SUMMER MIDWEST DISTRICT REVIEW
Midwest District of MISSIONARY CHURCHES
Camp Review
Youth Camp 2022
What an amazing week we had at Teen Camp this summer! We definitely enjoyed our time at the camp swimming and playing games and doing crafts and eating amazing food and snacks! Zach Salazar was our camp speaker this year. He took us on a journey through scripture as we learned what what it means to be REMADE in the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus! I am very thankful for him! We also had a large group of college kids from Hays led by Garrett Kahrs come and help us out all week long. What a blessing they were to us!! They served as counselors, activity coordinators, sound technicians and led us in worship! I can’t even begin to describe to you how much of an impact they made on our camp this year! Summer and Kevin Jones and their family came generously gave up their time and prepared all of our meals for the week. They do an incredible job feeding us at camp! We also had Deb and Vickie come down and help serve food as well and they were awesome! I would like to thank Elias and Hannah Martinez and Chelley Giesken and Fred and Mindy Schmidt for the leadership and love that they gave to our camp and to our students each and every day! Also, a big thank you to Titus Gilbert and his family and crew for preparing the space for us to meet and for having such a beautiful heart of service as they hosted us for the week! It was just amazing all the way around and we are praising the Lord for lives that were changed and hearts that were renewed and we are definitely looking forward to next year!
Junior Camp
Junior Camp 2022 was June13th through the 17 th . M.I.N.D Craft was our theme, with Creation Truth Foundation providing the speaker. With a last minuet change, Matt Miles was our speaker instead of Ryan Cox. A total of 118 staff and campers attended camp this year. 78 campers, ages 9 to 12 years old, 30 counselors and 10 support staff. We filled the cottages, bungalow, 4 plex and hotel! We were also able to keep the ratio of camper to counselor 3 to 1 and in some cases 2 to 1, depending on the lodging arrangements. Staff, young and old, from Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas came out to help us keep those numbers so small, allowing for more relationships to form and a more intimate setting during the discussion times.
Matt did an amazing job of explaining the Bible so clearly and helping us all see that it isn’t about the science, it’s about our Creator! Our maker, our identity, the world of nature God designed, and our destiny were all topics Matt clearly explained through out the week. The staff from Milford and Gretna lead the worship. They did a great job of getting the kids excited about worship, ending Thursday night with a glow worship party! The weather cooperated Thursday night so everyone could go up to the meadow and see the stars and all of God’s creation through Matt’s telescopes. Not only did we learn about what God created, we were able to see it with our own eyes as well.
Timber lakes provided the meals and Junior camp provided staff to clean up and do dishes. Lacey Broeker was our staff nurse for the week. She did a great job all week helping with bug bites to food allergies for specific kiddos.
It was warm as always, but that made the pool a big hit like usual. Evening swims, a huge crafting game that likened activities from the video game, and gaga ball tournament were among several highlights for the kids and staff.
Many good conversations were had throughout the week, digging deeper into the faith the kids already have or the faith that was started at camp. Thursday nights prayer time was awesome and definitely had the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Camp is something that you can’t recreate any time during the rest of the year. A week to focus on God, while having fun with new and old friends, and being loved on by counselors who love them well, in a great facility, is priceless when it comes to eternity! We are so thankful for the staff who committed a week to God’s kingdom and for the families who made church camp a priority over many other summer activities. There truly is nothing that our God can’t do!!!!
Josalyn and Kiby Taylor
Family Camp-The Journey to Spiritual Wholeness
This year’s Family camp was a success. We saw many new faces along with familiar faces. We tried a few new things. Morning Adult Bible studies were led by various district pastors on the topic God lead them to share. During adult Bible study, Children Bible study time was lead by Christy Sayler. Youth Bible study was lead by Steven Grant and Ben Roed. The afternoons were free for family time and swimming. A few work projects were completed in the afternoons. The evening service included the district's own Caleb Bislow with Unusual Soldiers ministry. He is based in the Crossgate Missionary Church in Franklin, Nebraska. He shared his story of how God radically changed his life. He challenged us to follow God to the Unusual places - even within 2 hours of our own homes, we can find people from other nations in need of the love of Jesus. The evening messages were taught by Pastor Stan Key on the Journey to Spiritual Wholeness. He compared our spiritual journeys to that of the Israelites leaving Egypt and finally getting to the Promised Land. He challenged us to evaluate where we are on our journey - wandering through the wilderness or in the Promised Land enjoying the promises of God.
Morning and evening Worship was lead by Peggy Roed, Paige Sites, Penny Spencer, Scott Denham, Chris Bontrager, Titus Glibert, and Anjie Fiedler. Nursery care during the morning and evening sessions for children up to 5 years old was provided by Abbie McFarling and her boys, Jake and Max from Gretna, Nebraska.
One of the new additions to Family Camp was a talent show Friday evening. Some were serious, others talents were humorous presentations.
We were blessed to have great weather for camp. The first days were hot so the pool was enjoyed most days. By the end of the week, it cooled off. Timberlakes staff always does a great job making sure everyone is comfortable. We appreciate the hard work of Titus and staff.
We are thankful for all who volunteered their time and talents to make Family camp a success. Please mark your calendars for next year, July 25-30. We hope to see you there!
-Amanda Ripley
Timber Lakes Workday opportunity
If you're interested in participating in a workday at Timber Lakes contact Titus Gilbert, Camp Director at 785-224-5258.
Upcoming 2022 Events
Pastors and Wives' Retreat-October 20-22
Pastors Prayer-November-November 27-30
Midwest District
Email: andypetro.mwd@gmail.com
Website: themidwestdistrict.com
Location: 6920 Willow Avenue, Lincoln, NE, USA
Phone: 402-840-5056