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Adventist Camps Mark 100 Years with First General Conference Session Exhibit in the North American Division Booth

July 12, 2025 | St. Louis, Mo. | Debbie Michel

Camps exhibit booth — One of the NAD Youth and Young Adult associate directors Armando Miranda Jr. takes a selfie with friends at the 2025 GC Session exhibit hall, including Tracy Wood, NAD Youth and Young Adult Ministries director. Photo: North American Division

For the first time, Adventist camp ministry is being featured with a dedicated exhibit at the General Conference (GC) Session, highlighting 100 years of summer camps shaping young lives.

Tracy Wood, Youth Ministries director for the North American Division, said this year marks a century since Adventist camps began in 1925 in Australia, with the second recorded camp held a year later in Michigan. “It started with boys by a lake learning about nature and earning honor badges long before Pathfinders even existed,” Wood said. “Now it’s a global ministry.”

The NAD counts 67 camp ministries with 62 physical camps across nearly every conference, drawing thousands each summer. The milestone anniversary provided the perfect moment to showcase camp ministry at the session in St. Louis where leaders from around the world are learning about the North American approach to summer camps with cabins, lakes, and weeklong stays.

Camps continue to be one of the most effective evangelistic tools in the church’s youth portfolio. “We see more decisions for Jesus in two months at summer camps than in any other youth ministry program,” Wood said. In 2023, more than 22,000 campers attended resulting in more than 7,000 decisions for Christ. Many camp staff also commit to baptism or rebaptism during the season.

Beyond summer fun, the camps have become sacred spaces where children and teens first choose to follow Jesus and where lifelong friendships and careers in ministry often begin. A 2012 study found that 83 percent of NAD denominational employees once worked at a summer camp.

“This is holy ground for so many people,” Wood said. “It’s fitting that for the first time ever, we’re telling the story of Adventist camps right here at a GC Session where the whole world church can celebrate what God has done.”

— Debbie Michel is communication director for the Lake Union Conference and editor of the Lake Union Herald.

Camps at GC Session Exhibit Hall — During a break from the crowds at the 2025 GC Session exhibit hall, Armando Miranda Jr., an NAD associate director for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, and Club Ministries director, gives the photographer the "thumbs up" on how well the exhibit is doing. Photo by Katie Fellows

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Adventist Camps Mark 100 Years with First General Conference Session Exhibit in the North American Division Booth

For the first time, Adventist camp ministry is being featured with a dedicated exhibit at the General Conference (GC) Session, highlighting 100 years of summer camps shaping young lives. Tracy Wood, Youth Ministries director for the North American Division, said this year marks a century since Adventist camps began in 1925 in Australia, with the second recorded camp held a year later in Michigan. “It started with boys by a lake learning about nature and earning honor badges long before Pathfinders even existed,” Wood said. “Now it’s a global ministry.”

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