Warm sunlight and a brilliant blue graced the skies of November 23rd, 2025. Over twenty attendees made their march through the woods of Camp Wakonda towards the climbing wall, affectionately known as Howie, who was destined to be put to rest. Friendly chatter blessed the walk. These were people connected by God and Camp Wakonda, joining together to bid farewell to a beloved camp monument. Twelve previous summer camp staff were present, but as a 26-year-old, Howie was the olde

This past weekend, the Wisconsin Conference Youth Department held its annual young adult event: The Table. Thirty young people attended the weekend, which was hosted by The Shepherd's House SDA Church. Thirty is about the perfect amount for an event like this, because by design it is less of a traditional youth "rally," and more of a summit or advisory for senior youth and young adults. In other words, the desired outcomes of this event are high-quality discussion, close conn

How would you use $1,000 for Jesus? $50,000? How about $200,000? Here in the Lake Union, we get to ask these questions to young people. Not only do they have answers for us, but we actually have the opportunity to give them the money and watch them use it, to God's glory! TLDR; You can register for the Youth Evangelism Congress HERE Disclaimer: this is a stock image, not an actual Wisconsin youth (don't worry, we'll get there) The Lake Union Conference Youth Evangelism Congre

The climbing wall at Camp Wakonda was originally built for the 1999 season of Summer Camp, and it has been a favorite activity of staff and campers ever since. Affectionately, the staff at one point named the wall "Howie." The reasoning explained to me for this nickname is that the staff, while explaining the rules of climbing wall safety, would tell the campers, "This is Howie Climb"--a play on words, sounding like, "This is how we climb." This nickname has stuck for the dur

I wrote last year about the awesome things that were going on in young adult ministry. A lot of that movement has been grass-roots, and the youth department has done its best to show support to locally planned young adult events that seem to pop up with more frequency. Another big factor is our Public Campus Ministries, led by Josh Guerrero, which have hit their stride recently and have really been making a big impact in our conference. However, The Table is the crucial ingre

This past weekend, over 80 youth leaders and young leaders got together at Camp Wakonda to learn best practices in youth ministry leadership, network with others in the Wisconsin field, and attain resources that will aid them on their quest to bring young people to Jesus. This was a great year, not only because of the numbers of attendance, but also because of the number of clubs that were represented. Only two of our current 20 Wisconsin Pathfinder Clubs were not represented

This past Sabbath was World Pathfinder Day, and we officially celebrated 75 years of Pathfinders as a youth ministry in the Seventh-day...

This past weekend, at Camp Wakonda, we hosted our Wisconsin Conference Pathfinder Fair, with the theme: God, Our Rescue . Since, on years...

This past weekend was our Wisconsin Conference Adventurer Family Camp Out. Our theme for the weekend was "The Heavens Declare Your...

I’m writing this because I want to say thank you to my fellow staff for the time and support they gave me at Camp Wakonda this summer....

I’ve been coming to Camp Wakonda for as long as I can remember. I grew up here: running through the trails, sitting by the campfire, and...

This is the fifth summer that Ally and I have directed the Summer Camp ministry here at Camp Wakonda. It's been such an awesome journey...

For many years, the furthest cabin on the right (Cabin 7) on Admin Row at Camp Wakonda has been the Pathfinder Museum. It's been full of...

In the Fall of 2022, we brought back Adventurer Fun Day to the Wisconsin Conference. The event was at Camp Wakonda, in the basement of...

While Pathfinder clubs may choose to meet all year round (including the summer), the official Pathfinder year in Wisconsin goes from...

In 2015, at just 12 years old, I had the privilege of participating in the Easter drama I’ve Seen Jesus: Encountering the Risen Christ...

As I'm writing this, I have a pending dissertation project proposal awaiting review. I won't talk about the specific project yet, as it...

Two years ago, our Wisconsin Pathfinders ministry debuted a new summer event, WIBAR: Wisconsin Bike-a-Rama. What is it? Basically, it's a...

God has been stirring and moving on hearts at UW-Stevens Point, and it’s been incredible seeing how students have been answering the call...

What is Global Youth Day? Global Youth Day is an annual event where youth around the world gather to show the love of Jesus to their...