Over the course of Summer 2020, Camp Lebanon hosted 25 Sessions of Family Resort, in place of the 10 weeks of Summer Youth Camps that were originally planned. In spite of the sadness felt at not being able to serve those hundreds of youth campers this summer, our Camp Staff was overjoyed to be allowed to serve families through our facility and staff.
With guests onsite at Camp 7 days a week for the entire summer, our staff had many opportunities to witness God’s provision and kindness as they worked hard to keep families safe and to make the Family Resort experience “The Funnest Fun!” On top of all of that, we loved getting to know some of the most wonderful families (some came back for multiple weeks/weekends)! There were many, many highlights over the course of a busy summer – too many to count or share.
A big blessing and highlight for our staff and guests was our ability to meet together in daily outdoor chapel services! These chapel times really helped our Family Resort to feel more like Family Camps, especially with all of the fun action songs!
Camp Lebanon’s Executive Director, Bill Abeler, became the Family Resort speaker for most of the sessions. He shared stories with guests throughout the summer, including the oldest to the youngest in his messages from the Bible.
In addition to Bill, Camp brought in a few speakers and their families to share during some of our sessions. It was a great blessing and help to Bill and our staff team to have these friends of Camp step in to speak and minister to families.
“The Funnest Fun” looked a little different this summer, with activities and rec equipment needing to be maintained and cleaned by our staff team in a special way. Our staff ran each Family Resort session out of the Activity Center (the name of that building has never been more accurate!), organizing, sanitizing, and distributing rec equipment like volleyballs, life jackets, and kayaks to families.
With this change in how activities looked this summer came some exciting developments! For example, our staff saw activities like archery and BB guns being used more than ever before over the course of this Family Resort summer, as families would sign up for blocks of time to participate in those activities as a family.
As this summer comes to a close, our staff looks ahead to our fall schedule and upcoming retreats. There are many unknowns, and many things that we still have to learn, but we have seen God provide for us through this summer, and we can be certain He will continue to be with us as we head into the fall and winter! Thank you for praying for Camp Lebanon, and for being a friend of Camp.
We have collected some of our favorite photo memories from the entire summer of Family Resort ministry. Check them out at the link below!
