General News

I listened as he unpacked events in his life that were not fair. I wanted to take care of it for him, but this was his life, not mine. I was here to walk with him through a disappointment brought on him by others. After taking some time to think and pray about it, we went to my favorite place of perspective, the campfire, and I spoke words of blessing and encouragement into his life. We reminded each other that ...

Responding to Vision matters. I will never forget the first meeting with Andrew and Michele. It was a simple vision that would require collaboration and commitment. I had clear conviction and desire from God to see a family camp for foster and adoptive families. Michele and Andrew have been living out a commitment to the health of foster and adoptive families through the Refresh Conference, Harvest Hands Alliance, The Permanence Project, Overlake Christian Church, and being adoptive parents themselves. We ...

From left to right: Charles Kirkpatrick, Stanley Watkins, Forest Bush Sr., S.E. FosketIn the mid 1950’s, a group of people launched an incredible vision to build Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center. The leaders of the Washington Conference of the Free Methodist denomination came together to sell two small camps that were going to be overtaken by the construction of I-5. The vision they pursued was multiple times the scope of what was being given up. Two small properties for ...

A young couple got out of their car, just arriving for camp, and walked up the sidewalk to Cedar Lodge. He turned to her and said, “I feel like I am coming home.” There is a desire in all of us to feel like we are coming home. The descriptions of “home” may vary from person to person. Unconditional love, acceptance, certain types of food, relationships, traditions, a place and space that feeds the soul, are all parts that make ...

Sometimes people get hit so hard in life that their heart and emotions simply close up and become hard, defensive and protective of self at almost any cost. If you are in this situation, or helping someone in this situation, there are two things to know: Just one meaningful connection: It only takes one meaningful connection between a person with a closed heart and someone or something else to begin to open up the heart again. ONLY ONE. The connection ...

Much of the work of ministry at Warm Beach Camp consists of preparing the way for others to experience rest, renewal, and re-connection. With good preparation, guests are able to fully enter into the purposes for which they come. Scripture exhorts us to bear one another’s burdens and thus live out the love taught by Jesus. We do this for each group that comes on the grounds as we prepare clean facilities, good food, and fun activities. Recently, the Lakeland ...

As a parent, we never know when the meaningful moment is going to come with our kids. These moments we treasure, where all of the sudden we are in the middle of something special, memorable, humorous or tender. The beautiful part is that we are in it together, with our kids. We can’t plan them, or create them on demand. What we can do is spend time together. One thing is true, these moments are only experienced when we are ...

One of the great wins Warm Beach Camp has given to me as a Dad are the Dad & Me Weekends. These weekends are all about a great time with my sons and daughters with all of the fun and ease of great camp experiences... On Friday after a good dinner, enjoy a night swim. Meet the challenge of the human whirlpool. If you have some energy left, take each other on in mini golf under the stars. Or, enjoy ...

My wife Bev and I were walking down one of the beautiful trails at Warm Beach Camp praying our way through the people and ministry we love so much. Something became clear in our time of prayer: No matter what occurs in our life, the response of God is to bring good to all of it. It’s easy to say, but think of all the pieces of hurt and misunderstanding we can hold on to. Think of all the injustice ...

The refurbishment of Cedar Lodge Chapel has finally begun. New larger windows have been installed in the CL Chapel wall that faces the Program Center, and new siding is going on the exterior. Work will continue around the exterior walls until all three sides have been completed. Inside, the interior walls will be refinished and a new snack bar area and audio/visual systems are being installed. A movable platform will replace the fixed one, providing more flexibility in the configuration ...

About a week ago while walking to work, I saw a young lady who was obviously lost. She was standing at one of the Camp crossroads frantically looking at the signs and was obviously debating where in the world she was supposed to go. I approached her and asked if I could help her with anything. She turned around and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Arrow?!?” I suddenly became a bit panicked as I couldn’t place who ...

“God, where are you?” This was the question I cried out several years ago. It seemed like God’s voice had been squelched amidst the many demands of pastoring, parenting, and myriad of other responsibilities in my life. In that moment, I realized there was too much noise and far too many distractions. God’s voice was hard to distinguish from everything else…even the good things. Not only as a pastor, but as a Christ-follower, this was concerning me. Without question, there ...

Warm Beach Camp is overflowing with gratitude for the initiatives and transforming work of our Lord Jesus, and gratitude for our donors and volunteers. One of the privileges of the board is to hear stories about the work of the Kingdom in people’s lives and to see new initiatives like Special Friends Camps, camps for adults with special needs.  When we watched the video of the first Special Friends Camp, tears of gratitude were flowing.  Like the Psalmist, we gave ...

Some people close to me, but separated by many miles, were really hurting and upset.  I wanted to be with them, but that was not possible. I did the one thing I could do, I found another person of faith, and we prayed. We prayed specifically for the details of the crisis. We prayed for God’s peace to sweep in and help settle things. We prayed for perspective. We prayed for His intervention to overtake the pitfalls of human intervention. ...

Freedom, encouragement, hope – these are the blessings couples experience at Marriage Encounter retreats at Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood, WA. Marriage Encounter is designed to provide a balance of structured teaching, personal sharing by leadership couples, and practical application during the weekend. Most marriage retreats focus on providing informative content, few engage participants in practicing the tools for a healthy marriage during the weekend. Marriage Encounter brings a small group of couples together in a relaxed teaching format with ...

Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center welcomes the New Year with a brand new solar power system on the flagship building, Cedar Lodge. This solar system quietly generates clean electricity through a 9.6 kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on the southwest-facing Cedar Lodge roof. This system connects to the Snohomish County PUD power grid. Electricity generation from the system reduces the energy Warm Beach Camp purchases from PUD. This connection also allows the Camp to feed power back into ...

When we think of strength and power, images and ideas of being a super power or a super hero often come to mind. Our conversation trends towards great acts of might. We also use strength to describe the child who is “strong willed” or the outstanding athlete. And, we talk about the person with a strong mind as one who is smart and/or overly opinionated. The Bible talks about a strength that is stronger and more effective than any other ...

“Welcome to a Christmas wonderland!” exclaimed one young guest in describing The Lights of Christmas, at Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood, WA. The annual holiday festival held in December, treated guests to magnificent light displays, grand Christmas music, fun children’s activities, live theater, hot fresh donuts, and much more. Friends and families gathered around the warming fires kindling relationship. Children laughed with delight at Bruce the Spruce the talking Christmas tree. Grown-ups and kids alike waved at strangers as they ...

The Lights of Christmas is pleased to partner with VFW (Veterans Of Foreign Wars) Burien-Highline Post 4314 to offer a special discount of 50% off normal pricing for the Nightly Festival on Saturday, December 5, 2015. To receive the discount, veterans simply show their VFW card or retired military ID at the ticket booth. “Behind this special night is a VFW Post 4314 member who has volunteered at The Lights of Christmas for 8 years. He had an idea, talked ...

The American Bus Association (ABA) announced that The Lights of Christmas, held each December, has been designated as one of the Top 100 Events in North America for 2016 by an experienced expert tourism industry selection committee. Inclusion in the Top 100 list, published as a supplement to the September/October issue of Destinations magazine, indicated The Lights of Christmas offers excellent entertainment value to both tour groups and individual travellers from around the world, according to ABA. With the release ...