High School Summer Camp: Ponderosa
Overview
Ponderosa also known as “Pondy!” is our flagship camp at Hume Lake for high school students. One of the many things we love about Hume Lake is the opportunity to get away from the busyness and distractions that young people face on a daily basis and have an incredible camp experience. When you come to Pondy, you will hear the gospel preached, be challenged through scripture, engage in sweet worship through music and get some time alone and with your church to process what God did in your life up here at camp. Hume Lake takes pride in its high energy recreation allowing kids to be kids. That includes things like playing in the mud, running the gauntlet, doing the bike jump, and dominating in Kajabe Kan Kan. If you allow it, a week at Ponderosa can and will change your life forever. We look forward to seeing you this summer!
Dates and Speakers
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Speaker:Dan Palmer
A graduate of UCLA and Talbot Seminary, Dan is currently the Team Pastor at Creekside Church in Roseville, CA. He believes that when people come in contact with Jesus they are transformed by his love, peace and joy and enter into an exciting and challenging Christian life. Dan has dedicated his life to leading people closer to Jesus.
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Speaker:Shawn McBride
Shawn’s unique style, humor and energy make him one of the most requested speakers for youth retreats, conference, revivals, public school assemblies, and seminars both here and abroad. Shawn has over a decade of experience in ministering to young people. He is happily married to Dana Michelle and is the proud father of five children.
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Speaker:Danny Strange
Danny Strange currently serves as the Student Ministries Pastor at Neighborhood Church in Castro Valley, California, where he has worked in various positions over the past eight years. Danny received his Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 2002 and his Master’s of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2006. Danny lives in Castro Valley with his wife of five years (Jessica) and two sons (Jackson and Carter).
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Speaker:Josh Riebock
Josh is a gifted communicator and leader who knows how to make the message of Jesus connect with those who feel far from God, while challenging Christ followers to live passionately for God. His pertinent message coupled with a life that reflects the character and nature of Jesus Christ makes Josh a speaker worthy of your attention.
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Speaker:Steve Salomon
Steve oversees the High School ministry, as well as being one of the teaching pastors, at Rancho Community Church in Temecula, CA. He has been married to Colleen for 15 years and has two boys, Zack 10 and Josh 9.
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Speaker:Brent Eldridge
Brent Eldridge is the Lead Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Lakewood in Long Beach, California. He loves hanging out with people, encouraging leaders, figuring things out, sharing his faith, and teaching God’s Word. Brent is a graduate of The Master’s College and Trinity Theological Seminary. He and his wife Kristin, along with their three young children (Jake, Cooper and Jillian), live in Long Beach
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Speaker:Chris Brown
Chris Brown is one of the Senior Pastors at North Coast Church in Vista, California, and one of two Teaching Pastors. Along with being on the vision casting team, and providing directional leadership for the church, he also oversees both Student Ministries and the Edge Video Venue. Chris loves bringing the Bible to life with his gifts as a communicator and storyteller, but most evident in his teaching is his passion for sharing a real and authentic journey with Jesus. Chris and his wife Amy have three children, two beautiful daughters, Sayla and Karis, and a son, Barak. They plan as a family to stay involved in teaching, ministries, and fishing for as long as humanly possible.
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Speaker:Brad Bell
Brad is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently the Senior Pastor of The Well Community Church in Fresno, California. He is a great communicator that brings the truth of God’s word to motivate you to a heart of worship through the truth. Brad’s passion is for the transformation of lives.
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Speaker:P.J. Lewis
P.J. and his wife Sheri have been coming up to Hume since 1994. P.J. is currently teaching/counseling pastor at Hilltop Community Church in Carson City, NV.
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Speaker:Chuck Bomar
After serving for almost 9 years as pastor of student ministries at Cornerstone in Simi Valley, Ca., Chuck Bomar is founding pastor of Colossae, in Portland Oregon. He’s founder of CollegeLeader (http://www.CollegeLeader.org), author of 99 Thoughts for College-age People, and College Ministry 101 (Zondervan) which is due to publish summer of ‘09. He and his wife Barbara have two daughters, Karis and Hope.
Learn More
Clear Gospel Message
The gospel isn’t merely one ingredient in our programming mix. It’s the reason for everything we do.
Hume speakers know teenagers as well as their bibles. They unwrap and animate God’s truth in ways that connect with students.
Students will hear the gospel of Jesus in chapels and talks, then wrestle with it in seminars, breakouts, and all those unscripted moments between youth pastors and students that a Hume Lake camping experience delivers.
Dynamic Worship
Indoor worship, outdoor worship, corporate worship, devotional worship.
Hume SD nurtures the attitude of worship from sunrise to sunset. Just step out of your cabin, and you can’t help but acknowledge God here in the midst of His majestic creation.
Personal quiet times, small-group prayer, our dawn patrol sunrise worship—you'll have plenty of options for exalting the lord. For listening to him, too. (It helps that distractions are few here—no phones or ipods, for instance.)
And our musicians are selected for their giftedness in bringing students into the presence of the lord.
Recreation
For an hour a day, we let kids be kids. We call it recreation.
The high-energy, innovative games at Hume Lake give campers an outlet for their energy, while providing counselors a chance to encourage team-building and leadership skills.
Game-winning teams are awarded points throughout the week, and on spirit day themed costumes multiply your points to give your team the cutting edge!
While all campers receive a free “rec” shirt, only the winning team gets the coveted “champion” shirt.
Theme
The theme is a creative and practical link between the fun, entertaining aspects of camp and our presentation of the gospel.
While we believe that the theme is a critical part of the camp experience, it is our desire that by the end of the week it becomes background to the biblical truths taught throughout the week.
The opener, the daily videos, the recreation team names, spirit day and the free camp dvd are some of the programming elements we use to capture campers attention, win their trust, and direct their focus to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Local Church Ministry
Let us agree on one thing: your youth pastor—not us or any other ministry resource provider—knows your youth group best.
We run camp in order to give youth pastors freedom to do what they do best—relate to students, listen, offer guidance, love. To that end, we free them up from the myriad details required for a successful, memorable camping experience—the programming, lodging, meals, recreation, speakers, music. They do enough of that anyway.
So this time, we'll do the footwork while your youth pastors ministers to your students. After all, when Jesus left this planet, he left behind a church, not a camp.
Pricing
Church Group Pricing
Camper $432
Counselor $149
No minimum group size required. Price includes meals, lodging, program, highlight DVD, and recreation T-shirt. Extra activities are available at additional cost or deposit. Camper to counselor ratio of 8 to 1 is requested per gender.
Individual Pricing
Camper $472
Price includes counselor, meals, lodging, program, highlight DVD, and recreation T-shirt. Extra activities are available at additional cost or deposit.
Theme
We live in a self-centered culture with an attitude of entitlement. From the decisions we make to the things we say, our lives reflect an abundance of "me." This "me-centered culture" is in opposition to II Corinthians 5:14-15 which says: "For Christ's love compels us, for we are convinced that one died for all therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again."
This summer we will address the "me-centered culture" of today's youth by challenging students to understand that we were bought with a price by the death of Christ and the life we live belongs to Him. We are called daily to selflessly submit to Christ. We are called to excuse ourselves out of the way so that God gets the glory. This summer we will learn what it means to Excusez-Mwa!?...
