Every season has its ending.

For Camp Meribah, it comes when the last camper heads home and the Hill grows quiet again. The laughter fades. The campfires burn down. The creek keeps flowing, but without nearly as many muddy feet running through it. There is something bittersweet about that silence.

This has been one of the most remarkable summers in the history of Camp Meribah.

God blessed us with new bathhouses, new windows, upgraded kitchen equipment, improvements to Makendox, a new camp bus, and countless other projects that have strengthened this place for years to come. I’m deeply thankful to our elders and Camp Board for believing in the mission of camp enough to make those investments possible.

This summer we welcomed 70 Day Camp campers, 50 to our very first Day Camp Jr., 68 to a newly reimagined Mini-Meribah, 78 during Youth Week, and 79 during Teen Week. Every session was full.

But attendance has never been the measure of Camp Meribah.

One of my favorite parts of this summer was something you couldn’t photograph.

For the first time, Camp Meribah was completely phone-free.

We watched kids play freely, sleep more peacefully, get creative when they were bored, and simply enjoy being children again. They talked. They laughed. They wandered. They looked up instead of down.

Camp simply felt slower. More connected. More focused.

And I hope we never lose that at Camp Meribah.

This summer, 14 souls were added to God’s Kingdom, and 42 young people chose to give up their free time and rest periods to study the Bible together—to talk about sin, repentance, surrender, and baptism. Nothing we built compares to that. It truly feels like God is stirring something in this generation. Young people are searching for His Word, for places like camp where they can grow together, and for what Camp Meribah has always been about: faith, fellowship, and fun.

I’m thankful for Shelby, Cade, and Ansley, who faithfully put life on hold every June to make camp possible. Shelby’s love for camp and belief in its mission is why I’m able to do what I do every year. We spent our 12th wedding anniversary this year with 125 campers and staff—and we both agree it’s where we were supposed to be.

For Harper Shelton, whose help and encouragement through months of planning hold everything together. For Cooper Brown, whose servant’s heart can best be pictured lying on his stomach for hours painting fresh lines on the gym floor.

For Will and Maty Chilton, whose friendship, encouragement, and steady support carried more weight than they probably know. For Ashley Halliburton, Tiffany Peters, every counselor, speaker, Bible class teacher, volunteer, donor, and staff member who poured themselves into this ministry.

Like every camp season, this one had its share of stories. Be sure to ask me about them sometime. We met a skunk, lost three air conditioners, broke down a bus, watched a kneecap go the wrong direction, rewrote schedules because of rain, sweated through record-breaking heat, gave Maty an impromptu haircut courtesy of a high-powered foam cannon, watched campers do things no rational person would ever do for points, watched a Day Camp Jr. camper take me a little too literally when I said, “Go change,” and start changing right there in the middle of the gym floor, laughed until we cried, stayed up far too late, woke up far too early, and somehow God kept reminding us why every bit of it was worth it.

Our theme this summer came from Ecclesiastes 3: “For everything there is a season.”

This camp season has ended, but the work God began here has not.

The friendships will last. The faith will grow. The decisions for Christ will echo for years to come.

Some things belong to a season.

Others become part of your story.

We believe camp is one of the few things in life that is truly timeless.

Thank you for being a part of Camp Meribah 2026. Thank you for trusting us with your children and allowing us the privilege of spending an unforgettable summer with them. I hope your camper is already looking forward to another great summer in 2027.

— Carter Hoover

Camp Director, Camp Meribah