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RENDEZVOUS

Exuberant New Life at Elohim

Introducing Warren & Michele Edson

As the summer camp season comes to a close, I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. The last four weeks have been long and hard, but very rewarding. We want to say a special "thank you" to all the staff that made this year's camps so successful. My last count came up with 55 different people who came and served. Each one of you contributed so much!

What’s next here at Elohim Camp and Retreat Center? Lots of follow up, maintenance, remodeling of existing buildings, and some new construction. Most of all our prayer is for the camp to be used — a place where the Gospel is preached, disciples are made, and the body of Christ is edified.

Our vision is for a place of traditional summer camps as well as seasonal and specialized retreats and conferences. We invite groups to contact us as we seek to expand capabilities and use.

We're enthusiastic over expanding the active summer camp season into a year ‘round weekend camping opportunity. The camp is already prepared to include winter activities and use of facilities. Pastors, men, women, and churches often look for a place as pretty as this where they can gather.

We are planning for fall follow-up weekend camps for campers. The winter months provide time for mentoring opportunities as well as time to train potential summer counselors.

A low-key discipleship program is an area of great interest to us. This will include practical community outreach, intense Bible study of our relationship with Christ and others, and learning to serve in the community. Participants will either come on scholarships or pay for the tuition themselves.

The discipling program is not a Bible school — there are already many good ones out there — this is just for "a few good men" and women and couples. This will provide an opportunity for them to become well grounded, to gain a biblical perspective and Christian worldview, to teach them how to serve, and to help them create Christ-centered goals.

Arrangements are being made to more than double the size of camp property. This will give us opportunities to enhance camp recreational activities and to meet staff housing needs.

A real energy is building to move ahead with plans for a new lodge. The unspoiled, natural appeal of this Cabinet Mountain Wilderness lends itself to a time and place for spiritual retreat. People have commented on the need for a central lodge for years, and now is the time to focus on making this a reality.

The fall and winter months will be filled with people and construction activities. One of the first tasks is to gut the bathrooms so we can expand and remodel the kitchen and refurbish the dining room. This will include a new propane range exhaust system and a refrigeration upgrade.

New bathrooms/bath houses, including a laundry facility, are next on the work list. Winterizing cabins and converting a storage unit back into a cabin will also keep us busy.

We especially welcome work crews, and in anticipation of the future lodge construction, we are expanding RV sites to better accommodate those who want to serve in this capacity. As in other aspects of the Mission ministry, volunteers are at the heart of the work.

Our family has been serving here for the last two years. We would like to build a small house and shop adjacent to the camp. We are happy to be working with the Mission, directing this work of God in this place. We totally love it here, feel called here, and love the kids here.