Camp registrations have opened and camps are starting to look forward to the warmer months ahead.

Roseau River Bible Camp Executive Director Duane Goertzen says registrations are coming in at a good rate and the first 50 are eligible to win a free week of camp. Goertzen adds he's very excited for camp this summer and is looking forward to the continuation of the discipleship program.

"It's always been a highlight for us and something Roseau has done really well," notes Goertzen. "It's exciting to see campers come through several years of summer camp and then they start to take work crew and then they move into the cabin leader preparation. So you can see them, once they come to The Lord, starting to use that passion to serve The Lord here at camp. To me that is great."

Last year Goertzen had more responsibility due to the lack of a Maintenance Director. He says they have hired Andrew and Leslie Milton, who with a lot of experience from a large camp in British Columbia. He adds their theme this year is 'Pursue' which comes from Jeremiah 29:13-14a and talks about seeking The Lord with all your heart. Goertzen says that means talking to campers about the idea of pursuing God and not the things in this world.

Registrations for Bird River Bible Camp open on February 7. Program Director Kyle Sheppard says they have a history of filling up fast, with the majority of registrants coming from Southland Church, adding there was a record 950 campers last year and 15-20% came from other churches and communities.

Campers taking time for devotions. (Photo credit: Kim Coursey)

"Staff is always an exciting thing to work around," says Sheppard. "We're always getting new people who have amazing skill sets and just their mentality of creating more disciples and leaders of the church. We [also] have more skills that are definitely opening up, like kayaking. We have this new passion for the waterfront area and we're going to be adding to our canoe fleet as well. Arts and crafts will have a whole different dynamic and I would love to introduce a Lego skill. so Lego is something that I'm super pumped about and I'm going to push for it and see if we can get it."

Sheppard adds a week's worth of camp is a year's worth of ministry so they want to continue pushing in and growing leaders through the camp ministry.

Red Rock Bible Camp Executive Director Kim Coursey also says registrations are coming in at a good rate and some weeks of camp are already full. Coursey says they are also planning on adding more kayaks to their program.

"Some of the kayaks we have right now are for more technical, more experienced paddlers. So we're going to bring in some more recreational type kayaks that are a little easier for the kids to use and it opens up that program to more kids."

Coursey notes they had a Mini-Kindle camp last year for kids Grade 2 to 5 but found it wasn't getting enough traction possible because parents were uneasy about sending such young kids to camp. He adds they have replaced it with a Kindle camp for Grade 3 to 5 kids.

Camp starts the first week of July.