the green spot blog

One of the fun things we get to do in January and February and the beginning of March is hit the road. We've been to: Prairie Bible College , Bethany Bible College , Millar College of the Bible and Briercrest College . Teachers' Conventions in Edmonton (x3), Red Deer and Calgary . Missions Fest Edmonton and Breakforth Canada . The Bible colleges were for staff visits and recruitment, as I talked about last year . This year, Courtney, Alexis and Emily shared the adventure. We go to Teachers' Conventions to talk about our exciting and fun guest group opportunities with teachers -- we especially talk about outdoor education, team building and band camps at Teachers' Conventions. Jay, Courtney, Alexis and Emily have all been part of the Teachers' Convention stop offs. This year, Courtney did two presentations, about experiential learning, at the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Alberta conference. Word on the street is (aka, Courtney says...

Our Mission. Camp Evergreen exists to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to grow kids and youth - spiritually, mentally, socially, physically, wholly - cultivating confidence, facilitating courage, and equipping leaders among our campers, guests and staff, all while having fun and using God's creation as a key tool! Like I mentioned in the vision post, our mission statement is the "how to" statement - how are we going to achieve our vision to be a camping ministry that sees individual lives transformed by the power of Jesus? We have three basic streams of activities here at Evergreen: summer camp, guest groups and retreats. During summer camps, our mission is played out in chapel, in cabin times, at chosen skills, open skills and during wide games. I often think of how much I learned about good news of Jesus back when I was a camper. We as staff strive to be reflections of Jesus in everything we do, we talk to Jesus, and about him, all the time, and we work to ma...

Our Vision. Camp Evergreen has a vision to be a camping ministry that sees individual lives transformed through the power of Jesus. Yup, that's what it all comes down to. Whether we're washing dishes, running the challenge course, leading a trail ride, taking campers up the climbing wall, scrubbing toilets, singing in chapel, spending time with our cabin group, designing a brochure, planning a new camp or retreat, hosting a guest group, clearing brush, sorting recyclables, sending emails, making announcements, vacuuming the Activity Centre, playing Jug 'n Jog, listening to a speaker, answering questions, serving food, mowing the lawn, processing a summer registration, booking a guest group, paddling, clearing snow, teaching a chosen skill, shooting arrows, hitching a ride on the wagon ... regardless of what we're doing here at Evergreen, we want to see people's lives changed because Jesus is awesome, powerful and our saviour! We can do all those things I listed...

The "what are we doing here?" question is an important one to revisit every now and then. Are we following the path God has laid out for us as an organization? Do our vision, mission and values challenge us to pursue God with greater passion? Do they contribute to a God-honouring culture among our staff and volunteers? After several months of prayer and reflection, on January 10, 2010, our Camping Ministries Commission (Board of Directors) unanimously affirmed a new vision, mission and values for Camp Evergreen. We continue to be a place where faith is developed and lived out, fun is an unavoidable fact of life, and fellowship is how we operate, as we worship, live, work and play together. We continue to serve Alberta's kids and youth as our primary mission field, encouraged by Psalm 78:4, which reads, "We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done." Our new vision, mission and values reflect o...

Mid-Winter Meltdown is back! We had nine families here this last weekend for winter family camp. It was fun, not-too-cold, fam-tastic weekend. Our speaker, Kevin McInnes, is a much-loved friend of Evergreen. He spoke from Evergreen's 2010 theme verse, Micah 6:8, which reads, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." You'll be hearing lots more about Micah 6:8 in the weeks and months to come, here on the Green Spot. Alissa Enns led our worship through music -- she pointed our hearts toward seeing God through his creation! Alissa is from my home church, River West , and it was super fun to have her and her family here! Usually, I take multiple photos in chapel and end up with totally inadequate representation of all the other stuff that happens during weekend retreats. This time around, I didn't take my camera into chapel at all. Photographically speaki...

Hello, friends! First of all, I've been terribly remiss in the blogging department. Things will be looking up shortly -- I have a bunch of photos from Mid-Winter Meltdown to download this afternoon, and some exciting news about our Vision, Mission and Values to share with you! For now, though, I'd like to share something fun with you! My sister Kim was one of the hockey players in our recent 3-on-3 Pond Hockey Tournament ; Julia was our extraordinary photographer. Kim & Julia (we're all about team!) entered one of Julia's photos into the Edmonton Oilers' Spirit of Hockey photo contest and they're one of four finalists! And, Camp Evergreen has a shout out on the Oilers' website. How cool is that? If you'd like to vote for Kim & Julia, you can visit the Oilers' website at http://oilers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=33593 . It's photo #4, as you can probably guess.