From the Director

	Dave Toth Executive Director

Camp Update Spring 2019

Big Sandy Camp is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year! It’s incredible to look back at some of the old photos and see where we started. While the drafty cabins are gone and the log chapel is a fond memory – for those that remember it, the Kingdom work that goes on here remains the focus! 60 years of touching hearts and changing lives! If you have an incredible, fond memory of Big Sandy Camp, please send us an email to office@bigsandycamp.com. We’d love to hear from you!

We’ve trudged through much of the 2018-19 winter season. Winter will loosen its grip soon and we’ll start the big melt down. At least I think it will melt. Despite the abundance of snow, we are looking forward to summer camp. Camp registration is open and we are signing kids up as we speak!

Camp is all about relationships. Whether it’s with old friends or new, a favorite counselor or camp staff member. Relationships are why camp is so popular and also the reason why it works. Relationships with Christ happen at camp like no other place. This is the value of camp.

There are dozens of worthwhile activities out there screaming for your time and money. Activities that build skills and character and teach life lessons. In the end, parents are faced with some tough choices. They have to trudge through all the noise of promotion, endorsements, recommendations and cost like a walk in the winter woods around here.

We see campers lives change every year. There just aren’t too many summer activities that can make that claim. We hear from summer staff applicants that tell us “I came to camp where my counselor explained Jesus to me and I accepted Christ. It changed my life and I want to give other campers that same opportunity.”

Camp is geared specifically for kids with the mission to see hearts touched and lives changed. There are very few opportunities out there that can offer the eternal benefit of a relationship with Christ. The camp experience is powerful and life changing. Send your kids, or bring your kids to camp.

Want to give back? Discover ways you can make a difference at camp! Call 218 426-3389 or email me for details. Visit us at www.bigsandycamp.com.

Like the change of seasons!

With most organizations, things are the way they are for a reason. As organizations grow and develop, the workload and circumstances change which often require some adjustments in the way things get done. Organizations sometimes get stuck because they have experienced changes yet don’t make the nessasary adjustments.

Big Sandy Camp is no exception to these circumstances! We have increased our activities, and retreat offerings. In order to operate in full integrity we’ve made some needed changes in our business practices. We’ve also taken a long hard look at who we are and where God would have this ministry go. We have completed our conceptual Master Plan for development and are excited to get that moving forward.

Over the last 18 months I have be looking at these organizational changes and goals and have been praying about the manner in which Big Sandy Camp should adjust to these changes. While we must have a director on site, immersed in the day to day events, I soon recognized that we must have another voice doing donor development, fundraising, marketing and sharing the vision of camp with a variety of audiences in order to move forward. One person simply can’t do it all.

I began to share my vision with Big Sandy Camp board members and together we began to unfold a plan. Subsequent meetings called for research with other camp ministries. We found that many organizations had addressed similar situations with donor development specialists and some were currently going through the same process we were.

I am very pleased to announce that Doug Parkinson will be joining the Big Sandy Camp staff as off-site Executive Director in June 2019 and will be focused on donor development, fundraising and marketing. As I looked at this position Doug checked all the boxes in terms of financial and accounting expertise, knowledge within our district and camp experience. Most of all, Doug has passion and excitement about the things God is doing at camp. We have received confirmations from people at every level when our plan has been revealed.

I will happily remain at camp as the onsite Director, seeing our campers come and go every week and bearing witness to the incredible things God is doing every year at Big Sandy Camp. I will also know that we are moving forward, fulfilling Gods plans for future ministry.

Until your next visit!