CURRENT PATHWAYS HAPPENINGSSummer Camp Registrations are pouring in! Some weeks are filling up. Spring has sprung, the grass is greening up, birds and waterfowl have made their way back to Camp Emmaus, and the ice has melted off Lake Morgan. You can almost hear squeals of joyful campers careening through the woods from the playfield and the beautiful sound of guitar and singing waffling up from the campfire ring by the canoe beach! Summer Camp is almost here! Now is a great time to encourage leaders

in your church, youth and families you know, maybe even your own grandkids, to get in on the wonderful summer coming up very soon at Camp Emmuas! There is still room but don’t delay! Register on line at www.PathwaysBibleCamps.org

Camperships are availableIt is the belief of Pathways that no one should be denied the opportunity to experience the wonder of camp because they cannot afford the registration cost. Because of that belief, Pathways keeps the cost of camp as low as possible, offering three tiers of registration fees. Congregations are encouraged to provide funds for kids and families to go to camp, especially those who may struggle with the cost. Pathways also has a campership fund with a very simple and welcoming application. Please e-mail the camp office Pathways@PathwaysBibleCamps.com to request campership funds. If you would like to donate to help provide camperships for those who would not otherwise be able to afford the cost of camp, please consider designating an extra gift to Pathways Ministries for this purpose.

Consider one of the New Pathways Programs this Year… Houseboat Open Registration WeekHigh school youth can sign up individually or with friends to head up to Rainy Lake for an amazing north woods big lake water adventure. Pirate hat optional!

Feed Minnesota Travel Minnesota to learn about hunger issues and lending a hand to help. There will be stops in Minneapolis, Duluth, and Bemidji to explore those cities with some time for stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, and biking outdoor adventure fun.

Hike, Peddle, Paddle Based mainly at Camp Emmaus this an opportunity to get outside and do stuff - spending days exploring Itasca State Park, the Heartland Trail and the North Country Trail by foot, bike and boat.

Grandparent Resort Weekend August 4-6We are especially inviting grandparents, grandchildren and even extended families to come to Camp Emmaus for a fun, relaxing and faith centered weekend.

Pathways Village Get outside and bring the whole family, or come by yourself, no matter how old you are, whatever works for you. Stay as short or long as you want. This is about relaxation, choice, openness, chill and thrill, and if you want, drill…deeper into faith, and life. You can do as much or as little as you want but a lot of cool stuff will be offered around a theme of Wet, Wild and Reforming. Pastor Jodi Houge will be there

sharing stories of hope from experiences of living faith and church in ways that can be pretty surprising and refreshing. Her husband, the michevious troubadour, will be coming as well with guitar and banjo on his knee. And of course there will be all the regular great camp stuff to do; supervised activities for kids, canoeing, swimming, arts and crafts, low and high ropes course and some surprise guests sharing their gifts for things like tying flies to go after those trout in Lake Morgan.

The 2017 Summer Staff is rounding into ShapeCamp Emmaus is all about relationships; relationships with God that happen through encounter with the beautiful natural surroundings but above all through relationships between amazingly gifted, dedicated and loving summer camp staff and their campers. Pathways will have close to 30 summer staff this year, about a third of them returning staff. What they have in common is a growing faith in Christ, a sense of

adventure, a great sense of fun, and a desire to really make a positive difference in the lives of kids by sharing the love of Jesus and Jesus’ way of love. Please pray for these hard working young adults that they may grow in faith and leadership for the sake of the campers this summer, also for the sake of the church where many will continue to provide leadership the rest of their lives, and for the sake of a world in need of people like them sharing God’s love for all.

Rachel Mann, that’s her on the left with the cap, will be serving as Camp Emmaus Program Director this summer. This will be her third summer at Camp Emmaus. Rachel, not a stranger to global travel, has been doing her student teaching in Auckland, New Zealand this spring. This truly exceptional young woman has recently been accepted into Young Adults in Global Mission with the ELCA and will be spending a year in either Senegal or Madagascar. Pathways is proud to be able to say that this will be the third

summer in a row one of our staff will leave at the end of the summer to spend a year as a ELCA Young Adult in Global Mission.

At Least Three International Staff Persons This SummerFor a second summer in a row among the almost 30 Pathways staff will be several International Staff- planning to join the Camp Emmaus Staff. Danielle and Eleanor, both from Whiltshire, England will be coming to Pathways through the Camp America organization which provides camp staff for both religious and other types of camps. Basil Imad Adeed Shatara from Jordan will be coming to Pathways through the ELCA International Camp Counselor Program. 

Still Searching for A few Good MenIt always seems to work out this way, filling all of the guy counselor positions takes a little more time. If you know of a young man of faith with lots of gifts to share with children and youth and could use a summer job that will be very rewarding, a lot of fun, great leadership training and provide some money to boot, please have them contact Brooke at the Pathways office or run, not walk to their nearest electronic device and go to summer employment page on the Pathways Web Site.

Church Foundation Grant Provides Support for Pathways Village Family Camp ProgramBeth DeKrey from First Lutheran Church in Bemidji and member of the Pathways Board of Directors recently presented a check for $2,000 to Pathways Executive Director Steve Peterson to help with expenses (including $500 in campership money for families who

may have a difficult time with cost for coming ) for the launch of the new Pathways Village family camp program taking place at Camp Emmaus August 16-20. Thank you First Lutheran!! If your congregation has a foundation that might be interested in working with Pathways in launching a new program initiative please contact Steve Peterson at Pathways.

Spring Camp Workdays

May 6th Emmaus May 20st Minne-Wa-KanHelp get the camp sites and facilities in shape for summer!

Each day begins with coffee and rolls and work assignments from 9:00 to 9:30 and ends around 2:30 or 3:00. The camps provide much of what is needed but folks are encouraged to bring gloves, rakes, shovels, cleaning rags and carpentry tools. There will be projects for all skill levels, including some inside projects. To help the staff prepare, please call or e-mail the camp office to let us know you are coming.

Thank you!

Men in Boats! June 2-3Actually men and boys. Come fish Lake Andrusia and stay at Camp Minne-Wa-Kan. There will be fabulous food, friendship, faith stuff, boat-loads of fun and, with just a little luck, FISH! There is some boat space available for folks without boats.

For more information about this partnership program between Pathways and First Lutheran Church in Bemidji please contact Bob Zarrett at 218-751-1606. A registration form will soon be available down load at www.flcbemidji.org and www.PathwaysBibleCamps.org All are invited… “Let’s go fishin!

Pathways Program Task Force Has a First MeetingOn April 1st a group of nine Pathways Program Design Task Force members formed by the Pathways board met for a first time with two objectives to accomplish by the time of the 2018

Pathways annual meeting. The two objectives of the task force are 1) to put in place a system and methodology that will serve as the model for all development and implementation of program/ministry initiatives; and 2), to launch the design of specific program initiative directions that Pathways will begin to address immediately.

Task Force work groups will be working throughout 2017. These work groups will be bringing in others to provide ideas as well as consulting with the Pathways constituency.

Quilt and Fine Art AuctionPlease mark your calendars and start making plans for this fun day that will include a variety of activities for all ages in addition to raising funds for Pathways ministry and providing folks with some great art and quilts.

October 14, 2017At Dilworth Lutheran Church, DilworthQuilts and Fine Art items came be dropped off at Zion Lutheran Church in Thief

River Falls, First Lutheran Church in Bemidji or Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Moorhead.

It’s Almost…FALL!?! Well, not really, BUT, now is a great time to start thinking about fall retreats! It’s always good to plan ahead!

Congregations and church groups have first dibs over non church related groups on booking retreats for the fall/winter of 2017 until September 1st. So use your imagination on what kind of retreat might really enhance your congregation’s ministry and growth in faith and mission, check your calendar and reserve a spot on the Pathways calendar for either Camp Emmaus or Camp Minne-Wa-Kan.

In addition, please mark your calendars and start making plans to attend some great retreats planned and led by Pathways next fall and winter:

Late Sept/Early Oct dates tbd Fall Faith Formation Days (Relaxed Continuing Ed for Church Professionals)September 29 – October 1 Fall Creation Education Celebration at Camp EmmausOctober 5-8 Women of Faith Craft RetreatOctober 20-22 Confirmation Retreat at Camp EmmausOctober 27-29 Confirmation Retreat at Camp Minne-Wa-KanNovember 17-19 Hops and Holiness, Beer & Hymns Retreat at Camp Minne-Wa-KanDecember 8-10 Advent Retreat at Camp Emmaus

Challenge Course Retreats are also available. Check out Pathways brochure and web site for more info.

From the Executive Director: Heart BurnTwo of Jesus followers met Jesus on the road to Emmaus on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. After they figured out who he was and ate some bread that he had blessed, they reflected on this experience, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…” - Luke 24:32What a great name for a camp, Camp Emmaus. We are blessed to have such a beautiful camp and for it to carry that name, inspired by this story.

The first Sunday after Easter, Brooke Klemetsrud and I had the opportunity to “preach” on this story at the regular 9:30 “Camp Style Worship” service at Calvary Lutheran Church in Bemidji. We led a gaggle of children on a walk to Emmaus around the edges of the worship room. We were reminded of and acted out the places where we so often meet Jesus: on the road of life, outside of church buildings, at the point of deep sadness and loss as these disciples were experiencing when they met Jesus on the road, when we deeply listen to scripture and really hear as if for the first time, when we sit at a table were all are welcome and eat of blessed food that only Jesus can provide. And we reflected on how the result for us, as for those disciples, is a wonderful warm kind of heartburn that we cannot wait (the kind of excitement the kids enacted by jumping up and down because you cannot contain yourself) to share. We just have to share this with our friends and a world that has all too much sadness and grief and is in need of this incredible news, “Jesus is Risen!” and is alive! Jesus’ way of risking love has overcome death and the grave and given freedom for all people to be their true selves and to live lives of love!

This is certainly our mission this summer at Camp Emmaus. For this staff to meet Jesus on the road of their faith journey and to share their heartburn, their joy, their passion for Jesus’ way of loving with campers so that together they can change the world with the love of the risen Christ lose in the world.

PATHWAYS LUTHERAN OUTDOOR MINISTRIES

Camp Minne-Wa-Kan & Camp Emmaus218-987-2600 www.PathwaysBibleCamps.org

Pathways@PathwaysBibleCamps.com