When people ask me why I drive over 13 hours from North Carolina to go to Northern Frontier when there are other camps much closer to home, I explain to them the impact that Northern Frontier has had on me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without Northern Frontier. This special place provided me with the opportunities to grow in my understanding of God and find my identity in Him through the activities that challenged me and the men who encouraged me. It’s also a place where God enriched my relationships. 

The first relationship was with my father, who took me there for Tree Climbers as a six and seven-year-old, and later on, as a teenager on a canoe trip. He saw how important it was to build a relationship with me through experiences and bonding through our faith. Later on, it was to my brothers as we worked on staff together and learned we actually got along when we weren’t fighting over the remote control. We bonded over common experiences, but developed a friendship that had not been as present at home. God blessed me with co-counselors whom I worked alongside and who challenged me in my faith in pivotal moments in my life. These counselors have become lifelong friends from whom I can seek support as we walk through fatherhood.

Now, it’s a place that my son and I look forward to as we build our relationship and make memories together. Northern Frontier gave us an opportunity to go on an adventure together and do things we never did at home, and facilitated conversations about faith. One of my favorite photos from my childhood is a picture of my dad with mud up to his knees, holding a metal can with the biggest bullfrog I had ever seen, helping me walk through the mud as it was up to my thighs for our frog race. I now have a picture of me and my son at Ok Slip Falls on my work desk.

As a father of young boys, I see so many men invest in their sons with sports opportunities. I say this as a dad who does this as well. However, I am so thankful for an earthly father who invested in our relationship and who recognized the importance of investing in my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

For any parent reading this, there is no better investment (especially in light of what the market looks like) than your child. From one parent to another, I encourage you to send your child to Northern Frontier this summer. And for any dad, I encourage you to go up with your son if possible as well. This is a special moment and bond that my son and I look forward to every year. But more than anything, invest in his relationship with God, which will last for eternity.