Summer Camp 2024 Agape Love

It was another great summer of camp at LWBC this year. Over 500 campers attended camp over the 7 weeks offered; campers hear the gospel presented each evening in addition to Bible teaching in their daily classes, during Bible Story time and in evening devotions. Throughout camp, we heard of several children coming to the Lord and of many who expressed a deepened faith. We know that seeds have been planted; join us in praying for their continued nurturing and growth.

In choosing each theme for camp, our goal has been to choose areas of study that give campers the knowledge to more fully understand the gospel. Our theme in 2023, Holy Glorious God, was followed by Agape Love this year. Jesus’s demonstration of agape love for us in his death on the cross was the inspiration for our graphic design.

One theme to the positive comments we heard from parents this year is that upon picking their children up after a week at camp, their kids are eager to further study the word of God and they are joyful, bubbling over with talk about their week at camp. Parents are consistently thankful for the depth of our spiritual content. Needless to say, this is good news and such a pleasure to hear after serving at camp.

In addition to campers, we had close to 90 kids work in the FIT program this year. Our FIT crew spends their time serving others throughout each week of camp as well as spending time learning how to share the gospel with others. Since the FIT crew moves into being counselors the following year, the week of Bible study and service is good preparation for the years to follow. By having FIT serve, the counselors are able to be entirely devoted to the kids in their bunk for the week. We have found this to be so helpful. Besides washing dishes, emptying garbages and cleaning bathrooms, our FIT crew this year worked on some outdoor landscaping projects including planting new perennial gardens and several berry bushes near one of the cabins. We think everyone will enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor in the years to come as this is a tangible, long-term project. Dave Vidmar offers a fly-fishing lesson to the FIT crew each week; if you know a former FIT kid, ask them to share what they learned.

As Summer comes to a close, LWBC is bustling with more activity. Labor Day weekend, camp staff welcomed those attending the Latino retreat; this group continues to increase in size and this year there were over 100 attendees! Juan Quiñones said, “God was glorified, some heard the gospel for the first time.”

Following Labor Day, Lighthouse Christian Academy of Grand Rapids held a high school retreat and Settled, an organization addressing longterm homelessness, held a staff family retreat; both of these organizations expressed their thankfulness in being able to be at LWBC. RiverTree School will be coming soon with their high school students for a retreat; this time serves as an important bonding time for the students as they begin the new school year together.