The Knights’ first day in Zambia, 2009.
Since 2009, when it’s time for the Knight family to plan their summer, they only have to write down one thing: “Zambia.”
Cynthia Knight helping kitchen staff prepare one of the meals served at Camp Life.
Most people who have ever been to Camp Life have been served by a Knight. Andrew Knight is the longest-tenured member of Family Legacy’s U.S. staff, and filled many roles at Camp Life over the years—sometimes while riding a unicycle for everyone’s entertainment. Cynthia Knight, his wife, is a schoolteacher, slotting Camp Life in during her summer breaks. In the early days, she cooked meals for participants all summer long. The older Knight children were unofficial assistants long before they joined Summer Staff. However, what some could see as the Knights giving up their summer, they saw as eternally-minded service.
Andrew’s perennial work set up at Camp Life.
“From day one, it was just all about serving and encouraging those kids and sharing the gospel and the love of Christ,” Andrew said. “We also want to get as many non-Zambian [participants] involved in Camp as possible, to have a part in ministering to these kids but also experience that for themselves. Maybe even some of them for the first time—really understanding and embracing the gospel for what it truly means and what it truly is.”
God’s Sovereign, Windy Road
God has sustained Camp Life for over 20 years. Andrew saw it explode from a relatively small event—70 or so children and a handful of Americans—to what it is today: something many affectionately call “VBS on steroids.” Despite its longevity, that 20+ year history had moments that looked, at face value, like dead ends. Even recent participants may recall Camp Life’s 2 year pause over COVID concerns or safety-related flight adjustments, but God has a long track record of turning dead ends into brief detours.
For the first decade of Camp Life, participants stayed in homes rented by Family Legacy and took buses to the Camp Life venue each day. In 2013, to avoid a huge price hike on this lodging, Camp Life accommodations shifted to a nearby newly constructed lodge. Andrew and a few members of leadership arrived early in the summer to check it out, only to find it not fully as advertised.
“It was a construction site,” Andrew said. “I mean, literally, under construction, not close to being done.”
The owner of this lodge offered a quick alternative space, even canceling previous reservations to fit Camp Life in, but the pivot brought its own set of challenges.
Cynthia’s makeshift sink during Camp Life 2013.
“[Cynthia] didn’t really have a sink to wash dishes in, so we washed dishes in the bathtub; we would take our salad in the salad spinner outside and we would pour water bottles on it and spin it to try to clean the lettuce off; the hot water wasn’t always working. That was definitely the roughest year from a participant experience.”
2013 revealed a larger need for Camp Life to continue—a consistent, predictable place to stay. That’s when plans for the Lusaka Legacy Lodge began, with 2014 being the first year Camp participants stayed in a villa on the hilltop we know today. God’s detours have not just kept Camp Life in business; they have also paved the way to better things.
“We made it work and ended up having a good result with us being where we are now, even though it was a road to get there,” Andrew said. “It was a reminder to me that God sometimes creates great things out of painful circumstances.”
Bringing Mission to the Forefront
Along the path to better things, Andrew noticed Camp Life improve not by removing anything, but by honing what makes its mission so impactful.
Among Andrew’s favorite long-standing features have been the Blessing Time with children and small group Villa Times among Camp attendees. Both offer different ways to deepen relationships and learn from others. Community Day once consisted of door-to-door evangelism but evolved over time to be another relationally-focused touchpoint, one that directly involved children’s families in Camp Life.
“It gives our ambassadors a chance to pour into [the families] and to highlight some of the positive aspects of their child’s lives. I think it builds more of a connection between our ambassadors and the children that they’re serving.”
As recently as Camp Life 2026, the team leading emotional care at Family Legacy introduced a brand new trauma-awareness activity. This card-based lesson demonstrates how a vulnerable child’s environment can foster traumatic events.
“It really brought it close to home, helping our ambassadors, especially our new ambassadors, to really understand what they’re stepping into. It sets the stage well for why we do Camp.”
The Blessing of Family Ministry
Andrew and Mary, a girl sponsored by Cynthia’s parents for over 10 years.
That “why” for Camp Life has brought many people face to face with God’s work among vulnerable children. However, God’s work is not limited to those children, and the Knights’ story is a testament to that, revealing a richer meaning behind the name “Family Legacy.”
One summer, a few years into the Knights’ Camp Life time, participants were eating dinner by Chef Cynthia and sharing testimonies with the group. A small hand raised to be next in line to share. It was Sam Knight, Andrew’s oldest son, who was around 11 or 12 at the time.
Sam Knight with his own Camp Life group.
He shared a testimony of the impact he had felt in his summers in Zambia, including a statement Andrew has never recovered from: “Camp Life has changed my life.”
“It really encapsulates one of my favorite parts of Camp Life and Family Legacy in general as a staff member, which is having my family involved in the ministry,” Andrew said.
For Andrew’s daughters, the legacy of their years at Camp Life shows up in their choice of careers: Claire studied and has worked in Early Childhood Intervention, while Grace is pursuing a Master’s degree in Speech Pathology. While Andrew admits it’s hard to credit any one thing for steering their fields of study, Camp Life gave his children unique chances to live their lives outwardly.
A young Grace helping distribute t-shirts at Camp Life 2014.
“They weren’t just watching me or their mom do ministry. They were actually with partners leading small groups, leading blessing time, or at least participating in it. Maybe they weren’t the strongest leaders at that age, but they could still interact and engage. It’s really cool when we have child ambassadors that come and serve as counselors because they’re basically ministering to kids their own age or just slightly younger. There’s a cool kid-to-kid dynamic that’s just unique.”
An Eternal Legacy
Since 2009, the Knights’ God-given heart for serving children has become contagious. Andrew has brought along his aunt, his parents, and even a large group from his church to Camp Life. However, this heart now defines the Knight family in a totally new way, and will forever.
Keyshawn experiencing one of his first Camp Life summers.
On a plane ride home from Zambia in 2014, Cynthia and Andrew had their first serious discussion about becoming foster parents. In 2015, they began fostering an infant boy named Keyshawn. In 2016, he became Keyshawn Knight. As is custom for Knight children, two-year-old Keyshawn was on the next flight to Camp Life, and has returned ever since.
Keyshawn and an older Mary at Camp Life.
“To bring him to Zambia and have him now be impacted by the very same ministry that led us to adopt him is a pretty special thing,” Andrew said.
Adopting their son brought many parts of Camp Life full circle for Andrew and Cynthia: investing in children, taking bold steps in God’s direction, and staying open to the potential He created them for. These are what Andrew hopes his life can exhort in others.
“For us, we felt like we could make a difference in Zambia by working with Family Legacy,” Andrew said.
“But, we also felt like we could make a difference here at home by fostering. And so that’s what we did. Take that next step and see where it leads—maybe God’s got other plans for you and that doesn’t work out for you—but don’t let fear or uncertainty keep you from something that could really be life-transforming.”
If you are craving family-oriented gospel ministry in Africa, check out Camp Life for yourself. Applications open mid-October each year—tell them the Knights sent you.
