Have you ever been part of organized fun? Fun that was intentionally organized to create unity and a great experience? An experience in which you look and see others around the room participating in and playing different group games? Games that encourage us to interact and work together in a fun and engaging way? JAHWI had that mission; we felt the need to create an opportunity for organized, intentional, and uniting fun. The advantage we had was that we knew how to have fun

LaCrosse's Young Adults with a mission. This past Sabbath, La Crosse SDA Church hosted its annual Young Adult Sabbath. Led entirely by CrossPoint, the day was filled with worship, reflection, service, and genuine connection. It was more than just a program; it was a revival of spirit and community. Cross Point, led by Hannah Bergeon, Jessica Graffunder, Adeline Minett, and William Ramos, is a new collective focused on equipping future church leaders with community and practi

TLDR; The Pathfinder Fair is a camping-only event. Pathfinder Clubs in attendance will need to bring tent-camping gear and plan on making their own meals. The cost for the weekend is $12/person. [NOTE: Yes, it is April 1st; however, this should not be mistaken for an April Fool’s joke] Premise Tent camping is one of the hallmarks of Pathfinders. It goes back to the beginnings of Club Ministries and part of their original intention: addressing a rapidly urbanizing world by bri

This past Sabbath was Global Youth Day. Global Youth Day is an annual effort by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists that aims to get youth worldwide out into their local communities, showing God’s love through acts of service. This article will show how Wisconsin participated this year, in various locations. It will also share a little about the history of Global Youth Day in Wisconsin. JAHWI This year, the Global Youth Day theme was Communion in Action , and now

It might not seem like it, due to the high piles of snow outside, but Spring is upon us. And you know what that means? That's right: Adventurer Fun Days are coming! This article will inform parents about what Adventurer Fun Day is, how to sign up, and what some of the specifics are for this year's events. What is Adventurer Fun Day? Adventurer Fun Day is, you guessed it, a fun day for Adventurers (kids ages 5-9). It used to be a single one-day event per year, but because of i

This past Sabbath was an especially uplifting one at Wisconsin Academy. The church and school welcomed hundreds of Pathfinders, club leaders, and family members for the Wisconsin Conference's annual Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE) event. But the day held even more significance: in addition to the afternoon competition, we transformed the morning into a Conference-wide Pathfinder Sabbath worship service. The entire day centered on our young people—their diligent study, emerg

Global Youth Day 2026 Last year in Wisconsin, we planned to kickstart Global Youth Day, an initiative by the General Conference Youth Department to get young people around the world blessing their communities in service on the same day each year. This year, our goal is the same: to increase participation in Global Youth Day. This year, the day falls on March 21, and the theme is "Communion in Action." Read more about the theme and find materials for advertising Global Youth D

Every February, Wisconsin Pathfinder clubs eagerly anticipate the Winter Retreat at Camp Wakonda. Unlike our spacious summer camping events—where everyone can spread out and pitch a tent—indoor heated accommodations are limited. This makes the retreat a first-come, first-served event, with registration filling up quickly. Yet even when February nights dip into frigid temperatures, we manage to warmly welcome nearly 200 Pathfinders and adult chaperones into our cozy lodges and

This past weekend, 22 young adults from the Wisconsin Conference attended the Lake Union Conference Youth Evangelism Congress in the north suburbs of Chicago. I say "attended," but they did more than that. Our Wisconsin young people networked with other people their age who are interested in ministry, learned from their peers about what creative ministries are working in their geographical region, and got to present their own ideas and experiences as well. Limitless Group Pho

It's officially PBE (Pathfinder Bible Experience) season in the Wisconsin Conference. This past Sabbath, teams from around Wisconsin gathered into their respective "areas" to compete against each other and see who would advance to the Conference PBE event in March. We currently have Area Coordinators serving in four areas of the state, and those areas met at the following locations. Southeast Area: Waukesha (English) Church Northeast Area: Fox Valley Church Area 51: Watertown

This past Sabbath, young people gathered at the Milwaukee Seventh-day Adventist School for a compelling worship service, a celebration of youth evangelism in the Wisconsin Conference, and an opportunity to serve in the surrounding community. Over 150 were present for the event, from all over Wisconsin (Green Bay, Frederic, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Wausau and so on), and from ages 5 to 65 (although the majority were in the Pathfinder to young adult age group). It snowed

For the past two years, Youth Rally has returned to the Wisconsin Conference. This year the event is moving to Milwaukee SDA School (North Campus). Here's what to expect and how to plan, this coming January 17. Who is Youth Rally For? The simple answer is: youth of all ages. "Youth" can have a pretty narrow definition in our church: usually referring to older teens. Youth Rally is less concerned with people's age, however, and more concerned with providing a fun day of worshi

In the midst of a demanding academic season filled with coursework, responsibilities, and growing pressure, young adults from across Wisconsin gathered for a weekend of spiritual renewal, fellowship, and rest. From November 14 –16, students representing ACF (Adventist Christian Fellowship/public campus ministry) chapters from La Crosse, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Madison, and Milwaukee came together in Milwaukee for the Wisconsin ACF Retreat. Hosted by UW-Milwaukee ACF and the M

I have lived in Watertown, Wisconsin, almost my entire life, and I've always noticed these beautiful painted banners when we would drive to school in the mornings. My mom is an amazing artist, and so I always wanted her to make one. The only problem was that we never knew how to sign up so that we could do so. Two years ago, in the springtime, my Pathfinder Club (the Watertown Sentinels) started working toward the Artificial Intelligence Honor. It was very interesting to see

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