Kathy Potter is the Camps and Retreats Registrar for the Iowa Annual Conference, a position she has held for eleven years. She recently talked about the 2013 season and the experiences she has had with camps and retreats over the years.
“The 2013 season is going awesome – we’re getting lots of registrations.” she said. “There’s a lot of interest and there’s still lots of room,” she added.
On the day that we talked she said that she had had a busy day. “The phone’s gone crazy…I’ve registered over 40 young people already this morning. That’s a really good day!”
Looking at the registrations for this season Kathy said, “we had a slow start but things are picking up at Okoboji and Pictured Rocks and Wesley Woods is ahead of itself.” In short, she said of the registrations, “Yeah!”
She has a thought about the positive momentum in the Camping and Retreats programs this year. “It’s because Rev. David Hobbs has been out to a lot of churches visiting with people, and so have the site directors. They’ve spoken with Christian educators, the young people, parents, and pastors.”
This is Kathy’s eleventh summer as Registrar. Over the years “there have been several new camping and retreats directors. I’ve seen new site directors come and go. Our buildings have gotten better. We’ve built new buildings. We’ve added new horses and new go-karts. We’ve refurbished Pictured Rocks. How we register is different.”
Kathy’s rallying cry is, “Let’s Go to Camp!” “That’s something I say all the time,” she noted. “I want every child to be able to go to camp. Camp is such a wonderful place. The youth get to be in God’s nature – they get to be out in the woods, out at the lake, and in the caves.”
Ultimately, she said, the “young people get to have a little ‘Jesus time,’ which is very important for our children because they’re the future. If we don’t make it possible for them to experience some of these things, they’re really missing out on something. Our camps are wonderful and our site directors are such great people. We have a lot to offer – I believe that with all my heart…I really do!”
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