Scenic view of trees at camp

Tag: lessons


The Most Glorious of All Lands

by Cierra Cooke

Forge Students in Israel

“On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.” Ezekiel 20:6 For the past seven months, the Forge Class of 2014 has been […]

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Lessons from Leadership Weekend

by Riley Sheehan

Dutch Speaking to Summer Staff

Being a leader can be amazingly exciting. Being a leader can also be scary. When I pulled into Tyler for Pine Cove Leadership weekend, I felt an interesting combination of both. I was excited — to see old friends, to bond with new ones, to build community, to be trained, to laugh, to talk, to […]

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Bible Study Theme: Broken

by Chris Sherrod

Guy Reading Bible At Camp

Fallow is not a word that most people have ever used in a conversation (unless you’re a farmer). So if you don’t know, “fallow ground” is land that has sat unused and become hard and full of weeds. It must be broken up and prepared before it can be useful and planted with seeds. The […]

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Bible Study Theme: Stories

by Pat Preston

Campers reading bibles

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light […]

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Faith: No Doubt About it

by Chris Sherrod

Empty Chair

A condition that plagues many Christians today – both young and old – is what I call Thomasphobia: the fear of doubting. This malady often begins in elementary Sunday school class when the Easter story is told and children hear about Doubting Thomas. Wide-eyed children are asked, “Can you believe Thomas doubted that Jesus rose […]

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Forge Trip: Dominican Republic

by Charissa Birnbaum

Forge Member Praying with Kids

Last week, my fellow Forge students and I took a 9-day adventure to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. The Forge is Pine Cove’s resident discipleship program. There we joined alongside a ministry called Students International (SI) to assist local missionaries at various sites that included microfinance, social work, community health, dentistry, education, special education, sports, and physical therapy. After a long […]

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Camper Story: Receiving Your Spouse

by Mario Zandstra

Catching Football

At family camp, adults get to enjoy teaching on parenting, marriage, and the Christian life by excellent Christian speakers. One week, our speaker shared the concept of leaving your mother and father, cleaving to your spouse, and receiving them as a gift from God. The speaker shared the “power” of accepting this realization and the commitment […]

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A Foundation for Marriage

by TJ Nicholson

Newlywed Couple

As I’ve been on the web lately, I’ve seen many ads such as “5 Steps for Better Abs” or “How to Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Days.” These all sound appealing to those of us who would like a quick fix, but they’re not usually as easy as they seem, which is why most of […]

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Why We Need Christmas

by Mario Zandstra

Wood Cross and Wood Nativity

We love to celebrate Christmas at the Zandstra house, do you? If you were to ask your friends and families why we celebrate Christmas, you will no doubt get varying answers ranging from, “It’s a time to celebrate family” to “Santa Claus” to “Jesus’ birth.” But, I want to ask a different question… Why do […]

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Get To, Not Have To

by Brent Bertolio

Camp Lagoon with Slide

Throughout the year, we receive numerous phone calls, emails, and letters from campers expressing their life transformation while at camp. These are just too good to keep to ourselves! Check out this mom’s story and how one of our counselors helped her re-focus on serving her family. When I got married, I had a very […]

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