Seventh-day Adventist camps
Encyclopedia
The Seventh-day Adventist Church
operates youth summer camp
s, and camp meeting
s for all ages, internationally. Each local-area "Conference" in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists
is in charge of running and operating their own camp. The ages of campers range anywhere between 7–17 years old, depending on the week at the camp. Each camp varies in the activities they manage but most have archery
, swimming, horses, arts and crafts
, nature
, high ropes challenge course, and many other common activities found at non-Adventist camps. In addition to regular camps some have specialty camps, or RAD camps, which vary from either a week of surfing
, waterskiing/wakeboarding
, rock climbing
, golf
, skateboarding
, whitewater rafting, mountain biking
, cycling
, basketball
, BMX
, and many others.
. These in turn had influences from the existing Methodist
camp meetings.
The Millerites held more than 130 camp meetings from the earliest in summer 1842, to prior to Autumn 1844; with an estimated combined attendance of over half-a-million people. Media campaigns surrounding the camps extended their influence further.
Joshua V. Himes had a major role in the camps. He also pioneered the use of a tent for meetings. This tent could seat around 4,000 people, and was apparently the largest tent of its type up to that time in the United States.
This history may relate little to the youth camp program of Adventists. It relates mainly to their camp meeting program.
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
operates youth summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
s, and camp meeting
Camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in Britain and once common in some parts of the United States, wherein people would travel from a large area to a particular site to camp out, listen to itinerant preachers, and pray...
s for all ages, internationally. Each local-area "Conference" in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists
North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda is officially organized as the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists...
is in charge of running and operating their own camp. The ages of campers range anywhere between 7–17 years old, depending on the week at the camp. Each camp varies in the activities they manage but most have archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, swimming, horses, arts and crafts
Arts and crafts
Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, high ropes challenge course, and many other common activities found at non-Adventist camps. In addition to regular camps some have specialty camps, or RAD camps, which vary from either a week of surfing
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
, waterskiing/wakeboarding
Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques....
, rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...
, whitewater rafting, mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, BMX
BMX
Bicycle motocross or BMX refers to the sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles, and it is also the term that refers to the bicycle itself that is designed for dirt and motocross cycling.- History :BMX started...
, and many others.
History
Camp meetings in the Adventist church trace back to the preceding Millerite movement led by William MillerWilliam Miller (preacher)
William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-nineteenth century North American religious movement now known as Adventism. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians...
. These in turn had influences from the existing Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
camp meetings.
The Millerites held more than 130 camp meetings from the earliest in summer 1842, to prior to Autumn 1844; with an estimated combined attendance of over half-a-million people. Media campaigns surrounding the camps extended their influence further.
Joshua V. Himes had a major role in the camps. He also pioneered the use of a tent for meetings. This tent could seat around 4,000 people, and was apparently the largest tent of its type up to that time in the United States.
This history may relate little to the youth camp program of Adventists. It relates mainly to their camp meeting program.
United States
- Allegheny West Conference Camp Thornville, OH, USA
- Big Lake Youth Camp Sisters, OR, USA
- Broken Arrow Ranch Olsburg, KS, USA
- Camp Akita Gilson, IL, USA
- Camp Alamisco Dadevill, AL, USA
- Camp Arrowhead Lexington, NE, USA
- Camp AuSable Grayling, MI
- Camp Berkshire Winddale, NY, USA
- Camp Blue Ridge Montebello, VA, USA
- Camp Cedar Falls Angelus Oaks, CA, USA
- Camp Cherokee Saranac Lake, NY, USA
- Camp Daniel L. Davis Pine Forge, PA, USA
- Camp Hale Koi Hanapepe, HI, USA
- Camp Hawthorne Hawthorne, FL, USA
- Camp Heritage Climax Springs, MO, USA
- Camp Ida-Haven McCall, ID, USA
- Camp J.R. Wagner Cassopolis, MI, USA
- Camp Kulaqua High Springs, FL, USA
- Camp Lawroweld Weld, ME, USA
- Camp Leoni Meadows Grizzly Flats, CA, USA
- Camp Lone Star Athens, TX, USA
- Camp Lorraine Wrangell, AK, USA
- Camp MiVoden Hayden Lake, ID, USA
- Camp Mohaven Danville, OH, USA
- Camp Paxson Seeley Lake, MT, USA
- Camp Polaris Aleknagik, AK, USA
- Camp Sagola Escanaba, MI, USA
- Camp Thunderbird Chattanooga, TN, USA
- Camp Tukoskoya AK, USA
- Camp Victory Lake Hyde Park, NY, USA
- Camp Wagner Cassopolis, MI, USA
- Camp Waianae Waianae, HI, USA
- Camp Wakonda Oxford, WI, USA
- Camp WawonaCamp WawonaCamp Wawona consists of approximately of deeded land inside Yosemite National Park in the township of Wawona, California in the United States. The focus of Camp Wawona is summer camp for kids, conference convocations, church retreats, family reunions or a personal quiet getaway in nature...
in Yosemite National Park Wawona, CA, USA - Camp Wewoka Wewoka, OK, USA
- Camp Winnekeag Ashburnham, MA, USA
- Camp Yavapines Prescott, AZ, USA
- Camp Yorktown Bay Mountain Pine, AR, USA
- Cohutta Springs Youth Camp Crandall, GA, USA
- Flag Mountain Camp Hill City, SD, USA
- Glacier View RanchGlacier View RanchGlacier View Ranch is an alpine Christian retreat and conference centre located near Boulder, Colorado in the United States. During the summer holidays, it runs summer camps for children and teenagers in the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists...
Ward, CO, USA - Indian Creek Youth Camp Liberty, TN, USA
- Lake Whitney RanchLake Whitney RanchLake Whitney Ranch is a property near Whitney, Texas that is under development as a summer youth camp, Pathfinder camp, church camp and conference center for the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists....
Whitney, TX, USA - Laurel Lake Camp Rossiter, PA, USA
- Mills Springs Camp WY, USA
- Mount Aetna Camp Hagerstown, MD, USA
- Nameless Valley RanchNameless Valley RanchNameless Valley Ranch was the camp property located outside of Jonestown, Texas, USA, and Cedar Park, Texas, owned by the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from about 1979 to 2007. NVR was roughly in size and was originally purchased to not only be a youth camp but to also be an...
Leander, TX, USA - North Star Camp Brainerd, MN, USA
- Northern Lights Camp Boutineau, ND, USA
- Nosoca Pines Ranch Liberty Hill, SC, USA
- Pine Lake Retreat Center Groveland, FL, USA
- Pines Springs RanchPines Springs RanchPine Springs Ranch or PSR is a Christian camp and retreat center owned by the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. PSR is located on in Mountain Center, CA, in the San Jacinto Mountains.-Facilities:...
Mountain Center, CA, USA - Redwood Creek Camp Blue Lake, CA, USA
- River Oaks Camp Orangeburg, SC, USA
- SE Conference Retreat and Campsite Alachua, FL, USA
- South Central Campground Shelbyville, TN, USA
- Sunset Lake Camp Wilson, WA, USA
- Timber Ridge Camp Spencer, IN, USA
- Tranquil Valley Youth Camp Tranquility, NJ, USA
- Valley Vista Adventist Center Huttonsville, WV, USA
Canada
- Camp Advenitiste Val D'Espoir Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, QC, Canada
- Camp Frenda Port Carling, ON, Canada
- Camp Pugwash Pugwash, NS, Canada
- Camp Whitesand Theodore, SK, Canada
- Foothills Camp Olds, AB, Canada
- Mountain View Summer Camp Hope, BC, Canada
- Woody Acres Camp Holyrood, NL, Canada
See also
- AACP (Adventist Association of Camp Professionals) Camp Directory
- Seventh-day Adventist ChurchSeventh-day Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
- North American Division of Seventh-day AdventistsNorth American Division of Seventh-day AdventistsThe Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda is officially organized as the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists...