Good Earth Village Camp

I traveled to Spring Valley, Minnesota (South of Rochester, MN) last week (June 20-22) to spend time with the staff at Good Earth Village Bible Camp.



Spring Valley is also the childhood hometown of a college friend of mine, Tracy. Since I was raised in hill country, I used to wonder how Tracy ever survived four years of college on the flat prairies of Moorhead, Minnesota; but this area of the country is, indeed, a beautiful place to grow up as well as put a Bible camp.

Camp was in full swing so I had opportunity to participate in a variety of activities with the staff and campers. I made hobos (ground hamburger & vegetables cooked in foil in the hot embers of a smoldering fire) for supper one evening with a group of junior high girls, watched a camper talent show which featured high school boys singing barber shop a cappella, and participated in outdoor meals and worship services daily.

I had two wonderful opportunities to give a presentation on discernment and church vocations. One was to the S.I.T.'s--staff in training. These are a group of high schoolers training to be camp counselors. They spend one week in training and then get two weeks to be junior counselors. I give these young people a lot of credit for taking time out of their summer to commit themselves to learning how to minister to others in this outdoor ministry setting. What a faith-filled and talented group of individuals. By the way their trainer was Cassie Sauter, soon to be a Greekling (a student studying Greek in the summer) at Luther Seminary in July. She and Jeanette Bidne, another counselor at Good Earth Village will be students at Luther Seminary this fall.

The other presentation I gave was to the entire staff at their staff meeting on Friday afternoon. I had wonderful conversations with a number of staff after the meeting regarding seminary study as well as a few theological questions. I think I did better at answering the former rather then the later questions.

My thanks to Gretchen Bachman, program director for her allowing me this opportunity and showing me great hospitality. It was a delight!

Green Lake Lutheran Ministries, June 4-5

I was back in familiar territory this past week with my visit to the camps of Green Lake Lutheran Ministries. The corporation of camps includes Green Lake Bible Camp and Shores of St. Andrew which are near Willmar, MN and Camp House outside of Two Harbors, MN. I was at the two camps near Willmar.

In my last call I served a parish that was part of this corporation of camps and had the privilege of serving on its board for a number of years. I have great respect for the staff at these camps and the leadership, care, and creativity they bring to outdoor ministry; it felt good to be among old friends. I also ran into a former youth who is working at one of the camps this summer — his third. His name is Adam and he will be a Sr. at Gustavus Adolphus College next year. It was a proud pastoral moment for me to see him at camp.

All three camp's staffs were engaged in training when I arrived. You could tell they were nearing the end of training by the way they interacted with one another. Over the two week period they seemed to have bonded quite well. Their energy seemed quite high. I heard many positive comments about them, and I'm excited for the campers to begin interacting with and learning from them this summer.



As usual I had the opportunity to hang out with them during breaks in the schedule, and at meal and worship times. I had some good conversations with prospective seminary students.

By this Sunday most of the ELCA camps will be running full tilt until mid-August. Please keep the staff and campers in your prayers. Working at camp is a life and faith changing event and can't be experienced anywhere else. These are awesome outdoor ministry sights. As a church, we truly have a rich treasure in our camps. Please do all you can to support them this summer and throughout the year.

Read more about ELCA camps and retreat centers.

Outlaw Ranch, 05/31-06/01, 2007

The last stop on my visits to the South Dakota camps was Outlaw Ranch. It is located a few miles out side of Custer. This camp captures a different aspect of South Dakota’s geography in its location. It sits amongst rocky forested hills and is surrounded by lands containing a deep history of the Western frontier.



When I arrived staff training was still in full swing and both the staff from Outlaw and Atlantic Mountain Ranch (another SD camp within a half hour of Outlaw) was on sight. My thanks to Pastor Jeff Rohr, director at Outlaw, for giving me time to share with the staff about discernment and church vocations; always a delight for me.

I do truly enjoy having some teaching time with the staff on my visits, but my favorite thing to do is just to hang out with them. It is during meals and in between activities that I am able to engage with staff more one-on-one and where they have time and opportunity to approach me with their questions about discernment or seminary. I hear many stories of how the Holy Spirit is at work in the minds and hearts of these young people and though they have not yet figured out how or where it is that God is calling them vocationally, doing ministry (in some capacity) is in the mix.

Klein Ranch, May 30-31, 2007

Westward ho into the north central plains of South Dakota I go and onto Klein Ranch; Yee Ha!

Located a little over an hour East of Mobridge, SD on a beautiful hill over looking the vast wide open landscape of South Dakota is Klein Ranch Bible Camp. And a ranch it is—home to 20+ horses, 2 pigs, 3 rabbits and numerous cats. Through interactions with the animals and small community of campers and staff at Klein, youth develop a sense of responsibility for themselves and for others as they bask in the richness of God’s creation.

Unfortunately there was no interacting with the horses during my visit as the cool winds blew and the rain poured; oh it would have been fun to go for a ride. I did though get to feed the pigs. At the end of every meal all of the table scraps go to the pigs; no food waste at Klein. Perhaps more camps should think of having a few pigs around each summer for just that task.

Despite my limited interaction with the animals, I did get a chance to interact with the wonderful and hospitable staff at Klein who was in the midst of staff training. My thanks to program director Linda Knutson for allowing me to share some words about discernment and church vocations and to sit in on Bible study planning.

As with all my camp visits I was able to have one-on-one conversations with a few individuals thinking about seminary study and a vocation in ministry; always rewarding time.

NeSoDak Bible Camp, May 28-30, 2007

My Bible Camp travels began on Memorial Day afternoon as I headed west to great state of South Dakota. My first stop was NeSoDak Bible Camp located in Waubay, SD about 70 miles East of Aberdeen.

The camp is located on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Enemy Swim. A beautiful mural in the camp Lodge depicts the rich history of this camp. The Dakota Indians (whose reservation land surrounds the camp & lake) once had a vibrant village on this peninsula. During an attack by another Native American tribe they forced the enemy to retreat and swim across the early spring frigid waters of Indian Bay, thus giving the lake the name Enemy Swim.

I had a great time visiting and participating with the staff during staff training. My thanks to program director AJ Franken for allowing me the opportunity to speak with the staff regarding the topics of discernment and church vocations; it was very enjoyable for me to interact with the staff in this way. I also was able to join the staff in preparing for the summer Bible studies and worship times. The staff tackled some important and sometimes difficult theological questions. For many of them this is the first time they will be the “teacher” and not the “learner” of the word of God and that can be a bit intimidating when one is just starting out. But these are gifted and faithful young men and women and I have no doubt they will rise to the task.

One of the things I tell the camp staffs that I meet with is to take seriously if someone says to them, “you know I see in you the gifts/talents/skills to be a professional leader in the church.” Because often times other people see gifts in us that what we may not see ourselves and the Holy Spirit is probably working through this person to help us discern our vocation.

One young woman shared with me an example of this happening to her. A gentleman in her home congregation (who happened to be a prominent leader in the community) sent her a one and half page letter saying just this and such words surprised her and delighted her, but more importantly have stuck with her to this day. My thanks to that gentleman and all those who have felt moved by the Holy Spirit to affirm our young people in this way.