What Happens When Worship Becomes Movement

A summer camp where kids learn choreography is nice. A summer camp where kids learn how to worship, lead, and believe they belong is something else entirely. We sit down with Mia to celebrate the 26th year of Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp at Savannah Grove Baptist Church in Florence, South Carolina, and to share what makes this week such a life-giving tradition for families, students, and the church community. 

We walk through what parents and students can expect at Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp 2026: Monday through Friday, July 6 to July 10, days running 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and a welcoming age range starting around five and up. Mia explains how the camp separates groups by age and then opens up different worship arts pathways for older students, including flag, mime, sign language, and lyrical dance. We also dig into the men’s division, why a masculine approach matters, and how the camp helps young men move past the idea that praise dance is “for girls” by grounding it in faith, confidence, and real examples. 

Then we zoom out to the bigger story: how the camp started as a small weekend for nine dancers, grew year after year to serve upward of 200 participants, paused through COVID, and came back strong. We highlight the Friday worship recital where the public can see what the dancers learned, plus the expansion to a second location with Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp in Columbia, South Carolina at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road (July 20 to July 24). If you care about youth ministry, Christian dance, praise and worship, or building a stronger church community, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a parent or youth leader, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello everyone, welcome to Native Drums. I'm Jocelia Williams, your hostess for today. And here on uh our podcast, we have Mrs. Natalia Mia McWhite Vostik, better known as Mia.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hi Mia. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

I'm great, I'm great.

Camp Mission And 2026 Dates

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Mia's here because this is the 26th year for Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp that we have here at the Savannah Grove Baptist Church. And um next week it begins on tomorrow. Yeah, so um let's talk about what's gonna take place at Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp this year, 2026.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Heavenbound Praise Dance Camp 2026 um is going to be um amazing. We believe we uh are going with the same goal in mind, uh exposing young people to a different way to praise God, but also to help them build themselves. Um so we are going to be here, like you said, Monday through Friday, July the 6th through the 10th. And we will be catering to young people ages five and above, but they can come um at four if they can, you know, stay by themselves and younger than that if parents are willing to come with them. Um but we'll be here from 8 30 until 4 every day, um dancing and learning and just um being together.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Just being together.

Classes And The Men’s Division

SPEAKER_00 1:35

So what are some of the different entities, the different classes that are gonna take place during the camp?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Awesome. We do separate the young people by age um initially. So we have our angels who are uh ages nine and younger, and then we have um our older um middle to high school students that will be split up into different ages, I mean different groups of genres, flag, mime, sign language, and lyrical dance. Um and those dancers will be able to use those different instruments and those different avenues to um do praise and worship dance, and then um the male division where we have our young men that come um and they come from age five and up as well, and they will be working with uh Elder Nicholas Bostik uh and they will be doing all the things that young men do. So their camp is a little different than ours as they take uh that masculine approach to praise and worship, um, but they have a great time learning how they can to express themselves in movement and dance.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

I'm glad you said that masculine approach to praise dance because sometimes young men feel like, well, I know that that's for girls dancing. But um you've had football players to come and be a part of the male.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yes, football players, truck drivers, teachers, uh, preachers, um, sound technicians, but they all start here with that same foundation. And we also talk about the fact that one of the premier dancers in the world, in the word, it was David. Um, because the word tells us that David danced before the Lord with all of his might. And so we teach the young men that they too can be uh like David. They can dance like him, uh, and they can have that relationship with God uh as well. And so, yes, that's a great place for them to start and get that foundation.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Wonderful,

How The Camp Grew Over Time

SPEAKER_00 3:24

wonderful. Now, 26 years, Lord, that's a long time, a long journey. So uh, can we talk a little bit about the journey?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Um, well, heaven bound praise dance camp. It started off as heaven sent praise dance camp, and it was literally just a weekend um for us to bring in the young ladies who were starting to dance at Savannah Grove Baptist Church to get some um dances under their belt, so to speak, so that they would be prepared whenever they would have the opportunity to minister. So we just came together and it was about nine young ladies, and we came together to just work on dance moves. But it turned into something that we started to do each year, and every year it grew to where we invited other churches to come or other people heard about it and asked, Can my granddaughter come? Can my child come? Um, and about five or six years in, there was a young man that had to come because his sister wanted to come to dance camp, and his mom said, I, you know, I can't separate them, I have to put them both in the same place. So can he come just to hang out? Um, and he won't bother anybody, but uh, can he just be there so they'll be together? And by the end of the week, he was like, Miss Mia, I want to dance too. Can I dance? And so that was the beginning of our young men starting to dance, and so had heaven sent and kingdom bound, and that's how we joined them together in year 15 as heaven-bound praise dance camp, and we were able to go forward in that. Um, we have grown from nine dancers to upwards of 200 dancers just coming in for the same purpose learning. Um, and once they come in, they don't leave. So even though camp's supposed to go to age, maybe age 18, um, you know, they come back all the way to 35, 40. So it doesn't matter. We just keep dancing, we keep going. And here we are, year 26. Um, we definitely had some time with COVID that we had to um, you know, stop and break it, you know, as everything shut down, but then we started to rebuild, and so we're able to say that we are back and we are going strong.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Sounds

Daily Schedule And Friday Recital

SPEAKER_00 5:23

great. Sounds great. So that's July 6th through the 10th.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yes. Beginning at what time? Um, 8:30 every morning, uh, and we'll go until about 4:30 every afternoon. Um, but on Friday will be the worship recital where they will they'll stay the whole day that day. But you know, everybody's invited to come uh the public and join us at 6 o'clock on Friday the 10th to experience what the young people have uh learned and experienced their worship through dance um at Savannah. Go back to church 6 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Friday, 6 p.m. Okay.

Taking The Camp To Columbia

SPEAKER_00 5:58

And then um, but look, not only have you uh okay, been here 26 years, but you have expanded because you have a second camp that takes place um maybe the not the following week but the next one.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Correct, yes. Um so we have taken heaven-bound presence camp on the road before. You know, in past years we've gone to different places and done workshops. Um we've been to Myrtle Beach in Conway, we've been to Georgia. Um just going to different spots just for uh a time. But um as of this year, this will be our fourth year actually having heaven-bound praise dance camp in Columbia. Um, and this year the camp will be from July the 20th through the 24th, uh, and it will be housed at the Bible Way Church of Atlas Road. Uh, we'll have the same experience for the young people where they get to come in, they get to dance, it will be for the same age, five and up, and they'll be able to experience God the same way as the young people here in Florence.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Wonderful, wonderful. So uh we just thank God for that. And who knows, where else he may plant you. Uh-huh. So the seed planted here at Savannah Grove is now blossomed and uh moved over to the Midlands. And uh, so we've got the upstate and the low country to handle. All right, well, it's ever so great to have you here today, Mia. Um, and everybody knows Mia is my daughter. She's my yelling baby, they call it. Oh, the old the mother, the mothers call it the yelling baby. Uh but we just thank God for her and for for her husband, Elder Nicholas Bostik, and um for all the teachers that will be coming in to teach the children. And so um we're ever

Teachers Who Once Were Camp Kids

SPEAKER_00 7:46

blessed. And some of the teachers were children themselves in the camp, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Oh, yes. Um, almost all of them at some point have come in to uh uh at some point be a part of the camp. So yes, they started off here. Um, some of them in the angels class, you know, being five or six years old and now being older, are able to come and, you know, impart to the young people what they have learned as well. So that's always a blessing to see them grow up through what it is. Um, and it keeps it where, you know, they know exactly what's expected. They know how to conduct themselves and how to help to guide the other ones through as they experience heaven-bound praise dance camp too.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

So that's great. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. So again, everyone, that's July 6th through the 10th, and uh beginning at 8 30 a.m. until 4 30 p.m. Yeah, it's a great day for our children, great day for parents, great day for blessings, great day for gifts, and a great day for where God has blessed our children and poured out his spirit onto them. And so we thank you and all the teachers and everyone connected with um Heaven Bound Praise Dance Camp and the mothers and the adults that come out to help feed the children, to help chafferone or what have you. We thank them as well.

Final Thanks And Closing

SPEAKER_00 9:04

So, again, everyone, this is our Native Drums. We hope that you have enjoyed this particular segment of Native Drums, and we will continue to bring to you um different uh activities, different organizations, different information that takes place here in the PD uh and um across the state of South Carolina. So we are ever so grateful to you. Thank you ever so much for watching, and we'll see you next week.