As they walked in others' shoes, diverse group of youths discovered bonds among each other.

Forget campfires, water sports, or arts and crafts. The 17 Charlotte teens who signed up for this summer camp went to Friday prayers at a mosque. Greeted the Sabbath and got a kosher meal at the Jewish Community Center. Did yoga with a Hindu instructor. And filed into pews at a predominantly black church Sunday morning for a worship service that - with all the preaching, singing and hugging - stretched into Sunday afternoon.

The high schoolers who attended Mecklenburg Ministries' Interfaith Service Youth Camp, which started Thursday morning and ended Sunday night, were as diverse as their itinerary: black, white, Asian, Jewish, Muslim, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i and several varieties of Christian - Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist.

But by Sunday morning, when they arrived at Little Rock AME Zion Church, the campers were using words like "family" and "brothers and sisters" to describe themselves.

"On my way to the camp, I was thinking about how we're all different," said Ryan Carter, 16, a member of Christ Lutheran Church. "But after getting to know each other, we abolished some stereotypes and came to see all the similarities."

Samantha Singer, 16, who attends the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, said members of her congregation routinely explore other religions. But actually living with people of other faiths for a few days, she said, opened her eyes - and some of the others'.

"We saw that not all religions are that different," she said. "They have one common goal: Helping the community."

So, on Saturday, the campers lunched with homeless men and women at the Urban Ministry Center. Then they met with residents of Samaritan's House, a place where people with no home of their own can recuperate after being released from the hospital.

But what made Saturday so memorable, several said, was that it came after a Friday night in which they got a taste of what the homeless go through every day.

"Evening Experience" is all it said on their schedules for Friday at 9 p.m.

They soon discovered that they were being shuttled to houses of worship that shelter and feed the homeless as part of the "Room in the Inn" program.

The girls spent the night at First United Methodist; the boys, at First Presbyterian.

They waited outside in the heat. Then they hit the sack, sleeping on the floor.

On Saturday morning, they were up by 7, and back on the streets - in the clothes they slept in - by 8.

Some said they were thankful to just get a toothbrush that morning and, by Saturday night, thankful for the chance to take hot showers.

Tyquan Bridges, 18, whose church is First Baptist-West, said things were a bit awkward when the group first got together.

"But we became as close-knit as people who've known each other for years," he said. "And the four other guys in my (Room in the Inn) group are like brothers to me now."

'There's no judgment'

Maria Hanlin, who heads Mecklenburg Ministries and who helped lead the camp, tried to keep the prayer language ecumenical when just the group was meeting. That way, everyone could feel comfortable saying "amen." So, in her thanksgiving prayer for lunch on Sunday, she addressed "O Holy One" and noted "what a great big old God you are."

But she said the campers expected - and accepted - no such watering down when they attended services at the different houses of worship. So there were full-throated mentions of Jesus at Little Rock AME Zion, of the Prophet Mohammad at Masjid Ash Shaheed and of Baha'u'llah the Baha'i session prophet.

There were no signs of tension, even in areas where that possibility existed.

Na'ilah El-Amin, 15, a Muslim who is a member of Masjid Ash Shaheed, a mosque, said she felt it was OK during a greeting session at the church to hug men who were welcoming them - a practice that would be frowned upon by some Muslims who discourage such touching of women by any men other than their husbands.

Instead, she felt the welcoming was in marked contrast to the way many Americans keep their distance from Muslims today.

"I really do feel accepted," she said. "It's very easy to get to know people here. There's no judgment."