Member Spotlight: Patrick Parker
Date Posted: 7/14/2023
Lewisville ATPE member Patrick Parker, a P.E. teacher at Indian Creek Elementary School, spent the beginning of his summer doing what he’s most passionate about: guiding others with a servant’s heart. For the second year, he traveled to Missouri to serve at Camp Barnabas, a camp dedicated to special-needs adults and children.
The camp offers a variety of activities, including fishing, canoeing, and archery. According to Parker, the attitude is “YES”: Whatever the campers want to do, they get to do. Camp Barnabas allows them to be who they were meant to be and create memories they might otherwise not have the opportunity to in their own daily lives.
Parker says he’s incorporated his camp experience into his own gym, innovating ways to accommodate and modify activities. “No one wants to be excluded. Wherever they are mentally, physically, and socially, I’ll meet them where they are.”
The most rewarding part of serving at Camp Barnabas, he says, is when he is greeted and hugged by the campers who remember him and the impact he’s made in their lives.
Parker has also done mission work through his church over the past 10 years, traveling to Africa, Los Angeles, the Navajo Nation, and San Antonio to serve those in need.
Overall, Parker calls the experience heart-changing and life-changing. He appreciates the opportunity to help campers in any way they need and encourage them to love others as Jesus would.
The camp offers a variety of activities, including fishing, canoeing, and archery. According to Parker, the attitude is “YES”: Whatever the campers want to do, they get to do. Camp Barnabas allows them to be who they were meant to be and create memories they might otherwise not have the opportunity to in their own daily lives.
Parker says he’s incorporated his camp experience into his own gym, innovating ways to accommodate and modify activities. “No one wants to be excluded. Wherever they are mentally, physically, and socially, I’ll meet them where they are.”
The most rewarding part of serving at Camp Barnabas, he says, is when he is greeted and hugged by the campers who remember him and the impact he’s made in their lives.
Parker has also done mission work through his church over the past 10 years, traveling to Africa, Los Angeles, the Navajo Nation, and San Antonio to serve those in need.
Overall, Parker calls the experience heart-changing and life-changing. He appreciates the opportunity to help campers in any way they need and encourage them to love others as Jesus would.