Dollar-For-Dollar

Arrowhead Parable Christian Store is giving away money!  

Hurry down to the store before time runs out.  When you invest in Arrowhead's Day Camp the bookstore will match your investment - Dollar-For-Dollar!

Help us give the gift of CAMP this summer to children and families in our local communities!

Shepherds Fall Retreat 09

The Shepherds Fall Retreat was a blast! It was a great opportunity to reunite as staff to serve many of our local campers who are big time regular attenders. We had a full house with about 50 campers, 25 staff and a handful of volunteers.

Despite some warm daytime temperatures the wind was blowing and we stayed inside. On the bright side we had great Halloween and fall time crafts. Classic camps games were a must and the campers really enjoyed Alex on guitar during Bible & Music. Saturday afternoon our campers got to make stuffed-paper bag pumpkins, hang out at the activity tables and try on a silly hat for the fall photo shoot (with Jerry the Scary Scarecrow). One of the most exciting parts of the retreat was our special guests, Talking Hands (from Achieve). They put on a great show on Saturday night, signing to all sorts of songs from Johnny Cash to the Ghostbuster's theme song. Talking Hands did a great job. Overall it was a great week seeing so many familiar faces from the summer.

JP Weekends!

Fall is certainly here at Arrowhead. The leaves that are still on the trees are changing colors and the temperature is dropping. We have already served several guest groups and we have a few more to go before the fall retreat season is over. We are really excited for the Shepherds Fall Retreat at the end of October. The retreat is nearly full already and we almost have all the staff lined up. It should be a great weekend to reunite and reconnect.

Another exciting part of this fall has been the James Project which has spilled over to the retreat season. With such great success this summer we are now making the James Project available for weekend retreats. The fall is booked up and we are starting to accept James Project Weekend groups for our winter/spring retreat season. James Project Weekends are open to pastors, leaders, families, student ministries, college ministries and community groups. It's a great opportunity to steal away for a weekend to serve others as a small group. Weekends at Arrowhead provide James Project groups with the ability to focus on team dynamics, more intense discipleship, building & equipping and personal growth... besides just simply serving together.

We're excited about this new opportunity because of the huge impact it has on the our guests who are loved and served well by our James Project groups. Sign up now to get a James Project Weekend this winter/spring.

Ben Myers
Arrowhead Bible Camp
570.663.2419
abc@arrowheadministry.org

A Perfect Day for Bocce

Our friends from the Special Olympics were here today. Over 50 athletes, their coaches, parents and care providers enjoyed a great afternoon of bocce ball. The weather was perfect and the hot dogs always taste fantastic after some intense games of bocce.

For us, it was an exciting opportunity to see some of our campers, meet some new friends and host the tournament for the Special Olympics.

The End of Many Things

Our summer of ministry is officially over. Our last campers headed out yesterday and things are quiet again. As always, the silence is a bitter sweetness. Our passion is to IMPACT lives with the TRUTH of God's Word and to make DISCIPLES like JESUS. Our passion is Jesus' passion; to see people: families, children, staff, mission teams, developmentally disabled adults, neighbors, friends, our community... redeemed by the love & mercy of the Sovereign, Almighty, Creator God. It is sad to see the summer come to a close.

With the silence comes a simultaneous deep breath - entering a time of rest after two and a half months of ministry AND anticipating our next guest group, Shepherds Retreat, work group or staff get together.

I praise God for a great summer. It was a summer of transition, growth, pain, healthiness, worship, discipleship and hard work. It was my privilege to engage with several students who took on the challenge of discipleship. Through them, God challenged and convicted me of my love for His Word, my humility in serving others and my trust in Jesus to follow Him wholeheartedly. What a blessing to see one of our biggest summers yet. This was the first summer we offered eight weeks of our own programs. Our day camp for kids doubled to offer two weeks for free... reaching out to serve over 60 families (more than 100 children) from our local community. We saw another summer of growth for our Shepherds Camp... with more campers than last summer. Another great blessing was the full introduction of the James Project. The James Project has led to dozens of families and students serving our staff and campers each week, the creation of a counselor/program staff training program and the completion of many projects around the camp AND the purchase of our new dock section, scholarships for Shepherds campers, financial investments to help make Day Camp free and care-packages for all the staff.

One of my favorite events of the summer was our Bocce Bash with the Special Olympics. A few camper teams and over 50 athletes from the community made for a great evening of bocce ball. It also doubled as our evening activity... providing all of our campers with an exciting sporting event right in our own backyard. For me it was a summer of learning.

This was one of the first summers I intentionally strived for healthiness as a response to worshipping God.. I am grateful for times of spiritual formation through solitude & silence, journaling, prayer, scripture and repentance. I was also blessed to have Natalie by my side from time to time AND to see her in Bible Class or Chapel, serving campers and helping out around camp. God used Natalie to teach me so many things about our Shepherds campers alongside being dad. God taught me a lot about WORSHIP which was the focus of our discipleship, James Project partnerships and personal formation. In the face of worship, God showed me this summer that my default idol is camp. For me, it is easy to elevate myself or my role at camp from created thing to Creator. God convicted me of my interior motivations for building relationships and running programs. He taught me how my exterior actions can and should flow from my religious affections for Him... which is a big lesson that He continues to teach me. As a summer of transition, God also taught me wisdom in leadership and grace in love through some unexpected ways.

One of those unexpected ways was through a Shepherds camper. Day Camp was in coming to a close and we were getting geared up for another session of Shepherds Camp when I received a phone call from one of our campers' care providers informing me that Scott (one our campers) had died in his sleep at home. Scott lived with five other guys in the same house in town for the past 12 years. He and two of those guys have attended Shepherds Camp since before I arrived. I am thankful that Kelly, myself and a few other staff members were able to attend the viewing and the funeral. We also had opportunity to spend some time with Scott's housemates and staff. Through that time it was a blessing to see the impact that camp has had on Scott, his friends, family and his staff. It was an even greater blessing to be able to suffer with them and to express our love for them. It is difficult to put words around all the things God has done and is doing through Scott's life, his time here at camp and the relationship that we have with his housemates and staff. I pray that we will be able to serve them through camp and outside of camp as well.

I suppose I say this at the end of every summer; God is amazing and He did great things this summer at Arrowhead.

Here is a poem that was written and then put to music to be sung as Scott's funeral.

Day Camp 2009 [Week 1]

The first week of Day Camp was a blast. 65 of our 80 campers will be coming out again this week. We are looking forward to the week ahead, 15 new campers, and a bunch of new special guests.

Our second week of Day Camp starts TODAY!

Thank You!

Just last week I sent out a message telling you about one of our campers who was not going to be able to make it to camp this summer because of financial problems.

A big "THANK YOU" to everyone who has stopped by camp, called or sent a card by mail. We have received all the money necessary for that camper to attend a two-week session this summer. What a blessing! What an impact! Thank you so much for investing in Arrowhead, in Shepherds Camp, in our staff AND in the lives of our campers... especially this ONE camper who will be able to come to camp this summer.

Each summer we have a few campers that need financial assistance to come to camp. If you were thinking/planning on sending in an investment to help this particular camper - I encourage you to still make that investment as the summer continues and looking ahead to next summer. Your investment will give the gift of camp.

Thanks again!

The New Dock

A few years ago we purchased a brand new floating dock system. The new dock has the same shape as the old dock with a few additions - a massive sliding board (with water pump), two ladders and a bench. Two years ago we built a two-stage jump tower and last year we purchased a new fleet of paddle boats.

This year we have purchased another brand new section of the floating dock system. We replaced the old auxiliary floating dock which is used to create the deep end of our swimming area. The new section is a huge octagon with a ladder.

We are thrilled to see this new addition to the dock which really completes the safety and excitement of the waterfront. We are also excited because many of the James Project groups coming in this summer will be investing together to help fund this new dock section.

Camp Countdown & Update

Summer is almost here!

Countdown til Camp
30 days

For a few weeks now most of our summer programs have been closed. Four of the six weeks of Shepherds Camp and both weeks of Day Camp are closed... because they are full. There is no room for any more campers in the majority of our summer camps. It has been what I like to call a good problem. More registration forms are arriving daily for the remaining two weeks and we are very close to breaking last year's attendance for the summer.

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for the summer.
We are still in need of:
- A Nurse for one week of camp (June 28th - August 5th)
- A few more Counselors to serve for two weeks (or more)
- A few Night Watch Staff(staff who serve by working 3rd shift)
- We have one more open week for the James Project (June 14-26)

Give me a call or shoot me an email if you or someone you know would be available to meet these needs for the summer.

Thanks,
Ben Myers
Arrowhead Bible Camp
570.663.2419
abc@arrowheadministry.org

Shepherds Spring Retreat

We just finished up our Shepherds Camp Spring Retreat. In the blink of an eye... just as quick as everyone arrived, all the hustle and bustle is over and the camp is quiet again.

It was a GREAT weekend with over 40 campers in attendance. Altogether we had just over 30 staff members including counselors, co-counselors, program staff, kitchen CREW, volunteers, returning staff and new staff. The weather was almost unbearably summer like reaching 70 degrees on Saturday. The best part of the retreat was reuniting as a staff and reconnecting with our campers. It was great to see some of our new staff that will be serving with us this summer make the trip to be a part of the retreat. Alongside our classic camp activities - crafts, Bible & Music, Chapel, and games we also got to go on Hayrides on Saturday. Overall the retreat was rather uneventful. Nothing crazy happened with the campers and our staff seemed far from overloaded.

Another exciting part of the weekend was a small Serve Crew from Hanover (where Kelly and I grew up). Kevin, Jim, Jill, Lois and Howard came up to camp for the weekend to serve in a variety of ways. Lois was our camp nurse for the weekend. Without her we would not have been able to have the retreat. "Thank you so much Lois!" Jill took care of some much needed landscaping around the camp and served in the dining room. "Thanks Jill. The grounds look sharp and you were an encouragement & blessing to the kitchen CREW." The guys were able to build a shelter for lake in just one day. From the ground up they grabbed all the lumber, made a design from my simple explanation and hand gestures, constructed flooring, walls and roofing. Then they transported the shelter to the lake front, assembled the pieces and doctored some old barn boards into siding with great character. The SHELTER is an intentional space for our staff. It will be utilized year round (mostly in the warmer months) as a place at camp where our staff can "escape" the sights and sounds of camp to intentionally carve out space and time to be with God. Whether it is watching the run rise, sitting quietly to mediate on scripture, taking a much needed nap or praying with a small group - the guys intentionally created "the space" that will help our staff as we disciple them to intentionally create "the time". "Thanks guys. The SHELTER is going to be a great place of worship for our staff."

Camp's New Website!

Arrowhead has a brand new look to the website. It's a better layout for the camp multi-camp structure AND it now has lots of pictures and videos. Here are some helpful links to the main page and other specific Arrowhead pages. Check it out!

Arrowhead Camping Ministries
www.arrowheadministry.org

Arrowhead Bible Camp
www.arrowheadbiblecamp.org

Shepherds Camp
www.shepherdscamp.org

Day Camp
www.abcdaycamp.org

The James Project
www.abcjamesproject.org

DAY CAMP 2009!

2 Weeks of Day Camp!

That's right... we are expanding our Day Camp program for kids. This past summer we had over 100 kids each day for our one week program. God graciously provided and we were able to offer our Day Camp for FREE! It really was the "Camp for Every Kid."

It has been three months since that crazy week in July. Literally, moms and dads have been asking about Day Camp because their kids are still talking about the summer. As we look forward to this summer, with God's leading we are expanding the program.

This summer we will be offering 2 WEEKS of DAY CAMP!

Our vision is to continue to grow as the "Camp for Every Kid." We are also passionate about making BOTH weeks FREE! We would love to have you join us... make an impact by investing in our Day Camp for kids. You can be a vital part this "community based" ministry that brings kids to Arrowhead for a week to IMPACT them with the Word of God AND then sends them back into the community to be discipled, cared for, and loved year-round, by other ministries in our community who are like-minded and have the same passion to make disciples.

www.abcdaycamp.org

DAY CAMP 2008!!!

Day Camp at Arrowhead was HUGE! We had over 100 kids each day. The schedule was jammed-packed with all sorts of camp activities and crazy fun. We were very excited to have Drama Ministry from Lancaster Pa back for another week of Day Camp. Once again, they made a great IMPACT on the program by providing dramatic presentations of the good news of Jesus Christ. Each morning the gospel came alive right in front of each camper. Then campers got to choose Drama class as an afternoon activity.

Each morning the campers rotated from Drama to Crafts to a special activity. The special activities included large group games, hay rides, and special guests. Our special guests this year were: our friends from the local Christian Motorcyclist Association who came to talk to the campers about motorcycle (bicycle) safety, the Ross Park Zoo Mobile with animals for the campers to see and touch, another friend from just down the road who taught a sign language class, and News Channel 34's meteorologist - Ryan Coyle. Following Ryan was a News Channel 34 camera man and reporter. You can check out the story at - www.newschannel34.com (click on "Summer Fun" - look for the Arrowhead Bible Camp story). We had a fantastic line up of special guests and activities. Then each afternoon campers could choose between the archery range, swimming and boating at the lake, bocce ball, games, and drama class. It proved to be a wild and crazy week of camp.

Our goal through Day Camp is to impact our community. First, we provide kids (and their families) with a safe and exciting program that is FREE! Then we structure the week to encourage, educate, challenge and care for each camper. All week long we invite the campers to experience camp with us (the staff) thus inviting them to experience Jesus Christ. When the week is over - all campers go home with a letter from myself and a boat load of stories to share with their family and friends. Some campers also go home to share something extra special - that while they were at Day Camp they heard about Jesus...and how He came to rescue them. Each and every camper who believes in Jesus Christ and puts their trust in Him to be rescued from their sin and separation from God is followed up by a ministry in their local community that is partnering with Arrowhead. These friends of Day Camp have accepted the call to disciple those campers, invest in their families, and invite each of them to experience God's love and forgiveness. We are excited to partner with like-minded ministries who seek to continue (year round) the loving impact we have started here at Day Camp. What a blessing!

Day Camp craft: canvas banners. The kids put down words on the banner using painters tape. Then they smeared paint all over the banner using their hands and feet. The paint dried. The tape was pulled off...and each group had its own banner. Then at the end of the week each banner was cut into squares - one for each camper to take home with them.



Another great craft: the campers really enjoyed these canvas cloth "bookbags" that they could decorate.
Each day we ate lunch outside, picnic style. On Thursday we had eight fire rings going...and each camper got to cook their own hot dog and s'more over the open flame.

A BIG "Thank You!" to everyone who invested in Day Camp at Arrowhead to make it the "Camp for EVERY Kid." What a blessing. Thank you.

We're in Full Swing!

Our first week of Shepherds Camp has begun and we are in full swing.

This is SUMMER...
#63 for Arrowhead Bible Camp.
#46 for the Shepherds Camp Program.
#8 for Kelly and I
#3 for Natalie (who turns 3 on July 11th!)

This week we have:
65 Campers
15 Counselors
3 Co-Counselors
7 Program Staff
11 Service Staff
6 Leadership Staff

Our youngest camper is: 23
Our oldest campers is: 88

DC Count Down

Day Camp Count Down
22 Days Left

Wow! Day Camp is just around the corner. We closed this year's Day Camp a few weeks ago...with over 100 kids signed up. What a blessing! All of the details are set for great week of camp. We even have some NEW special guests and activities planned for this year's program. You'll have to wait until after camp to find out the details. I can tell you one thing - Day Camp at Arrowhead is going to be a crazy, awesome, fun, exiting, challenging, caring, amazing, inspiring, connecting, encouraging, truth filled week of CAMP.

And get this...every kid has been fully supported - which means that Day Camp at Arrowhead truly is FREE!

That also means, that we have fulfilled our VISION - to be the "Camp for Every Kid!"

We would love to have you pray for us and our campers as we prepare AND during camp, July 21-25. We believe God is going to make a HUGE IMPACT on kids and families in our local communities. We would also love to hear from you - as you pray for Arrowhead and Day Camp. Keep in touch. Thanks to everyone who has invested in Day Camp. What a blessing. What an IMPACT!

DC Count Down

Day Camp Count Down
39 DAYS

Wow! Day Camp is almost here. We've got a ton of kids signed up AND they have ALL been fully supported by churches, families, and individuals. Thanks everybody. Arrowhead's Day Camp IS the Camp for EVERY Kid.

This past Saturday was our 4th annual FREE Picnic and Open House. It was a beautiful day with warm weather, clear skies, and almost a hundred people in attendance. It was our privilege to share a picnic meal and the camp facilities with our neighbors, camp friends, staff, Shepherds campers, Day Camp campers, and some new friends who wanted to check out Arrowhead.

More Hands!

Day Camp Count Down
69 DAYS

Things are going very well at the bookstore. When I last checked in a few days ago they had met their initial goal of supporting 15 kids. The wall behind the cash registers is growing with hands...all representing individuals who are making a great IMPACT at camp this summer. Day Camp is FREE...and those names on the wall are making it possible.

Don't forget - Saturday, MAY 17th - the bookstore will be having a huge sale all day AND a portion of the proceeds from the whole day will be given to Day Camp - "the camp for EVERY kid."

I know, some of you are saying, "But I don't live anywhere near the bookstore." Don't worry you can help send kids to Day Camp for free by simply sending an investment directly to the camp.