the green spot blog

This last weekend we hit 600 registered campers. How fantastic is that?! We're pretty pumped. It's over halfway, it's nearly 2/3rds full and registrations keep coming in. As we continue to prepare for summer (submarine construction is still going on) - there's a lot to do and a lot to be thankful for. 615 campers is a really good place to start being thankful. Our staff is another consistent thing that I thank God for. These crazy, fun-loving young adults who are easily motivated to build a submarine for a wide game, dream of fun themes for summer camp, and work tirelessly to find chapel music that will teach kids about God. You might be thinking... "Jogee...you literally JUST wrote a blog about staff..." . That's true - but here's the thing - I don't think I will ever get sick of talking about the staff here. I'm blown away by them each day. We just had a meeting with our winter staff about how to make our guest's experience here like ...

There are a few things that can be heard at the barn on any given day. These include calling the horses in, Prince meowing at you becuase he wants his food, or Puzzles, the donkey braying at you because you clearly forgot to give him the rest of the hay bale. Something else you can often hear at the barn is something that sounds like this...”No, you’re okay. It’s just a tarp, it won’t eat you, I promise. You can walk past it, it’s okay.” If you’ve ever worked with horses before, you very quickly realized that they can be scared of the strangest things. From a squirrel jumping in the trees, to a tarp blowing in the wind, the yoga ball in the catch pen, and even their own shadow following them. While we see all of those things and know that they are not scary, when a horse sees them they think that they are a scary monster that will jump out and eat them. It takes a lot of encouragement and patience from th...

11 hours in a van with these three. Oh. My. Lanta. I'm writing this to you from the west coast where Ranger, Beaver, and myself have traveled to Abbotsford to connect with our staff at Columbia Bible College and to see if there might be some new students that may be interested in coming to camp to work for the spring and summer. It's always so much fun to watch these young people grow as adults and in their relationship with God. To watch them dig deeper into what it means to be a Christian in a world that is rapidly changing. Each of these staff members mean so much to us at camp - whether they started attending when they were five years old, worked one summer or seven (right Sho and Sarah?), each one, in their own way, becomes one of my kids. From attending weddings, graduations, to farewells at the airport as they leave on full-time missions - we love having them be part of our Evergreen family. I always enjoy meeting one of our alumnus and listening to their ow...

"After dishes I'm building the submarine. What are you scheduled on today?" I think there's a lot of things that make camp a unique place. One of them might be the funny things that you hear on a day to day basis. Oh, camp.  Where would we be without you? I've been at a number of different Bible Colleges over the last week and head out to Abbotsford to spend some time at Columbia Bible College next week. We're looking for students who are willing to do something life changing with their summer. When I was at Prairie Bible Institute last week, one of the Professors allowed the camp directors into his Youth Ministry class to share some stories about life transformation at camp. It's always very exciting this to sit around and share how God is moving, not only at Evergreen, but at camps from Vancouver Island to Manitoba. Thousands upon thousands of kids are hearing the Gospel and turning towards Jesus. There are studies ( Hemorrhaging Faith, 2...

If you were anywhere close to our two hockey rinks this last Saturday - you would have heard this floating through the trees. Between our play-by-play announcer, David Song and our Colour Commentator, Bob Kroeker - the atmosphere at our Pond Hockey Fundraiser is one of a kind. This was our eighth annual Pond Hockey Tournament and Fundraiser. Each year we're humbled by the generosity of the teams and people who are connected with Evergreen. We love putting on an event that so aptly fits why we do what we do. Coming together to do something important and having a blast while doing it. Really, it's what camp is all about. Father and Son having a bit of fun! Teams fundraised just over $24,000 and our Silent Auction brought in nearly $5000. Bringing us to a total just under $30,000. Again, we're so thankful and humbled by the generosity of our players, friends, and family of Evergreen. We were joined by teams from Edmonton, Linden,...

With Summer Camp Registrations launching this last week, there's one other thing on our minds. Staff. We are looking for some crazy (in a good way), ridiculous, fun, Christ-loving staff to love on and hang out with kids this Spring and Summer. I started working at camp back in 1999. But I knew YEARS before, when I was still a camper, that I wanted to work at camp. I wanted to be a camp counselor. I wanted to be crazy and fun and dress up ridiculously. I had a deep desire to tell every kid at camp that they were special and that God loved them. People always ask me why I work (or keep working) at camp. Not much has changed since I was that young kid. I still find myself being crazy, getting excited to lead campfire songs, and finding costumes for theme meals. More than that - and more than EVER, I want to make sure every person that comes through Evergreen knows that they are loved and that God loves them. I'm a pretty firm believer in every person spending AT LEAST one summ...

5 horses for 5 days The countdown is truly on. Five days. That's it! FIVE DAYS until registrations start pouring in. When the countdown to the right of what you're reading hits "0" we can officially say that summer is coming. In light of camp registration opening up - I thought I would run through what each camp looks like, feels like, and what your son or daughter can expect so that you can make a more informed choice when January 3rd comes around next week. This would be a good blog to pass around to your friends who are thinking about registering their kids in camps. We understand that the first time you sign your kids up for camp can be a daunting one - hopefully, this will make it easier. If you would like a more in depth description of each camp, just head to our Summer Camps page on the website and click "More Info" next to any camp to find out more. We've got three different types of camps! We break down our camps into three categories...