An Update on Twin Rocks' Million Dollar Makeover

Twin Rocks is less than a year into its Million Dollar Makeover capital campaign, celebrating and preparing for the camp's upcoming centennial in 2018. The focus of the campaign is to take care of our great camp by upgrading, restoring, and renovating those areas which need attention after years of serving many campers and families. I'm happy to report that $480,000 of the $1.25 million has been pledged, meaning projects are already underway. That's great news, and it's thanks to you! And we have already completed several projects, including Hadley Hall, which received a new roof, and the Shelter floor, which was fully restored. Also in the process of being remodeled and upgraded are two Cabins of the Trees (Hemlock and Ironwood). The next steps in the Million Dollar Makeover are replacing Spring Lake's dock and purchasing 100 mattresses to be installed throughout the camp.

In order to restore the camp's facilities, there are some general items that need replacing over time: floor coverings, roofs, paint, furniture, and mattresses, for example. The bulk of the Million Dollar Makeover focuses on these upgrades. In addition, several buildings need complete overhauls (such as the Central Restrooms), and some aging cabins (Kilchis and Quechua) simply need to be torn down and replaced. 

For specifics regarding the Million Dollar Makeover, please download this brochure or watch this video. 

A Closer Look

 

Hadley Hall, the camp's largest building, was originally constructed in 1935. With its 97 beds, three meeting rooms, and seven restrooms, it's an integral part of the Twin Rocks Main Camp facilities. It was last roofed in 1991, and after almost 25 years it has received a new roof, thanks to you and the excellent work and generosity of Fisher Roofing.

The Shelter gymnasium, built in 1965 and winterized in 2001, provides an excellent indoor area for playing various sports and table games. Its rubberized floor, now 14 years old, has been patched, resurfaced, and fully restored. 

Hemlock and Ironwood cabins, two "Cabins of the Trees" built in the 1980s, are being renovated after decades of being well-loved and well-used by campers and families. The Twin Rocks maintenance staff has headed up this project, working to install new beds, carpets, windows, paint, tile, and bathroom fixtures (thanks to generous assistance from Hampton Plumbing), and much more over the past two months. 

I love this camp! It's really quite amazing how much happens here in a summer. Here are some 2013 examples:

• Fae McClure, a retiree who has volunteered countless hours at Twin Rocks over the past six summers, spends many long days standing on her feet in our laundry room. She gets the hard jobs, including the regular task of laundering smelly, urine-soaked sleeping bags. Bed wetting is a routine part of any camp, and a potentially huge embarrassment to incontinent campers. But thanks to Fae's kind, tireless, discreet efforts this summer, dozens of kids got to enjoy a worry-free week of camp. A grateful parent recently stopped by the laundry room and handed Fae a bouquet of beautiful flowers. It was certainly well-deserved.
     
• A camper's Mom approached me at the end of one week of camp and shared how grateful she is for Twin Rocks. Not only has Twin Rocks positively impacted her son's life over his many years attending camp sessions, but Twin Rocks' teachings have made their way home to her through him, resulting in dramatic spiritual growth for her as well.
     
• A high school camper sought me out at the end of camp. He wanted to shake my hand and thank me for the way Twin Rocks treated him when he was caught breaking camp rules. His behaviors had caused consternation in camp, but I was overjoyed to witness his repentant spirit, verbalized to the camp's staff and to the Lord. Sometimes camp generates spiritual growth in unexpected ways.
     
• One night in the camp's kitchen, seemingly everything which could go wrong, did go wrong. A tray of desserts was upended by a camper. The dinner's main entree didn't cook as quickly as expected. Staff was already tired from many long summer days. We were short-staffed. And yet it was a tremendous joy to watch the staff team battle through the stress, serving a wonderful meal and doing so with kindness toward campers and toward each other. What a privilege it is to work alongside people who have such huge hearts for ministry.
     
• I was recently on the phone with a Tillamook County employee. Before I could explain to her my reason for calling, she stopped me and shared how she had noticed the difference Twin Rocks was making in the lives of kids in the County. Her job was to work with young people who had experienced troubles in life, and she could see a marked improvement in kids post-camp.
     
• I am amazed by the breadth of camper groups which Twin Rocks has the opportunity to serve. In addition to traditional camps for kids of all ages, Twin Rocks hosted camps this summer for the deaf (through Gospel Ministries for the Deaf), disabled (Joni & Friends), musically-gifted (Northwest Band Camps), and multilingual (Koreans, Ukrainians, Russians, Latinos, and Indians). In addition, several Christian churches - large and small - conducted family and youth camps at Twin Rocks this summer, representing a wide variety of worship traditions.
     
• Receiving feedback from parents is wonderful. Here are some recent notes detailing parents' gratefulness for Twin Rocks:

• When a child comes from a Christian home, it is amazing what a week at camp can do to help 'boost' their relationship with Christ. They get to hear from mature young adults and see Christianity modeled before them in a way that they don't always see in the day-to-day. Thank you for making this week one that our son will never forget.

• She has talked more about God in a more relevant way then she ever has. She is very private. It was a delight to have her talk and talk and talk about camp and everything about it. 

• They asked a lot of questions when they got home since we aren't a very religious family, so it helped foster things at home that we wouldn't have discussed otherwise.

• Our camper was excited to share that he accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior at camp this year. Both my husband and I have noticed a softening of his heart toward trying to change some behaviors.... He is more willing to apologize on his own as well as make things right when he has done wrong.

• I thank God for the Twin Rocks Camp and the blessing that it is to so many! I am proud to know that there is a place like this that we can come get closer to God!

I will lift my eyes to Jesus

One chorus from our summer camps repeatedly ran through my mind yesterday as I washed dishes in the Twin Rocks dish room:


I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb,
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild,
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside,
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You.*


A week ago, it was a tremendous blessing to hear 250 high school students singing this prayer together during our Surfside Camp. Nothing gives me more joy than hearing youth call out to the Lord, lifting their eyes to their Creator.

And for me personally, even while washing dishes this song can apparently bring tears to my eyes. I'm amazed that I can give my insurmountable mountains, raging oceans, and closely-held hurts to Jesus, and know that He cares for me and will intervene miraculously on my behalf.

Pretty powerful stuff. Thanks, God!



* song written by Bebo Norman

It's been an amazing summer of ministry at Twin Rocks Friends Camp.

At Girls Camp in early July, campers were given a chance by main speaker Elizabeth Sherwood to write "What I Want to Tell Jesus" on a piece of paper and attach it to a cross in the Meetinghouse. Here are some of the girls' notes to Jesus:

• Thanks for saving my sins. Thanks for giving me love. 
• Jesus, you’re a miracle maker. You can do anything. I accept you as my Teacher. 
• Jesus, will you accept me in your life? I want to learn more about you. I want to become a Christian. Thank you for this week and my new friends. Thank you for everything. Amen 
• Jesus, I want to thank you. I just want to thank you for everything. 
• I am going to commit my life to God and Jesus. I will trust you.
• Thank you for having me have a great safe week! I love you!
• Thank you Jesus for all the blessings you have given me in my life. For all you have done. 
• Yes, I commit. 
• Jesus thank you for letting me have a wonderful life and helping me when I’m sad. And giving me a wonderful family – and all the good stuff in my life. Thank you! Thank you! 
• Yes, I love you Jesus.
• I love you Lord and I DO want you in my life forever! 
• Thank you for a beautiful fun week at Girls Camp. I had a lot of fun. Twin Rocks is a lot of fun. 
• Dear Jesus, I would really like you to put me on your path. The right path. 
• I Accept. I Believe. I COMMIT! YES! 
• I love you Lord and I will give up anything to go on to the path of Love and Joy. Amen. 
• God, I NEED you!!! You are my all and all! I live in you. You live in me… 
• I love him and I accept him into my life. He is awesome. Yes. Accept, Believe, Christ died and lived. 
• Dear Jesus, I want to learn more about you. 
• Thank you for my life, because now I believe in You. 
• Thank you GOD for HEAVEN! And thank you GOD for JESUS! 
• Thank you for saving me! I want you to help me with my struggles! I need you! 
• I commit my life to you Jesus. 
• Tell me about you. 
• Thank you that you LOVE me, that you are there to LEAD ME, even when I am not looking. I love you LORD, and I give my life to YOU. 
• I love you Jesus. I want to learn more about you. Thank you so much. 
• I don’t know what to say, but I love you Jesus! 
• Thank you for letting me come to this camp to learn more about you and make new friends.
• Thank you! For this whole week!
• Please Help me make Better Choices.
• Thank you for all of my friends.
• Dear God, Thank you for this wonderful week. And I pray for my family that they are all right.
• Thank you for blessing me! Save me from temptation.
• Thank you for this week. I loved learning about You and making new friends. I can tell that You wanted me to come to this camp. So Thanks, I love You.
• Yes, I want to be with YOU!
• I would like to learn more about God.
• Thank you for an amazing fun, awesome week at camp. I wished it had not rained on Beach day cause that would have been more fun.
• I want GOD to be my everything. I am his and I want to bring him glory. I need you God.
• I accept!
• Jesus, save me from this path of sin. Please forgive me for my sins.
• Thank you for camp out.
• Thank you for always being there for me. And even though my family has had lots of trouble we all are happy and please let it stay that way and make it so we will be very forgiving to each other and let my mom and dad be happy even though they are apart and me and my brother. I Love you.
• Lead me all of my life Jesus.
• I commit my life to YOU.
• Jesus, I thank you for beach day and for everything you have done at camp this week. Thank you, JESUS!
• Jesus thank you. Thank you for everything. You are my everything. I’m sorry for all my sins. I want to hug you really. I will praise you my whole entire life. I wish you could tell me how to help my friend. I love you! Lovelovelove. P.S. See you in heaven!
• Thank you for giving the ability go to heaven.
• Jesus I thank you for coming into my life when I was 8 but ever since I came to this camp I feel this so much closer to you.
• Dear Jesus thank you for Girls Camp!

Ahh... Summertime!

It's a relaxed morning between summer camp sessions. I slept in, ate breakfast in the sunshine on the deck of my house, then walked on the beach the two miles from home to work. And it's one of those rare days on the Oregon Coast where the temperature on the beach at 10:30am was 80 degrees. What a life!

It's certainly a blessing to work at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. The perks of living amongst God's magnificent creation at the beach, surrounded by a great group of kind, caring co-workers is truly amazing.

The Amazing Front Three Rows in Church

The influence of Twin Rocks Friends Camp runs deep in the lives of so many people. This realization hit home for me last Sunday as I sat in the fourth row of our small, rural church. I became distracted from worship when I began observing the people in the three rows in front of me. As I glanced around, it dawned on me that Twin Rocks Friends Camp has had a tremendous influence upon this small sample of people. In those three rows sat:

•  Nine children and youth (ages 5-14) who combined for an amazing 68 camp or retreat experiences at Twin Rocks (you'll be pleased to know that I did my detailed calculating after church). Two of the kids had been to Family Camp every year since birth; several had attended multiple weeks of Day Camp; and between them they had also attended Girls Camp, Boys Camp, Tween Camp, Surfside Camp, Samuel School, and Junior High Jamboree.
• Among the adults, three had attended Twin Rocks camps as kids; two had been to a men’s retreat; one had been to Sabbath by the Sea; and two of the couples had attended Couples Conference multiple times, including one who had previously told me: “Couples Conference saved our marriage!” 
• Some amazing grandparents are raising two of the kids. One of those kids has been to Twin Rocks camps six times, the other 10! 
• One of the youth is the only person in his family to attend church. He’s attended four Twin Rocks camps.

What a blessing it is for Twin Rocks to come alongside parents and grandparents to provide Christ-centered teaching to their kids and grandkids. What a joy it is to see how the camp’s ministry impacts a church such as mine.

As I contemplated Twin Rocks’ integral part in the success of my own church, I realized that a similar scene plays out every Sunday in numerous churches in Oregon and southwest Washington – where dozens of people point to Twin Rocks as a place where marriages have been strengthened, family bonds have been forged, and kids have come to Christ.

It’s fun to work at Twin Rocks.

Fantastic Friends of Twin Rocks

This month I've received some wonderful notes from Twin Rocks donors. What a blessing it is to hear how deeply people connect with Twin Rocks.

Note #1:
Background: For four summers (2004-2007), each week we sent a list of summer camp names to volunteer residents of Friendsview Retirement Community, asking them to pray by name for specific campers at Twin Rocks that week. It was a wonderful way to ensure that all of our campers were recipients of prayer. Little did we know that one Friendsview resident would take this assignment to a whole new level. I'll protect her anonymity, but here's what she wrote me this week:

Each of those years I prayed for each [camper], but also kept praying for past attenders, adding to it the new names from each year. During those four years I received 40 names to remember in prayer. I'm still praying for those 40.... It's a joy to do that. Many of those are now married and having jobs, others continuing studies. It is such a joy to pray for them, even though many I never knew - except their name! Thank you for those names you provided. Some day we'll meet in heaven!

Note #2: 
Paul Meier (pastor of East Hill Friends Church in Kent, Washington) wrote:

I sat in my office this morning adding up all the time Charlene [my wife] and I have spent at Twin Rocks in over 40 years of ministry in NWYM [the Friends Church]. We have spent over a full year at Twin Rocks being fed and housed, being inspired, playing, counseling, and vacationing. Our times at the Camp and Harbor Villa have all been special. Thanks...for all you do.

These two notes describe a deep love of Twin Rocks and an amazing depth of care for the camp, its campers, and its ministry for Jesus. Pretty cool!