Camp Directors
PASTOR GREG KAMINSKI
President of
the Board of Trustees
PASTOR NATHAN DAMM
Executive Director
MORIAH MERRILL
Program Director
CLIFF COX
Worship Director
DON GLASENAPP
Kitchen Director
History
Serving Christ and Camper since 1979
Camp Northwest started the summer of 1979 in Springfield, Oregon with 25 campers under the direction of Greg Kaminski, the founding pastor of Westside Baptist Church. Pastor Kaminski was saved and called to the ministry at a small camp in Michigan. He and his wife Janie, moved to Oregon in the spring of 1979 to start a new church in Eugene, Oregon. Pastor Kaminski had a burden that the Northwest needed a good camp for young people to find Christ and to discern the Lord’s will for their lives.
After eight years in Springfield, the camp moved to another location about 45 minutes from Eugene. Other churches started to hear about camp and after two years, Camp Northwest outgrew the facility. Another search for a larger and more affordable camp facility began, and in 1988 the camp moved to our current location in beautiful Mossyrock, Washington.
In the first year at Mayfield Lake Youth Camp, the Lord brought more churches from the Northwest. Within two years, the one-week camp grew to two weeks in the summer and several hundred young people were being reached from the Northwest.
God has continued to bless over the years with the development of a great team of directors and wonderful churches. Throughout our history, Camp Northwest has served over 50 churches and many young people have been saved and called into the ministry. Hundreds of people are able to get away from the distractions of a busy world and hear what God has for them through the powerful preaching of the Word of God. Camp Northwest is a large camp experience with a family feeling. Many counselors today were once campers and now a third generation of campers are coming to Camp Northwest. Every year we look forward to welcoming new young people and new churches. To God be the glory, great things He has done!
Objectives
Physical Objectives
To provide for healthy physical growth
To help campers develop good health habits (cleanliness, proper rest, balanced diet, exercise, and proper care of their bodies as God's temples)
To provide a program suited to campers' abilities and interests
To provide an atmosphere conducive to good mental health and free from tension
Social Objectives
To provide a profitable experience with Christians living together in an unselfish and Christ-like manner
To provide an opportunity for each camper to make a contribution to the group
To develop a spirit of camaraderie and teamwork
To learn to be cooperative and to respect others' property
To develop a sense of social responsibility
To provide Christian fellowship and friendships
To gain an appreciation of the contribution of others
Personal Objectives
To help campers make right decisions and to accept the consequences of wrong decisions
To stimulate creativity and independence
To increase understanding and appreciation of God's creation
To develop a variety of skills which may be useful in adult life
To help campers think, analyze, judge, and make wise choices
To learn to be good stewards of God's creation (conserve the natural resources)
To provide time for campers to be alone and evaluate their own goals and achievements
Spiritual Objectives
To give each camper the opportunity to receive Christ as his or her personal Savior
To help each camper grow in the Lord during camp through increased knowledge of God's Word, developing good habits of Christian living, including a devotional time in the Word and prayer each day
To help guide campers toward maturity in Christ by putting Him first in every area of their lives
To encourage spiritual decisions at each camper's level of readiness
To counsel each camper as an individual in his or her spiritual needs
To develop Christian leadership skills that can be used in their local churches when they return from camp
To help campers find God’s purpose for their lives
Doctrine
SCRIPTURE - We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings, and that they are the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
THE TRINITY - We believe in one God, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, manifesting Himself in three Persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one in nature, equal in attributes, power, and glory.
JESUS CHRIST - We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and that He is 100% God and 100% man.
SIN - We believe that God created man in His own image and in a state of innocence, but man willfully transgressed God's law and lost communion with God, becoming dead in sin, corrupt in nature, and incapable of pleasing God.
MANKIND - We believe God has irrevocably ordained each person as a man or a woman. Marriage, which is the only appropriate place for sexual activity, can only be between one man and one woman."
SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT - We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and rose again for our justification; and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood and are saved by grace through faith wholly apart from human merit or works.
SALVATION - We believe that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and thereby become the children of God, possessing eternal life.
RESURRECTION - We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate.
END TIMES - We believe in the personal and visible premillennial return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to reign upon the earth.
ETERNITY - We believe in the bodily resurrection of all the dead: the saved to a life of eternal glory and bliss in heaven with God; the unsaved to eternal judgment of conscious suffering in the lake of fire.
SEPARATION - We believe in separation from all worldly practice, in whole-hearted devotion to the cause of Christ, in a high standard of Christian conduct. Since such separation, devotion, and standards are the only scriptural basis for a useful Christian life. For this reason we oppose all practices which hinder Christian growth and detract from Christian influence.
CONVICTIONS - We believe it is necessary to hold sound and aggressive scriptural convictions of separation from liberalism, apostasy, and compromise with unbelief.