What do you get when you combine 30 high school students, a lake, three boats, great food, and God’s Word? Ski-Fest.

Ski-Fest has been the summer highlight for the students going for over 10 years. Ski-Fest is one of our major outreach events. It gives the students a chance to invite their friends that don’t know Christ and provides a fun atmosphere to learn the Gospel. The students spend 4 days camping in Culver, Oregon and out on Lake Billy Chinook. They wake up early to eat breakfast and then spend some time in a morning devotional. What a great opportunity to spend time with their creator in His beautiful creation. After devotionals they gear up and head down to the lake where they spend the day on the water; wake boarding, tubing, knee boarding, and wake surfing. Lunch is on the dock and then back out until dinner. The students come back to the campsite for dinner and then it’s the general session time. This year we looked at the Bible as our ‘buried treasure’ and how sometimes we don’t treasure it for what it is, God’s Word. The students looked at what the Bible is used for, 2 Timothy 3:16,17 as well as what it looks like for someone to rely on it, David in Psalm 119. The rest of the night was up to the students. Most of it was spent playing the youth created game “Funn” as well as sitting by the campfire making s’mores and eating cake.

Tired, full, and sunburned we all arrived safely back in Newberg with no injuries and with the same number of students as we left with, always a good thing. You know it’s a successful event when you get home and you see all over the student’s Facebook walls updates such as “Great time in the water and the Word at Ski-Fest” and “My first Ski-Fest, AWESOME!”, even if they aren’t updated until after the student’s post Ski-Fest nap.

Britten Enkelis

Youth Director