Every year at camp is full of a million stories, but as this year comes to an end, we wanted to take the chance to reflect on some of the stories that really made a difference this year at camp. We hope you enjoy reading these and that you may even find something you missed during the year!
#10. We made extensive progress on the Lodge Restoration project at the Springs.
The soon to be “new” Welcome Center at the Springs is actually a pre-Civil War era cabin we are restoring using age appropriate materials and techniques. This year we got the exterior and basement completed and are aiming to have the cabin completely done by this upcoming summer. When complete, in addition to serving as a beautiful building to welcome guests and visitors to the Springs, it will also be a truly unique historical marvel that will serve as a draw to bring people to the Springs.
#9. We added Janis and Nolan to our year-round staff team
Janis joined in March in a newly created role – Retreats & Registrations Coordinator. She is the first point of contact for most people when they reach out to camp and helps coordinate both our summer camp registrations and our year-round retreat groups. Nolan started helping during the summer but this fall became our new part-time Food Service Coordinator. He helps plan the menus for camp along with food inventory and other food service responsibilities. Both Janis and Nolan have already contributed so much to our staff and the ability of camp to operate smoothly, and we’re very glad to have them as part of the team!
#8. Construction started on the 6th Village Cluster
Thanks to the grant received by the Lilly Endowment last fall, we were able to start construction of the 6th Village Cluster this fall. Located behind Marine Village, it will be ready to go for Summer 2025. It has always been the long-term plan to construct 6 village clusters, so this will be the completion of that master site plan to allow 120 campers to attend camp at the Villages each week of the summer.
#7. 114 participants in Junior Staff program
Following COVID, our Junior Staff program saw a significant decrease in the number of high school students participating, due to the disruption caused by the Pandemic. This summer was the first year we saw a rebound to the more typical numbers we had experienced before 2020. That’s super exciting as the Junior Staff provide such a huge blessing to camp each summer. It’s also exciting that even more high school students are receiving training and mentorship to help them grow in their faith and leadership skills to be able to give back not just at camp but in their communities, churches, and schools.
#6. Future Vision Forums held over the summer
This summer we visited all across the state to hear from as many people as possible as we dreamed and planned for the future vision of camp. There was also an online survey for people to share their thoughts. This process was so helpful in beginning to plan for our next capital campaign, launching in 2025. One of the big takeaways from these forums was how excited people are to plan for the future of camp, and how much trust people have in this organization. Next year we’re celebrating 60 years of camp, and we’re excited to launch the new capital campaign to help us build for the next 60 years of ministry.
#5. First annual Hike and Huck Disc Golf Tournament
In April, we held our first ever disc golf tournament, seeking to raise money to purchase permanent baskets for our course. The tournament was a success, with over 30 people participating in the tournament and over $8,000 raised for the new course. In 2025 we hope to build concrete tee pads and will be holding our second tourney on April 6th.
#4. Largest ever Dinner Auction
This year’s auction had over 500 people in attendance, making it the largest one we have ever held. It was humbling seeing the many faithful supporters of camp along with new people who were invited by friends. It’s impossible for us to overemphasize how important this event is for keeping camp operating and the mission moving, so once again, thank you, thank you, thank you! Projects we will be able to do in the upcoming year that we otherwise would have had to postpone include making some needed repairs and purchases for the Camp Lakeview kitchen, being able to replace the 20+ year old mattresses in Mohegan and Quapaw lodges, and replacing a broken down vehicle needed for our summer program, along with several other needs.
#3. Purchase of the Fox Property
This past spring we finalized the purchase of the Fox Property, a 17 acre segment of land that extends our property on the north-east corner. While no firm plans are set in place yet, there are many exciting possibilities for this new part of camp, including a large pond/small lake where we could potentially do boating or other water activities.
#2. Over 7700 lives impacted by a camp experience this year.
Between summer camp programs, retreat groups, and camp events, we had over 7700 kids, youth, families, and adults come and have a Christ-filled experience at camp this year. That’s thousands of people who came and experienced the love of Jesus, heard the good news of the Gospel, lived in true Christian community, challenged themselves in new and incredible ways, spent powerful time outside and unplugged, and left impacted for the better, And who knows how God will continue using that life-changing impact for the glory of his Kingdom?!
#1. God was so, so faithful.
One of the greatest joys of working in ministry is even through the many highs and lows, God continues to show up and prove his goodness time after time after time. This year some of the many ways he showed up included: providing for camp with big needs that we had…showing up in the lives of campers and staff that were facing big problems…helping us in the midst of decisions and issues where we didn’t know what to do…moving in people to give and to support and to volunteer and to help…providing encouragement through his Word and through his people when it was needed…blessing camp abundantly beyond what we deserve. We always want to proclaim it loud and clear that anything this ministry does or accomplishes is because of God, in spite of us. All glory be to Christ!
Here’s to another great year at camp in 2025!