Northern Light Fall 2021

Summer 2021 was full of God's provision!

The Lord was active at HoneyRock this summer! Campers came to know Jesus more deeply, some who had not already accepted him as their Lord and Savior. I still hear stories of transformational experiences from summer staff--how the challenges they faced, the community who surrounded them, and the time to rest and reflect grew their leadership skills and faith in Jesus. We were delivered through another Covid-free summer, even as we served our largest number of campers, with more than 940 overnight campers enjoying this place set apart.

A personal highlight from this past summer was the launch of Catalyst, our new high school program for rising juniors and seniors. It was great to see campers wrestle with tough questions of their faith and how they interact within the world today. It was a joy to watch Catalyst campers grow through their contributions to leading others in programs, instructing activities, and serving in HoneyRock's various departments (Operations, Business, Guest Services, etc...). I can't wait to see how this rich community of peers continues to come alongside and encourage one other as their relationships continue after camp has ended.

Every year we ask our parents and summer staff to evaluate our programs. This year, the highlights from the evaluations were in the growth parents reported seeing from their campers...100% saw their camper grow in personal character, 97% grew in their engagement with daily activities, 96% of campers made a new friend. The list goes on, but I love seeing that growth in our campers.

We are so grateful for the staff and parents who offer us feedback each year to help us continue to improve your camp experience. We read every comment and name themes that we can improve upon for next year.

You can continue to pray for us as we:

• Address the evaluation themes to improve upon through our program development process that happens over the school year
• Recruit next summer's staff team
• Train our graduate students to lead summer staff and run programming

Thanks for reading the summer review! Peace,

Ashley Page Kiley
Camp Programs Director

We're almost two months into our school year programming, which includes Vanguards, Fellows, and Graduate Students.

Overall a theme that has stood out in that time is best captured by one of our core values: Enthusiastic Engagement.

This community has kicked off with a profound enthusiasm for their experience. We are looking forward to another full year with our school year community and the depth of growth that happens when students are fully engaged in life at HoneyRock. This is very encouraging and exciting as it enables us to make the most of our school year opportunities and for our students to intentionally grow.

You can pray alongside us for the following things:

• Navigating our programming, especially offsite community involvement and travel through another pandemic-impacted year
• Seeing experiences and conversations as space to continue discipleship and character development in our students
• Hosting retreats after pausing them last winter due to COVID-19; that HoneyRock can be a hospitable and restful space for guests.

Charlie Goeke
School Year Program Director

HoneyRock's Core Values: Other's Oriented Service, Purposeful Challenge, Enthusiastic Engagement, Rhythms of Rest and Reflection, Authentic Community, Truth-Infused Programming, Experiences in Creation.