The husband and wife team of Emily and Jonathan Martin lead the morning worship at this year’s CentriKid camp at Campbellsville (Ky.) University. The Martins are the worship leaders at Forest Hills Baptist Church. — Photo by David Dawson
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — With massive amounts of excitement and enthusiasm, especially for 8 o’clock in the morning, Emily Martin takes her place on stage. After adjusting the microphone stand to fit her small stature, she helps the campers usher in another eventful day at CentriKid children’s camp.
“Good morning, friends,” she says with a smile beaming. “Are you ready to worship?”
Seconds later, the campers are on their feet, belting out the words to an upbeat worship song and performing the hand motions that go with it.
It’s a scene that has repeated itself time after time during the past three years while Martin and her husband, Jonathan, have served as worship leaders at CentriKid’s various host sites, including Campbellsville (Ky.) University, Shocco Springs (Ala.) and other locations.
The Martins — who are the full-time worship leaders at Forest Hills Baptist Church, where Jay Hardwick, president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, is senior pastor — said they fell in love with CentriKid when they learned how the camp prioritizes it’s Christ-centered message.
“The biggest draw for us was seeing just how intentional they are about everything they do,” said Emily. “As a worship leader, and as a mom, I was immediately drawn to how every activity ties back to the Word of God and following Jesus, even if it’s blowing up a ballon or eating a watermelon.”
She said CentriKid stays true to a week-long theme, which is not necessarily the case at all Christian camps.
“We get asked to lead for a lot of camps and sometimes they’ll say, ‘Sing whatever you want. Go as the Spirit leads you,’’ said Emily. “And while there’s a sweet heart in that, I also feel like we have such a high responsibility — especially with kids who are forming their theological foundation for who God is — to have solid theology embedded in the songs.”
This year’s CentriKid setlist included the song “Higher” which also served as the theme for the week. Each day, with the Martins at the mic, the campers sang/yelled the words to the song and performed the hand motions, becoming more and more familiar with the lyrics each time.
“They’re going to remember the songs that we sing here probably more than any sermon they hear,” said Emily. “So, it’s vitally important that the message (in the music) be clear.”
Although their work with CentriKid has taken them all around the South, the Martins typically are stationed at the Campbellsville campus, which has basically become their summer “home away from home.”
“It’s such a great location for our family,” said Emily. “It is a good home base because it’s close to Nashville and we can move into one of the town houses (on the Campbellsville campus). Normally, if we do go somewhere else, it’s just for a week or two to fill gaps.”
Jonathan and Emily graduated from Belmont in 2009. From 2009 to 2023, they served as a full-time, traveling music ministry, working as songwriters.
“We had a heart to write scriptural, Word-saturated songs for the church,” Emily said. “And so our full-time thing with our family was just writing songs and recording them and just traveling wherever God would open the door for us to lead worship and share our songs.”
A sea of children, staffers and church leaders pack the auditorium for a time of worship during CentriKid 2025 at Campbellsville (Ky.) University. Each day of CentriKid features a morning and evening worship session.
During a ministry trip to Arkansas, they became connected with John Merriman, a children’s pastor who was one of the first CentriKid pastors.
“He said to us, ‘You guys are short and cute. Do you ever lead worship for kids?’” Emily recalled with a laugh.
At the time, the Martins had a two-year-old daughter, and had led worship for their church’s preschool ministry, but did not have any other experience in that area, Emily said.
But the pastor felt the Martins would be a perfect fit — and the conversation continued.
“He told us about CentriKid, and told us about the heart and vision of it,” Emily said. “And he also told us how everything was so centered around God’s Word.”
Soon, Henry Dunn, one of the CentriKid national leaders, came to see the Martins in concert in Texas. And that was really all it took. In no time, the Martins were booked for the entire summer of leading worship at CentriKid in Norman Park in Georgia.
“We served our first summer with Michael Wally, who was camp director at the time, and is now the creative director for CentriKid,” said Emily. “That same summer we were asked to lead for the CentriKid staffer training, which happens in May to get them all ready for camp. And it is such a sweet week.”
It’s all about worship
Martin said the main element that keeps her and Jonathan coming back each year is knowing that they are helping children make decisions that will impact eternity.
“For us, it’s crucial that the songs are scripturally rooted, and are also very connected with the lessons being taught and reinforced during the day and the sermons at night,” she said. “And one my favorite things about it is that when you get hired as a worship leader for CentriKid, you receive a spiritual road map for the whole week. You know exactly where in the Word we’re going to be, and you’ve got that road map for how to drive home what they’re learning.”
Martin said she looks forward to each worship session at the camp — generally two per day — and said she rejoices over the impact that the songs are making in the lives of the campers.
“It’s about the repetition and about learning about the gospel in seemingly silly, but simple ways,” said Martin. “That’s what we strive to do every day. Day after day.” B&R
