Anthems of 40-plus years to unite at Choir Camp Reunion

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

When a joyful noise resounds through the forest of the Lake Louise Christian Community on Labor Day weekend it will be distinctly rich and well versed.

From Sept. 2-5 a Choir Camp Reunion celebrating more than 40 years of spirited songs and hymns and transformed lives will take place at the majestic retreat center and campground in Boyne Falls, Mich.

“People are always telling us, even as adults, that choir camp was extremely important in their life and how much they missed it once they graduated from high school and could no longer come,” said the Rev. David Gladstone, who along with his wife, Terry, has been involved in Choir Camp in a variety of capacities since the mid-1970s. “So part of it is to get together as adults and celebrate that experience and create a great choir again and put on a concert and have a blast.”

The reunion will include a bevy of choir rehearsals, a concert at 7 p.m. Sunday, an evening of sharing memories and honoring camp deans and fireside devotionals.

The cost to stay in a cabin for the weekend ranges from $105 per youth to $180 per adult. Individuals can register and pay deposits online at www.lakelouisecommunity.org.

Janet Lee, 80, of Hillsdale UMC, was introduced to Choir Camp through the Fellowship of United Methodists back in the camp’s infancy when it was just for young girls.

Teaching sacred dance and contemporary worship to youth for eight summers at Choir Camp at Lake Huron Camp in the 1970s, she saw the ministry become co-ed and expand to high-school students.

Lee said she never had the opportunity to go to camp as child, but as an adult, Choir Camp was a wonderful place for her entire family to share its gifts and grow in relationship with others.

“Our younger daughter would go in and Ellen Addington was the choir director and Pat was too young to be a camper and Ellen let her come in and sing in the choir anyway and that young lady is now a music teacher,” she said. “I have a picture of Pat sitting in the rehearsal room waiting for the other kids to come in from wherever they were prior to the choir.”

Larry Wolf, 74, the music director at Big Beaver UMC in Troy, remembers Choir Camp as a place where youth from completely different backgrounds would unify and create lasting bonds over the course of a week.

“People can find things out about themselves from music just by finding, ‘I can do this or I can do that, I can have fun with these other people,’ and it’s a way of bringing kids together who might be shy,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to really express themselves and be accepted because they’ve got some talent.”

After being galvanized to pursue teaching music during his time as a camp counselor at Judson Collins camp when he was younger, Wolf and his wife — who were both music teachers at public schools — directed middle school and high school choirs at the Lake Huron Camp for roughly five years.

Lee summed up the impact she has seen Choir Camp have over the years in the story of a woman whose name she cannot remember, but whose testimony speaks volumes.

Lee said the woman came back to Choir Camp to serve as a counselor several years after her last experience as a camper. Lee said when the woman was a camper she would have “horrific headaches” while at camp and Lee made her promise she would visit a doctor when she returned home.

“(Soon after serving as a counselor) she had a brain tumor and she died,” Lee said. “To think she loved Choir Camp so much she wanted to come back as a counselor…it had changed her life.”

Gladstone said music has had a special way of “soothing his soul” throughout his years of ministry and Choir Camp — now held at Lake Louise every year — continues to be a “serious vehicle for faith development.”

The latest iteration of the long-standing camp is set for July 3-9 with Terry Gladstone and Christie Brewster serving as the deans.

The details

What: Choir Camp Reunion

When: Sept. 2-5

Where: Lake Louise Christian Community camp (Boyne Falls)

Cost: $105-180 per person

Registration: www.lakelouisecommunity.org

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Young leaders flourishing in DAC’s Mission Intern Program

Carl Gladstone, a former mission intern.

By RJ Walters, Editor

A quick look at some of the top young leaders in the Michigan Area reveals many of them share a common thread.

It’s not just the crazy hours they are willing to work or the ingenious ministry ideas they come up with — for a lot of them there is a mutual agreement of where they learned to serve.

For the past 12 years the Mission Intern Program of the Detroit Annual Conference has utilized enthusiastic college-age adults to reach the poor and develop leadership qualities that apply to all facets of life. The only trouble, according to Conference Director of Discipleship Rev. Terry Gladstone — who helped construct the program — is that not enough people understand the vitality and importance of it.

As of 2009 four full-time conference missionaries were Mission Intern alumni, two were deacons and plenty more were leading lives focused on serving.

Detroit Conference Director of Youth and Young Adults Ang Hart said the program changed her life, social justice advocate and Newburg UMC Deacon Paul Perez was once an intern, and Gladstone’s son Carl was an intern for three summers before becoming the head of the Young Leaders Initiative, the Motown Mission Project and countless other causes.

The only problem was Carl had to relocate to Dallas, Tex. during the summers to be a mission intern of the General Board of Global Ministries.

That’s when mom stepped in.

“When he got back from (Project Transformation) and was telling me all about it things just clicked,” Terry Gladstone said. “At that point we had a program called the Vocational Intern Program, VIP, but nobody was using it anymore. It was largely because the places that wanted an intern couldn’t afford to pay for half of it, which you had to.”

She saw some money sitting in a fund allocated for VIP and had ideas from her son’s Project Transformation experience — thus the Detroit Conference program was born.

The first year a handful of interns participated in the eight-week long summer internship, earning a stipend for using their summer to engage in ministry with those in need.

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Detroit Conference announces program staffing changes

Rev. Terry Gladstone

By Paul Thomas, Detroit Conference Director of Communications

The Rev. Dr. Jerome (Jerry) DeVine has announced several changes to the program staff of the Detroit Conference, effective immediately. All changes are within existing positions and budget.

The Rev. Dr. James Parkhurst, who has been on staff since April 1 as interim conference director of outdoor and retreat ministries, has been promoted to conference director of outdoor and retreat ministries, while the Rev. Terry Gladstone, conference director of discipleship, has accepted a position as the program development specialist for the Lake Louise Christian Community, Camp, and Retreat Center.

In addition, Ang Hart, conference director of youth and young adult ministries, and Paul Thomas, conference director of communications, will have their positions increased from 1/2-time to 3/4-time effective January 1, 2011.

“Aligning resources to fulfill the conference vision of creating and nurturing dynamic and fruitful congregations includes focusing the time and portfolios of those whom God has called and gifted for various strategic ministries,” said DeVine, who is in his second year as the conference’s director of connectional ministries. “These recent staff changes are focused heavily on equipping and connecting leadership for discipleship in a changing environment.”

Rev. James Parkhurst

Before moving to the Detroit Conference, Parkhurst spent the past 12 years as the Director of Discipleship Ministries in the Desert Southwest Conference. During those 12 years, Parkhurst oversaw the conference’s camping and retreat ministries that encompassed several sites and staff spread across two states. Parkhurst, with over 18 years of experience in outdoor and retreat ministries, is currently a member of the National Camp and Retreat Committee, an affiliated organization with the General Board of Discipleship.

An ordained deacon and member of the Desert Southwest Conference, Parkhurst earned a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Religion Studies from Morehead State University and received a Master’s degree in Christian Education from Scarritt College in Nashville, Tenn. Parkhurst also completed his diaconal studies at Claremont School of Theology and received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Wisdom University in Oakland, Calif.

“Jim brings a depth of faith and knowledge along with breadth of experience in spiritual formation through outdoor and retreat ministries,” DeVine said. “Originally from Kentucky, he has served as site director for several camp ministries, including one in the North Central Jurisdiction. He brings thoroughness, strategic planning skills, leadership development and organizational experience, and a keen understanding of networking communities to make disciples of Jesus Christ leading to the transformation of the world. We welcome him as part of our ministry.”

Gladstone, who has been on the staff of the Detroit Conference since 1994, will remain employed by the conference with a significantly reduced consultative staff role and a revised portfolio. Details of her new conference responsibilities are being worked out with the personnel committee, but her duties will focus particularly on aspects of effective leadership development, clergy and lay, for equipping and strengthening vital local congregations.

As the program development specialist for Lake Louise, Gladstone will be responsible for increasing ministry outreach and to help the community, camp and retreat center effectively utilize their facilities and natural environment to fulfill their purpose and mission. Her position will involve organizing and evaluating multiple educational functions and activities, focusing on continual improvement and growth.

She will also have responsibilities for recruiting and maintaining a resource pool of leaders, along with training and supervising of some staff.

“I have known Terry for over ten years,” commented DeVine. “While my own roles have changed over that time, she and I have been part of the Michigan Area Ministry Team during that decade. She has vast experience, and has already gifted this Detroit Conference with numerous ministries that now have their own strength and direction.

"Her decision to pursue a new ministry position with the Lake Louise Christian Community and Camp builds on her own family history and life-long love for that community. I am grateful that she will remain in a consultative staff role with us because of the extensive experience and skills that she offers. We will obviously be focusing her available time very intentionally, particularly around some new avenues for congregational health and vitality that we are developing.”

For a directory of Detroit Conference staff, please visit www.detroitconference.org/staff.

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