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The pictures below go from the beginning to the end of August!

By Cody Kargus – An Article from the Camp Connection Volume 2, Issue I

The first phase of the discipleship programs at Arrowhead Bible Camp is called b.a.s.i.c. discipleship, which stands for Believing And Serving In Christ.  As the residential week-long camps are one week long, b.a.s.i.c. discipleship is a two week program.  Each day we concentrate on 3 areas with the students; building relationships, teaching, and modeling the Christian life.  Here is what a day would look like.

As breakfast begins each morning for camp the students then gather for morning devotions.  Here the staff will begin with a Bible passage that focuses on the theme of the day and then lead into what we call the “family documents”.  These written documents are from the saints of old, men and women who have wrestled with the same issues we look at in b.a.s.i.c.  It is a very encouraging time to see how God used these people in their times to bring people near to Himself.  These times in the mornings can be very stretching and hopeful.  Each student has some good time to be alone and digest some of the deep things we’ve covered.  Then we head out to the sports field and play games.  Many of our games are high energy and also highly relational.  Our goal is to spend about a third of our time in the day building relationships with the students.  In this aspect we are able to come alongside each student and see where they are at in their journey with God and then push them deeper.  Building relationships is a core aspect to our program, and it is an easy thing to do when you are playing active games.

Next we go into our teaching time.  In a day of b.a.s.i.c. we have three main note taking times in a classroom setting.  The topics we cover are; Servant-hood, Discipleship, and Spiritual Disciplines.  Each day we have a topic that builds upon the past day’s theme.  Much of the teaching is looking at the way in which Jesus lived out his life in His relationship with His Father and with His disciples.  These are some of the greatest moments in our time together for students begin to see how the Christian life is to be lived in our world today.

At times after a teaching period we break off into small groups and the counselors are able to go deeper with the students.  Each year we are blessed with counselors who model these teachings to the students.  We truly get the highest caliber counselors for the students.

After lunch we give the students time to study or rest, we call this time, “book reading”.  During the day we spend much energy physically, emotionally and cognitively thus a rest time is always appreciated by the students and staff.

The afternoon is filled with a group game, teaching and free time.  Again the staff is using even the free time to build relationships and look for ways to strengthen and encourage the students to go deeper.

After supper we usually head outside to enjoy the great outdoors here in Wisconsin offered to us by the Lord.  Worshiping out on the lake in the canoes is one of my favorite times.  There is nothing like having our voices joining together and echoing off the lake with our hearts before God.  It is worship at full volume.

By Nick Roen – An article from The Camp Connection Volume I, Issue 3

I was out in Breckenridge, Colorado last March as a leader for my churches youth ski trip.  While we were there, we decided to grab a video camera and ask some people on the mountain about God and then show some of the answers to our students.  One guy in particular stands out in my mind.  We asked him, “Do you believe in God?”  He said, “Absolutely!  The mountain is my God and I go to worship everyday.”  At first we just chuckled to ourselves and dismissed him as sort of freaky.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this guy had hit onto something big!

So often we associate worship with something that only Christians do when we sing to God.  But every person on this planet worships, including non-Christians.  The truth is that whatever takes our time, our affection, our devotion, whatever has the most important place in our lives…that is what we are worshiping.  There are so many people that are worshiping money, fame, friends, pleasure, entertainment without even realizing it. 

There are even people who claim to worship God but in reality He is nothing more than an afterthought. My favorite quote of all time is from C.S. Lewis, who has this to say:

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far to easily pleased.”

How often do we put things in front of Christ in our lives?  How often are we far to easily pleased? Our priorities can get out of whack so easily and sometimes we don’t even realize it.  So we need to continually ask our selves this question; “Is Christ more valuable to me than ______?”  Insert whatever; sports, money, status, popularity, friends, family, whatever is competing for your affections.  Is Christ more valuable to you than that?  Because everyone worships, and sometimes we don’t even fully realize what it is we are worshiping.

By Jeremiah Harder – An article from The Camp Connection Volume I, Issue 3

John 15:12 “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”

Believe it or not my family and I were able to squeeze in a weekend to go camping away from camp this summer in the middle of the busy month of July. And I must say it was one of my favorite weekends of the entire summer.  We tent camped for two nights at a county park in central Wisconsin.  What a joy to spend time with my wife and three boys enjoying swimming, s’mores, pudgy pies, stars, and campfires.  Boy do I love my family!

And yet when you look at the verse at the top I know I don’t possibly love them enough.  Jesus Christ has called me to love others in the same way He has loved me, with a perfect love.  I of course must continue to strive for this while knowing I will never love my family as much as Jesus Christ loves them.  So what does one do to grow in this area? 

I believe one way to grow in this is to glean from others who have families where the love of Christ is pouring out from the relationships within the family.  One of my favorite places to do this is Labor Day Family Weekend at Arrowhead Bible Camp. I count it a privilege to be around so many exceptional families each and every Labor Day.  This summer was no exception.  At Arrowhead we seek to make Labor Day Weekend a time where families can be built up and given opportunities to grow in their love for Christ and each other. Our programs, chapel times, even meals all strive to that end.  With the two ingredients above, exceptional families and purposeful programming, it’s a beautiful thing to watch over the weekend as families love, serve, honor, and care for one another.

As you can see, for me Labor Day Weekend holds so much more than just a fun last weekend of summer. It’s a place to see Christ at work in families and in me.  I invite you to come next summer for family camp and join in as we seek to build families up in Christ.

By Jeremiah Harder – An Article from the Camp Connection Volume I, Issue I 

You’ve just finished up in the registration line for summer camp and now know you will be staying in cabin Lydda for the week.  As you make your way to the cabin to meet your counselor you can’t help but notice the lake right out your front doorstep.  What a view!  Your counselor, who introduces herself as Sierra, comes out to greet you and helps carry one of your bags inside.  “Wow this cabin has three different rooms to choose from.  Which one should I take?  Hey, it even has a bathroom.”  You set your stuff down on one of the bunks and know you’re in for a  great week here in cabin Lydda. 

One night during the week right before bed Sierra shares an evening devotion with the cabin about knowing for sure whether or not you will go to heaven when your time here on earth is done.  It raises a lot questions in your head. The next day during flat on bunk time Sierra lets you know its time for your one on one with her.  You and Sierra sit down just outside Lydda on the front stoop.  Sierra begins by asking how your week is going.  You, of course, are having the time of your life and share many of the things you have done this week with Sierra, especially the bulls-eye you hit in your archery skills class this morning.  Before you know it the conversation has arrived at the evening devotion from last night and Sierra asks what you thought about it.  As she     answers your questions it all starts making sense.  You get this overwhelming feeling of surrender and next thing you know you are praying to the creator of the universe who has also created you!  Who loves you!  Who has always wanted to have a relationship with you and with whom you have just discovered you want too!

Many campers have had memories like this at cabin Lydda or Emmaus over the past 31 years and maybe you are one of them.  Praise God for how he has used these two little cabins.  Literally thousands of campers have made one of these two cabins home for a week of summer camp during the last 31 years.  If you are one of them we would love to hear your story.

The time has now come to replace these two cabins with something that can be used year round to better fit the needs of Arrowhead today.  As we plan for these new buildings we remember how God has been faithful to so many that have stayed in Lydda and   Emmaus and thank Him for that.  Also as we plan for these new buildings we invite you to be a part of making them happen.  You will be receiving a letter in the next few months with more details about what we are doing and how you can be involved.  Let the memories continue!

By Michelle Rayburn – An article from the Camp Connection Volume I, Issue I

One of the main attractions at Arrowhead is the lakefront, especially in the summer. Many an afternoon, the beach is filled with campers who splash in the refreshing water, or build sand castles and bask in the sun. However, the beach has some uninvited guests who enjoy it each day as well. Every morning a flock of Canadian geese leaves unwelcome evidence of their goose gatherings and every morning Phil or one of his maintenance helpers has to shoo off the geese and clean the beach with a rake and a shovel. Imagine how the beach would look if someone didn’t clean it every day!
Sin and attitudes in our lives can sometimes be like the goose droppings on the beach. Every day, a new clean-up challenge faces us.  Some days, it’s a negative attitude and others it’s jealousy.  Sometimes we struggle with bitterness and anger, and other times our minds are consumed with impure thoughts and greed.  Imagine what our hearts and minds would be like if we never took care of the sin that creeps back into our lives every day. Like the beach, the build-up would quickly become unbearable.
One of the challenges we gave to young people at Arrowhead last summer was to live out their faith; and part of living out our faith is learning how to clean up the sin in our lives on a daily basis.  In Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul tells us to put off our old self and to be made new in the attitudes of our minds. It’s like God giving us a clean set of clothes that Paul goes on to explain has been created to be like God in righteousness and holiness. If we are to live in righteousness and holiness, then we must ask ourselves every day, “What sin do I need to clean up today?”
What “geese” do you need to chase away?  What sins keep coming back that you need to confess to God every day?  God is faithful to forgive us when we ask (1 John 1:9).