This year's Northwest Youth Camp was held August 3-8 and consisted of many fun activities, great food, and inspirational chapel services. The camp theme was “Start a Fire in Me” based on Hebrews 12:28-29: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” During the daily in-cabin devotion times, campers learned how to: start a spiritual fire by getting saved; stoke that fire by seeking deeper Christian experiences; maintain the fire through reading the Bible and praying daily; share the fire by being a witness for God; and finally, that that having God's fire of salvation within is the way to escape His judgement fire at the end of time.

The kitchen staff this year, led by Jon Barrett, provided a bountiful amount of food for the 250 campers and staff. Every meal was a treat, with a menu that included Italian sub sandwiches, burgers, and even a special Hawaiian feast.

There were many activities to choose from during free times, and Mayfield Lake was more crowd-pleasing than ever with the addition of canoes to the array of paddleboats, in addition to the swim area. The craft cabin was also very popular, with various fuse bead creations, drawings, and even wooden model kits being created. The water slide was well-used, as the screaming could be heard from the boys’ cabins (which is a good distance away). Sports tournaments were also very busy, with basketball, volleyball, soccer, and flag football being some of the most-watched sports. Other sports that could be played included ping pong, shuffleboard, carpet ball, gaga ball, badminton, pickle ball, and a new foosball (table soccer) table was added to the game hut.

Throughout the week, the morning and evening chapel services were inspiring with enthusiastic singing and touching testimonies about God answering prayer and changing lives. The sermons emphasized the need to be saved, and that salvation is a gift God wants every person to have. There were wonderful prayer meetings where counselors prayed alongside campers and several received definite experiences from God.

On Wednesday evening, skit night was led by Ryan Trotter and was very loud and fun. A stand-up comedy group opened the evening, which included several skits and numerous silly competitions, such as musical chairs in the 4th-7th grade and 8th grade-adult divisions, and easy trivia. Friday night, also known as awards night, hosted a push-up contest, an otter-pop-eating contest, Bible trivia, and the famous “Simon Says Musical Chairs.” These thrilling contests resulted in many winners.

Youth camp wrapped up with camaraderie around a bonfire on Friday evening, and an early departure on Saturday morning. Though campers were sad to go, it was another great camp where everyone had fun and many received salvation!