Cascades Camp Blog

My name is Daniel “Archie” Stevens, I’ll be going into my second senior year at North Park University in the Fall as a History/Education double major, and I’m pumped to the max about being at Cascades Camp this summer!

I was first a camper here at Cascades back in 1991 when a neighbor of mine, who just happened to go to the local Covenant church (Shoreline Covenant, which back then was called North Seattle Cov.), invited me to attend a three day “Primary Camp” with him.  After my first summer here, I was sold for life that Cascades was (and still is) my favorite place on earth.  A few summers later in Jr. High I committed my life to Christ while at Cascades in Rob “Trane” Mohrweis’s cabin.  In high school I participated in the SALT program, bringing invaluable leadership skills, people skills, and a deeper sense of what it meant to live and serve Christ into my life.  In the summer of 2002 I got to live the dream and was hired as a counselor here.

This summer, which will be my 5^th at Cascades, I find myself serving in the SALT program as the Seasoned SALT co-leader along with Kristen “Pumpkin” Rothwell.  The opportunity to train the Seasoned SALTs this summer is truly a blessing.  There is a very Pauline sense of discipleship and the Holy Spirit’s power when God gives us the opportunity to minister to adolescents, teaching them and helping them to be shaped in God’s image and plan.  As the Seasoned SALTs work closely with counselors and other members of staff they learn the value of serving as parts in the body of Christ, as well as being instructed and trained by Kristen and I in daily Bible Studies and meetings to discuss effective ways of serving those around them.  There is the most incredible joy in watching and walking along side a young person as they grow in their understanding of what it is to love and follow Christ and obey His commands.  This summer I am given, along with my fellow SALT leaders, the great privilege of bearing witness to God’s work in this way once more.

Pray with us and for us as we carry out this ministry!

Daniel “Archie” Stevens

Well here we are, it’s my turn for the staff thoughts column and were just a few days from our first weekend retreat, the first event of our season. The Adult Horse Riding Clinics Weekend is coming up this Friday, with Girls on Horses 1 & Grandparent Grandkid Retreat next weekend.

I started on staff here in September after spending three summers on seasonal staff. Its been incredible for me to experience camp during the “off season”, times where there isn’t anyone else here besides us for days. In the wintertime I’ve spent most of my time working on things like the enews, website, and different publications & mailings that we send out. With the weather turning warmer, and days getting longer I’m finding myself in more of a program role with camp coming up and spring weekends right on our heels.

I’m excited to get out of the office, to spend hours at camp timber rock, at Brightwood station and at Sunrise Ranch. Rob mentioned a few weeks ago that his favorite time of the week during the summer is Sunday afternoon when everyone is getting dropped off and is so excited for camp. I’d have to agree with Rob, I love how busy Nisqually center gets during that time….but I also can’t wait for our first Saturday morning. I love being down at the lake for closing chapel at Timber Rock, or the show at Sunrise Ranch. Parents are always so excited to see their kids and the kids just ready to explode with stories and songs that they’ve picked up over the week. I love watching the change that happens in a camper, you can see that God has worked and become real in their life during the last week.

We’ve hired the staff, we’ve sent out the registration brochures, we’ve got the programs ready…..now its time for God to work, to speak in the lives of those who will come to camp this summer. Be praying with us.

Well winter has flown by us; it goes by faster and faster each year. The ranch is gearing up for summer and with that comes a long list of chores and projects for Chase (Anita, our Ranch Intern) and I. The horses are doing great and staying fat, happy and healthy. Whitehawk continues to be our oldest horse turning 29 this year. Soon all the horses will have finished shedding their winter coats and that means summer is truly here.

I am excited to have some great returning staff this year. Chase will be my Ranch Hand this summer; it’s been a great blessing to have her. Another blessing is the return of Dirt as Program Leader and Token as S.A.L.T. Leader. I have had more wrangler applications this year than the last few years combined. The Ranch staff will be an amazing team and I look forward to working with everyone. Sunrise Ranch camps have been filling up fast as usual so if you aren’t registered yet I would do so soon before all the spots are filled! (Register here).

Some of our bigger projects that we’re working on now are; clearing all the trails (approx. 15 miles worth!!), along with cleaning tack and getting the horses in shape for summer. In the off-season (non summer months) our horses are being used for guest rides on the weekends and for our homeschool horsemanship program. With the great weather we’ve been having lately, Chase and I will have more opportunities to do more training and exercising with the herd. Along with prepping for summer, there are still the normal day to day work of feeding, fence mending, horse shoeing, and other general ranch maintenance and upkeep.

All our work is done with the eager anticipation of the campers who will be here this summer, and the great work God will perform in their hearts. One of my greatest pleasures in working at Sunrise Ranch is seeing the campers who come with only the thought of riding horses on their minds, but when they leave they are disciples of God’s Love and want to share it with everyone.

Well, here we go again! Summer is marching towards us. It seems to pick up speed the closer we get to June. My group for “O-Team” is growing and is almost full. Anybody thinking about jumping on the bandwagon, well, GET WITH IT ! We’ll have a few returnees like, the fun and bubbly “Vocab”. And who can’t forget the lovely “Hoodie”. Over at the waterfront is everybody’s pal “Delph”. And for O-Team leader your friend and mine “Deano”. And a surprise change in departments, from counselor to operations, it’s “Yar”, he will be summer host. There are many new faces rounding out our group. I’m always exited to see new people come on board. Each one bring a new bit of personality to the team. You never really know what kind of group your going to get until everyone is in place and it’s all working.

This year we are working on projects for “Rainier Center”. Right now there is 10,000 feet of siding that we have been staining with a lot of help from volunteer groups. We’ll be moving into more painting jobs as the building progresses. Keep watching the web cam. In a few weeks you’ll see the roof go up with a crane in HUGE pieces. It’s going to be so cool when we can be inside. I can’t wait for it to STOP raining!!!! At least the grass stays green. There is always so much to get ready for summer. Get vehicles around, put tents up, getting Liberty Ridge ready (turn water on, make bathhouses operational, put park benches around, etc…). We’ll have a couple of early summer arrivals to help with all the “fun and exiting” pre-summer setup stuff. We hope our updates to Frontier Village will be visually exiting and have that “WOW” affect. You’ll have to come see for yourself.

On a personal note. Anyone that knows my family, know our two foster kids Scott and Janae. We’re hoping by mid-summer the adoption process will be final and they will officially be “Thomas’”. This is exiting to us since it’s been a 5 year process! Well, there ya go, just a update for now. Can’t wait to see everyone this summer. Be well,
God bless.

Alan

Spring at Cascades brings with it much excitement and eager anticipation of another great summer camping season just around the corner.  The days get longer and warmer and my time of being cooped up in the office gets shorter!  It’s so great to hike back up to the Rec Hall at Camp Timber Rock to plan funny mealtime skits, trek out to “Deep Woods” at Brightwood Station, imagining all the wonderful chapel gatherings that will take place there, or to drive through Sunrise Ranch and picture the campers learning about horses and how to ride in the arenas this summer.

But before we get to summer, there’s a lot of work to be done!  All of us around here are working hard to prepare this place for what God has in store for us this summer.  For me that means doing things like: interviews and hiring of the last few summer staff, planning out the details of schedules and how they inner-connect, working on finalizing bible studies and chapels, buying new basketballs and all sorts of other great rec equipment, and dusting off parts of the camp we haven’t used for the last 8 months. 

This week we had a group of high schoolers from Crossroads Covenant in Yelm, come out and work on a couple of projects around the camp.  Monday we did some “remodeling” of Frontier Village (cutting back trees and brush to make room for new, bigger tipis), and Tuesday we worked on staining siding for the new building project.  You can see pictures of them and our work party here.

I’ve always said that my favorite part of camp is Sunday afternoon, standing out in front of Nisqually Center, watching all the new campers arrive, each one so wound up and thrilled to be at camp!  My second most favorite part of camp (actually tied for first) is sitting in on D.O.S. and listening to campers share about how God has changed their life during the week that they were with us.  To see the growth and transformation that takes place in one week is simply amazing.  I can’t wait for it all to happen again this summer!

Sign up for camp and look for me as you arrive.  I’ll be the one hanging out in front of Nisqually Center with the big smile on my face!

In Christ,

Rob “Trane” Mohrweis

With the re-deployment of the blog, comes a new weekly feature that will take us all the way up to summer. Over the next few weeks and months each Wednesday a different year-round staff member will share their thoughts about Cascades, and the upcoming summer. We hope this is fun for you to read, and helps you understand a bit more what goes on here during the “off season”. Leading things off for our first edition is Tom Moline, our Executive Director.

These are exciting times at Cascades with so many new horizons; Legacy goals met, expanding youth camps, land acquisition, new adult and family programs, new facilities…Opportunities abound.

We are working to complete the multi-purpose building by summer, its been named “Rainer Center”, with two breakout rooms “Longmire” and “Glacier” (the chapel to be built in the future will be named “Summit”). We desire your prayers for wisdom in all we do, safety for campers and staff and another great summer of spiritual mileposts for all who come here. We are so thankful for your participation in the ministry that is Cascades.

Hope to see you this Summer!

-Tom

Tom Moline
Executive Director