Pibel Bible Revisisted

If you know me very well at all, you have probably heard about Pibel Bible Camp. If you know me really well, you have probably been there with me. Pibel was an important part of my youth and an even more integral part of my spiritual formation. It was there that I made close Christian friends, it was there that I experienced time with fantastic mentors in ministry, it was there that people I respected encouraged me to consider ministry, it was there that I fully committed to a life of discipleship, it was there that I made the decision to enter ministry, and it was there that I first learned about and experienced being a minister.

I don't really need a reason to talk about Pibel. I have countless stories shared with a wide group of friends and acquaintances that I could probably base an entire series of blogs on. Today, I do have a reason though... I had dream about Pibel in the early morning hours today. This is a recurring dream I have and it often comes as a daydream, maybe a bit of wishful thinking.

In this dream, I somehow come into a large amount of money. For a lot of people, that would be the dream. I am convinced that if I won or earned a fortune, this dream accurately portrays how I would spend it.

-First of all, I buy Pibel Bible Camp with the stipulation that it continues to be a youth camp for the area Christian Churches. Easy. Why would I change that?
-Next, I buy up land around it. I buy the lake and surrounding campgrounds, I buy the smallish stand of trees to the north, and I buy at least part of the farmland to the east.

Then, the fun begins.

-I hire at least one couple - someone to cook full time and someone to work maintenance and supervise the building. They will live in the house out there.

The following won't make a ton of sense unless you know the camp layout, but that is OK, it is my dream so it wouldn't make sense to everyone anyway. I am not even sure why I am writing it out. Maybe I hope someone will drop $100 mil my direction so we can get this going...

I will build myself a house down on the lake down by the 3 boys dorms. It will have a wing of guest rooms because I plan on having a lot of friends and family coming to visit.

I will build a road from the main road behind the treeline so it is easier access directly to the camp. All the roads will get paved. This gravel stuff is nonsense. I don't want my corvette to get all dinged up.

Back behind that treeline on the farmland it is time to build. Large outbuilding for the buses and other camp vehicles and equipment. That is also where we will put the gym and sports fields.

Man, I gotta find someone who knows what sort of grass will actually grow out there. I can't remember a time when any large area had sustained grass growth. Looks like I will need to get a good landscape crew to work. We will need paths between buildings, some decent plants, new trees that are not cottonwood, and that grass. I really want good grass.

All the current buildings will get cleaned up, modernized, winterized, and re purposed. Girls dorm I have heard is nice now, so it might be good to go. Boys dorms are all going to be turned into nice cabin suites. Bathrooms. Bathrooms in the boys dorms.

Like 50 years worth of male campers just said thank you.

What will we do with Dunning Hall? It is almost worth keeping just because it is named after the guy who started the camp. I suppose the bottom could be fixed up and continue as a nurse's cabin. The top half? My dream is unclear on this building.  A nice hangout/lounge? More staff housing? Classroom space?

Dining hall will need updated obviously. Get some nice tables and chairs. Now that it isn't sharing space with the chapel we can do that. Put in a huge fireplace. Open up the wall facing the lake to get a nice view. Put in a deck out there for outdoor dining. Give it a shade with fans. That would be nice. I like it. Now, what will be in that space between the dining hall and lake?

I am thinking a pool. I always liked that Pibel didn't have a pool. It meant we had to make our own fun and we grew closer as a result. On the other hand, it was hot. A pool would be nice - especially if I am living there myself. That seems like a good place for the pool. big slide into the pool... OH OH -- A slide down the hill INTO the pool. Done.

While we are down there, we can talk about the nearby dock. We need new paddle boats, some canoes, one of those tricycles with the big floating wheels. A few fishing boats. Would jet skis be too much? I think we would have to try it to know.

The lake needs cleaned out. Can't very well get it totally clean, but a little bit would help. Especially with our work on the island. We will put a small building out there with bathroom and electric and some cooking space. Maybe we can send small camps out there for the week. Either way it would be a cool place to hang out - especially with the rope swing off the back side and the blob to jump onto. Also, it will be the best place for our fireworks shows.

The new chapel will be on the small outcropping onto the lake which is a bit away to the south of the dock (and the rest of the camp) but allows for us to give it some great views. Nice permanent seating, decent lights and video and sound. Good staging. Exactly what we need for youth camps and adult retreats. It will be kinda like a log cabin - a little rustic even.

Right now they have some low ropes elements in the low area where water runs down to the lake. I would add some high ropes elements in the space between that and the house - where the old basketball hoop was if you remember like 15 years ago... Big climbing wall, zipline, all that stuff. Good times. How fun would it be to have that right in front of your house?

The paintball in the treeline will get worked up. Improve the markers and the course itself. Expand it back into the wooded area we bought. Maybe make a more urban-looking course in the farmland over by the gym and sports fields. That is some good fun.


We will need more dorm space. Maybe we can clear out those little old cabins on the north side of camp by the fire pit. That would overlook a bit of the lake. Lagoon-y, but not bad. Most people don't even know about that space back there, but we bought it so you should learn about it, right?

There is kind of a low spot where water runs down to the lake. It comes down from the hill back there -  the rise in the campground actually continues up behind the girl's dorm and gets pretty high. It is kind of cool. As a camper I never went back there, but going back during college or after I was able to explore. It is a pretty large area and there is even a nice clearing near the top of the woods that would be perfect for a secondary campfire or even a secondary campground - a more rugged camping experience perhaps.

I like the main campfire where it is, but it needs fixed. new fire ring, new benches. Climb up and cut some branches for a clear view to the sky. The sky at Pibel at night is unlike anywhere I have ever seen. Perfect.

I lived at Pibel for most of the summer after graduating college. I always thought it would be cool to have a nice private space back in the treeline. If you go behind the house, the tree's get pretty overgrown, the way the paintball course used to be. A path back there would lead to a great little secret place to read and relax. Put in a little water fountain and a hammock.

The rest is just small stuff everywhere but you can see I have had this dream a lot. Fixing up the campsites that we bought, adding more cabins here and there for retreats and whatnot. Building a house or two for more staff to live up there. Putting in a hot tub. Obvious. Building a modern game room for everyone. Pool, ping pong, Air Hockey, a few arcade games, an area for cards and board games, you name it.

There is all sorts of extra stuff. In my mind, I get to hire old camp friends and we live out there and start a good church for such a rural area and we have what we need in spite of being an hour from nowhere.

When I buy the camp and get it fixed up, I am hosting a reunion. If you came to camp with me, I will get you there. I bought a few buses to travel around picking up kids so they don't have to drive all the way out to camp each week - they can get most of you, even shuttle from airports.

Will it be the same as the old days? I don't think so. I know everyone has fond memories of Pibel Bible Camp - both of my GRANDMA'S tell me stories of when they went. What I don't know is how the years have changed everyone. Will they like my changes to the camp? Will they like camp at all anymore?

In my dream, they do. In my dream the camp returns to how it was when I went and my friends where there. It churns out youth who are becoming disciples and even full-time ministers at a high rate. It also produces people who dream about coming back and doing it all again, only better.