Tom & Joyce Sacher: Living Out Faithful Servanthood
“Would someone be willing to take on the responsibility of cleaning up camp and preparing it for summer?”
It was 1958 at Camp Streamside in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, where inner-city youth from Philadelphia came for a breather from city life and to learn about the love of Jesus. As Bessie Traber, founder of BCM International and Camp Streamside, presented this need to her office staff, twenty-two-year-old Tom Sacher and his twenty-one-year-old wife, Joyce, volunteered. Meeting as students at Moody Bible Institute, the couple had been thinking of missionary service overseas. Little did they know their hearts would be captured by God’s love and vision to reach those inner-city children. They would remain at Camp Streamside for most of their fifty years of service with BCM.
Six summers followed. Tom, who had been directing the summer camping program, approached Miss Traber about moving his family to Streamside to develop it into a year-round facility. Her reply: “Young man, I can see God has laid this on your heart. Don’t let anyone hold you back!”
In spring of 1964, Tom, Joyce, and their three small girls moved to the Streamside property. As a family, they worked together serving God and others as Streamside ministry expanded. Summer camp was the highlight of each year, with eager, smiling children pouring off buses anticipating the summer fun. The first winter retreats were an experiment in patience and flexibility with groups fed from the Sacher’s own kitchen. But God, ever faithful, provided an architect, workers to help, and the finances necessary to build additional facilities.
1984 brought a shift into the Sacher’s lives as they were asked to develop a Candidate Department at BCM headquarters. Leaving Streamside was difficult, but they soon transitioned into this new challenge. Joyce enjoyed cooking for Candidate School and seeing the fruition of each new ministry that came with new missionaries. They became involved in supervising other USA camps, and Tom set up retreats where ideas and encouragement could be shared among camping staff.
Then in 2000, the Sachers experienced another major life shift. Tom had developed Alzheimer’s disease. The couple was invited back to Streamside, the place they loved, for Tom’s final three years. Once Tom went home to be with Jesus, Joyce remained actively involved in the ministry of Camp Streamside. She served the camp with her cooking, in addition to lending a hand for other camp projects.
By 2007, God had supplied Streamside with capable staff who could carry forward the services Joyce filled. Retiring from BCM, Joyce moved to a house in Indiana only three miles away from her daughter, Shari, and took on the joy of full-time grandmothering. She also serves in her church by babysitting for the local MOPS group, helping in the church library, singing in the choir, and helping with a Bible Club.
But earlier this year, she came back once more to Pennsylvania, leaving a continued loving touch on the ministry of Camp Streamside as she planted the flower gardens there. After fifty-one years of BCM ministry, Joyce Sacher offers a new generation of Streamside staff and counselors an example to follow of lifelong, faithful servanthood.
