5 Weeks of Eternal Success!

It seems that parents agree…camp is worth the cost…even in tough economic times. The past five weeks of West Penn District Camp have seen the second highest number of campers since Mantowagan began running summer camps in 1977! 496 kids and teens escaped their routines to spend time in the woods building relationships and planting roots. 42 young adults poured into their lives, and were in turn pushed closer to God through the challenges of counseling. Dozens more directors, speakers, cooks, and nurses gave weeks of their lives to make an eternal impact.

Rewinding two months finds many “unknowns” and “what-ifs” bouncing around in my mind. How will we get everything ready, will the water and waste systems work, will our numbers be down, what if someone gets hurt, what if our counseling staff is sub-par, what if, what if, what if… An amazing number of things have to go right for camp to be an eternal success, and things go wrong so easily! It is the ultimate peace to believe that it is God’s camp, His campers, and His counselors. God is in control. It is He who softens young hearts and gives counselors just the right words to say. He who keeps the facility running and He who makes camp an eternal success.

What an awesome, incredible, and exhilarating experience when we witness God do all of the above! The facility worked. Numbers were up. No one was badly hurt. The counselors lived their faith and proved to the next generation that you can actually LIVE what the Bible says. It was my great privilege to work alongside these young adults and see them grow as Christ-followers while impacting lives at the same time. Truly lives were impacted as 44 kids and teens accepted the truth of Christ and many more planted deeper roots in their faith.


Thanks to all of you who make it possible. Perhaps you paid a camper’s fee or encouraged a teen to try it out. Maybe you handed out brochures or prayed daily for the campers. Maybe you’ll be the one to follow up in the life of a teen after camp. Perhaps you support the camp year-round through prayer and giving. However you are involved…thank you! My prayer is that you will be blessed because of your ministry.

Keep praying for the ministry at camp. We have started into four weeks of summer camps run by churches from outside of our district…pray that young lives will be impacted! Pray that the facility will continue to function well and pray for God’s continued protection over those he has brought to Camp Mantowagan!