Last Friday night at 7:43, Covenant Pines Bible Camp was quiet. You could stand outside and easily pick out distinct sounds. Rustling from pesky Oak trees that refuse to let go of their leaves. Scampering squirrels that seem so busy all the time. Crunching snow under the boots of the few staff that were making last minute preparations. Perhaps the distant horn of a train as it passed through McGregor.
But 7:44 another sound was added to those; the sound of a yellow school bus crossing the Davis Lake bridge. At 7:45 all other sounds were drowned out as the bus doors opened and 50 screaming elementary students rushed out into a 48 hour adventure called Trailblazer Retreat.
The adventure started with dinner in Oak Ridge and then ice breaker games in Bald Eagle Lodge. After the ice was sufficiently broken, we sat the campers down and told them about our theme for the weekend. The theme was based off of Psalm 121, which is a beautiful Psalm about a God who “will not let your foot slip.” The psalmist paints a beautiful image of a God who always watches over us and helps us through our challenges. “Climb On” was the title and our meeting room was decked out with mountain decorations.
The next day was jam packed full of games and activities. We ran, we searches, we climbed, we tubed. Take two minutes to watch the video at the bottom of the page and see for yourself!
Campers came from many of our Covenant Churches; Sanctuary, Faith, Plymouth, Community, Maple Grove, and Crossroads. Joining them were volunteers and church leaders from those churches. The purpose of the retreat was to provide these leaders with an opportunity to bond with their students. The staff here at Pines took care of all the messages, devotions, worship, and games so that these adults could simply pour into their students. At the end of the retreat our Marketing Director, Tate, got to interview a handful of the campers and ask them about their experience. All of the campers mentioned three things: fun, friends, and God. Those are the three goals with every youth retreat; that kids will have fun, make friends, and learn about God.
Join us at next year’s Trailblazer Retreat!
Click here to see pictures from the retreat.
For the past two months we’ve had some new staff members with us and we thought we’d introduce you to them! Nate Hutchins-Peterson (HP) and Phillip Bestland (Flip) joined our Ministry Staff team in early January.
HP grew up coming to Covenant Pines Bible Camp. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call camp his favorite place in the world. He grew up at First Covenant Church of St. Paul, attended North Park University for two years, and worked at camp for two summers on our maintenance team. Recently he transferred to Hennepin Tech where he has been studying diesel mechanics. Part of his work at Covenant Pines is helping to fulfill his internship requirements for school. In just a short while he’ll be switching to part time so that he can finish his classes. We’ll miss him during the week, but we’re glad that he’ll still be around on the weekends! HP enjoys heavy metal music, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, penguins, and Taylor Swift.
Flip attended Minnehaha Academy and Buffalo Covenant Church as a young lad. For college he went to Bethel University and studied theater major. For the past four summers he has worked on our maintenance staff. For three of those summers, he served as our Assistant Maintenance Director. As a member of our Ministry Staff team, Phil uses his maintenance knowledge to help keep our facilities in working order and he is using his theater skills to enhance our programming. Recently he used his acting skills to portray a character named Alpine Everest, a famous Scottish mountain climber, at our Trailblazer Retreat (pictured right). Flip enjoys anime shows, Xbox One, frisbee, and sleeping.
We feel extremely blessed to have these two men on staff with us. They add so much joy and silliness to our year-round community. Consider volunteering at camp to spend some quality time with these young men!
There are three main goals we have for a camper during a week of camp.
1) They have fun
2) They make new friends/grow closer to old friends
3) They learn about God
The beauty of camp is that these three things happen almost automatically. The formula is simple: 50 summer staff + love for Jesus + passion for youth + gorgeous natural environment = AMAZING WEEK. However, bad things can still happen. Homesickness can creep up, kids can get injured, a cabin mate might say something mean. Weeks can be ruined. We’d be naive to think that these things are always just bad luck. Our former Executive Director, Bruce, would sometimes say “Satan doesn’t like what’s going on here.” We face the reality of spiritual warfare everyday. Perhaps more so during the summer months when children are growing closer to Jesus all the time.
This past summer there was one camper who really impressed the staff with his resilience to these attacks. His name was Nick. From the moment he stepped off the bus, Nick was beaming. Everyone noticed Nick’s smile. The grin never left his face. He was so excited to be at camp and ready for what God had in store for him. But the “bad luck” started almost right away. During the cabin bonding activities at the low ropes course, Nick got really dehydrated and had to lie down. His counselor got him the water he needed and Nick was back to 100% before dinner. Nick kept his smile the whole time. The enemy couldn’t ruin his day.
Later that night, Nick was stung by a bee. Then, he was stung again. Then again. In total, the poor kid was stung 5 times. But as the nurse was addressing his stings, Nick was smiling. His resolve to have a great week and meet God was not diminished.
The next day, Nick got an ear infection. The day after that, Nick got an eye infection. Then, during a game, he was kicked in the head. If that wasn’t enough, another camper was playing with some small rocks (something that he’s not supposed to do), Nick got caught in the crossfire, and received a blow to head. The enemy seemed determined to give Nick a horrible week. But after each and every one of these unfortunate events, Nick simply shrugged it off, beamed his memorable smile, and ran off to continue his play.
At the end of the week, Nick – like many other campers – was sad to go. All of his misfortune throughout the week had not changed his opinion of this place. Before he got on the bus, he hugged his counselor and said, “Thanks for the best week of my summer!”
Pray for Covenant Pines
While such a large number of unfortunate events is unlikely, injuries happen at camp. Nick’s resolve to have a great week cannot be ignored, but there is an unsung hero in this story; you. You and everyone else out there who has ever prayed for the ministry of Covenant Pines. There is power in prayer. Those prayers have protected children on these grounds every summer since 1954. The prayers keep kids like Nick safe from physical harm. They also give our counselors energy and patience. They allow speakers to hear God’s voice as they deliver their sermons. They give camp leadership wisdom as they make tough decisions. Your prayers, and God’s grace make camp possible everyday. Thank you for praying. Please continue to do so as we prepare for this summer and also as we continue to minister to guest groups every week.
Watch the video below to see what summer camp is like. Register for a summer camp today!
We’re excited that there’s a new Church in the Cities! It’s called Genesis Covenant Church and we asked their head pastor, Steve Wiens (pictured) to write just a short blurb about what’s going on so far at their church. They’re kind of liturgical and their coffee isn’t that bad! You should check them out.
“Genesis Covenant Church is a new church plant that meets at Sabes Jewish Community Center in St. Louis Park. The people who started Genesis are betting the farm that God is still inviting all of us into new beginnings, sometimes even out of tragic endings. We believe the truest thing about Jesus, and about Christianity, is that we are being made new, over and over again. We are in the process of cultivating a community of ordinary people who hope to be characterized by things like simplicity, restoration, sacred rhythms, delight, and attentiveness – to God and to each other. One of the things we’re most grateful for as a new church plant is the generational diversity we’re experiencing. We are young and old, we wear dockers and tattoos, and we are learning from each other all the time. You can check us out at our website www.genesiscov.org, or feel free to drop by some Sunday morning at 10:30am at Sabes.”
~Pastor Steve
Connect with camp on a whole new level. Camp is looking for volunteers to help out during one of our busiest seasons of the year, winter. Once the holidays are over our calendar is filled with groups taking advantage of our winter weather; playing broomball, snowshoeing, ice fishing, cross country skiing or just sitting by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. We need volunteers to help in the kitchen, keep firewood stocked, or pitch in on one of the many projects we have going on around camp.
Please don’t let a lack of knowledge or perceived skill set keep you from volunteering. Camp is looking for people of all ages and abilities to pitch in. Housing varies by weekend, but camp will feed and house you for free. Don’t underestimate the impact you can have. Our staff is strengthened and encouraged and our ministry multiplies each time someone chooses to volunteer at camp.
Below is a short testimony from a camp volunteer, Wilder Freed. Read what he has to say about his experience helping out for a weekend.
“When we came up to camp to volunteer, we had a blast! There’s something about being able to give back through service; I felt like the time we spent working on projects at camp also served to help me clear my head of distractions, and scrub away some of the things that hinder me back home. It was a chance for us as a group to bond as brothers while earnestly working in service to Christ, and when the weekend was over, all we talked about on the way home was when we could come again.” ~ Wilder Freed
We are primarily looking for weekend volunteers, but if your schedule is flexible we could also use you during the week. We would love to have a few people from your women’s Bible study, men’s group, youth group, or even your individual family, serve at camp sometime this New Year.
Covenant Pines would not be where it is today without the faithful support and sweat given by past volunteers. Our goal for 2015 is to increase participation to include all of our 40 owner churches. Help us make this dream a reality, and have a whole lot of fun serving God at Covenant Pines. Please contact Angie Sampson or call the camp office 218 768-2610 to volunteer today.