Personal from Ministerial and Member Services
United Youth Camps
For those of us who are directly involved in our United Youth Camp (UYC) program, we always enjoy getting together and talking “camp.” That was certainly the case at our online, full-day, annual camp director meeting this past Monday, Nov. 2!
One of the main reasons our camp program has been so successful is because of the leadership and organizational skills of our overall teen camp director, Steve Nutzman.
Steve organized the meeting, set the agenda, and led much of the discussion as we spent the day planning for a much different camp program for 2021 than our camp reality of 2020. Due to COVID-19, this past summer we were unable to hold a single teen or preteen camp here in the United States. Victor Kubik mentioned at the meeting that there was a very successful youth camp held in Zambia this summer, so we are grateful they were able to hold their camp.
Due to its inherent outdoor nature and fewer participants, we were able to conduct our young adult camping and canoeing adventure, Boundary Waters, in July. And we are very happy to say we are moving ahead to hold Winter Camp in Wisconsin this December! Camp director Aaron Creech reported during the camp meeting that we have already accepted roughly 90 teen campers and we suspect we will have 100 (or more) teens who will attend!
It was heartwarming for me to see the dedication of all our teen camp directors throughout the day as they discussed how to improve our camp program and make the UYC experience even more impactful, enjoyable and rewarding for our youth and adult staff in 2021!
Our preteen camp directors and staff are also equally dedicated to our smaller youth in UCG as they look ahead to also providing a very enriching camp experience for nearly a thousand preteen campers throughout the U.S. in 2021.
Although we had some relatively minor issues, God richly blessed us with being able to hold the Feast of Tabernacles in person this year at many sites around the world. Conducting camps is a bit more challenging in a variety of ways, but we are hoping to hold a complete camp program in 2021. Of course, that remains to be seen. We would greatly appreciate your prayers to that end.
As Psalms 127:3 tells us, “Children are a heritage from the LORD . . .” and we are dedicated to cherishing our children and providing a camp experience that they will cherish for a lifetime!
We greatly appreciate your support of our youth and our camp program!
May you all have a very spiritually rewarding Sabbath day!
