Adventurous Christians hosts and guides groups through the Boundary Waters every summer. Often times, these are youth groups, groups of friends or families looking for a challenging, but rewarding experience in the wilderness. However, AC also has a long history of providing leadership specific experiences for teenagers and young adults. So what is it about the wilderness that inspires leadership and transformation in an individual? After wrapping up two specific leadership canoe trips in June, here are some of our thoughts.
Jon Kramka, Director of Congregational Vitality for the Northwest Conference heads up the Adventures in Leadership trip through the Northwest Conference, where youth pastors nominate students to go on this trip. David Hoffner, Executive Director of Faith Formation at Minnehaha Academy, brought a group of students who just finished up their first year in the Minnehaha Leadership Fellows Program up to AC for the first time for a Minnehaha Academy Leadership Adventure. Here are both of their thoughts on their experiences.
What is the purpose of your trip?
Kramka: Adventures in Leadership (AIL) is a leadership camp for high school students facilitated by the Northwest Conference to develop and strengthen their leadership skills. The purpose of this event is to provide student leaders with a Biblical foundation and leadership framework that challenges and enables them to discover an effective lifestyle of Christian leadership, unique to their own abilities and giftedness.
Hoffner:MALA is a capstone experience to engage in hard work and build trust with your peers, while going into the wilderness – a formative place! It’s the perfect bridge between year one which focuses on knowledge of God, and year two which focuses on knowledge of self.
What is the value in holding this trip at Adventurous Christians?
Kramka: AIL has been a historic partnership between the NWC and AC that leverages the relational capitol & established constituency of the NWC with the leadership and expertise of both organizations and the profound contextual learning laboratory of the BWCA.
So what is it about the wilderness that uniquely stages the potential transformation of a person? This space that is primarily uninhabited, uncontrollable, unpredictable, desolate, wild, removed from the “normal”, and yet remains under the steady care and presence of God.
How will this trip impact these student leaders in the future?:
Hoffner: The first ever MALA experience was a huge success in forming whole and holy servant leaders. The students gained deep experiential insights into the practice of leadership, who Jesus is, and going deeper as a community. The lessons learned by our students will be cherished for their lifetimes, and I’m excited to see the ways that the Lord will use this experience for his glory and the good of others. We’re grateful for the partnership of the NWC and AC in making this possible.
Trip Highlights:
AIL:
“I spent a little over a week learning who I am, who I can be, and who God wants me to be. Then I was challenged in all of this by being thrown into the wilderness, and it was a perfect way for me to try out everything I had learned and find out actually what it is to lead.” – Lydia
MALA:
“No students complained! The leaders at both MA and AC were astounded by this, especially because they had rough weather for the first two days! Cheerful endurance through challenge.” – David Hoffner
Final Thoughts:
Matt White, Camp Director at AC believes that the social, physical and mental adversity of a canoe trip truly proves to ourselves who we actually are. While in the wilderness, you figure out how you respond to things when things aren’t perfect. In doing so, you gain confidence in your ability to solve problems and also feel a sense of belonging to contributing to the needs of the group as a whole. A week on trail is hard – and how you respond to those challenges shows you a lot about who you are.
We are so proud of the students that participate in these trips.
After having to cancel much of our traditional programming in summer 2020, we are excited to finally welcome campers back to Covenant Pines Bible Camp and Adventurous Christians! We are looking forward to having some fresh updates around our properties for our campers to help enhance their experience. Below is a list of things we are working on around AC, CPBC and Silver Beach as we prepare for campers this summer!
Adventurous Christians
- New Wood Benches for the Outdoor Chapel
- Completing our new office and sauna building (see photo!) after the fire in summer 2019.
- Getting ready for trail by packing trail food and preparing equipment, which includes our new lifejackets and paddles thanks to our Portage Partners!
Covenant Pines Bible Camp
- Ampitheater Upgrades for our Outdoor Worship Space – including lighting and additional seating.
- Cabin 19 Renovation
- Outdoor Health Center
- Regrading and improving roads around camp
Silver Beach Family Camp
- We’ve added a new fire pit by Cabin 3! (See photo). It’s a beautiful space we know families will enjoy this summer.
We can’t wait to serve our campers this summer and for them to experience these new improvements and additions at camp!
We currently have an urgent need for Summer Staff this summer. Read a note from our Program Director, Natalie Swanson below about what staff can expect this summer, as well as why a young adult should consider joining us!
It’s starting to feel like summer around here in McGregor—the ice is off of both Davis and Round lakes, buds are appearing on trees, and there is lots of buzz about the summer registrations coming in. You can feel the excitement of our year-round staff as we pray for our summer season each week; campers are ready to come back to camp this summer and we’re creatively dreaming about all the fun and safe experience we get to make for them. But alongside that excitement in our year round staff is growing anxiety—we have lots of campers who are pumped to be back at camp and not nearly enough summer staff to be with them. Camp is such a fun experience in large part because of our young adults who carry out our mission all summer long. And we need more of those young adults!
I know that camp will feel different in ways this summer—we’ll still be greeting each other indoors smiling under masks. Cabin sizes will be smaller. We’ll be spending a lot more time outside. Summer will feel different for our summer staff team as well—we know that. And while I also feel a sense of loss for the things that will look different this summer, I feel far more excitement and hope. Camp is happening and camp will feel like camp. We’ll still have chapel, we’ll still play our favorite big games, and we’ll still make lifelong friends and grow closer to Christ all summer long. Let’s focus on the hope we feel as summer nears—hope for the good work God will absolutely do in the lives in campers and staff this summer. And you’re a young adult reading this—or you’ve got a young adult in your life that you love—we need you. We need staff that love Jesus and love campers. We need staff that gets excited about playing outside all day and hanging out with people. We’re eager for all that God is going to do this summer, and we need young adults to join us in carrying that out. Will you consider joining our team? Check out our website for more info and applications: https://covenantpines.org/
In the past year, families have likely spent A LOT of time together at home. After being cooped up together at home for a year with lots of screen time between distance learning, working from home and extra downtime…maybe it is time for a family wilderness adventure! We talked with Jeanie Everson, who took her family on an Adventurous Christians Canoe Trip for a family trip in 2018. She is happy to share her experience and why you should consider it this summer!
Jeanie and her family went on a canoe trip as a family vacation in 2018. At the time, her children were ages 15 and 12.
What made your family decide to take a canoe trip at Adventurous Christians?
We decided to take the canoe trip with AC because I (Jeanie) had had such significantly good experiences in the BWCA as a college student, and I really wanted the family to share this kind of experience together at least once. When we found out AC does trips like this, especially for the price, we were thankful and excited. Finally, knowing we’d all be without cell phones the entire time was a big plus – knowing we’d be “fully present.”
What was it like having an AC guide with your family on your canoe trip?
Having the AC guide was super helpful. With the guide, we knew we would get help with navigation plus help with knowing exactly what stuff to bring, etc. Thus, all of us could “enjoy” more and leave some of those critical details to the guide. We loved having the morning and evening devotions, too.
What was the highlight of your family’s trip to AC?
The highlight of our trip was the double night at Lake Esther when we swam around for fun, hiked up to a lookout and found a HUGE amount of blueberries which we ate then and added to the next morning’s pancakes. My daughter’s highlight was portaging a canoe for an entire portage. The whole experience was a highlight of our kids’ growing up years – they’ve told us!
Would you feel comfortable going on a canoe trip as a family in the midst of COVID-19?
We would definitely feel comfortable going on a canoe trip as a family in the midst of COVID-19. In fact, I’d say with so many opportunities that are not safe, this is one that can be done with full confidence and no worries. It might even be a better time to do it because kids won’t miss out on other opportunities that are not running due to COVID.
What would you say to encourage families to consider this as a family vacation experience?
I’d say, “Do it!” There are very few family experiences during which each person contributes to help make it happen, each person can enjoy different parts (which helps each other person notice something new), you can all be fully “present” (without phones/internet) AND NOT MISS THAT, while enjoying extraordinary beauty and fun (swimming, hiking, etc).
Anything else you want to add?
I’m willing to bet most families will come through this with a better/stronger bond as a family.
If your family is interested in going on a canoe trip this summer, contact Lina Swanson at AC. We have openings June 20-July 3 and August 8-21 with flexible arrival and departure dates, depending on the schedule.
As summer registration opened this week, some of you may be wondering – what is camp like for students during COVID-19?
Youth camp certainly looks different in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, but after hosting families over the summer and offering church retreats as well as a youth retreat this fall, we are confident we can run camp in a safe and healthy way. But what is it like for the students? We talked with Plymouth Covenant Youth Pastor, Craig Sanborn about his students’ experience at our Senior High Fall Retreat.
How many of your students attended the fall youth retreat?
We had approximately 80 students and leaders attend.
What was their experience like?
It was different but it was still “camp.” So much has been taken from students this past year. Consequently, students have developed a new and greater appreciation for organizations or ministries offering opportunities for them even if it isn’t exactly what they had previously experienced. During my informal exit polls before we left camp on Sunday students gave the weekend experience rave reviews!
How did your students feel about wearing a mask?
Nobody loves wearing masks but students have grown accustomed to doing so. Wearing masks is not a hard sell for what they get to experience overall.
Did you feel like camp was safe?
CPBC has 100% done their part to keep campers safe.
Did the students from your church who attended the retreat have fun, despite the differences in programming?
My students had a blast! Nobody was blindsided by changes or the differences in programming. They accept the changes and are thankful to be together at a place that means so much to them. Just being there is special! Everything else that happens is a bonus!
How did you coordinate transportation?
I thought transportation would be a tricky one but families were more than willing and able to do the pick up and drop off. Some families allowed their children to carpool and a couple students received rides from my adult leaders.
Any final thoughts or anything you would like to share about your camp experience during COVID?
Covenant Pines Bible Camp means the world to my students. It’s where they surrendered their life to Jesus. It’s where they make monumental decisions about their future. It’s where they make and build friendships that will last throughout their lifetime. Covenant Pines Bible Camp is the place where they feel free to be who God has created them to be without the worldly pressure to conform and fit it. Therefore, just being on the property is a win and feels like home no matter what the changes are or slight risks that may exist.
To read more about what changes, as well and health and safety measure are taking place in Summer 2021, check out our Summer FAQ page.