Tobin Powers takes over as director of the Lake Michigan Camp

New Lake Michigan Camp Director Tobin Powers recently shared this message with the Michigan Area Reporter 

My wife of 11 years, Judy, my four children and I are excited about the opportunity to serve at Lake Michigan Camp, as I take over as the incoming camp director.

We look forward to growing as a family and getting involved in the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Judy and I have a long history of involvement in Christian camping and are pleased we will be able to return to my home, West Michigan.

Judy and I met at Grace Bible College in Wyoming, Mich. where I studied elementary education; however, I earned my degree in management and organizational development from Spring Arbor University last fall. I have an aptitude for business, but my heart and passion are in camp ministry.

My nine years of camp ministry work experiences are as follows: four summers at Grace Adventures in Silver Lake, four years at Michindoh Ministries in Hillsdale and one year at Water’s Edge in Howell.

That background has been invaluable in preparation for a long-term ministry partnership.

Over the last year I have been serving as the pastor of a small rural church in Northwest Ohio where Judy grew up.

I have been blessed and challenged with a variety of Christian/secular leadership opportunities during my career and look forward to joining the West Michigan Conference and the Lake Michigan Camp staff in February.

I am excited about the opportunity to partner with committed individuals with a passion for impacting families and the next generation of leaders.

Happily in our Savior’s service,
Tobin, Judy, Gracie, Haley, Eli, and Isabelle Powers

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Finding faith through recreation and renewal: UMC Camps play vital role in spiritual transformation of youth, young adults

The scenery on a colorful fall day at Lake Myers Campground in Byron.

By RJ Walters, Editor

For the Rev. Jeremy Peters camp is “where it all started.”

It was “definitely in camp” where Amy Mayo-Moyle began her journey to being an associate pastor.

And for first-year University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student Nathan Karnemaat, United Methodist Camp “truly changed his life” during his most pivotal years.

There are 10 United Methodist camps around the state with dozens of different programs for youth and young adults to immerse themselves in, but it’s one common thread that ties them all together— the ability to combine personal exploration, foundations of faith and recreation into one unforgettable experience.

A place to explore
A 2009 study by the International Bible Society found that 83 percent of Christians make their personal faith commitment between the ages of 4 and 14.

Peters, an associate pastor at Fenton UMC, said a place like Camp Michigamme in the Upper Peninsula is the perfect place to build on the foundations of the local church by letting young people explore their faith and character.

Rev. Jeremy Peters supervises a soccer match amongst campers.

He said it’s no accident that many “spiritual awakenings happen in a camping or retreat setting more reliably and more frequently than they do in other settings,” considering Jesus’ interactions with his disciples early on are the ultimate example.

“The first thing he does is he takes them away from their day-to-day lives and put them in a different environment or goes out to the country side or up the mountaintop or into the wilderness,” Peters said. “There’s something about putting aside all the distractions and tasks and stress of our ‘ordinary lives’ and moving into a space that’s been sort of sanctified or set aside for the purpose of meeting God.”

He believes so strongly in UMC camp that he started counseling at Michigamme in high school and spent six years as a dean of Bay Shore Camp in Sebewaing.

He said late elementary and junior high youth need strong Christian mentors as they flesh out their own worldviews.

“If you can catch them at that age and introduce them to God and get them familiar with the Gospel there’s a good chance they’re going to make a decision that impacts the rest of their lives,” he said. “I think kids really need some good news at that age.”

That good news is precisely what prompted Karnemaat to write one of his first college papers on the impact Lake Louise camp had on him during his adolescent years.

“The first thing you must understand about Lake Louise is that no matter where you come from, what you look like, or how you act, you are welcome with open arms,” he wrote.

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New United Methodist camp relishes history, explores Christianity in new ways

By RJ Walters, Editor

“It is no longer good enough to cry peace — we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.”

Such a saying might evoke thoughts of the Golden Rule or seem like a short summary of a lesson Jesus taught during his ministry, but it is actually a quote attributed to Leon Shenandoah, a 20th century Native American leader of the Onondaga Indians.

Many Michigan Area United Methodists might not realize there are nine Native American UMCs in the state or that many old Native American “grandfather teachings” have strong parallels with Christianity.

But in August Camp Kinawind in Boyne Falls made a splash with hopes of future ripples by offering a four-day/three-night Native American Connections camp for the first time.

Geared toward third- to eighth-graders, the camp strived to educate non-Native and Native youth alike about the history and lifestyle of their Native American ancestors, while providing plenty of time for hikes, boat trips, singing, cookouts and more.

The camp format focused on small groups, where the 21 total campers were divvied up with counselors into small groups where they learned to compromise and come to a consensus about what their daily schedule would be.

Camp Kinawind Director Fred Elmore said he had considered the possibility of a Native American camp for quite sometime, but it was a conversation with Amy Alberts of Mt. Pleasant that took imagination to innovation.

“In a phone conversation with her probably a good year-and-a-half ago she said, ‘I noticed you had a Hispanic camp (in the Detroit Conference), can we do something that is Native American?’” Elmore said. “I said well, sure, because I had been interested in that but wasn’t real sure how to get that off the ground or who to turn to.”

Not long after, Elmore attended the Indian Workers Conference, which is a meeting Native American committee from both Michigan Area conferences. There he found the perfect Native American United Methodist couple to be camp deans for this inaugural celebration of the culture.

“(The idea) was well received and (people at the conference) said to me, ‘What do you need?’ I said, ‘I need a leader, someone who knows the people, knows the culture, solid United Methodists,’” he said. “Everybody looked around the room and ended up pointing to Judy Johnson and she said, ‘As long as my husband (Daugherty) helps me!’ They were wonderful — they both are active members of the Greensky Hill Indian (Mission) United Methodist Church, only about 25 miles from camp.”

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Out of the sleeping bag and into the world: Rethinking UMC camping

By RJ Walters, Editor

Through thickets of poison ivy and swarms of obnoxious mosquitoes comes the opportunity to relate, equip and inspire in ways the mortar and brick of a church can’t offer.

But the United Methodist tradition of camping is changing and so are many of the people in leadership positions at camps around the state.

It’s about more than just families sending their kids to camp to learn songs and Bible verses and it’s becoming a whole lot more diverse than just church bodies gathering for a good time.

As congregations gather this month to “Rethink Church” it is apparent that many dedicated directors and volunteers around the state are rethinking camping.

With reservations filling up around the state and deadlines nearing for camp scholarships, the church has more options than ever for recreation, discipleship, and bonding.

What some of the progressive thinkers in the UMC camping arena are doing could be looked at as sound business models, or as simply new means of expanding the church’s reach to make disciples for the transformation of the world.

What’s good for some can be good for all

When Mike Symons took over Lakeview Campground and Albright Park Camp several years ago he was not going to accept the status quo.

A couple of hundred campers here and there coupled with some well-run youth camps was fine, but not up to par with his standards.

“If you do any kind of a marketing study the children camps alone are not doing that well, the adult camps alone are not doing that well. But if you are servicing both the children and adults in a family then you are doing OK,” he said. “For example, if you were to take the other camps in our system, most of them are doing around 700-800 kids a summer at what are exclusively kids camps….we did 1,600 children last year, and we’re not a children’s camp (anymore) —the kids came along with their families, parents and grandparents.”

His theory that “as pocketbooks have tightened in recent years people are cutting back on recreation, but still finding ways to spend quality time together as a family,” is paying dividends.

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