Those Summer Nights: A Final Look at Summer 2024

As summer comes to a close and students are going back to school, we wanted to share some of the awesome memories that were made during PRETEEN SUMMER CAMP under the leadership of our Preteen Camp Director, Keith Poletiek. Last month we shared some highlights from the middle school and high school camp and how much fun they had. But, the 3rd-6th graders came to play too.

Check out this video highlight:

And, check out the awesome testimony from Leandra Burdett, Children’s Pastor at First Baptist Church in Walnut Valley, and her students’ experiences at Preteen Camp.

Leandra’s church just recently started attending Angeles Crest last summer. In her words, they “were looking for a great local camp that gave amazing experiences, but highlighted Jesus”. That is exactly what they found. Because the kids had such a great mountain top experience, they signed up for the upcoming winter camp too. When Leandra had to miss winter camp due to a family illness, she wasn’t sure if she could find another chaperone to take the kids in time.

“Finally the mom of one of our students who wasn’t even signed up for camp, agreed to go and then signed up her son. They had an amazing experience. The Monday after they got home from camp their family devotion happened to be the exact verse they talked about at camp. The student told his mom he was ready to accept Christ and prayed with his mom right then and there. It’s amazing to me how God continues to orchestrate these amazing situations and work through our obedience and trust. This most recent summer, our small church ended up taking a group of 4 girls to camp. One of them had a brother go to camp last summer and begged her mom to let her go even though it was a financial hardship.

As we know- God provides! Members of our church stepped up and provided financially to send her at no cost to her mom. Saturday night when the kids were presented with the Gospel she stood up and prayed to accept Jesus.

The conversations following were amazing. The girls asked each other if they had chosen to follow Jesus and were making plans to walk to each other’s houses to read the Bible during the week. It was amazing to see Spiritual conversations happen under the leadership of these young girls with a heart full of love for Jesus.

We are so thankful for the ways Angeles Crest preteen camp has given our kids the chance to connect with Jesus and each other. Our experiences have been nothing short of a blessing. We look forward to more opportunities to grow with Angeles Crest in the coming years”.

Camper, Summer Staff Counselor, Artist: A 50 Year Journey at Angeles Crest

There are probably some of you who know Kimberly Miller. She has been a part of the Angeles Crest family since 1975, when she first attended as a camper in the fourth grade with her sister, who was her counselor. For the next 9 years, Kimberly didn’t miss camp. Even after high school, she served on summer staff in 1987 and 1988. She describes that time as “two amazing summers”.

Like many, those years at camp had a lasting impact on her life. “[I] fell in love with the trees and remembered making a promise at Angeles Crest that I wanted to serve God somewhere like this. It birthed in [me] my heart for Camp Ministry and I ended up working at Mount Hermon off and on for 32 years”.

Others may know Kimberly more recently from her popular art seminars, which she calls “Painting with a Message”, at the Mother-Daughter retreat this past May.

“My art journey of painting started 10 years ago and it took off into making gifts out of my art for people to remind them of God’s creation. I started teaching art seminars last year at Mount Hermon and now I have a heart to travel and teach others how to paint while sharing God’s promises.

It was nostalgic to walk the grounds and have all these amazing memories that I had there that I’ve always held close to my heart. “The trees were taller and camp felt smaller yet it held all [the] mountain high spiritual wonder that it always did. Angeles Crest will always be my first love. And where I met Jesus face-to-face, and vowed to follow him all the days of my life. I was incredibly blessed to be able to come back and do something that I love to point others to Jesus”.

Time is running out! Only 24 Spots Left! Sign up for the Father-Son retreat today!

Don’t miss out on:

Speaker Rudy Hagood from Reunion Church
Worship by past Father-Son retreat camper, Dylan Reynolds from Newbury Park First Christian
Special Event “DUDE” Pine Car Derby
Fishing Derby (Bring your own gear)
Hatchet Throwing and MORE!

Prayer Request

One of the most powerful things that you could do to help the ministry of Angeles Crest Christian Camp is to pray for it. Ephesians 6:18 reminds us…And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Please pray that God will fill our fall calendar (September-November) with guest groups and our own Father-Son Retreat (September 27-29) and that all who come to camp will have a mountain top experience with an eternal impact in their lives.

How can we pray for you?

Summer is coming to an end,

which means it’s already time to sign up for winter camp.

Don’t miss out!