Come As You Are
When Kierstin Wilson first started attending Good Shepherd in 2020, church was simply what her family did.
After moving to Kansas City following the loss of her grandmother, Kierstin, along with her parents, brother, and sister, began attending church with her grandfather, who had long been part of the Good Shepherd family. As a child, she had visited for Vacation Bible School, but now church became part of her weekly routine.
“I wasn’t always excited to go,” she admits with a laugh.
Even when she was baptized in 2021, she wasn’t completely sure what it all meant. Looking back, she knows part of her motivation was making her grandfather happy. Her faith was still becoming her own.
That began to change during high school.
Like many freshmen, Kierstin found herself trying to fit in. She poured herself into volleyball and worried about what others thought of her. After moving from Harrisonville, she felt like appearances mattered more than they had back home.
“I was putting my identity into everything except who I really was,” she says.
At the same time, she felt God pulling her somewhere else.
She wanted to be with the youth group.
Eventually, she made the difficult decision to step away from volleyball to invest more deeply in her faith community. It was one of the first choices she made because it felt true to who she was becoming.
That decision eventually led her to Camp Barnabas, where she has now served two summers as a volunteer counselor for individuals with special needs.
Before camp begins, counselors review profiles describing each camper’s strengths, challenges,and daily needs, then choose who they will spend the week with.
Her first summer, Kierstin was paired with Sarah, a 20-year-old with autism and ADHD.
What began as a week of serving became a friendship that continues today.
“I thought I was going there to help her,” Kierstin says. “But she taught me how the Lord loves.”
Returning again this summer, she was surprised to learn she would be paired with two campers, Caleb and Slater, each with a unique personality.
Slater kept everyone laughing with his endless jokes and playful sense of humor. Caleb’s love for Jesus was impossible to miss. During worship, he would often be overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face as he sang.
Watching her campers worship changed the way Kierstin understood faith.
“Their love for the Lord is so pure. It’s not about saying the right words or understanding every scripture. They understand the feeling.”
That realization brought Good Shepherd’s message into sharper focus.
For years, she had heard the words, “Come as you are.”
At Camp Barnabas, she watched people live those words.
Her campers weren’t trying to impress anyone or pretending to be someone else. They simply showed up exactly as God created them, with joy, honesty, vulnerability, and love.
“They’re just their truest selves,” she says.
Today, Kierstin sees how Good Shepherd prepared her for Camp Barnabas, and how Camp Barnabas, in turn, deepened everything she had learned at church.
Good Shepherd taught her that everyone belongs.
Camp Barnabas showed her what belonging feels like.
Today, Kierstin believes God calls every person to something unique.
For her, that calling has become clear.
She hopes to work in special education, creating spaces where people with disabilities are treated with dignity, respect, and genuine love. She is even considering joining the Camp Barnabas staff after graduation next year.
She knows not every camper returns home to the support or acceptance they deserve. If she can give them one week where they feel seen, safe and valued, she says, it’s worth every moment.
But if you ask Kierstin who changes the most during camp…
“They impact me more,” she says.
They’ve taught her that faith isn’t measured by having all the right words or understanding every biblical idea. Sometimes it’s expressed through laughter, tears during worship, an honest hug or the simple joy of being fully yourself.
Good Shepherd first invited Kierstin to come as she was.
Camp Barnabas showed her what that invitation looks like when it’s fully lived.
Now she’s becoming the person who extends that same invitation to someone else.
For Kierstin, faith is no longer about fitting in or having all the answers.
It’s about becoming the person God created you to be and making space for others to do the same.
Sometimes, the people we think need us most are the very ones who teach us how to love.
Or, as Kierstin discovered at Camp Barnabas, they simply see your soul.
