Work Trip to Florida | GIC Conference 2023

Earlier this month our staff went down to Fort Myers, Florida for the mission conference held at McGregor Baptist Church. Each year, this church hosts all the missionaries (both domestic and international) they support for a weekend of refreshment and encouragement (more than 30 attended this year). Different Life Groups (think Sunday School classes if unfamiliar with that term) in the church “sponsor” each missionary and give them the opportunity to share about what God is doing in their ministry and ways that Life Group can be involved. To be a missionary on the receiving end of this is such a gift and is most encouraging.

Fort Myers was home to Marty and Patti for more than two decades and McGregor the launching church to send them off to begin Whisper Mountain Camp. When you return to what was once home, the number of people you want to see and reconnect with gets lengthy. But these connections do the heart good. So we booked our days full to see the most number of people possible in between the conference events.

Something we always come away with is the beauty of God’s orchestration of people throughout our whole lives for specific reasons. Friendships, supporters, volunteers, staff, prayer warriors, co-laborers. The Church as a whole is a beautiful thing when we function as we were intended to function. We saw many, many people see the work God is doing in teen’s lives at camp and get excited and desire to be a part in some way. That’s what makes our ministry so special: all the people who join the efforts to proclaim Christ.

We created this reel on Instagram if you’d like to take a quick peek at the conference!

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A post shared by Whisper Mtn Youth Camp (@whispermtn)

We are thankful to each person who made time to stop by our booth to hug us and visit with us or learn about us; for each person who made time to open their homes to us or made time to connect with us at coffee shops or restaurants. We are thankful for the Kreller Life Group who hosted us, listened to our presentation, opened their hearts and were overall super hospitable to encourage and provide for us. We are thankful for McGregor welcoming us to the conference and continuing their support of Whisper Mountain Camp.

If you are reading this, you are probably among those we consider part of the Whisper Mountain Family. Thank you for whatever way God has prompted you to be involved. We are glad you are here. We pray God blesses you immensely as you see Him through His work at Whisper Mountain Camp. We hope to see you soon!

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Author & iPhonography | Cassi

End of an Era | Meadow Haven

The end of an era has come here at camp. For the OG staff, it seems unbelievable that it can actually be so, but alas…things are changing around here. And it is good.

There is a side of camp most people never see. The side where we’ve always envisioned full time staff housing would be built. We currently have our garden and bees over there, and a small single wide trailer we affectionately call Meadow Haven that has housed volunteers, summer staff, and full time staff through the years.

We are grateful to have some locals come and help us clean our volunteer cabin (aka Creekside Cottage) and Meadow Haven after we have people stay in them. One day this fall while cleaning Meadow Haven, our friends asked if we’d ever be willing to sell the trailer. We knew at some point we’d want to, but this was always down the road in our minds. However, we knew their need and it seemed the opportunity was nudging us in the direction we knew we needed to go. The deal was done!

The sale was the easy part — moving the trailer was a whole other thing. The buyers had to work hard to find a trailer mover who could work in their timeline and budget. Once they made this happen, we then had to work with them on actually removing the trailer from the property. Our entrance doesn’t allow for a lot of wiggle room, what with the bridge on either side and then a mountain straight out front. The movers ended up having to actually remove one side of the bridge so the trailer could make the turn and clear the sign. Naturally, rain came about the same time they were supposed to move. They waited that out and gave a day to allow a little drying out, then finally they began the move. After a few ditches in the landscape and a bridge reassembly later, the trailer happily drove away to its new land where a young couple could settle in and make a home. We were thankful all went well for them.

Now we are able to begin clearing the space over on this side of the property and begin praying for God’s provision for staff housing for the future full time staff we are also praying for. We never know how God is going to move, but we rest assured He will — in His timing and in His way. We look forward to getting to share what His provision looks like in the months ahead!

Until then, may we all take a moment of silence to remember the legacy of….Meadow Haven. For those of you mourning this loss, just know, the memories will remain with you forever.

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Photography | iPhone pictures by Shaun and Marty
Author | Cassi

Gone Rogue

When a person makes a decision for Christ, he or she also makes a decision to turn away from the world, to Go Rogue.

I wanna talk about a different point of view, the point of me. I was a half-in, half-out Christian living in Godly moments and then slipping back into my worldly and fleshy behaviors. I had gone rogue on God, not rogue with Him. I was “lukewarm” and constantly felt torn between who I wanted to be and who the Lord wanted me to be.

This summer, Jesus pried my sin-filled eyes open, helping me see my sinful nature and just how much I needed to change. He helped me see the need to stay away from temptations and use His tools to remove stumbling blocks from my path. I realized what it meant to go fully, totally, completely rogue for the One who made me. I want to show Jesus that I want His will for my life and that I love Him. That I didn’t/don’t want a worldly lifestyle, I want Him. I find it difficult to leave a whole life behind, especially when the enemy is always dragging me down, making me believe I need certain things when they have no use. This causes me to lose focus and every one of my priorities shifts. Reading my Bible slides down to the bottom, praying feels like a chore, speaking becomes less and less edifying, and eventually I don’t even know what it means to be a Christian. Slipping so many times makes it easy to give up.

That’s the thing though, I gave up. God didn’t. I was sure that God was done with me, tired of my habitual sin and one apology after another… He wasn’t. Now don’t get me wrong He was for sure tired of the sin, but not me. He had/has a plan for me, He gave me a job at this camp called Whisper Mountain. He surrounded me with these Godly people who did not judge me for having sin. Instead, they encouraged me to confess it, to no longer allow it to hold power over me. To not let it hold me back. They texted me daily and told me to read my Bible. I felt comfortable asking for prayer about whatever I was going through, and they reciprocated. God used these people to teach me how to Go Rogue for God not from God. They taught me how to live out my faith, to study the Word, and to pray without ceasing. For all these things I am eternally grateful to God and them. 

Having said all this, my question to you is simple, yet hard to swallow. Have you gone rouge from the world, or have you gone rouge from God? I made the wrong decision, but praise the Lord, I was able to run back to Him. 

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Author | Koda Moody
Photography | Cassi & (Staff Group Picture by) Koda Moody

Summer 2022 | Calvary Rd & The Orchard

A great part of camp ministry is seeing pieces of people’s process: the struggle, the resistance, the doubt; the freedom, the hope, the faith. Such a view only grows our adoration of God and His astounding grace and patience with us as people.

Last week, we had the privilege of welcoming two different churches. Each with leaders who have both been campers at Whisper Mountain Camp, who have both been part of our summer staff team, and who now both serve as youth pastors who bring teens to camp. I’m sorry, but that’s just beautiful, isn’t it? Walking with people through the long haul, through all the different growing seasons, brings such depth to life.

Serving these groups and their leaders (Hayden and Seth) was a privilege as we strive to build up the community of disciples they are growing.

Thank you Calvary and The Orchard for spending your camp week with us! Keep chasing the things of God. Keep impacting your community for God’s glory!

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Author | Cassi
Photography | Koda Moody & Cassi
Groups | The Orchard Church & Calvary Road Baptist Church

We can’t fall too far.

Welp, with one week left I’m looking back at the lessons I have learned throughout the summer. One that slaps me in the face every day is we cannot go it alone. Before this job, I did not have a Christian community. I didn’t have a church family. I didn’t have those people my age I could really connect with over my faith. Now I do and will be eternally grateful. But the one person I had through all the “not having” was Jesus. He never left me through my times of struggle or sin. He was there. All I had to do was reach out and take his hand. 

The most recent parallel I have is high ropes. An old family friend (Seth McClure) came with one of the groups this week. While taking pictures, I got the bright idea to attempt the “Dangling Duo” with him as my other half. We start on the bottom step of a ladder that gets farther and farther apart. I would get up to the next one while he helped me, then he would get up. Eventually, we got to the final step, and I just could not do it by myself. I had to put him up first in order for him to pull me. You see, it’s a great example for life. If you put God second things are going to be a lot harder, but if you put Him first life is so much easier. Not to say it still wasn’t difficult for me, because everyone goes through trials, yet when you have the strength of the Lord pulling you upward those trials become less scary.  

The second example I have is about a young girl who came to camp this week. She went through the high ropes course and came to me afterwards saying, “I knew it (the tether) would catch me because I fell a million times and didn’t die.” Out of the mouths of children come the most beautiful messages. We fall “a million times” when trying to walk the Christian wire. It’s narrow and tough at times, but we can never fall out of His grace…

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Author | Koda Moody
Photography | Cassi & Koda Moody

Summer 2022 | Southbrook Church Week 2

We welcomed the second round of Southbrook Church last week, with much the same sort of experience (as their first week) of well-invested-in teens getting away to Whisper Mountain Camp to be challenged in deeper ways and to grow stronger within community.

We may not have seen all scores of teens coming to Jesus for the first time, but what we did see was scores of teens being confronted with the opportunity to leave their complacent, American Christianity behind to walk in a deep, intimate, counter-cultural relationship with Jesus that actually involves the power of God in their lives. We saw teens accept the challenge to cling to truth, abandon the ways of the world and go rogue in their faith.

This, friends, is the deep power of camp — when life change comes in many forms, but each time with an intimate encounter with Jesus.

Seeing teens come to Jesus in surrender, braving the telling of their stories, opening more to Him and in return to each other, praying for each other and encouraging one another — it brings a viewer to tears because that’s the power of God at camp.

Seeing Southbrook Church encounter God was beautiful. Seeing our staff pour out like a fragrant aroma through the intentional connections and leading with sensitivity was beautiful. God is doing a great work here at camp this summer and we are encouraged to keep going.

Southbrook, you are a church filled with passion, intention and humility. May Jesus continue to be glorified in your midst.

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Author | Cassi
Photography | Koda Moody & Cassi

All Play A Part

In life we all have different strengths, it has been said 1000 times over. Yet, I think this saying is most present during Low Ropes. You combine about 25 young men and women and challenge them with the task of getting over a 10-foot wall. The best part is when they’re told that everyone must make it over. The short (but super smart) 12-year-old in the back sighs, thinking he will be useless in this situation, and the 6-foot senior knows he can climb up and not worry about anyone else. The thing is they are both wrong. 

You see, everyone gets two “helps,” meaning they can help lift, pull, or push someone else two times. The guy in the back begins to count how many there are and starts to devise a strategy in his head, but is drowned out by the loud ones of the group. The tall one, in the chaos of everyone planning, runs on up saying, “I’ve got this,” not thinking about the rest of the team below.

Then it gets worse. Smaller groups begin to branch off and form their own plans (which is not how this exercise should work). They forget the rest of the team needs their “helps” to make sure everyone can get over. But wait, it gets even worse. About 15 people have gotten over the wall, but they didn’t help the 10 shorter folks at the bottom. And they don’t have the tools nor “helps” to get themselves over.  So, the entire team has to restart.

Everyone is in despair, looking for a way to beat this. The smart guy in the back finally finds the courage to speak up; the loud one repeats it for him; and the entire team is then on board with his plan. The tall and stronger ones help those who cannot get up by themselves, and the girl that can jump super high gets up top to help pull. Eventually the team conquers the wall, but only by listening and utilizing one another’s strengths, while also being aware of their weaknesses. 

The world is full of different people: leaders, listeners, planners; the strong, the smart, the fast. We need to realize as Christian community, as the body of Christ, that everyone plays a role and brings something to the table. If we were able to do things by ourselves, why did God send his Son to die? Why did he make Eve for Adam? Why did He create the concept of brother/sisterhood? Because we cannot go it alone. We need to have a team of others pushing or pulling us up to a Godlier place…

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Author & Photographer | Koda Moody
Group Pictured | Southbrook Church

Summer 2022 | Southbrook Church Week 1

Last week we saw the first round of Southbrook Church from Charlotte. These teens are well poured into at their church and being discipled so well by Dan and the other leaders serving with him. When one camper says the highlight of her week was “definitely all the worship,” something good is happening. But when we had multiple teens saying the same thing…phew, a love of God is obviously being nurtured among this group. (Nevermind how humble and beautiful our worship team is!) One of their leaders said, ” I loved seeing the kids open up to the Lord in new ways.”

Continuing to pour into them throughout the camp week was a privilege for our staff. A camper said, “The staff here is unlike anywhere else. Everyone is so kind and in just five days I deeply connected with so many of them. I deeply appreciated all the opportunities to connect with people.” Having an encouraging atmosphere with intentional connections and using purposeful adventure to bring spiritual application to the fun activities helps to make their connections with each other and the Lord more impactful.

Each week, we take the teens to the lake for the pure enjoyment of the outdoors and fellowship with each other, but also for the occasional baptism. Does it not move you when you see teens praying over each other and celebrating someone choosing Jesus? Ah man, so moving. Perhaps one of the best experiences of the Spirit of God bringing about the bond of unity among the family of God.

Just in case you feel like the world is going to pot quicker than anything good can be done, let us be a voice of hope. We see teens coming to camp each week, experiencing God in powerful ways and reminding us God is still moving, working, and accomplishing His plan. He’s still the same powerful, all-knowing, good God He’s always been.

Southbrook Church, continue to walk-awake with Jesus. You are a light on a hill — Children of Light. You are a people set aside for His glory. Thanks for spending your camp week with us at Whisper Mountain Camp!

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Author | Cassi
Photography | Koda Moody

Dive Deeper.

Noah Brown, a staff member of ours, was swimming in the lake recently. Seems uninteresting, right… wrong. Mr. Brown’s watch popped off his wrist and sank to the depths below. Panic set in as he began searching for the thing he lost. The parallels started to draw themselves. We, as Christians, can place distances between us and God, sometimes intentionally, other times accidentally. We lose our focus and allow our relationship with Jesus to fall away and sink beneath the sin. 

However, the thing we forget is that He is still there, right beside us, still loving us even in our time of rebellion, waiting for us to dive a little deeper, to grasp on to His will once more. As others helped search for the watch in the shallower areas, it was Noah who had to take the plunge. He went deeper than anyone else around him and found the watch! He came back up to the surface, watch in hand and a joyful smile spread across his face.

Now this story could have had a completely different ending. Maybe yours did. Maybe you have it in your head that you have put too much distance between you and God. Maybe you think there is too much struggle to overcome. I’m here to tell you, NOTHING can separate you from the love God has for you (Romans 8:35-39). So, maybe there are some things you need to remove from your life; that’s everyone. We all can improve our relationships with the Almighty. Some things just take time, some more, others less. Yet, we all still must take that dive of faith, searching out and finding Him. 

No matter what comes between you and Him, He is always there patiently waiting on you to just dive a little deeper…

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Author & Photography | Koda Moody
Groups Pictured | New City Middle School & Berry’s Grove

Summer 2022 | New City High School

New City High Schoolers were eager to get off the bus and start their week of camp! Our staff met their energy and upped that ante to help make last week’s camp week completely wonderful in many ways. Those who didn’t want to come at the start told us they were so glad they had come by the end.

Many of last week’s campers have been coming since middle school began. Seeing these campers grow from year to year has been a privilege because we get to see glimpses of their process and God working throughout this vital season in their lives. Someone that may have been super difficult to work with has found their stride now and offers much to the community. Someone who may struggle with deep, dark things has taken baby steps forward and taken some new ground. Those with questions, wrestling with hard things, or floundering in their faith have discovered a newness in their walk with Christ. There’s something special about having intentional connections with those who come to us.

Here are a few things campers said about their week at Whisper Mountain Camp:
“Staff is very encouraging , funny, supportive, good with all ages, and LOVE riddles. Each leader is an inspiration to someone at camp.“

“I feel incredibly loved when I’m here.“

“I have been struggling to pray and now I am again.“

“I felt very cared for and it was such a genuine environment.“

“The highlight of my week was community.”

Thanks for coming New City! We hope you continue to be children of light back home!

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Author & Photography | Cassi