Third session invites youth ages 9-18 to come together for a spirit-filled week of camp.  Since we have a larger age range, it allows for families with multiple ages of children to attend camp together. This is traditionally Silver Maple Camp’s largest session which makes for fantastic singing and devotional time.  Youth are split by age groups during classes and mixed like families during various activities.  Third session has a strong staff of adult counselors, many of which are former campers or parents of campers.

In 2024 we are reminded that this world is not our home and that being uncomfortable is how you should feel while living in it.  We will be looking at different Bible stories that demonstrate that your comfort level is not the right measure for following God’s will.  We need to trust his word and his promises over the “feeling” of being right in this world.  Daily we will be challenged to think of what we want to do and compare it with what God wants us to do.  Our week-end goal is to get campers to continue to consider this in their lives as they leave camp- living in this world, but not being of this world.

Note from the director:

In addition to modest dress, 3rd session has a tradition of dressing up for worship each night.  Believe it or not, this is actually a tradition that most of our campers love. For some campers, this provides a great opportunity to update those social media pictures with their camp friends around the lake. For some of our younger campers, well, let’s be honest, it’s a great way to make sure they are cleaned up at least once a day. “Dress up” will mean something different to everyone.  At a basic level it might mean jeans and a collared shirt but dresses and ties are often broken out by our seasoned veterans.  We suggest that you bring several options and join in the fun.

Phones, cameras, tablets and computers are not needed at camp.  There is very little cell service in the area and internet access is not granted to campers.  With the cabins full of campers and limited tables to set things on, these kinds of things have a very good chance of getting stepped on and damaged.  The camp is not responsible for the care of personal items.  With that being said, we also recognize that campers love to use their phone cameras and we don’t want to take away all of their opportunities to take pictures with their friends.  There are times that phones will be allowed to come out and times for them to be put away.  Staff will go over those times with the campers.  On a side note, phones will not be considered a Bible during the week of camp so each camper still needs to bring a paper Bible. If you are unable to bring a Bible, please let us know ahead of time and we will make sure we have one ready for you when you get to camp.

Find out more specifics as our session draws near on our session-specific Facebook page.  This is also a great way to see the camp activities during the week as staff will be posting pictures every day. https://www.facebook.com/groups/378238812201376