The Central District Conference welcomed 131 students and staff to its Summer Youth Camp at Sand Hill Lake Bible Camp in Fosston, Minnesota, July 31-Aug. 5.
Kyle Goings, USMB NextGen chair and NextGen pastor at Ridgepoint Church, Wichita, Kansas, served as speaker for senior camp for ages 14-18, while Jon Annin, lead pastor at Stony Brook Church, Omaha, Nebraska, spoke at junior camp for ages 10-13.
Both speakers used text from Daniel and the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to speak to the theme, “There’s another in the fire.” Goings focused on being resilient, while Annin spoke about trusting in God, according to camp coordinator Karri Muff, who shares that role with her husband, Ron.
Junior and senior campers met independently aside from meals but had similar schedules, which included morning and evening sessions, small group time, recreation, activities, crafts for senior high campers and swimming and cabin challenges for junior campers.
For the first time, District Minister Daniel Rodriguez attended to serve as camp pastor.
“It was one of our best years,” Karri Muff says. “We had several new commitments to Jesus. We had recommitments. It was really fun to walk around and see (our youth) together praying and talking and building that relationship. They had the spiritual aspect, but they also had the ‘Let’s have fun and get crazy’ aspect. It was just a really good combination.”
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
