Pam Burghart, Chehalis Church office manager, was excited when she heard from the Southwest Washington pastoral team that Chehalis Church would be hosting a regional camp meeting.
“Camp meeting is always a special time for me! This year was certainly different, but I was so thankful for it!” said Burghart. “I think we all needed it after being apart for the past few years. I was so happy to see so many familiar faces and get to share time with our extended church families and friends!”
The Southwest Washington planning team invited Pavel Goia, Ministry magazine editor, to share powerful stories of answers to prayer and sharing faith with neighbors.
The team wanted to mirror many elements of traditional camp meeting and decided to host a taco salad haystack lunch, invite local musicians to participate in Gospel sing along on the church lawn, and close out their camp meeting weekend with singing “The Midnight Cry.”
Pam Burghart, second from left, wanted regional camp meeting to "feel" like camp meeting down to haystacks and an outdoor sing-along!
Pavel Goia shares answers to prayer stories from around the world about people who found deeper trust in God as they shared their faith.
Chehalis musicians lead Southwest Washington Adventists in singing praise to God that believers have "Never Once" walked alone in life's trials.
Wanda and Tom James, retired pastoral couple in Southwest Washington, enjoy seeing friends at the Camp Meeting On The Road experience in Chehalis.
Lacey members Joan and Ronald Case participate in the regional camp meeting experience in Chehalis.
Aleksandr Harmash, Shelton pastor, speaks to gathered Southwest Washington Adventists in Chehalis.
“Camp meeting makes me long for heaven when we can be together with Jesus forever! I know we'll share our testimonies and sing praises to Jesus! What a camp meeting that will be!”
Greeting friends is a special part of camp meeting that continued with regional camp meeting gatherings.
Albert and Margie Kegley from Shelton haven't missed a camp meeting in decades - whether they attended in person or online. Albert Kegley is one of our longest attending participants and shares how his parents first brought him to camp meeting as an infant.
Guest speaker David Smith shared three messages about the love of God with both Bremerton and Sequim camp meetings. The sermons are archived on the respective church websites and social accounts.
The largest Adventist churches in various regions of western Washington served as the host sites for this year's Camp Meeting On The Road experience. Some members truly took on the challenge of attending each camp meeting!
Camp meetings aren't complete without family celebrations along the way! Kathleen and Henry Aus from Silverdale (center and right) celebrated their 55th anniversary by hosting potluck for Camp Meeting On The Road in Bremerton. Kathleen's sister Janice Ellison from Bonney Lake (left) joined them at lunch.
The highlight experience of Bremerton's camp meeting: celebrating the baptism of a young man. Levi VanRaden, age 10, dammed up Chico Creek behind the church so there would be deep enough water for his baptism.
Gathering Again
One of the first tasks for the camp meeting season is to obtain a health and safety permit to protect the well-being of participants if they need emergency services. The problem? Permits associated with gatherings were not yet being issued in early 2022 with pandemic procedures at the time.
As conference leaders prayed about options, several pastors asked: “Could we have local camp meetings in different regions of the conference? We want to invite people back into local worship and fellowship.”
Conference administration agreed with one condition — a group of churches needed to work together to plan and produce a localized camp meeting. Each location could choose their own speaker, musician, theme and schedule.
Soon, pastor districts in Northwest Washington, Southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula started formulating plans. Sunset Lake Camp asked to host both family camp and young adult retreat weekends.
“We appreciated the opportunity to experience collective worship and solidarity with the wider body of believers. It was wonderful to experience outdoor worship with fellow believers.”
In all, seven camp meetings were hosted in Bremerton, Sequim, Chehalis, Burlington, Eastsound and two at Sunset Lake with a combined attendance over 1,800 people. Guest speakers included Keren Graves, David Smith, Pavel Goia, Ty Gibson, S. Joseph Kidder and local young adults. The sermons from most camp meetings are archived on the respective church websites and/or social media accounts.
“We had people who traveled to each camp meeting location. They truly went on a camp meeting tour!” said Doug Bing, Washington Conference president.
“This was our first year to not live close to Washington camp meeting,” said Doug Woods, who attended camp meeting in Sequim. “Considering the hours [my wife] Donna works, we wouldn't have made it this year [if there had been traditional camp meeting]. We probably would have watched online or something. So, in that sense, it was very convenient to have it right here in our town.”
“It was nice not having to camp. Even though the camping is such a big part of the fun of camp meeting, there is stress to it,” admitted Judy de Chantal, a member from Port Angeles. “It felt more personalized to have camp meeting close by. More of our own church members who aren’t able to be at the big camp meeting [were able to come].”
“We have friends at the other churches but don’t necessarily get to see them very often, so it was fun to worship and then have potluck together,” said Rachele Deininger, who attended camp meeting in Bremerton and helped with children’s programming. “It just feels good to gather as a community again!”
Maranatha Church in Seattle gathers for a group photo at Sunset Lake's Family Adventure Retreat. This camp meeting destination was the church's annual retreat time this year, so the majority of the church family showed up!
North Hill Adventist Fellowship member, Ken Edstrom, greets his brothers in Christ from All Nations Church in Federal Way at the first Camp Meeting On The Road gathering at Sunset Lake Camp.
More than 300 Adventists from over 16 churches are "leaning" into God's blessings at the Family Adventure Retreat at Sunset Lake Camp. This was the first Camp Meeting On The Road destination.
Family Adventure Retreat gave families plenty of relaxed bonding time, including Sabbath afternoon canoe rides which the Michael and Lawana Ballance family from Puyallup thoroughly enjoyed.
Families spent a whole afternoon canoeing at Sunset Lake including some adults who had their first canoeing experience. It was a bonding and memorable time, with no tip overs. Even as the evening worship time began, a family canoed close to the Cedar Island church bowl to listen to the message from guest speaker Keren Graves.
Rick and Jordanna Morgan (center), members of Auburn City Church, are surrounded by fellow believers gathered for the first camp meeting destination at Sunset Lake Camp.
“I enjoyed camp meeting being in my home church. I'm looking forward to next year in Auburn though."
Bonnie Parle, a North Cascade member who was rebaptized during the pandemic, signs the hymns of worship during the camp meeting gathering in Burlington.
John and Joye Thorn from Burlington sit in the camp meeting crowd in their own home church.
Sam Millen pastors the Anacortes and Orcas Island Churches. These congregations participated in the Northwest Washington camp meeting as well as hosted their own camp meeting gathering for Islander Adventists with guest speaker S. Joseph Kidder.
Karyelle Nielsen from North Cascade Church leads the Northwest Washington audience and orchestra in singing hymns of praise to God.
Randy and Suzette Maxwell are part of the Washington Conference team represented at the Northwest Washington camp meeting at North Cascade Church in Burlington.
Bob Moore, Washington Conference stewardship director, shares with Northwest Washington Adventists about the value of placing "God First" in the stewardship of all areas of one's life.
Musician Laura Williams shared original songs throughout the last Camp Meeting On The Road gathering at North Cascade Church in Burlington.
Kevin Scott, Oak Harbor district pastor (center), listens as guest speaker Ty Gibson talks about God's love as represented "In the Holy of Holies" of the sanctuary.
Anticipating the Future
Camp meeting is a cherished tradition placed on hold by the pandemic. Yet God gave the Washington ministry team great creativity in keeping the camp meeting spirit alive during this three-year period whether through a virtual week of prayer in 2020, a hybrid camp meeting broadcasted from Puyallup to local church partners and homes in 2021 and now regional camp meetings in 2022.
“We’re assembling a Camp Meeting Revitalization Committee to pray and prepare for the return of traditional camp meeting in 2023."
“The opportunity to reimagine something as potentially impactful as a conference-wide spiritual convention that revives our people and catalyzes our mission, may only come once,” Maxwell said. “Pray for us as we press into the heart of Jesus for how to reintroduce camp meeting in ways that will better prepare us for the soon return of Jesus.”
Sequim Church, the smallest camp meeting gathering with 150 people, had consistent attendance throughout their camp meeting weekend.
Doug and Wilma Bing bring Washington Conference greetings to Olympic Peninsula Adventists gathered for camp meeting in Sequim.
Jay and Debbie Coon, pastoral couple at Port Angeles and Forks, join in lifting up their praise to God in singing at Camp Meeting On The Road in Sequim.
Camp Meeting in Sequim included an afternoon gospel sing-along featuring a variety of local musicians.
Adventurer Club children and parents showed up for special activities about leaves and nature at camp meeting in Sequim.
Port Angeles Church scheduled their mortgage burning on the same weekend of camp meeting in Sequim so more friends of the church could attend a supper-time ceremony in a cabin at a local park.
