Scenic view of trees at camp

Tag: lessons


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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Universal God

by Jillian Verret

Camper and Counselor Talking

We had the privilege of having a foreign exchange student as a camper at the Timbers during week 3! She is from Mexico and has been in the U.S. (Houston) for six months and will be returning back to Mexico on Monday. She and her counselor talked about her family life and how it has […]

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Nations Come Together On Common Shores

by Zooey Spooner

Shores Campers Playing Volleyball

During the previous session of the Shores’ 2-week program, Overflow, we were blessed to welcome two campers from France (a brother and sister) and two campers from Mexico (best friends). Their paths are different, but God united all of our cultures to ultimately learn, grow, and flourish under His name. For Clemence and Aurelien, the […]

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Redeemed at Family Camp

by Susan Andreone

Baptism at Pine Cove Camp Pool

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Arriving after a long journey from their home in Pennsylvania, they drove through the Pine Cove Woods Family Camp entrance where she witnessed enthusiastic counselors jumping up and down and waving at her […]

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From Doubt to Faith

by Jillian Verret

Camper Worshipping Jesus

At Pine Cove, we have a wide variety of campers from many different of backgrounds. Sometimes that is a camper who waits for Pine Cove year round and loves it more than anything, and other times it’s campers who have never been before and didn’t want to come, have disciplinary problems, have hard home lives, […]

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