Our mission at Covenant Pines Ministries is to encourage campers to take a next step in Christian faith. Every summer, we make a commitment to pray and observe closely so we can witness our mission in action. We recently gathered as a staff to share and celebrate the ways we saw next steps around our four ministry centers this past summer.
Adventurous Christians: There is a group of high school boys that have attended our open enrollment trips since they were in middle school and we look forward to seeing them each year. Now that they are going into their senior year, this was the last year they were eligible to attend the trip. While up at AC, they expressed interest in serving on staff in future years and made the conscious effort to ask to be added to our mailing list AND our Portage Partners list. Though we are sad to see these canoers “graduate on” from attending this canoe trip, it is exciting to see them be thinking about ways they can still be involved as they move on to the next chapter in their lives. Hopefully, they’ll be able to guide you on a canoe trip sometime in the future!
Covenant Pines Bible Camp: There is a family who is very supportive of Covenant Pines who attends often. They have two kids – the older one being very enthusiastic, vocal and involved at camp. Their younger child is a little quieter, more subdued and has been a little more hesitant to participate – until she discovered the SWEAT program. While serving behind the scenes as a SWEAT, she found her niche. At the beginning of the summer, she was signed up for two weeks of SWEAT and by the end of the summer she had attended five. She even emailed our staff asking what the process was to work on summer staff in the future. We love helping campers find the best way for them to experience God while at camp!
Covenant Pines Off Site: In probably the first year in camp history, there was not a single overly anxious, crying camper getting on the bus as it left for camp this summer. There were actually more crying parents than campers…ha! But this actually showed how much of a next step it is for parents to send their children to Covenant Pines. We are grateful for the trust parents place in us to assist in the spiritual formation of their children. We recognize how big of a deal that is, and we’re thankful to help parents take their own next step of the faith journey of their own families. \
Silver Beach Family Camp: This summer, we had a few rotating Silver Beach Directors. Some of them were past staff members or past Silver Beach Directors, and some were Silver Beach families who had an extra week to help out and minister to the families that were up for the week. It was so fun to see families take the next step from attenders to helping other families experience the community of Christ!
Our mission at Covenant Pines Ministries is to encourage campers to take a next step in Christian faith. Our desire is to have as many campers as possible to make their way up to camp to have an opportunity to experience the love of Christ. There are many factors to consider while sending a camper to camp, but we work hard to make sure that financial hardship isn’t a reason for a camper to not attend. This summer, we provided $46,500 in scholarship funds to over 250 campers at Covenant Pines Bible Camp.
Our scholarship fund is supported throughout the year by generous donors, our scholarship endowment and the profits from our Annual Golf Tournament. We also partner with our Twin Cities Churches to provide assistance to families. This summer, over 200 campers also received over $50,000 in financial support from their church to be able to attend camp. We are grateful for the partnership of these local churches that recognize the importance of a week at camp for these students.
One parent wrote, “Covenant Pines not only has had a significant impact on my life, but now my son’s too. I want to be sure he can continue to grow spiritually and build lasting friendships in a Christian environment. His camp scholarship not only makes this possible for my son, but also contributes to his personal and spiritual growth in ways that will have lasting impact.”
Camp is an investment. We know it comes at a significant cost and sacrifice to many families as they support the faith formation of their child. We work hard and partner with our churches to ensure any camper who wants to attend camp is able to financially. This allows us more opportunity to live out our mission and encourage campers to take their next steps in Christian faith. We are thankful for our donors and churches for their generosity- and we are grateful for the 250+ campers we were able to have at camp this summer thanks to scholarships.
Summer is always such a good reminder to us of what a unique ministry we have at Adventurous Christians. As our staff spends weeks leading canoe groups through the BWCAW, lives are being transformed. Living in Minnesota, we can often forget how lucky we are to have such close access to something like the Boundary Waters – but it really is a destination for many groups across the country. This summer, we are serving groups from Indiana, Illinois and Iowa and are offering a Clergy trip at the end of the summer, where Covenant Pastors will be joining us from all across the country.
Southport Presbyterian Church traveled from Indianapolis, Indiana to AC earlier this summer to return for another canoe trip after going on one three years ago. This group of fathers and sons traveled nearly 12 hours to have this experience that brought challenges, rewards and great spiritual growth. Here are some reflections from their trip,
“This trip helped me let go of comforts and instant gratification and caused me to rely on God for his providence. I realized through this I have more mental strength, grit and drive than I thought.”
“Thank you Adventurous Christians for providing an experience focused on God through physical challenge and adventure. This was tremendous for my son and I, and the whole group.”
We just finished leading a canoe trip for Decorah Covenant Church in Decorah, Iowa and are currently out on trail with Hinsdale Covenant Church from Hinsdale, Illinois. These groups travel long distances for this unique ministry experience and we are grateful to be able to provide that for them! We work hard to provide an experience that is rooted in the wonder of Christ through leadership, hard work, and spiritual renewal that makes it a destination trip worth taking.
We encourage groups from all over the country to join us on a guided canoe trip through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. If you’re interested in planning your canoe trip, we’d love to work with you. You can start by checking our website, here or emailing us.
For the past two summers, Junior High and Senior High Campers at Covenant Pines Bible Camp have been invited to participate in a study about their camp experience. The “Power of Camp” study is conducted through a national camping organization – The Christian Camp and Conference Association. The study surveys campers and parents 2 weeks after their week at camp, and then again 2 months after their week of camp. As we look forward to the 2025 summer ministry season, we thought we would share a few of the encouraging results we found from our 2024 study.
In 2024,
- 12% increase in campers attending church multiple times a month
- 7% increase in campers reading the Bible by themselves
- 81% of campers feel more confident in themselves since returning from camp
- 87% of campers state the camp experience had a significant impact on their life
- 95% of campers indicate their questions about God and faith were taken seriously
- 12% of campers are thinking about becoming a pastor or other church leader someday
Our mission at Covenant Pines Ministries is to encourage campers to take a next step on Christian faith. As we processed the results of this study, we felt affirmed that we are indeed fulfilling our mission. Camp is a transformative experience that instills lifelong faith development. Camp is important to our young people and we are committed to being an integral part of their spiritual formation.
After completing another season of staff training, both our summer and full time staff are encouraged by these statistics. We hope you are too! As we kick off our summer ministry, we’d love your prayers for our campers, staff, volunteers, speakers, etc. We are hopeful and expectant for another great summer of ministry. We are planning to participate in the Power of Camp study again and are eager to learn more about our campers’ experience.
Big Chapel was a beloved space to many at Covenant Pines Bible Camp. A holy place where lives were transformed. It was hard to say goodbye at the end of 2024, but we knew that due to the structural issues of the building it wouldn’t last forever. Though the building won’t last forever – we’ve always had plans to keep the space sacred and let the memory of Big Chapel live on. We are excited to share these plans with you!
Later this month, we will begin construction on Chapel Point. In the architect rendering, you will notice the A-Frame – we will be using original Big Chapel beams for this. This space is a patio with a fire pit that we hope can be a place for solitude, cabin conversations, retreat reflections and more. Though the purpose for this space is different, we hope that the same birch trees, look over the lake and long walk around camp provides campers with a rich spiritual connection.
We are thankful for the many years we were able to use Big Chapel. We also know the Worship Center will serve us for years and years to come, allowing us to encourage campers to take a next step in Christian faith. We are looking forward to honoring and utilizing the Chapel Point space in this new way, only adding to our ministry impact and the camper experience. We hope you can check it out the next time you are at camp.