Men’s Retreat: 3/1/15
Or final winter retreat of the season was last weekend with the Men’s Retreat. With 114 men, we enjoyed good food, fellowship, and worship together. Saturday’s activities included a music jam session, broomball tournament (congratulations Ravenswood Covenant Church for winning the trophy this year!), cross country skiing, snowshoeing, trap shoot, foosball, ping-pong, and air hockey tournaments, card games and plenty of relaxing in the Dining Hall. The chapel messages were delivered by speaker Michael Vrooman on the topic of conversation with God. Thanks to all who participated! See you next year!
[fsg_gallery id=”110″]One Life Retreat #3 – 2/22/15
Our third and final One Life Retreat of the season wraps up tonight for some and tomorrow morning for others. Youth groups came from Illinois, Wisconsin, and the UP to ski, play broomball, sauna and polar bear dip, tube, snowshoe, dance, eat good food, worship together, and hear the chapel messages delivered from Chicago youth worker Teal Short. This year’s chapel theme has been “Hello My Name is __________,” and has focused on Biblical stories of God renaming his people.
[fsg_gallery id=”108″]Hagerman Lake Fish Habitat Project – 2/21/15
Today ten “fish cribs” were built on Hagerman Lake to provide habitat to fish once the ice melts and the structures sink. The project had helpers from The US Forest Service, MI DNR, Iron County Wildlife Unlimited, Covenant Point, and the local community. The project was headed up by the US Forest Service and MI DNR. Thanks to all who were there!
[fsg_gallery id=”107″]Second One Life Retreat Underway and Ge-Che Trail Groomed – 2/15/15
Our second One Life Retreat of the season is underway and going well! After a very windy and cold Saturday, this beautiful (and slightly warmer) Sunday is being spent on the ski hill or tube hill, cross country skiing, and playing broomball.
The Ge-Che Cross Country Ski Trail was just freshly groomed and tracked. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine.
2015 MLK One Life Retreat
What a fun weekend this first One Life was! Churches from all across Chicagoland, and the U.P. came to be here. We played a big game of brave heart, went tubing at caspian ski hill, and skied at Ski Brule. Our sessions were led by a great worship team and Tim Ciccone, who was our speaker for the weekend. Thanks to all who helped make this weekend great!
[fsg_gallery id=”105″]2014 Men’s Retreat at CPBC
The 2014 Men’s Retreat, though quite cold, was a blast. Dave Nesberg, of Portage Lake Bible Camp, delivered the chapel messages with the theme “Being Yoked.” In addition to Dave’s message, great musical worship, times of prayer, and discussion brought us closer to God. Sharing delicious home-cooked meals, card games, broomball tournament, skeet shooting, saunaing, polar bear dipping, snowshoeing, and simply spending time together brought us into fellowship with each other.
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OneLife #3
We finished off our youth retreat season with OneLife #3 last weekend. It was so exciting to add the third weekend to this retreat and welcome both junior and senior high youth groups from Bethesda, Broadway Covenant, Iron Mountain, Grace Covenant, Ishpeming, and Norway Covenant. We all had a lot of fun playing broomball, meeting new people, and participating in our very own Winter Olympics, complete with Spark races, two-person cross country ski races, and human curling! The speaker this weekend was our own director, Erik Strom, who continued in the theme of “On earth as it is in heaven” and shared with us what living in light of the Lord’s Prayer means when we understand it better. It was a great weekend, as you can see by these pictures!
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One Life Weekend 1
ONELIFE MLK was amazing! We were blessed with a great group of churches Deergove, Joliet, Hillcrest, Naperville, Batavia, Norway, Ravenswood, Faith, Grace Chicago, Edgebrook, and Libertyville! We play a big game of Dodgeball in the middle of Hagerman Lake, went sledding at Caspian and Skiing at Brule, and had some brave people do our polar bear dip! We had amazing sessions which were led by our great worship team and Tom Dierenfeld, our speaker for the weekend. God blessed the students with meaningful conversations, new experiences and time to play. Thank you for all who made this weekend so memorable and great!
[fsg_gallery id=”48″]Christmas Camp
Christmas Camp provided a rare opportunity for families to spend time together in play, worship, meals, and the quiet setting of Covenant Point. Despite some cold temperatures, campers got outside to participate in everything, from tubing at Caspian Hill to broomball on the lake to a New Year’s Eve celebration that included releasing floating lanterns into the night sky. Chapel sessions were available twice a day, with Bill Fish sharing a children’s message in the morning and campers sharing stories of their own faith in the evening. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who contributed to these worship times. Finally, it was wonderful to see families slow down and spend time in community and reflection with one another. We hope you can join us again next year to celebrate the birth of Christ with us!
[fsg_gallery id=”46″]CPBC Men’s Winter Expedition 2014
January 10-12, 2014, eight men ventured to the Porcupine Mountains, backpacking with cross country skis to a small rustic cabin in the woods. In the two days at the cabin, they enjoyed skiing and snowshoeing, playing card games, having good conversations, sharing meals cooked over the woodstove, and devotional times with the theme of “Discovering True North: Self-awareness, discovery, and creating the new normal” led by Kevin Johnson. The exceptional snow and good group of men made for a great trip.
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First Covenant Youth Group Visit
On Sunday, Anders, Abby, and Kim headed to Iron Mountain to visit the First Covenant Church youth group. They had a great time hanging with the kids, sharing with them about the OneLife retreat, and leading a few rounds of Scatterball and V-Bombs. For more information on the OneLife retreats coming up in 2014, visit our OneLife page!
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CPBC Writing Retreat – North Park University
North Park University philosophy and creative writing students came to Covenant Point Bible Camp for a writing retreat the weekend of October 25-28. Students spent the weekend meeting in our Outdoor Education Building for faculty led sessions and discussions, walking our interpretive trail, reading nature writings, visiting Sylvania Wilderness area, learning to start fire without matches, enjoying home-cooked meals together, taking time to write, and sharing their writings around the fireplace at night.
Writing Retreat in the North Woods
2013 Trailblazers Retreat
Last weekend, we welcomed 40-some 4th-6th graders and their youth group leaders for the Trailblazer Retreat! We had great fun making scarecrows, playing games, and carving pumpkins, and of course a trip out to the Island where campers played games, swung on the Tarzan swing, and enjoyed a game of Island Ball. Although a chilly weekend, everyone was able to enjoy plenty of time outside. Time around the campfire, playing games in the big field, and jumping into the lake after a trip to the sauna were all highlights. There was also plenty of good food and hot chocolate available throughout the retreat. During our chapel times, campers received messages from two of our own interns, Anders Ahlberg and Abby Austin, who shared about God’s relationship with us and how that changes our relationship with others. Songs led by Kevin Johnson and Erik Strom made chapel sessions a great place to worship!
Check out these pictures from the weekend!
[fsg_gallery id=”21″]Quilter’s Retreat 2013
We hosted some wonderful AND creative women this past weekend. The quilter’s retreat was a long weekend filled with space to finish up projects, showing off all their hard work, enjoy good food, fellowship and laughter. The ladies had a “show and tell” on Friday evening where they had a chance to share with the group the projects they had been working on. There was space to talk about the inspiration for the quilt or other creative work, and what’s a “show and tell” without a SWORD! Rev. Bill Fish hosted a Bible study on Sunday morning, which had full attendance and it was followed by a wonderful brunch!
Thank you to all the ladies who came and we are really excited about next year!
[fsg_gallery id=”20″]Jr. High Fall Retreat
What are these pictures from? Well, junior high youth groups from the Chicagoland area and the UP came to Covenant Point for the long Columbus Day weekend and had a great time exploring, playing games, worshipping and growing together as fellow Christians. Covenant churches in attendance included Hinsdale, Batavia, Park Ridge, Winnetka, and Grace Covenant.
The messages of the weekend were given by youth leaders from the attending Covenant Churches, Lauren Malecki, Christy Bouris, Lars Stromberg, as well as our camp director Erik Strom. These talented speakers shared about relationships Jesus had with the Father, outsiders, his disciples, and children. Music was led by our friends and youth leaders Colby Mecher, Jamie Sladkey, Meghan Bruggeman, and Lars Stromberg. The kids also enjoyed a hike out to beautiful Ottowa Lake, some time doing high ropes on our Island, and games including a guest appearance by the chicken!
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Women’s Retreat 2013
We had our annual Women’s Retreat here at Covenant Point.
We had a great speaker, great food and great fellowship. Please enjoy some wonderful photos!
[fsg_gallery id=”16″]2013 Men’s Retreat
This year’s Men’s Retreat was, once again, a beautiful time for men from all over the U.P, Wisconsin and Illinois to come and fellowship, worship, and grow in their faith. Pastor Eric Sparrman shared messages (download his talks below) on “Questions that Jesus asked us” encouraging the men to think about their faith from the perspective of Jesus’s questions to his close followers in the New Testament.
Eric Sparrman Talk #1 “What do you want?”
Eric Sparrman Talk #3 “Who do you say I am?”
The men (plus Caleb Strom!) from Ravenswood Covenant won the Broomball tournament in overtime vs. Iron Mountain Covenant. The skeet shoot was a fun time as always (including an automatic skeet thrower!), frostbite golf was in full “swing”, the polar bear dip was chilly and refreshing, but most importantly over 120 men drew closer to Jesus in small group conversation, reflection, and were encouraged in their faith. Enjoy the pictures and sermon’s. See you next year!
One Life Retreats 2013
We just finished our two busiest retreats of the winter! With over 37o people coming through camp through both weekends, it was an energetic and exciting time to connect with students, leaders and God in the beauty of the Upper Peninsula’s winter wonderland. God moved in significant ways in the lives of students and leaders alike. Check out the pictures to see the exciting things we did throughout the weekend. We are already looking forward to next year!
If you attended One Life and are eager for more opportunities to connect with God at CPBC, think about going on a Wilderness Trip or coming to Senior High Week. Both are amazing opportunities to connect with others and God.
The prayer room(pictures in the slideshow) was an excellent experience for students to connect with God and each other in a beautiful, contemplative space. More resources on the spiritual disciplines that the prayer room was based can be found at: http://www.covchurch.org/resources/breathe-material/
First Ever Men’s Winter Ski Expedition
This past weekend seven men ventured to the porcupine mountains for a three day/two night expedition into the backcountry to stay at a rustic log cabin in the woods. Below are reflections of men who went on the trip and pictures of the beautiful nature we encountered throughout the weekend.
“The men’s winter expedition was a great experience! It was a good blend of exercise, fellowship, spiritual reflection and sharing, and A LOT of fun. We even got a chance to listen to the Packer game (boohoo). It was awesome to be able to enjoy God’s creation and spend time “roughing it” in a nice cabin in the mountains with a great small group of guys. We were able to get to know each other much better and grow in the Lord too. Dustin, Colby, and Paul led and fed us well and overall did a super job! I hope I can do it again next year. ” – Ed Lindwall
“I had a great time with a bunch of honest to god good guys. Regardless of everyone’s personality and background we all meshed together for a stress free male get together. I’ll be first in line to sign up next winter.” – Lloyd Jacobson
Staff/Alumni Porcupine Mountains Ski Trip
A beautiful weekend skiing in the Porcupine Mountains off Lake Superior was the perfect way for former and current staff to connect in an intimate setting. Dustin, Covenant Point’s outdoor ministry director, led the trip with our intern Johanna and brought along former staffers Trevor Mayo and Claire Nelson. Throughout the weekend they visited vistas, ate good food cooked on the woodburning stove, had great chapel times of sharing and worshipping, and caught up on life.
Dustin and Colby head out this Friday for the first Men’s Winter Expedition. There is still one open space, so sign up if you are interested!
Christmas Camp 2012/13
This years Christmas Camp was awesome, as usual, filled with broomball tournaments, abominable snowmen, lots of reading around the fireplace, and good conversation.
Our associate director, Bill Fish, was our speaker for this week and he spoke on the topic of “emmanuel, God with us” focusing on the many ways in which God, through Christ, came and remains in this world. Some of these ways include through His word, the Bible, community (friends, family and the body of Christ), and communion with one another. A highlight of Christmas Camp is always the familiar and new faces that we get to meet and be with throughout the peaceful, yet exciting week.
Special congratulations go to “Serenity Now!” the Wieloch led broomball champions who secured their fame as second-time broomball champions.
Summer Family camp registration has begun, we strive at camp to create restful, rejuvenating weeks for families and friends to come and experience all the beauty that exists in God’s creation. If you joined us this Christmas Camp, we would love to see you in the summer, and if you come to family camp in the summer we would love to see you next year at Christmas Camp!
Men’s Winter Expedition Ski & Snowshoe Trip
2015 Dates coming soon!
Download Registration Form Here
Covenant Point Bible Camp is offering a men’s snowshoe and cross country ski backpacking trip in the Porcupine Mountains.
Meals, transportation, and a rustic cabin will be provided. Snowshoe, ski, and backpack rental are included. After being outfitted with necessary gear, we will travel by van to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The remote cabin is a somewhat rigorous four mile ski/snowshoe from the trail head. Saturday will be spent exploring, enjoying God’s creation, having quiet time, fun, and fellowship over meals and conversation in the great outdoors or a rustic cabin setting. On Sunday the group will ski back to the van, and travel back to Covenant Point by 4:00 PM. Bring: Bible, lightweight sleeping bag, a bed sheet, pillow, plenty of warm layers, hiking boots, gloves, hat, small flashlight, toiletries, personal items, clothing, book or group game for entertainment.
2015 Cost coming soon!
Only six spaces are available.
For questions or to register, contact Dustin Johnson at Covenant Point Bible Camp (906) 265-2117, or dustin@cpbc.com
Download Registration Form Here
Photos from last year’s trip:
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CPBC Staff & Alumni Winter Expedition Snowshoe Trip
Monday, January 6 (9:00 am) – Wednesday, January 8 (4:00 pm), 2014
Experience fellowship and God’s creation with the Covenant Point staff & alumni snowshoe backpacking trip in the Porcupine Mountains. Meals, transportation, and a rustic cabin will be provided. Snowshoe and backpack rental are included. After being outfitted with necessary gear, we will travel by van to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The remote cabin is a somewhat rigorous four mile ski/snowshoe from the trail head. The first morning we wake in the wilderness will be spent exploring, enjoying God’s creation, having quiet time, fun, and fellowship over meals and conversation in the great outdoors or a rustic cabin setting. The next day the group will snowshoe/ski back to the van, and travel back to Covenant Point by 4:00 PM.
Photos from last year’s trip:
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2012 Trailblazer Overnight
The 2012 Trailblazer Overnight was yet another whirlwind of camp experiences, fun worship, and good conversations. Johanna Sparrman–a second year intern–was the speaker this weekend and spoke to the children about the importance of “Faith, Hope, and Love” and the overflowing life that God offers us through Jesus. This retreat always seems to go by too fast, but we packed lots of fun activities into the 24 hours that the children were here. Highlights of the weekend include: Diamond Smugglers game, Hysteria team competition in the Tab, exciting worship, Johanna’s messages, climbing wall, sauna, roller skating in the tab, and pumpkin carving.
Our fall retreats are almost over now, with Pastors from the Central Conference coming in today, and a community big brother/big sister program coming in this weekend. Join us for Christmas Camp, or any of our other retreats coming up. If you missed the retreat this year, make sure if your 4/5/6 grader gets to come next year! Here are some pictures of the weekend.
