Northern Light Winter '26 Edition

A Letter from the Executive Director 

It’s our 75th Anniversary! 

On February 15, 1951, the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College approved Harve Chrouser’s plan to start a leadership school on the HoneyRock property in Three Lakes, WI.   

Here’s the original mission and purpose of HoneyRock in Harve’s own words:  

“While HoneyRock is called a camp, it is essentially an educational project designed to be a leadership laboratory providing an internship experience where the student undertakes total leadership responsibility of the cabin group in a camp-living situation...The HoneyRock idea was to create a new kind of teaching-learning environment for the student, unlike the school model. We wanted, as much as possible, to use the wilderness's lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains as the classroom for both students and campers, as well as to take advantage of the limitless possibilities of the in-camp program. We sought to de-formalize teaching and make it more relational and discipling.”  

This approach, so innovative at the time, is now more relevant than ever.  

And, as we reflect on the history of HoneyRock and the lives of students and campers impacted, we are so very grateful for all of the staff, volunteers, donors, parents, grandparents, etc., who have supported us all these years. Most of all, we are grateful for what God has done and anticipate what God will do! 

“We will tell the next generation... so the next generation might know...even the children not yet born.” (Psalm 78:4-6) 

God Bless, 

Matt Erickson ‘95