BBC Blog

Why you should sign up now for summer camp 2020

Dear Bethany Birches Parents: The staff are busy preparing for the 2020 summer camp season at Bethany Birches! We realize that these are uncertain times and there may not even be a 2020 summer camp season. However, we will continue preparing as though there will be summer camp. Feel confident in signing up for summer Read More >

Nevin J. Bender, BBC’s First Camp Director, Joins The Great Cloud Of Witnesses

Ask those who were on staff or came to camp as campers in the 1960s and 70s about their Bethany Birches experience and they will almost certainly reference the rustic and challenging moments that became so deeply engraved in their memories. Back then, the Bethany Birches experience had to be rustic and challenging. Camp was Read More >

Shifting From Receiving To Giving… Yet Still Receiving

Having been a camper at Bethany Birches for six summers (and a Counselor In Training for one), I knew that I wanted to be a counselor eventually, and I finally got that opportunity last summer, as the youngest member of the 2019 summer staff. Camp had always been one of my favorite places in Read More >

Winter Family Fun Day Cancelled – rain forecast

This Saturday’s event is cancelled (Dec 14). We’ve been holding out, hoping that we could still run the event. And well, we could, but, it would be in the rain according to forecasts! 40 degrees and rainy in Dec. doesn’t feel like the right way to host our friends and community outside highlighting our best Read More >

Are We Accomplishing Our Mission? Beyond Anecdotes.

Over the last few years Bethany Birches has been committed to partnering with academic organizations researching the benefits of Christian Summer Camps. Last year the Hope Study (University of Oklahoma) measured whether campers experienced increased hope as a result of their camp experience. The Hope Study 2018 found “The results of this report continue to Read More >

Annual Benefit Auction 2019

I am constantly surprised and sometimes overwhelmed by the generosity of the community that supports Bethany Birches Camp. A past board member and spouse, who was a long time camper, do lots of preparation for the auction each year and even work hard starting early the day of the event. After that they sit down Read More >

Nevin’s Memorial Service

That First Summer In October 1965, Pastor Nevin Bender, Bethany Birches Camp Director from 1965 to 1980, submitted a report to friends and supporters of the camp about the very first camping session held during the summer of 1965. “The primary purpose of the camp” Bender wrote, “is to provide opportunity for children and youth Read More >

Be Still And Know That I Am God…. even in the chaos

Hi. I’m Flora, or at camp I’m Gigi. This summer I’m the Day Camp and Leadership Training Director. Every summer I’ve worked here I’ve seen God clearly in the campers, in nature and the community among the staff. This summer I’ve seen him in each of those places, but I’ve also been challenged by the Read More >