John's River Valley Camp is an outdoor ministry facility operated by the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ. The camp is located in rural Colletsville, NC just west of Lenoir. The camp comprises of approximately 300 acres of forrest in a valley cut by the Johns River. The camp includes a mile section of the river and is bordered on two sides by the Pisgah National Forrest Land. The main site includes nine cabins (without bathrooms), two seperate bath house facilities, a kitchen/dining hall, a recreation buildiing, twelve camper hook ups, two outdoor chapels, the Mt. Zion cabin (which does have bathrooms). The camp also has an outpost site that consists of four A-frame cabins, an activity shelter, a worship area, a covered cooking area and latrines. This site is primitive without drinking water or electricity.
We will be visiting John's River Camp this year March 26th through the 28th. This is the 7th year that our group has attended this retreat. This was the first retreat that Melissa and I took the youth on when we took over the group and we've been going on this retreat every year ever since. This retreat is a favorite amongst the youth because we organize and plan the whole trip. We allow enough flexibilty in the schedule that if we are enjoying an activity we'll run over time and if there is an activity that doesn't work out as a planned we can move on.
Upon arriving at the camp, everyone gets settled, eats then we meet for a welcome session, do a few ice breakers so that everyone feels more comfortable then we pass out a weekend journal. This journal includes an outline of the weekends schedule, kitchen schedule, group discussion topics and bible study.Each year we develop a theme for the retreat. Past themes have included: "The Neverending Story" the parables of Jesus, Famous people of the Old Testament, Defining Love, The Book of Judges and A Biblical look at "Forrest Gump". This year's theme will be based on the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". The discussion topics, bible studies and devotional time are all centered around the weekends theme.
Other activites that the youth enjoy are playing basketball, ping-pong, wading in the river and going on nature walks. The final night of the retreat all of the youth gather down by the river where a camp fire has been built and while they eat chocolate smores we all share what we liked the most about the weekend. Sunday morning after breakfast we have Sunday School in the dining hall then go to one of the outside chapels to have a church service. This is one of the most special times of the weekend. It is truly a unique experience to worship God amongst friends, with the birds chirping in the background and the babbling brook serving as your organ. The past couple of years we have used this time to have each youth stand up, read a bible verse then give their interpretation of what they feel God is trying to tell us. Our attendance is usually between 25-35 youth.
John's River Valley Camp is an outdoor ministry facility operated by the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ. The camp is located in rural Colletsville, NC just west of Lenoir. The camp comprises of approximately 300 acres of forrest in a valley cut by the Johns River. The camp includes a mile section of the river and is bordered on two sides by the Pisgah National Forrest Land.