Family Camp 2025
The Abundant Life In Christ!
“The thief comes only to steal kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly!”
– John 10:10 –
2025 Speakers & Dates
Family Camp 1 – June 21 – 27
“Money and Politics: What does the Christian Tradition have to say?”
Guest Speaker: Walter “Skip” Sundberg
Guest Preachers: Johan and Sonja Hinderlie
Family Camp 2: June 28 – July 4
“Christ For You: Strength Through Our Weakness”
Guest Speaker: Kyle Fever
Family Camp 3: July 5 – 11
“Reclaiming the Reformation: Christ for You in Community”
Guest Speaker: Magnus Persson
Family Camp 4: July 11 – 13
“The Conversion of C.S. Lewis”
Guest Speaker: Stephen Thorson
Family Camp 5: July 14 – 18
“Dream On – Cultivating a Christian Imagination”
Guest Speaker: Paul Gossman
Family Camp 6: July 19 – 25
“Finding Home”
Guest Speaker: Gabe Kasper
Family Camp 7: July 26 – August 1
“A letter from Pastor John: The Book of Revelation as a Pastoral Admonition”
Guest Speakers: Nathan Hoff and Dave Wollan
Family Camp 1 – June 21 – 27
“Money and Politics: What does the Christian Tradition have to say?”
Guest Speaker Walter “Skip” Sundberg
Guest Preachers Johan and Sonja Hinderlie
Walter Sundberg is a professor emeritus of church history and a dynamic and engaging speaker. We cannot live without money in our society. We cannot live in our society without politics. Money and politics are fundamental realities of our life. It has always been so. The Bible and the Christian tradition speak about money and politics and offer guidance as to their use. We will examine this guidance with a special focus on St. Paul and Martin Luther.
Family Camp 2: June 28 – July 4
“Christ For You: Strength Through Our Weakness”
Guest Speaker: Kyle Fever
Kyle currently serves as the lead pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Adair, Iowa. Kyle has a Doctorate in New Testament studies from Loyola University, Chicago, has taught at the Master’s Institute, and leads LeaderCare retreat weekends for Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. Kyle will be teaching on God’s Word and the reality of the struggles of life in the real world.
Family Camp 3: July 5-11
Guest Speaker: Magnus Persson
“Reclaiming the Reformation: Christ for You in Community”
This week Magnus Persson will examine his journey from popular preacher where church was a party, to the Lutheran faith and pastor in the Church of Sweden where he relishes the liturgy nourished by its historic roots. Persson relies heavily on Luther’s book On the Councils and the Church to answer this question and explain his journey.
Magnus is a husband, father, and grandfather. He is an ordained Verbi Divini Minister and works as a pastor for EFS – a missional renewal movement in the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church. He is also the network co-ordinator of Re:formera and the host for its weekly podcast. Magnus published his book Reclaiming the Reformation: Christ for you in Community in 2021 with 1517 Publishing.
Family Camp 4 (Weekend): July 11 – 13
“The Conversion of C.S. Lewis”
Guest Speaker Stephen Thorson
Dr. Steven Thorson has published many articles on C.S. Lewis as well as a book called Joy and Poetic Imagination: Understanding C.S. Lewis’s “Great War” with Owen Barfield and its significance for Lewis’s Conversion and Writings. This weekend we will dive into C.S. Lewis’s conversion. What the steps were that led to his conversion to Christ and what his Christian view of the world and human beings was afterward. Stephen has also written the majority of topical articles in The Applied New Testament Commentary and The Applied Old Testament Commentary translated into many languages and circulated around the world. Stephen has also taught Theology in Nepal for over 30 years and also at Bethany Global University and at the Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute.
Family Camp 5 (4-Night): July 14-18
Dream On: Cultivating the Christian Imagination
Guest Speaker: Paul Gossman
God has given all of us an amazing ability to “dream,” and he encourages us to do just that! Indeed the Bible includes some great examples of godly “dreamers”. We’ll be looking at some of those in detail, as well as some solid biblical principles for understanding, developing, and fruitfully using the God-given gift of our imaginations.
With some frequency the Lord has called Paul and Pris Gossman to embrace new places and challenges, and always he has proven himself gracious faithful, and present as they have followed his lead. Over the years they have served God in the Philippines, Peru, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and Minneapolis, where Paul served as the Executive Director of the World Mission Prayer League. Together they enjoy hiking, travel, photography, and trying new foods. Now working part-time in “semi-retirement,” they like to dream of what the Lord might have next for them, and Paul feels especially called to help other followers of Jesus use their “sanctified imaginations” in discerning God’s plan for them.
Family Camp 6: July 19-25
“Finding Home”
Guest Speaker: Gabe Kasper
Home is a powerful idea. When we feel at home, we feel seen, understood, and at peace with the world and ourselves. Yet we’ve all had and have experiences of feeling homeless in the world. In the midst of those experiences, Jesus invites us to make our home in him, even as he makes his home in us. Join us as we explore what this looks like.
Family Camp 7: July 26 – August 1
“A letter from Pastor John: The Book of Revelation as a Pastoral Admonition”
Guest Speakers: Dave Wollan and Nathan Hoff
The book of Revelation is both one of the most read and most misunderstood books of the Bible. Attempts to “decode” or interpret the Apocalypse have often done more harm than good for the church. Pastor Nathan Hoff and Pastor Dave Wollan will present a different approach to reading the Revelation, one more along the lines of a pastoral letter from Pastor John on Patmos to a beleaguered people.
