COGWA Youth Camps

I am happy to report that online registration for our 2012 COGWA Youth Camps opened this week!. Our Christian Living theme for this year is “Raising the Bar” and we hope you’ll read this year’s articles on the Camp Website (http://camps.cogwa.org), review the preteen, teen and Challenger options and sign up for camp. We’re expecting another great year! Staff members, when you register you will also be given instructions on how to connect to our “self-serve” portal for the mandatory background check. If you have any trouble with... More

The camp website has been updated with new articles and all the camp details for 2012, including a welcome from COGWA president Jim Franks. We are finalizing a new way of doing our background checks (required of all staff members working with minors) through a company called IntelliCorp. This will allow staff applicants to enter their own information over a secure server connection instead of needing to transmit it by email or fax. We will still pay the fee for the background check, but the new system will allow staff applicants the ease of entering their own information securely at the... More

We’re happy to announce that the camp website has been updated to show all our programs for 2012. We’ve added one preteen camp in MN, giving us a total of six preteen camps. We’ll be using the same five teen camp locations, and those dates and descriptions are updated. The young adult Challenger program will take place in the Rocky Mountains in northern Colorado this year. Details of all these are available online at http://camps.cogwa.org. You’ll note the revision in the graphics on the site as well. Last year we... More

Camp has a huge impact on our youth. And that impact was felt again in central Wisconsin during Winter Camp. The various activities provide opportunities for campers to have fun while they learn and develop relationships with each other, the adult staff and ministers. Campers enjoyed activities like broomball (which is like hockey played without skates), volleyball, team challenge, dance, ice-skating, ultimate Frisbee, flag football, capture the flag, amazing race, among other activities. Thirteen campers braved the winter cold by taking the winter camping challenge—learning cold weather camping and sleeping outside for a night. The entire camp enjoyed... More

As camp directors have sought signed contracts from the camp facilities, several of our preteen camps have had to modify the dates for their camps since the December 21, 2011 posting of projected dates. The dates in that posting have been updated for the Houston Preteen Camp, Camp Chattahoochee and Camp Bob White. We will begin updating the site with the details for 2012 in Februrary, but for the sake of clarity, here is the current list of dates: Preteen Camps: Houston Preteen Camp (Houston, TX) - June 17-20 Camp Sequoia (Posey, CA) - June 25-29 Camp Chattahoochee (Clarkesville, GA) - July 15-18 ... More

We had a wonderful camp season in 2011 and now it's time to begin turning our attention to 2012. Most of our camps have finalized their dates for next year (a few are still being negotiated) and the camp team is working on writeups for each camp for 2012 and new articles for the website. Here's what is planned as of now: Preteen Camps: Houston Preteen Camp (Houston, TX) - June 17-20 Camp Sequoia (Posey, CA) - June 25-29 Camp Chattahoochee (Clarkesville, GA) - July 15-18 Camp Arrowhead (Ohio) - July 29-August 1 Camp Bob White (Knob, MO) - July1-5 Teen... More

“Challenging Young Adults to Greater Spiritual Growth, Leadership and Service” Our calling as Christians involves taking up the challenges of overcoming, building character, taking our place and responsibilities in the service of God and His family, and setting our sights firmly on the goal of God’s Kingdom. The Challenger program is designed to focus young adults of the Church on these priorities, helping them to strengthen their spiritual resolve and commitment to a life of service and to gain insight from the experiences shared in a challenging, mentored outdoor program. A team of eight young adults... More

New Camp a Success Strong Rock Camp in the beautiful north Georgia woods was a roaring success. This was our first year to use this facility. Camp officially started with Sabbath services in Marietta, Georgia, where blog class instructor Joel Meeker and counselor supervisor Dave Treybig gave split sermons on esprit de corps and service respectively. Sabbath services also included special music performed by Maranda Orrell. Saturday night the staff arrived at camp and had a safety orientation on the facility. Knowing that the next day would be extremely busy, we determined the housing arrangements and went to bed. This... More

Our inaugural Southeast preteen camp—Camp Chattahoochee—began on Sunday, July 24, with a beautiful sunny day! The mood of both campers and staff was that of anticipation and excitement to check out the facilities of our brand-new preteen camp in the breathtaking, north Georgia mountains. The experienced staff came ready and prepared to serve the campers in this beautiful and rustic setting. Activities consisted of field games; slip and slide (which was a refreshing cool-down with the warmer than normal temperatures); arts and crafts (which displayed the talents of our fine preteen campers); music class (which prepared them... More

Camp Carter "Family" Bonds by Andy Burnett Ninety-one campers and 42 staff converged at Camp Carter in Fort Worth, Texas, for a week of fun and fellowship July 3-10. Campers and staff came from various parts of the country (Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and, of course, Texas). Two campers traveled all the way from New Zealand to join us this year. We appreciated all those who gave of their time to serve as staff this year. It was a pleasure to work with such a fine group of talented and cooperative people. An especially big THANK YOU... More

Summer has arrived, and therefore “camp season” has begun. We’re excited to kick off the season this Sunday with two preteen camps—Forest Glen in Texas and Sequoia in California. The theme for this year’s camps is “A Compass for the Future” and will focus on the fact that God’s instructions for life point us in the direction that is profitable for life now and for eternity (1 Timothy 4:8). We solicit your prayers for God’s protection and rich blessing on all our programs this year. The total number... More

Camp registration continued to be strong all through the month of May; and by the end of the month, combined camper and staff registration was close to double what it was on May 1. There are a few camps that still have room to accept more campers—both Sequoia and Heritage for the teen camps, and all the preteen camps still have more space. Several of the preteen camps have a June 15 application deadline, so there’s still time to register. We could especially use more campers at Camp Bob White, which is located in Missouri’s beautiful... More

We are excited about another camp season, where young people can learn God’s way works best while enjoying an exciting time with friends and adults in an encouraging atmosphere of fun! While the camp website (camps.cogwa.org) has only been up and running for three weeks as of May 6, we already have over 300 participants and 200 staff members who have applied online. We were later than normal with things this year, since we had to start all over, and realize that three weeks is not much time to decide where you’d like to attend and register.... More

I just finished writing the cover letter for the online camp brochure that is on our website. Since many of you may not read that, I’d like to copy it here for you. You may ask, “So what is so important about camp that I am asked to read this? Isn’t that just for the kids and parents?” I’ll answer that … right after the letter! Dear Campers, Parents and Staff, What is it about our camps that keep our teens wanting more and coming back every year? Why is it those... More

Welcome to our new camp website! We know many have been asking about our camp program for this year and are anxious to begin signing up—participants and staff alike. We have sent out most of the basic information already, but we are very pleased to now have it all—preteen camps, teen camps and the Challenger Program—posted in one location and to have the online registration system up and running. We are happy to announce that, for the first time, preteen camps are included in the online registration! You’ll find that each camp... More