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“We were excited to host a camp where the curriculum was developed by and aligned with Methodists in Missouri! We also appreciated how the counselors and directors were intentional about directing children to the local church for follow-up discipleship and ministry. I loved the different tracks that catered to the kid’s interest. We will definitely have Ignite back in 2022.”

- Ignite Host Church, First UMC St. Charles

As a first year parent, everything exceeded our expectations, from the enthusiastic welcome in the parking lot to the growth we saw in our son after a week at Eagle Lake Camp. Thumbs up!

- A Camper’s Parent

Your camp is exceptional and each one of our kids has loved coming. Our youngest can't wait until he's old enough next summer. We appreciate your partnership in raising up children to know and love Jesus!! Thank you!!

- A Camper’s Parent

The two campers I sent were my grandchildren who have been taught nothing about Jesus in their home. They come from a fairly tough home life. They were loved and cared for while they were at Eagle Lake. The kids had some pretty tough issues that the counselors dealt with in an amazing way. By the end of the week the kids were saying the name of Jesus and knew the scriptures. A seed has been planted. Thank you so much!

- A Camper’s Grandmother

Eagle Lake really hit the ball out of the park with this camp. The counselors (and their constant energy) were fabulous, and all the fun activities such as the water slides, bungee trampoline jump, games, etc. had them begging to come back.

- A Parent from Eureka UMC

I saw a noticeable difference in how my kids acted and behaved after the camp - a change for the better. I'm seeing them reading their bibles more and treating others better than before.

- A Parent From Concord Trinity

I learned how to play in a team. I am thankful for bringing it, cause it was fun and encouraging bible study. The best too was all the activities that we do are so fun specially [sic] the water slide and I made new friends. THANK YOU for making my week the best.

- 7 Year Old Camper

Working for Eagle Lake is great, because I get to be a part of a team that wants to show campers the love of Christ, and when the church takes that next step it reminds me that we are all working towards the same goal. This past summer, I saw those same goals in every church! I saw the want to continue to invest in the community. Every year I come back to Missouri, I see communities grow. I see the same campers invested in their own growth with the Lord. I believe we are starting to see change through communities all over the state.

- Nathan Sayed, Eagle Lake Track Leader

I go to Aurora United Methodist and we loved having Eagle Lake here!  I helped out as a crew member, we had a group bible study that included our Jr High and High School students.  We enjoyed having them here.  I'm a freshman, but those five days of camp have changed my life and I am so grateful.  In those short 5 days, I got to see a kid gain the confidence to pray out loud, and even gain more confidence myself to dance and sing in front of a little over 100 people. This camp has changed so many lives, and so many more to come.

- Brian Smith, Aurora UMC

Why do I return to Kamp? "It's more for the love of others. It's easy to go somewhere just because you can but you won't really achieve or learn anything by doing so. To go somewhere you love and are loved by those who understand you and can relate, that's a treasure. By going to a place like that you learn from others and , in turn, they learn from you. "

- Keanu Elliott

The number one question we received at camp was “What about this Bible?”  We gave away over 20 Bibles at camp.  We had one little girl who came, and her friend’s mom came and talked to me.  She said that her daughter was embarrassed because she had to borrow her grandmother’s bible for camp, and it was awful because it had all these old words in it.  Not only did we give her a Bible, but we gave her little brother a Bible as well.  And I just loved it because they had been coming to Upward Basketball but had never come to church.  It wasn’t until after camp that they felt confident in doing that.  

- Kim Mertz, Concord Trinity

(A particular child that attended camp) probably has emotional defiant behavior issues.  Because of that he gets picked on a lot and is bullied a lot.  So, that week he was getting bullied a lot and was causing behavioral issues for their group.  Daily, I would have to talk to him and talk to the counselors to try to figure out what to do.  But one afternoon near the end of the day, something had happened. I and a counselor sat down and talked with the child about this tree in our playground.  We talked to him and we talked about God.  I can’t even remember what was said, but since then he has come back every Sunday.  And nights (Saturdays) when his mom works, he asks to come spend the night with us.  His mom told us that “he had never experienced God like that.”  He still always wants to go back to that one tree.  

- UMC Children’s director

(A child that attended camp) goes to a charismatic church, but children aren’t encouraged to dance. He loves to dance.  So (at camp) he’s dancing and doing flips, and he’d never be able to do flips at his church.  Not only was dancing encouraged, but all of the campers were cheering him on as he’s doing all of these things.  He came home and couldn’t stop talking about camp and everything he learned: “God is with me!  And most important, we’re supposed to respect others!”  It was interesting to see it all through his eyes.  

- Pastor Adrienne, St. Andrew UMC

There was one day we were coming out of camper rally, and there was a kid that was having a hard time. So, his counselor went out into the lobby with him.  They were kind of over off to the side, and he was kind of leaning over the kid.  I wanted to see if something was wrong, so I went over.  (The counselor) had found a random piece of paper and a pen that only worked half-way, and he was drawing a picture of a cross and the kid was intently watching.  The kid was looking at him up in the eyes and having that conversation, and it was in a moment when everyone was filing out of camper rally.  But who cares?  They started that conversation, and the other counselor would get the kids back to their room while he finished it.  I saw a lot of those conversations all throughout the week.  All of those little conversations were the best thing about camp.

- Sarah DeClue, La Croix

We have some new neighbors next door to us - a young family, mom and dad in their 30s and two girls. We had gotten to know them over the last year-and-a-half, and I had invited them to church. They never came to church, but they came to camp. So, the girls came to camp and each night when my wife and I got back home around 7, their whole family would be outside, and they would come over to our house and talk about camp for an hour. We talked about things like: ‘I didn’t know church was fun!’ ‘We didn’t realize you could dance or jump up and down in church.’ It has kinda opened the door for them to come back to church.

- A happy family