Y

News from the Lodge

es, I realize that it is really March and 
 technically not winter, but it still sort of 
 looks like it around Gander Brook. The

picture above was taken in the second week

of March. Life just gets busy sometimes; I

know you

understand. The

good news is

that it is

technically

spring and with

spring comes the beginnings of serious

preparation for Gander Brook’s next great

summer season. I’m getting excited just

writing about it!

With that in mind we thought we’d update

you with News from the Lodge. 


DATES AND FEES FOR THIS YEAR

The dates and camper fees for this

year have been set. The dates for junior

weeks will be June 29 through July 27. The

camper fee for

these weeks will

be $395 per

week. Senior

session (yes, I

said session, not

weeks) will be July 27 through August 8. We

got such great response from those who

came for Senior Session that we brought it

back for an encore. Like last year, the dates

encompass more than a week to offer a

better, deeper Gander Brook experience for

our teen campers. Fee for this session will be

$525 for the whole 12 day session.

T h e G a n d e r B r o o k N e w s l e t t e r • W i n t e r 2 0 1 9

REGISTRATION

This year we are using for the first time an

online registration system called CampDoc

(campdoc.org). There are many advantages

to the camper and his/her family, but there

are two really important ones. 1) Families

can pay camper fees online over several

months before the season, rather than

paying fees all at one time in one big

lump. 2) All data is stored on CampDoc’s

secure (HIPPA compliant) online servers,

so that once you’ve entered your child’s

information, you don’t have to re-enter that

same registration data year after year; you

just make any appropriate changes (for

example, phone changes, medication

changes, etc.). These and other advantages

will help make the camping experience

much more affordable, convenient, and

secure for the campers, campers’ families,

and our camp staff. Check everything out

at app.campdoc.com/register/gander

GETTING READY FOR SUMMER CAMPING

Getting camp ready for another season of

“Faith, Fun, and Friendship” takes lots of

effort, energy, and time. The board of

directors has been working hard at staffing

the 2019 season with great directors,

counselors, nurses, teachers, cooks, and

canteen and laundry personnel. This

includes a tons of finding, vetting, and

hiring work. Then there are those on the

board (and beyond) who help get the

infrastructure up and running: water,

security, internet, bills, maintenance, and

more.

And then, we want to give a special word

of gratitude to all those who put in an

enormous amount of work to get

everything ready for the kids.

http://campdoc.orghttp://app.campdoc.com/register/ganderhttp://campdoc.orghttp://app.campdoc.com/register/gander

Did you know that there is a group that

comes up over the Memorial Day

weekend to get the water system up and

running? A work weekend is planned for

the up-coming Memorial Day weekend.

There will be folks at camp and basic

resources, water and food, available from

Friday afternoon until Monday morning. At

this time the list of work projects is

unknown, but will develop as our camp

opening work progresses. There will

always be lawn mowing, some plumbing,

cabin cleaning, shower house cleaning

and sports equipment set-up. We are

encouraging church members to come to

camp for one or more days to help get

camp ready for the campers at the end of

June. The contacts for this work week-end

are Brad Shaw, (bshaw6@maine.rr.com),

Matt Sampson, (sampson84@hotmail.com)

and Brian Welch, (bwelch@metrocast.net) .

Brian Welch and Matt Sampson oversee

getting the work projects (like leak repair,

hot water tanks, etc.) Brad Shaw, (207)

272-8530, will be our organizer. It will be

more rustic than usual, with grass up to

your knees and probably a mouse or two

scurrying around. There’ll be no child care

and any teens that come should expect to

work. Charlie Harrison has volunteered to

feed whatever crew comes up to help us

get things going. Spiritual events will all be

spontaneous, except for a Sunday morning

worship service. If you can lend a hand to

this crucial reboot of camp, get in touch

with Brad. Come for a day or come for the

whole weekend; your help will be greatly

appreciated.

And then there are those who come to

Work and Worship Week. Anyone who’s

come to WWW knows how much there is

to be done and how much we depend on

these folks — men and women, boys and

girls, young and old — to get camp

cleaned up and functional for the

wonderful, transformative work of Gander

Brook Christian Camp, “Alerting our youth

to abundant living”. We’re hoping you’ll

join us this year at WWW.

L

Postings from the President ately I’ve been giving a a great deal of
 thought to the mission of Gander Brook. The “Who are we and what are we about?” kind of questions.

If a general poll were taken about this essential question, a lot of different answers would be given. As board president I’ve done a quite a bit of listening to people about what they think it is now and what they think it should be; and believe me when I tell you that the suggestions have run the gamut from very thoughtful to very agenda-driven. But what was Gander Brook started for?

Gander Brook’s earliest brochures used the motto “Alerting our youth to abundant

living”, and that’s a pretty good summary that remains relevant to this day. Because mottos need to be succinct and memorable, it doesn’t contain a lot detail; but it does point to our true north.

Gander Brook’s primary mission is to our youth. Like adults, our youth are bombarded with distractions, social pressures, temptations to sin, and more — yet without the experience and the emotional and spiritual

tools that adults have gathered over the years. So, Gander Brook’s mission is first of all to our kids.

But more, it is also to alert them to “abundant living”. This is a reference to Jesus’

description (John 10:10) of the life He offers to all who follow Him. And for the past 60 seasons (2019 will be 61) Gander Brook has provided a wholesome, fun spot to nurture Christian faith and values in the midst of God’s great natural creation. From the days of the first Gander Brook in Jackman ME to the present campus in Raymond ME, Gander Brook’s natural and spiritual environment has made it a haven from the usual “noise” of electronica, negative peer pressure, and moral confusion of the world.

“Alerting our youth to abundant living” is a great deal of what has made Gander Brook uniquely great, and a virtual “must” to send our kids to for over three generations among churches of Christ in New England — and beyond.

Something new for this year!

ids love robots!! And this year we’ll be 
 giving the campers of our 2nd week

(July 6—13). This will be so much fun!!

Taught by Dr. Jon White of Harding University, the campers will learn the basics of

robotics:

• how robots move

• how they think

• and how they sense the world

Campers will make robotic creations using

Lego Mindstorms, and

will also learn the

basics of computer

programming using an Arduino Microprocessor. They’ll even get to

make a game using the Arduino microprocessor that they will get

to keep!

Dr. White served Gander Brook as an assistant director in

the early 2000’s and has continued to have an active interest in

Gander Brook and

mission works around

the world. He’s

married and has three

children, which he’ll be bringing along this

summer. Some of these pictures are from similar

camp programs in Bangkok.

K

CCounselors 2019… ounselors really help make the camp experience for the campers. We know this and 
 work hard to bring the very best of the best — young people who are spiritual, 
 mature, fun, responsible, friendly, and strong Christian leaders.

Female 

Lindsay Bitgood Ohio Valley University

Summer Burmeister Harding University

Abby Feenstra Harding University

Lindsey Froneberger Harding University

Morgan Richardson Harding University

Sydney Sanford Harding University

Esther Sears To be decided

Gabby Seibert Harding University

Paden Shelburne Harding University

Audrey VanDyke Oklahomas Christian University

Male

Noah Clark Lipscomb University

Caleb Lowe Harding University

Nick Gianferante Harding University

Tanner Holloway Harding University

Tim Holloway Harding University

Braden Mathews Harding University

Ben Moore Harding University

Hunter Shaw Harding University

Eric Traughber Harding University

Matt Villanueva University of Rhode Island

Ministry to the Churches

Gander Brook is mostly about the kids, but

it is also about the churches of Christ of

New England. We have a full slate of wonderful opportunities to get together with brothers and sisters

from all over New England to be encouraged and

lifted up. What’s coming up for this camping season

that you could be planning to come to? In order of

appearance…

W O R K A N D W O R S H I P W E E K

The dates will be June 22-28 this year, this year’s speaker will be Jason Darden. He

is currently the Minister of the Parkway Church of Christ in Savannah Georgia.

As always, the ‘fee” for the day or the week boils down to whatever your groceries

might cost for you (and your family) at home. WWW is a family-friendly week featuring

things like children’s classes in the mornings (to allow parents to work undistracted), a

movie night, and an evening campfire gathering.

I hope that you can join us for Work and Worship Week this year. The dates are the

afternoon of June 23rd until the morning of the 29th, the first day of camp. As always the

camp is in need of TLC in order to make it safe and welcoming for the children who will

be attending through the summer. We rely heavily upon your donation of time to help with

the following:

Cabin cleaning

Light landscaping like mowing and clearing brush

Minor cabin repair

Spraying and removal of insects, ticks and spiders

Ministry to the Churches (continued)

Staining the Director Cabin

In gratitude Camp Ganderbrook will provide sleeping

quarters, three fine cooked meals a day and an evening speaker.

We do ask for a donation regarding the food so that we can

continue to offer a quality affordable camping experience to our

children.

The speaker this year will be Jason Darden. The series

topic:  “Never Quit” — a series to encourage everyone to stay

the course in their walk of faith.  Life is full of challenges,

disappointments, hardships, pain and discouragement.  Jesus

gives us the ability to never quit!

Jason is the preaching minister of the Parkview church of Christ in Savannah,

Georgia. Jason delivered such a well received series last year that the camp director, Shawn

Daggett asked him to return.Labor Day Weekend

L A B O R D A Y W E E K E N D

The dates of Labor Day and GB weekend will be August 30—Sept. 2. This weekend

will be spearheaded by Garrett Alexander again this year. Speakers and special events are

being planned now, so look for more information in the coming days. In the meantime,

contact Garrett at GAMoses12@hotmail.com or (857) 294-0005 to register or for more

information.

L A D I E S ’ R E T R E A T

The States planning it are Eastern MA (East of Springfield) and Rhode Island; the

Coordinator/Contact is Lori Whalley (Fall River church)

Contact info… 
 (401) 499-4371        
 Loridoyle316@yahoo.com  

Jason Darden

mailto:GAMoses12@hotmail.commailto:GAMoses12@hotmail.com

Ministry to the Churches (continued)

Speakers:  This part is still a work in progress. The plan is to have five speakers, all local NE

women.  So far, Linda Saffle of Cape Cod, MA;  Deanna Chavez of Kent Cty., RI;  and

Nancy Mullen of Fall River, MA have been secured.

Theme: “The Joy of the Lord” — There will be a lot of focus on personal testimonies of the

great things the Lord has done in salvation and answered prayer. All should be prepared for

a 10-second testimony (“Burst of Joy”) which may be asked for during the retreat.

Trying something different:  The talent show will be called The Variety Show and we will

have it on Thursday night. 

Child policy basically:  Sisters bringing children, will be housed in cabins in boys’ area

which will be designated for moms & kids. If women without kids from their church elect

to go with mom-friends into moms-with-kids cabin,

they may. This is to provide quiet in the dorm and

girls’ cabins area, and also to allow for women to

have sharing time about adult issues if they choose.

M E N ’ S R E T R E A T

The eastern MA and RI men are organizing

this year’s retreat; we can’t wait!! Chris Swinford will

be speaking for us: “Get Ready, Get Set, Let's Grow!

— Keys to church growth for struggling

congregations in today's world.” The focus will be on

dealing with what we can fix, rather than what we

can’t. You’re going to love every minute of it.

Some men’s retreat traditions of yesteryear

will coming back, like the Mountain Man

Competition, Frisbee Golf Tournament, and State

Reports.

The dates are Sept. 19—21; mark it down in your calendar now, get the time off,

and make your plans to join us. This will be simply too good to miss!!

Chris Swinford

A

Dorm Update Report…

s we reported in the last newsletter, 
 we’ve put the new dorm project on 
 hold until our board and the new

treasurer get a good grasp and review of our

budget for 2019. This, we are estimating,

will probably happen by the end of this

summer’s season.

Following that budget evaluation, the

expectation is that we will take the dorm

project off hold and press on with this

needed replacement. We hope that all our

very generous donors will be patient with us

while we move forward with an appropriate

mixture of due prudence and faith.

While we have the great majority of

the money needed to replace our old dorm,

we could still use donations. If you are able

to help us in this important improvement to

the camp’s facilities, please send

checks to…

Gander Brook Christian Camp 
℅ Park Linscomb
66 Mammoth Rd.
Manchester NH 03109

OR… contribute online at

www.ganderbrook.org/retreat-house/

In the meantime, please pray for us

and the success of this project, so that

camp will be able to continue to

serve young people and the churches

of Christ of New England for years to

come.

Ye olde dorm

Highlights of the Board Meeting

T he Board met for our January meeting 
 to discuss upcoming plans for the coming season.

The camp is now utilizing the CampDoc

system to streamline our registration process

and help camper families budget as they

prepare for summer camp expenses. We

have received good feedback from some

families who are already registering their

kids for camp. We are looking to see if this

would be something that would be a benefit

to other areas of camp, such as Work and

Worship week and the September retreats.

Plans are going well for staffing the camp

for the summer session for Gander Brook’s

61st summer season. There are still a few

slots available for serving in the kitchen,

teaching, nursing, canteen and laundry. If

you’d like to volunteer for the kitchen, call

Charlie Harrison (207) 522-3751; for

teaching call Jay Repecko (603) 513-9459;

for canteen call (978) 632-0099; for nursing

call Julie Baither (207) 400-2470.

Churches will soon be receiving a flyer

about this year’s Work and Worship Week.

We not only need your personal help during

Work and Worship Week, but there is

always a need for people to come during

the summer session to help with lawn and

other maintenance. If you are interested in

coming up to help out in any way, please

make sure you call our director, Shawn,

since we are always tight on housing

accommodations during the week.

Scott Delbaugh is our Special Camping

director. If your congregation is interested

in a weekend retreat during non-camping

times, give him a call to see about time

availability. (Scotts phone?)

Wes Plybon and Jason Young were elected

as new Board members. We now have 22

members on the board.

As for new summer activities, we have

asked John White of Harding University to

come to camp and provide his Robotics

program to a limited number of campers.

We’ll have more details about that as the

summer approaches.

Help Support Gander Brook While Shopping Online

D id you know that you can have .5% 
 of all of your online purchases with Amazon go to Gander Brook Christian

Camp? This doesn’t seem like much but

through a few simple clicks, you can

recover some of what you normally spend

on Amazon and direct it to one of our

favorite causes, Christian camping! Here’s

how to do this the next time you shop.

Go to smile.amazon.com

Login with your normal user name and

password for Amazon.

In the search window for “Or pick your

own charitable organization” enter

“Gander Brook Christian Camp Inc” and

click on “Search.”

Then simply click “SELECT”

If you shop on Amazon, each time you do either bookmark or remember to enter

smile.amazon.com. You are not charged any extra, it costs you nothing and a portion of

Amazon’s profits will be directed to our camp.

Thanks for helping Gander Brook!

Memorial Day Boot Up May 24-27 ..................

Work and Worship Week June 22-28 ................

Regular Camping Season Begins June 29 .....

Week 1 June 29—July 6 ........................................

Week 2 July 6—13 ........................................

Week 3 July 13—20 ........................................

Week 4 July 20—27 ........................................

Senior Session Begins July 27—August 8 ......................

Labor Day Weekend August 30—Sept. 2 ........................

Gander Brook Ladies’ Retreat Sept. 12—14 ..........

Gander Brook Men’s Retreat Sept. 19—21............

Quick References for Gander Brook Dates…

Our Back Pages N o s t a l g i a C o r n e r

Send in your favorite pictures and stories about Gander Brook. 
We’ll share with “Gander Brook Nation”

Counseling staff from the late 70’s…how many can you name?

A motley crew…do you know them?