MILFORD, Iowa | The Rev. James Travis retreats during a retreat, so to speak. Travis, pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Leeds, is seen playing the piano in the solitude of The Refuge, a small chapel at Camp Okoboji, not far from the soothing waters of West Lake Okoboji.
"This is a great way to get away," says Travis, explaining his history with the 29-acre campsite carved amid the trees near Milford. "I've been her for family camp. My wife has lived in Iowa her whole life and has come here pretty much every year."
A conference of pastors in mid-May brings Travis during this particular week. He enjoys a break playing piano in the chapel, a facility built by the Labors for Christ group five years ago.
"You can come here to worship while also spending and having a good time with friends and family," Travis says. "I'm here playing as I'm also the organist and pianist at our church. I find this relaxing."
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That's just the point several pastors and lay persons of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod envisioned in 1939 when they examined a possible purchase of the 20-year-old YWCA Camp on these shores. One year later, the deal was orchestrated. For $15,000, the site was purchased in the name of the Iowa West Walther League Summer Camp Association.
It is now called Camp Okoboji, a temporary home for staff members and campers of all ages, all throughout the year.
A typical summer sees 800 children enjoying a week, or a part of week, at Camp Okoboji. There are also family camps four times per summer, camps that some 400 people attend.
"We're a faith-based camp," says Doug Kading, a former school teacher who has served as Camp Okoboji executive director and director of Christian education for 25 1/2 years. "It's quiet and peaceful here, and we have five-eighths of a mile of shoreline on the west side of West Lake Okoboji."
Cabins, like giant trees, dot the site in clusters, containing up to 500 beds for those enjoying the chance to get away, to worship and to play ball, fish, make crafts and more.
"We have programs for those kindergarten-age on up," Kading says.
The job at Camp Okoboji, he says, has opened his eyes to a world of young people in need of spiritual and social development. Children who attend programs offered by Camp Okoboji often rise for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Following music and a devotional time, groups divide into activities, whether they're crafts-, sports- or topic-related.
Following a noon meal, activities are slated that range from archery to swimming to softball, canoing and basketball.
A supper meal is followed by evening skits, songs and fun.
"We culminated the day with a devotion on Breezy Point," says Kading, motioning toward an area that juts out onto West Lake Okoboji.
Campers find themselves surrounded by nature, somewhat insulated from the hustle of everyday concerns at home. Camp staffer help tend to their needs. A chapel called The Refuge is open for prayer and meditation 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
"Our summer staff sometimes practices music in there, or they pray, or sing," Kading says. "Guests use The Refuge a lot."
A larger facility called the Christian Life Center is home to 9:45 a.m. worship services held each Sunday at 9:45 a.m. form Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Camp Okoboji employs 32 staffers each summer. Nine college students, members of the staff here, leave the camp to conduct programs in Vacation Bible School sites all throughout Iowa and southern Minnesota.
Generally, campers come from Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
"I came here as a camper in around 1960 and I had a good time," Kading says. "I remember the singing and some craft items I made. I stayed in a cabin that is still here."
Kading stresses the year-round accessibility by noting there are ice-fishing retreats once West Lake Okoboji freezes.
"We are now in the process of winterizing our dining hall so it can be used year-round," he says.
There are also theme camps that have a faith-based foundation. for example, A.J. Schable, an Ida Grove, Iowa, native who played in the National Football League, will help conduct a football fundamentals camps at Camp Okoboji for young people in grades 4-8. A similar camp will be held for girls interested in volleyball and basketball.
"Coach Cheryl Deutsch of Wichita, Kan., will do the volleyball/basketball camp," Kading says. "She's a former camp guest and camp staffer."
Like Kading, she probably has fond memories of her time spent at Camp Okoboji as a child. Kading is confident that, like him, her experience in returning as an adult will be just as rewarding.
