does your role fit into camp? What is typically the role that you've been asked to fulfill? Uh, can you tell us a little bit about that experience uh down at camp?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Absolutely. Yes. So I'm a counselor down at camp, uh, and I've been a counselor the whole time that I've been down there. So the responsibility of a counselor is you have responsibility for two kids. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Uh and then the way the shepherd kind of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Uh yeah, you know, I used to think I was the cool big brother, and now I just recognize that I'm just that dad figure now. I'm not the the cool, uh cool older brother in the case. Just the gray hairs that give us away. For sure. But the way the camp is structured is there's staff and there's counselors. I mean staff really help support all the activities. Okay. Um, so again, they're working each of the areas, they're helping set those things up, and then we have counselors. So the way that it works out, and and again, camp is for kids that are 7 to 11, and we always shoot for 64 kids at camp. So 32 boys, 32 girls. So each counselor has two kids, and then we think of cabin structure, which is kind of what we consider like a small family for that week. So each cabin has four counselors, eight kids, and then what we call a cabin mate, which is really the cool older brother or sister at that point. Uh, and we operate as kind of a family throughout the week. And so as a counselor, I'm responsible for two kids. And so basically what that means, and it's you just are with them all the time, keeping track of them, making sure that they're not getting into trouble. And when I say trouble, I mean these kids are seven to eleven, and I've told people so many times if you came to this camp and you just watched it, you'd have no idea the amount of trauma that these kids have been through. Um, there's a reason they're in foster care at this time, and we have to remember that. And so I it's no different than if you went to any other camp with seven to eleven year olds. It's it's tons of fun. You see kids running around having a good time, um, but they need structure still. And so the counselors kind of keep that structure in place. Um, but I've always said too, I have my two kids, but we as a family in that in that cabin are really responsible for eight kids. Okay. And we just make sure everybody's together, that we're always um kind of in the right place at the right time. Okay. But as a counselor, you have more dedicated time to really interact with those kids and get to know them. And and you know, you and I were talking as we were coming on earlier, and this year I will have the two kids that I'll have in camp. This will be their fifth year. So I had them as seven-year-olds all the way up through this year, which is awesome because as excited as I am to see them each year, that excitement is there with them too. And so you get to create and foster this bond where you know them and you look forward to the time you get to spend together. And so it's little things. You canoe with them, right? You help them fish, you shoot hoops with them, you just are there, you're present. That's probably one of the biggest things is you are present and helping them do whatever it is they want to do. Um, so that's really what my responsibility has been as a counselor. I I love it. I I've kind of said as we go through this process that as a counselor, you get to know a smaller uh amount of kids, but you know them really well. And as a staff member, you get to meet all of the kids. Sure. And so that's really the benefit of both sides. It's dependent on where do you want to be and what do you want to do. Um, but ultimately you really get a chance to create that strong relationship in that counselor role, which has been a blessing. It's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

What what do you look forward to now that it's the fifth year to get like Matt? This is, you know, let's be real, like it's five days out of a whole entire year, but you feel like you've made real bonds with these kids for the last five years. What are you looking forward to most as they get ready to age out of the RFKC program?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, I think it's seeing them this year, uh, because when you get kids that are set, I mean, there's there's a a significant change when you get a seven-year-old to an 11-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Which is why we do have an age out process at RFKC. Um you know, as soon as kids hit 12 and we start getting closer to preteen angst, uh it makes sense to start separating kids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Right. So I think the the joy of seeing them grow up. Yeah. And when you get them, they're a child still, and they're still children as they're 11 and aging out, but you can see them start to move towards being a teenager. Uh, and so the hope is just to give them a little bit of foundation and support, right? We're we're not intended to change these kids in a week. What we're intended to do is share God's love with them and help just create and facilitate some of that growth, right? We're cultivating, we're trying to help out a little bit. So it's exciting, but it's sad at the same time because it's hard to say goodbye and knowing that that they're aging out, but it's it's such an awesome thing to be able to kind of grow with them over the last four or five years.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Now, I I certainly know the answer to this question for myself, but I want to hear it from you also. Sharing the love of Christ with uh these children, why do you think it makes a difference? Because I think the outside world oftentimes would look at camp and they get confused. They get confused why, hey Matt, why are you taking a week off to go down to a camp where you're not bringing your fans? Hey Matt, why why do you think this is actually making a difference when they've are these foster care kids have or uh or adopted kids or have been in the foster care that have been so traumatized by a situation, an event, so on and so forth. Why do you think sharing the love of Christ makes such a difference?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

You know, um as believers we're called to share God's love with others.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Amen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

And even when you think about our mission here at church, right, connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love. When you look at your own faith journey, right, it's not always one person or one particular instance that changes it. It's it's a culmination of things. There may be one particular instance when you're like, this is the moment that I realized God's love for me.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Yeah, the initial the initial awakening, or we can call it. Uh there's more theological terms for it, but yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

But we don't know God's plan. We can only help share his love and kind of have him work through us. And so a week, an hour, a minute, whatever it is, is all it may need to be for that particular moment for you. So again, I think the thing that we need to remember is we can't change these kids in a week. We can't quote unquote, right, air quotes, fix these kids. But we can share God's love. And even if it's for a brief moment, and it doesn't even have to be blatant, right? We're not down there quoting scripture 24-7, right? We're not opening our Bibles and reading with them 24-7. We do some of that and we do share it. But it comes through in a natural environment. And I think what we're trying to showcase to these kids, again, who have probably come from some pretty significant trauma, that that's not what their life has to be. Oh man. Yeah. And that that they have a heavenly father that loves them. And whether they get it during camp or not is not the intended outcome. Because sometimes it just takes time. But we can share it. And even if it's a week, and it's a it is, you know, we jokingly say that it is the hardest week you'll ever love, and that is very true. So in those moments, if you can share Christ's love for 30 seconds or a minute or two, whatever it is, it's a part of his bigger plan. And I I even think right about the cultivation. Somebody plants, somebody sows, somebody waters, but ultimately it's God that makes it grow. Amen. And that's kind of the mentality I have when when we think about just a week. Well, it's just a week, but it could be a very big week for that child over the course of their lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Well, I I always joke because the cliche is so true to me. You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, right? And oftentimes in the parable of the sower, we see that um the seed may fall on rocky ground, hard ground, some on good soil, so on and so forth. But it's our job as sowers to just spread the seed, right? That's right. And God does the rest. Uh which I want to get a little bit more specific in that process. Matt, is there a time, uh situation, an experience, as Jared likes to call it, um, from the Irish proverb, is there a God wink? Like, have you seen a godly experience at camp um where sharing the love of Christ has made a difference? Can you share uh with us uh a time that occurred for you?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I think you have moments um with the kids that kind of stand out. Um and everyb everybody has different relationships with the kids that they come into contact with, but even just little things of praying with kids at night before you go to bed. And starting off with I don't know how to pray, right? Even moments of, hey, will you will you pray with me? Um it's it's little things like that that you can see happen. Uh one of the the lighter moments, I think of a God moment, and this I I'll never forget this. And Sam Summers and I still joke about it.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

I love my buddy Sam.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

So the first year that I was there, I had a boy, there's an older boy who had glasses. And we're in the lake on the very first night, and he's swimming with his glasses, and we're like, hey, you shouldn't be swimming with your glasses. He's like, I can't see without them. And we're like, okay. Well, lo and behold, he comes out of the water, and we're like, Where are your glasses? And he's like, Oh my gosh, I don't know. I lost him in the lake. So this is the first night, and the kids go up to shower, and I'm in the lake trying to find it, and Sam's in the lake, and and the lake is I mean, it's it's a lake, right? So it's a honey bottom, it's got seaweed. And we're underwater combing the bottom of this lake. Oh, God bless you, man. So it's Monday night, we don't find them, and I get lost in which day it was, but there's a day that we're down there, and it might have been Tuesday or Wednesday, and Sam and I are still doing this, going through, trying to find these glasses. And I said a prayer, I'm like, Lord, just if if we can find them, let's find them. And I'm down on the bottom, and I'm skimming with my hands. Yeah, yeah. And no joke, I find these glasses. Wow. And I come out of the water and I give them to Sam. I'm like, Sam, look what I found. He's like, You gotta be kidding me. Um and so we gave them back to the kids, and I'm like, that's just a cool moment because I I was able to share too. Hey, God doesn't always answer our prayers, but in this moment, that was a God thing, right? This lake is murky, you cannot see it. If you're thinking Caribbean blue water, it's not that. It's not that. The kids love the water, but it is. They do, they do, they don't care. Yeah, um, but that was just such a cool moment because I was able to talk to that kid and say, hey, like God will guide you, even when it feels lost, he'll he'll guide you. So that was one of the cooler, maybe light-sided moments of of camp that I still think about quite often.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Do you do you think um the Bible verses that we go through with the kids, some of them are uh very culturally relevant. Um do you think these stick with the kids long after camp?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

I hope. Um I think to some degree it does too. We give them part of the kind of one of their going-away gifts is what is um a memory book that is full of pictures of their camp experience, and in there we'll put the scripture for that week.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Oh, I don't know. I don't know if I knew that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

And so my hope is as they have those books and they go back and they look at them. And they will go back to memories. They do, yeah, yeah. That they can remember that. That verse. I think the other thing we do is we make it easy to remember, right? We sing a song, or there's some type of chorus that it follows with hand gestures. Um I even think of, you know, be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord our God is with you wherever you go. It's a song in my head that I sing from camp. Right. I'm not gonna sing it here, but it is a song from camp that I remember because it's just that it's the way that we help them integrate that into their lives.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Uh so to to wrap things up, Matt, thank you so much for coming and sharing. You know, if people I think if people watch our uh worship services or go back through, there are times when I get a um, because I'm an emotional person, I'm not afraid to admit it. Um there are there are times when I'm feeling a little low, and oftentimes my humbling center is to worship. So I will go back and watch old worship services. Um, not always Church of the Lakes's. Uh I don't want to be flipping about that. So, but there are times I've gone back and there there are times I'll accidentally, you know, whatever God told me to click on this specific week or this specific topic that the sermon was going to be on, but I'll I'll sing the praise songs, blah, blah. When you get up to do um and share some of your thoughts on RFKC and worship, like I can't tell you how many times I moved to tears because I know how much it means to you, but I know you're emotional because you understand that God is making a difference in these kids' lives, and that's what's so overwhelming. And I think if people experience RFKC, um they'll they'll be changed. They'll never be the same. So, how would you encourage people to get uh involved in RFKC? Maybe for someone who has never been associated with it or hasn't taken the leap of faith yet? I know it's you know obviously a little late in the process this year to do something like that, but maybe uh a pattern of of things that they could do to kind of get their feet wet, so on and so forth. So what would you tell someone?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

I mean, first and foremost is pray on it. Yeah. I mean, that's the biggest thing. Um, and again, that's probably what moved me to get started. Um, we have a lot of opportunities to get involved directly or indirectly. And so I think when we go through the process, you know, usually starts in February where we start to kind of engage folks in in the church around the upcoming year and how you can get involved. Uh you can come down for a day and help with an event if that's something you want to try. I think even if you're unsure about it, coming in as as a staff member gives you a lot of opportunity to kind of get the lay of camp and understand what's going on and how it works out. Uh if you have experiences or you have kids and you want to just jump right in on the counselor side, it's it's really no different. I I've and I jokingly said this, like I used to be or feel like I was the cool older brother, now I'm just the dad. Well, I've got kids that are this age. Yeah. Right. My oldest is 12, my youngest is seven, right? This is the age group in which my kids are. So I probably am the dad. But it's I I think it's it's preying on it and giving it a shot. And I would be lying if I said it's it's not scary, maybe to get started at first or worrisome, you know. Oh my gosh, or what's gonna happen in this situation? What do I do here? And there are concerns I had too, but I there are great people down there that that helped support you the first time. And I think about my first time. Uh and Bob Kintig was huge in helping me get acclimated to camp. And Bob still goes, and we were in a cabin together last year, and uh, you know, there are people there who will help you throughout the week. And we recognize what the week is, we want to support you well even while you're at camp. So the biggest thing is praying on it and just give it a shot, even if you feel just the slightest stirring, give it a shot. And I'll I'll I can't guarantee it, but there's a high probability that you go down, you give it a chance, and you fall in love with it. And that's the biggest thing is just giving it a shot.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Yeah, serving God in unique ways. You know, I'm so grateful for our faith family that gives us the opportunity to partner um with him and making a difference in kids' life. And you know, the whole point um as we wrap up, Matt, of doing Royal Family Kids Camp is to give kids who have, by no fault of their own, fallen into a tough circumstance a real shot. And Pastor Jared says it all the time. Our goal is to help disrupt cycles of dysfunction. And it's funny, just offering a loving opportunity at a camp for one week, maybe just the impetus of the opportunity that the kid needs to be pushed in the right direction. Um, and God certainly does all the hard work, doesn't he? Um absolutely. But I'm so grateful for Church Lakes in general, which, you know, through Grace 6.8, um, through Hope Ridge, through RFKC, which are just a few of our foster care ministries, that we have the opportunity to break cycles of dysfunction. And our God, we know, can do hard things through us if we would only press on and do the work for him and tap into the Holy Spirit. But Matt, thank you for your time today. I'm so grateful for you. And of course, if you have any more questions about RFKC, Matt and I would love and Jared would love to answer those questions for you. I'd encourage you to email us at podcast at churchtelakes.org. We point you in the right direction of getting your questions answered or how you can partner. And of course, we'll be excited to report back in in July after we're all a little bit tired after going down for a full week. Uh, may God bless it with cool temperatures and no rain. But the reality is we're gonna have a blast no matter what, right, Matt?

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Well, thank you, Matt. Thank you for your time and uh everyone out there, God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Thanks for listening to this episode from Church of the Lakes with Pastor Jared Priestett and Pastor Robbie Stride. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating or review and sharing it with your friends, family, coworkers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Canton, Ohio area, we would love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit Churchofthelakes.org or click the web link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.