“Building up all people in Christ for service and witness in the world.” campluther.com Volume 25 | Issue 1 | Spring 2019 Bulletin Board Filled with the Spirit Campaign Update Summer Camp Registration is open! Get ready for the best week (or weekend) of The Filled with the Spirit Campaign continues to move forward as the Lord showers Camp Luther with His your summer! To register, visit blessings. As of March 2019, over $2.3 million in commitments has been received! This includes congregations campluther.com/register. within the North Wisconsin District responding with incredible support, and more continue to join in the efforts for this project. Over $520,000 has been committed or given through these ministry partners! Thank you! The initial goal of the Filled with the Spirit Campaign when it began in 2014, was to raise $2.5 million for the new Community Center and lower Retreat Center projects. As building costs have increased over these last five years, and some building plans have changed, the new cost estimate is between $2.8 and $3 million. Final costs are still being determined as bids from subcontractors are being received. The general contractor for the project is Bayland Buildings of Green Bay. Financing is provided by Lutheran Church Extension Fund. The Filled with the Spirit Campaign will continue to reach out for support through construction seeking 100% funding of the Community Center project. To pledge your support, visit campluther.com/give or contact the camp office Are you an Alumni Summer Staff? at 715-546-3647. Look for the Camp Luther WI Alumni Staff Facebook group and reconnect Groundbreaking for the with your summer staff. Community Center and a decommissioning of the Alumni Reunion Save the Date: Lodge and Dining Hall will Join fellow Alumni Staff for a weekend take place the Sunday of of reminiscing and reconnecting at Labor Day Weekend, Camp Luther’s 75th Anniversary September 1, 2019. Celebration! July 2-4, 2021 Everyone is invited! Look for Do you shop on Amazon.com? information this summer to You can support Camp Luther while you RSVP for that special day at shop! Go to smile.amazon.com, choose Camp Luther. The new Community Center will replace the existing Lodge and Dining Hall. Camp Luther as your charitable This exterior rendering is from the viewpoint of standing on the beach. organization, and Amazon will donate a August and September of portion of your purchase price to Camp! this year will provide many opportunities for volunteering. The Dining Hall and Lodge will no longer be used beginning in mid-August to allow time for the facility to be emptied and readied for demolition. Please watch Goodshop & Goodsearch for upcoming notices on when these workdays are scheduled. You can check it out on our website, Facebook, You can save money and support Camp and Connections (newsletter that is emailed twice monthly). Luther by doing what you already are: shopping and searching online! During construction Camp Luther will continue to provide quality food service to all visiting the camp for retreats and programs through the fall of 2019 and winter and spring of 2020. Meals will be provided in the Goodshop finds coupons for you as you Retreat Center. shop virtually anywhere online and then donates a portion of your purchase to The Community Center is scheduled to be Camp Luther! open for food service in June of 2020. Look Instead of “Googling” the questions that for information on this Grand Opening and stump you, set Goodsearch as your go- Dedication sometime in June of 2020. to online search engine and they’ll donate to Camp Luther every time you The Camp Luther Staff, Board, and Campaign search something! Steering Committee would like to express their thanks to God for His abundant https://www.goodshop.com/about blessings. He continues to move the hearts of Simply choose Camp Luther (Three His people in supporting this ministry. Thank Lakes, WI) as your non-profit of choice. you for your continued prayers and support of Camp Luther! Camp Luther Gift Certificates Looking for the perfect gift for your For colored photos and the most up-to-date children or grandchildren? A Camp information about the Filled the Spirit Rendering of Dining Hall in the new Community Center. Luther Gift Certificate can be purchased Campaign, visit filledwiththespirit.org. Construction will begin this fall. in any amount and may be used for Camp Luther summer camps, cottage bookings, and in the canteen! Camp Luther Annual Report How many people visited Camp Luther Campaign Goals & Progress in 2018? How many volunteers served at Camp? How much has been raised through the Filled with the Spirit Campaign? Find out in Camp’s Annual Report, available on the Info & Resources page at campluther.com. Outdoor Ministry Fund Every Kid to Camp Building Fund A full-color version of The Breeze is Goal: $350,000 Annually Goal: $150,000 Annually Goal: $2.5 Million available at campluther.com/info- resources-2. 11% Complete 17% Complete 88% Complete $37,479 received as of 2/28/19 $25,708 received as of 2/28/19 $2.3 million in commitments as of 3/12/19 From the Director’s 2019 Theme: Take Heart Desk Take heart. That’s our theme for 2019 at Camp Luther. It comes from John 16:33, which says this: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome For everything there is a season, and a the world!” time for every matter under heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 Jesus is talking to His disciples on the night of the Last Supper. They’ve finished their meal, they’re walking over to the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus is sharing This September we say goodbye to a His last words with these people that He’s poured into over the last three years. facility that has served the Camp Luther ministry from its beginning. The disciples don’t know what’s coming. They have no idea. To them it’s just The old Lodge and Dining Hall will be another day, another discussion with this man they trust, who they’ve chosen to razed to make room for the new Community Center. leave everything to follow. But Jesus knows what they’re going to be facing. And so in these precious final moments together, this is what He chooses to tell them: “In The Lodge, original to the this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” property, was the cornerstone of prior resorts And then they arrive at the Garden. Jesus spends hours in prayer. Judas arrives with known as Rothmoor Lodge religious officials and soldiers. They arrest Jesus. And He goes to the cross. and HyMont Resort. In 1946, the North Wisconsin Take heart. I want you to think about District purchased the 91- those words for a second. Jesus’ words The original camp search acre property that was don’t end with trouble. They end with committee in front of the home to the Lodge and this incredible encouragement to TAKE Lodge in 1946. four cottages for $22,000. HEART. The old lodge has served Camp Luther well! It was the What struggles are you dealing with center of activity in Camp Luther’s earliest years with right now? What burdens are you trying guests housed in the upstairs bedrooms and meals served to carry? What are the hurts that you’re in the downstairs meeting/dining room. Bible studies were hiding? The troubles of this world held in the Lodge Lounge. Many remember the Lodge as weigh us down. We live daily in the white with a green roof and decorated with beautiful brokenness of sin and its effects on us flowers all around. A narrow dining hall was added along and the people around us. How do we the north side of the building at some point to serve the take heart? Amidst all the trouble that growing camp’s summer campers. Later the camp office this world has to offer, how can we was in the southwest meeting room. possibly take heart? Hundreds of summer staff resided in the upstairs Jesus doesn’t shy away from the brokenness we so often face, but He gives His bedrooms over Camp Luther’s history. Staff gathered in disciples—and He gives us—something to hold onto. the Lodge Lounge for Bible studies, Take heart. Why? Because Jesus has overcome! staff growth, and reunions. The Lodge A few days after Jesus spoke these words, He defeated death, defeated sin, not just porch became an once but forever and for all through His resurrection from the dead. iconic setting to enjoy a conversation And so Jesus, in these words, is saying hold onto me. You’re going to face trouble in with a friend or a this life, but you can hold onto me. I’ve got you. I’m with you. I’ve claimed the victory. You can trust in me. You can trust in my faithfulness. Life is going to get quiet view of the The Lodge painted white with a rough, but you need to hold onto me. waterfront. green roof and flowers all around. The current Dining Hall as we know it was added in 1979 How do we take heart? We look to Jesus. We cling to Jesus. We trust in the to meet the growing needs of the ministry. Well over faithfulness of Jesus. 100,000 people have been served over its lifetime. Jesus tells His disciples, “I have overcome the world,” and He says it to us too.