Events
Pastor Michael Banks once said, “The greatest miracle is still when a person encounters the grace of Christ.” Maybe the greatest events at Camp Deerpark have happened on a quiet walk on the yellow trail, a conversation on the swing set or around a campfire at night. However, there have also been gatherings, natural disasters and construction projects that have marked God’s grace to this ministry.
When Don Gunden, Dan Glick, Henry Martin and Paul Smucker visited camp in the fall of 1968, they probably had no idea how significant their recommendation to buy the property would be. But when John Buckwalter pulled up to camp with the first carload of campers in 1969, he knew it was a historic event. As Ray Pacheco raised his hand to bid on a quilt for his mother at a camp auction, when Dale’s Amish relatives arrived from Pennsylvania to help raise a barn and every time old and new friends gathered around banquet meals to catch up on news and give support to camp, memories were made.
Over the past 50 years God has been abundantly faithful to the Camp Deerpark family. The stories in this section illustrate how we have celebrated that faithfulness together.