2003 Camping Season Completed

On Saturday, August 23, the 2003 summer camping season officially closed. Deerwander Camp, a Presbyterian Middle School Camp finished up an excellent summer of Christian Camping. About 500 Nazarene Teens and children from New England attended Windsor Hills Camp this summer, along with another 150 Christian teens from this region.

Middler Camp, geared for third and fourth graders started the summer under the direction of Randy and Barb Calhoun. While this camp is our smallest Nazarene group of the summer, it is a well-organized and enthusiastic camp. Rain appeared during Middler camp for the first time in five years (what a streak!) but that was no surprise given the huge quantities of rain that fell over New England this summer. Kurt Flemming, Illinois, was the speaker for both Middler camp and Junior camp to follow.

Junior Camp, directed by Pastors Tom and Vicky Clark -- first time WHC camp directors – followed Middler Camp and not only shared the same speaker but the same missionaries as well. Bernie and Rhonda Slingerland, along with their children were in residence throughout much of the summer. Though the weather was unpredictable, worship was exciting and the activities . . . active! Many children made commitments to Christ during the week, returning home with a prayer rock and a commitment to follow Christ.

Junior High Camp, led by veteran directors Brian Bollinger and Freddy Brucker followed the return of the NYC’ers. Two years ago, Jr. High Camp had an attendance of about 75 teens. This year over 140 were present for the week! Howie Briggs, California, was the speaker and a worship band assisted with the music. ENC was represented by a summer ministries group, and the program was anchored by a Time Machine! “History Makers” was the camp theme, and we are confident that God will honor the commitments made during this camp to change the course of history!

Senior High Camp was directed by Dave and Heather Scalera, assisted by Jeff Lane. Heather and Dave were first time directors, while Jeff was the Assistant Director at Sr. High Camp last year. Speaker Ken Stanford challenged the kids with straightforward messages from God’s word. Teens nailed problems and situations to a cross, inviting Jesus to care for the perplexing problems and situations in their lives. Many teens made commitments to Christ during the summer, some acknowledging calls to full time Christian service.

News of the summer wouldn’t be complete without offering praise and thanks. Again, we prayed diligently for God’s protection for our campers this summer. We are happy to report no major injuries or accidents, and we give praise to God for this. As careful as we are, it is difficult to prevent injuries in an outdoor setting such as ours. God has surely blessed us in this area.

We also want to say thanks to all the volunteers who supported us this past summer. We have an outstanding group of volunteer counselors and kitchen workers, nurses and crew leaders who come year after year to give guidance to our program. We have pastors who fill in the kitchen, men and women who are specialists in archery and riflery, craft leaders, musicians, all kinds of folks who schedule their vacations so that they can show up, work hard, and then return back home again. We missed Lou Banning this summer. We never quite got on top of all the grass that needed mowing.

But to all our volunteers . . . please know how deeply you are appreciated. We are sure you realize that we couldn’t get through the summer without you!

Only time and eternity will reveal the true impact of the summer of ministry we have seen at Windsor Hills. Chaplains Christie Everett, Andy Fey and Addison Cooper worked diligently to offer spiritual guidance to our workers this year. Lifeguards Chris Reilly, Steve Malcolm and Andy Theroux supported the camp staff by assisting in the Snack Shack as well as the waterfront. On many occasions, WHC staff supported the various programs by leaving their scheduled jobs for the week and becoming counselors in dorms or “extra eyes” on the waterfront. Their labors of love, evidenced by the depth of their commitment to the summer camping program was -- and is -- truly inspirational.

Camp dates for next year are already posted on this website. We hope the reports you hear from this summer from your children will leave you anxious to join us next year at Windsor Hills!