Lake View Camp & Conference Center
Lake View Camp and Conference Center is an interdenominational non-profit camp program. We offer camp and mission camp opportunities to both young, old, privileged, and underprivileged. We hold church camps (with our primary campers coming from Reformed and Christian Reformed Churches) and camps for Angel Tree Children throughout the summer. Angel Tree Children all have a parent, step-parent, or even both parents in prison. After a week of camp, we pray campers and volunteers go home with a new understanding of themselves and their relationship with God realizing the extent of His love for them.
We held our first camps during the summer of 2002 and the program is growing rapidly. In five summers, we have gone from having 254 campers in our regular camp programs and 119 campers in our Angel Tree program to 502 regular campers and 340 Angel Tree campers. In 2002, we had a combined total of 373 campers in both programs, in 2006 we had 842. When we began the Angel Tree program, we focused on reaching Angel Tree Children from the central part of the state of Iowa. In 2004, after two summers of reaching out only to Angel Tree kids in the central part of the state, we began inviting kids from the entire state of Iowa.
We currently lease camps throughout the summer but hope to build our own facility. Land by Robert?s Creek located near Pella, IA has been donated for a camp, and plans are underway for building a permanent camp site. The camps we are currently leasing are located in Eldora, IA; Des Moines, IA; and Central College in Pella, IA.
Purpose:
We bring God, people, and creation together in love and celebration.
Mission:
We provide a broken world with environments, experiences, and resources to discover, celebrate, and share God?s gifts.
Our vision and mission derive from our Creator and His revelation of Himself in nature and in His Word teaching us these values as a foundation for our ministry at and through Lake View Camp and Conference Center.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1
~"The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship." Psalm 19:1
~"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
We believe God's greatest gift to all he created is his son.
~"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." John 3:16-17
Just before Jesus, the Son, returned to his father he gave those who believed in him the task of reaching out with the good news of God's love.
~"Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations......Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" Matthew 28:18-20
Reaching out with the good news occurs in a context of ministry modeled after Jesus' proclamation of his ministry in Nazareth, the area of his boyhood home.
~"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come." Luke 4:18-19
The task of outreach calls us to team work as we share the good news.
~"You will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:21
~"Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all......There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us......It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have." 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Sharing a common task given to us by God, we accept all others as God created them and encourage one another relying on God's Spirit to empower us all in our task of sharing the Good News of the gift of God's Son.
~"Do for others what you would like them to do for you." Matthew 7:12
~"Until faith in Christ was shown to us as the way of becoming right with God, we were guarded by the law.......But now that faith in Christ has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.......There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female." Concerning believers in Jesus Christ, we read: "For you are all Christians - you are one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you." Galatians 3:23-29
~"Everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
Not everyone who comes to the camp or a conference held here will be a Christian and some who come will be weary from the struggles of life. We believe God wants to use the staff and the setting of Lake View Camp and Conference Center to renew and strengthen the faith of all who come.
~"Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
~Jesus himself extended an invitation to the weary and worn, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30
~Jesus also invited his most devoted followers to take time away for renewal and strengthening of their faith, "The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and what they had taught. Then Jesus said, 'Let's get away from the crowds for a while and rest.' They left by boat for a quieter spot." Mark 6:30-32
We believe worship will be an integral part of discovering, celebrating, and sharing God's gifts as people come to camp and to conferences, and to depart to serve with new or renewed faith.
~"I will praise you my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. I will bless you every day, and I will praise you forever.... All of your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will bless you." Psalm 145:1 & 10
