I had the privilege last week of speaking at the evening chapel to 8th and 9th grade boys for the seventh and final week of summer camp at Elohim Bible Camp and Retreat Center (aka “Camp Elohim”) which is located near Bull Lake 15 miles south on Highway 56 (the “Bull Lake Road”) in northwest Montana. The camp theme for the summer was “Joint heirs with Christ” from Romans 8:16,17. 

     It all began in the spring of 1978. Ellis (Al) and Ida Stewart, who attended the church I pastored, Three Lakes Community Bible Church, had a passion for ministering to children and youth so donated seven acres of their property for a Bible camp. (They later donated another seven acres).  We took the name “Elohim” for the camp from the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Elohim, one of the primary names for God in the Old Testament (along with Yahveh and Adonai), means “The strong, faithful, covenant-keeping God. (NOTE: We also had a friend who was attending Elohim Bible Institute in New York).

       In March, as soon as the snow melted, we (folks from Three lakes and from Faith Bible Church in Libby) began piling and burning brush and clearing places for a kitchen-cafeteria and for tent sites.  With lots of volunteer help, we managed to start camp the first part of July. It was a bit “rustic,” with big army tents to house the campers and outhouses for bathrooms. Wooden pallets made from 2x2s served as places for campers to lay out their sleeping bags. We prepared an outdoor chapel on a hillside, a campfire site, and washstand facility. A young couple, Steve and Pam Rodgers,  from our home Bible study in Libby, donated a trailerhouse to use as a bookstore and snack shack. A missionary couple, Kit and Lorraine Hardy (with Rocky Mountain Bible Mission), donated a homemade log camper to use as a nurse’s station. Water initially came to the outdoor washstand and nearby kitchen from a spring at the base of the mountain behind camp. “Fister Electric” from Missoula (Gale Fister was president of Rocky Mountain Bible Mission) ran power from the highway to camp in a trench dug by Marshall Warrington who lived nearby at Angel Island. The water and power were hooked up the same day. 

     Ida Stewart and Bertha Olson from nearby “Little Joe” headed up the kitchen crew. Lorraine Hardy served as our camp nurse. Irene Kutz, Kathy’s mom ran the bookstore.  Lots of folks from Three Lakes and some from RMBM helped with classes and crafts.  I taught the evening chapels. One evening as I was speaking, I watched a very large black bear wander into the boys’ tent which was located about 50 yards above the chapel! 

     My wife, Kathy, and I traveled to nearby Bible schools such as Inland Empire School of the Bible in Spokane, Washington and Multnomah Bible School in Portland, Oregon to recruit teachers and counselors for camp. They came for the months of June and July. In June we held vacation Bible schools in many rural areas of Northwest Montana. We would transport two teachers to each of various sites for a week and then bring them back to Libby for the weekend. Then the teachers spent the first week of July at the Bible camp preparing lessons for the upcoming camps and also doing work on the camp. They also had an opportunity to do some hiking and recreating in the surrounding area during the week. Initially we held only three weeks of camp (plus a family camp over Labor Day weekend), but as attendance grew that soon expanded to the current seven weeks. Many groups now also rent the camp for a week and hold their own Bible camp programs. Elohim also holds a women’s retreat and men’s retreat and sometimes a family camp. Elohim has also hosted a Bible Training Center for Pastors. 

      Needless to say, after its 47 years of operation, Elohim has ministered to thousands of young people as well as adults and only eternity will tell the spiritual impact this has had on lives (not only of the campers, but also of the staff).  Some of the first counselors we had at camp ended up marrying another counselor and many ended up in full-time ministry as pastors and missionaries. Among them are Marty and Jeanette Windle who spent many years as missionaries in Bolivia and then Marty served as president of The Bible Club Movement (which became Bible Centered Ministries) with a team of some 750 or so missionaries worldwide. Jeanette also became a prolific writer of Christian novels and children’s stories and traveled across the globe giving writing seminars.  Steve and  Brenda Fawcett and Grey and Katie Repke who also counseled at Elohim early on, served for many years at Rocky Mountain Bible Mission churches in Montana. Among other couples who both counseled at camp were Russ Bean and Leah (Sampson) who spent their lives teaching and mentoring young people in Priest River, Idaho.  We had the privilege recently of being part of a celebration of Leah’s Homegoing. 

     For the first five years of its history, Elohim was run primarily by folks from Three Lakes Community Bible Church and I served as director. Then in 1983, we turned the camp over to Rocky Mountain Bible Mission for whom we had been serving as missionaries beginning in the spring of 1974. Since then the camp has had three different full-time directors. Clyde Miller, Warren Edson and now Landon (and Nicole) Marcott. The camp, instead of several big army tents, now has six cabins with bunk beds, bathrooms and showers, staff housing, a camp store and nurses station and activity building . And, Lord willing, this fall, the cafeteria will undergo a much-needed expansion. 

     I wish the Stewarts could take a peek and see what has become of their vision for youth ministry! That vision and their generosity has resulted in many transformed lives and many dedicated servants in God’s Kingdom. 

Forever His,

Pastor Dave N.