• 2008 Summer Preaching Series Great speakers and special recreation activities.
• Country Fair Weekend A Hume tradition with great fun for all ages!
• Golf Tournament The 6th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament
• Summer Theme "Rise of the Kinematics" Students learn foundations of the Christian faith.
• Main Street Renovation When you visit next, expect a new look – and a little construction.
• Alumni Profile: Ken and Melba Poure Past Executive Director returns to spend summer at Hume.
• Lilley in the Field: Even the Stars Hide Away Executive Director Jeff Lilley
• One Life at a Time God changes lives through Men's Conference.
• Hume Hosts Youth Camp in Japan Youth on a US military base in Okinawa experience Hume Lake.
• Employer Matching Program Doubles Donor Gifts One investment makes Kingdom impact.
• Pointman Leadership Institute Leaders of 50 countries influenced by principle-based leadership seminars.

Open to the public, the Summer Preaching Series offers solid Bible teaching Sunday through Friday evenings. The following speakers are on the schedule:

June 15th-20th Bob Phillips June 22nd-27th Ken Graves June 29th-July 4th John Saltee July 6th-11th Dennis Keating July 13th-18th Erik Thoennes July 20th-25th Robb Williams

June 15th-20th Bob Phillips June 22nd-27th Ken Graves June 29th-July 4th John Saltee July 6th-11th Dennis Keating July 13th-18th Erik Thoennes July 20th-25th Robb Williams

Special recreation activities are available Monday through Thursday mornings. This year's activities include rappelling at Schoolhouse Rock, mountain biking from Cherry Gap, family high adventure and a Boole Tree hike. Thursday evening will feature a star talk with Jeff Lilley.

A Hume tradition, with great fun for all ages! Join us Saturday, August 30th for this year's Country Fair. We'll have food, games, contests, live and silent auctions, Farmer's Market, Junque & Treasures and more. Did we mention food? The excitement begins at 9:00 a.m. Rescue will perform an evening concert on the lawn.

For more information visit
www.humelake.org/countryfair

Whether you're a scratch golfer or need a calculator to track your score, the 6th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament is for you. Sponsorships and tournament registration are available at www.humelake.org/golf.

SUMMER THEME 2008

This summer over 22,000 campers are embarking on a quest to discover the essentials of the Christian faith. Campers are being challenged through our theme "Rise of the Kinematics." The theme focuses on the core doctrines of Christianity.

{kin·e·mat·ics}
:the study of motion without regard to its cause

Our careful observation of youth culture confirmed the need for this summer's message. "The past few years we've noticed students defining their faith based on activity and experience, instead of on God's Word," notes Darin McWatters, Program Director. "What we see today in youth culture are students who base their faith on Christian experiences, but do not understand the underlying doctrine, the root of those things. And yet while activity and experience are absolutely part of the Christian life, in and of themselves there is no cause." This is motion without cause, hence, Kinematics.

Dynamics, on the other hand, is motion caused by something. This year our Gospel message is extended to three days to more fully develop the ideas of sin, its consequences, and the work of our Savior. "By the end of a week at camp, our desire is that every student who comes to our programs would be able to say, ‘I understand what Christians believe,'" explains McWatters.

2 TIMOTHY 3 & 4

The passage driving this theme comes from 2 Timothy 3 and 4. "It is very important to us on the Program Staff that we start with Scripture," states McWatters. "We always start with a Biblical concept and build out." 2 Timothy provides the challenge to be rooted in Scripture, sound doctrine and truth. Here Paul warns Timothy of those who "will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Tim. 4:3)

FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS OF CHRISTIANITY

Each day campers are taught one foundational belief of Christianity, such as God, Jesus, Discipleship, and the Bible. To accomplish this we are pleased to bring in many resources including top-notch speakers, stimulating videos, and engaging activities. Neil Mammen is our resident theologian for the summer. He is passionate about helping students recognize why doctrine matters, and how it is practical for life. PK Kurth, International Missions Director at Hume, is spotlighting missions to our youth camps. His wide breadth of experience combined with passion for the lost makes him a tremendous resource to campers. PK is speaking to each youth camp on God's work around the world and how they can be involved. Our hope is for each student to walk away with a solid understanding of the fundamental doctrines, and re-enter their respective worlds with tools to be a dynamic disciple of Christ.

ESTABLISHED 1946

If you were able to join us this winter at one of our Vision Dinners, you will remember Executive Director, Jeff Lilley, describe as one of our goals for 2008 to begin the process of renovating Hume Lake Christian Camps. All of us who have stood on the shore and looked across the lake and beyond to the mountains of the Kings Canyon have marveled at the astounding beauty of Hume Lake. But if we turn around, what we see is a heavily used 60+ year old camp, showing the wear and tear of thousands of kids. By the way, those thousands of kids are a great thing. However, over the next few years we wish to bring life back to our facilities and grounds. We are calling this major effort the Main Street Renovation.

The decision to focus our attention on this project was the convergence of changing expectations of guests coupled with some of the core principles that guide our ministry:

GOOD STEWARDSHIP:

To preserve and improve what we already have.

COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE:

To have buildings and grounds of high enough caliber to match our vision of programming and transformation.

EXPERIENCE ECONOMY:

The idea is that the setting, the feel of a place, influences a person's choices. In our scenario, we desire prospective guests to choose to come to Hume Lake rather than some other hotel or resort. The location, the view, the beauty of the grounds, and the restful and intimate setting will all work together to give our guests the experience they are seeking.

TRANSFORMATION:

We believe if we can get them to come, to choose Hume Lake, then good things will happen. God is in the business of transforming lives and will continue to be at work. That sums up the mystery of how renovating grounds translates into renovating lives.

This May, our Operations Staff started the first phase near the Ponderosa Dining Commons and the area in front of the Ponderosa Lodge. After demolition work is completed, new stone walls, stairways, seating areas, patios, lighting and landscaping will replace what is there now. A system to heat the walkways to control snow and ice will be installed. Next year the lodge deck will be replaced and more stone work will be done. This renovation will take place over the next several years as funding is made available. It will be phased in such a way that there will always be access to the Hume Clothing Store and the Dining Commons. When you visit next, expect a new look – and a little construction. If you would like to see the project, and the drawings of what is to come, please look me up when you are at Hume. I would love to spend the time and share the vision with you.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Spend one day on the grounds, and it's no secret that what makes Hume Lake Christian Camps different from so many other places is its staff. Since 1946, a long line of faces and names have given their time and hands to further God's ministry at Hume Lake. While every name and face are important, there are a few that tend to linger in our memories more than others. Few can escape their time on staff at Hume without hearing the names of Ken and Melba Poure.

In the summer of 1959, Poure traveled to Hume as an evangelist. Over the years thousands of people have come to know Christ because of the evangelistic ministry of Kenny Poure. "Ken has an amazing gift of evangelism," says longtime friend of Hume Bob Vernon. "Kenny has an incredible sense of humor and knows how to use it for the Lord."

Eventually, Walt Warkentin asked Ken to join the staff at Hume and Ken agreed. He began by promoting Hume Lake to churches. Besides church relations and speaking, Poure soon started overseeing Hume's youth programs. Following Warkentin's retirement in 1978, Poure became the new Executive Director of Hume Lake Christian Camps. He served in this position until 1985 when he became Director at Large. Poure was replaced as Executive Director by Bob Phillips—who received Christ years earlier under Ken's ministry at Hume.

Of course, Kenny didn't do all this by himself—a good amount of the credit should certainly go to his wife, Melba. Just as well-known and loved as her husband, Melba Poure made plenty of her own contributions to Hume Lake Christian Camps. In 1969, she helped found the Helping Hands ministry, a group dedicated to prayer and service for Hume Lake and its staff. The Helping Hands ministry has raised thousands of dollars for Hume's benefit over the years. Melba also had a part in both the hiring of staff and in women's ministries.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Ken and Melba back to Hume this summer, as they spend the entire summer of 2008 here. They have been bringing joy and laughter to our staff for many years, and this summer will be no exception.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Perhaps a favorite tradition at Hume that both Ken and Melba have taken part in is the Pancake Breakfast. And this year, Ken and Melba Poure will be there to greet you. We hope to see you there.

OUTSIDE MY OFFICE WINDOW A CAMPER IS SCREAMING...

"Hey! Look at me! Look at me!"

I don't turn to look, and, apparently, neither does anyone else, since he continues to scream it out, "Look at me! Look at me!" Finally, I turn. He is hanging onto a tire swing, not really doing anything of interest, other than screaming, "Look at me! Look at me!"

I recently heard a sermon where the preacher mentioned the incredible humility and compassion Christ showed on the cross. He didn't demand everyone should know who he was and what a sacrifice he was making. Instead, he was content to hide away.

Then, while driving down the road a song came on the radio from a band called the Weepies. A line caught my attention: "I see the bare moon raise its big bald head…" I instantly liked the song, and the lyrics talked about this same idea of hiding away.

It then struck me that though the stars sometimes fade to gray, they are still there, but they are simply outshined by our own lights; whether that is our own sun, or the streetlights in our own towns. When in a city, I look up and can barely see the stars. They are blocked out by the far inferior lights from a parking lot at a shopping mall.

So often I allow, and even encourage, the "brilliant" light of my own pride to cover up the glory of something far greater than I. I want to make sure everyone sees my greatness, my intensity, or my talents. Meanwhile, I have only served to distract from the one who is truly brilliant.

Even the stars sometimes fade to gray. Even the stars hide away.

It's as if God placed this simple principle of humility all around us. He tucked it in nature. He placed it in the stars. He modeled it perfectly in His own son on the cross. Why then do I act more like the bare moon, with its big bald head, which has no light of its own, it merely reflects the light of the sun? When will I understand the example of Christ who chose to hide away instead of demanding "Hey! Look at me! Look at me!"

I think I'll go hide away now.

MEN'S CONFERENCE FALL 2007

Here are the words of a man who is passionate about seeing other men come to Christ!

How does God change men's lives? He sends them to Hume Lake Christian Camp's Men's Conference to hear "in your face" Biblical instruction from gifted, God-fearing speakers.

What started as a thought at Grace Chapel turned into almost 50 men (and young men) attending the first ever men's conference at Hume Lake. TO SAY IT WAS LIFE-CHANGING IS ALMOST AN UNDERSTATEMENT - as evidenced by one man in particular who attended the conference and was not even a member of our church.

This man was suffering physically, financially and spiritually, not having a relationship with our awesome God. Being challenged by the speakers and other men from our group, he left the conference with a lot of questions, but ready to listen with an insatiable desire to find out who God really is. As I write this short synopsis, he has been an active part of our men's ministry and church family for the past 3 months and now truly seeks to understand how great God really is.

I've participated in a lot of ministry conferences, but I can honestly say the experiences I've had at Hume Lake over the past 8 years are by far the best. Only God could have provided a location as spectacular as Hume Lake. God's Word is only enhanced by the natural beauty of the mountain-top experience. Men's lives were changed and I'm already looking forward to see what God does this coming year in the hearts of men at the conference.

Thanks,
Brad Hunt, Grace Chapel

May we be faithful in planting seeds, so God gets the glory for the harvest! Please continue to pray for Hume and this individual who is seeking the King.

JAPAN MISSION TRIP 2008

With a passion for international missions, Hume Lake has set out to take God's Word to youth around the globe. One of Hume's international partners is Malachi Ministries, an organization that focuses on sharing God's love to students on US military bases. In April, Hume sent a 19 member team to Okinawa, Japan to share ISOLA, this past summer's theme based on the book of Daniel, to nearly 200 youth. I had an opportunity to sit down with Hume's team leader for Okinawa, PK Kurth. Here's what he had to say…

TYLER:Why are international missions so important to Hume's ministry to youth?

PK: Missions have always been important because that's one of the foundational legs of what we do. From early on, Hume's goal has been to evangelize, mature and expose youth to the work of God in the world. Traditionally it's been limited to a missions offering and a mission's speaker for the summer. But we wanted to tangibly expose youth to what God is doing around the world.

TYLER: Why do you believe the ISOLA message transcends cultures and countries?

PK: Because it's the Bible… (Laugh)… As cheesy as that line is, one of the evidences that Scripture is in fact the inspired Word of God is it transcends all time and all cultures. It works with military kids because the ISOLA message is about being alone and identifying what your faith looks like when you are transported into a foreign culture. That's exactly what these kids deal with when they move every three years.

TYLER: After all the fun, what did you want the campers to walk away with?

PK: We wanted them to understand God has His hand on them in the same way God had His hand on Daniel. It's more than just circumstances; God has determined them to live in Japan for a specific purpose. We also want to encourage them to see in their lives that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving.

TYLER: What's unique about running a camp for students in military families?

PK: When you come to a place like Okinawa, a high percentage of kids will leave for another country soon. What's so great about that? If their lives are changed by God's truth, they are truly going out like salt and light to the world. We desire to equip them to teach others what it means to live by faith.

INCREASING YOUR KINGDOM IMPACT

Mark and Christy Becker (names have been changed for donor privacy purposes) have enjoyed Hume Lake since being invited by a friend from church 13 years ago. "We fell in love with Hume and rent a cabin for a week every summer," said Mark. "It's become one of our favorite family vacations."

In addition, the Becker children attend Meadow Ranch and Ponderosa camps. One of the Becker's daughters chose camp over a school trip to Hawaii this summer. She told her parents, "I'd rather be at Hume with my friends and getting closer to the Lord."

Mark and Christy not only support Hume financially themselves, but doubled their recent gift by utilizing the matching gift program through Mark's employer. While matching gift programs are more common at large corporations, many small businesses have added matching gifts as an employee benefit. Typically, the employer will match the employee's gift dollar for dollar, up to a certain amount.

The Becker's designated their gift to the Campership Fund, which provides scholarships to campers who might not otherwise be able to afford the cost of camp. In 2007, Hume provided over $176,000 in camperships to about 1,300 campers. Continued weakness in the economy will likely increase the demands on these funds.

Mark is excited to know that this doubling of gifts will have an increased Kingdom impact. "I can't think of a better return on my investment," he said. "You guys are changing kids' lives."

FOR ASSISTANCE IN UTILIZING YOUR EMPLOYER'S MATCHING GIFT PROGRAM

CONTACT JON LOKHORST
559.335.2000 x407
jlokhorst@humelake.org

WE LIVE IN SERIOUS TIMES which are crying out for STRONG ETHICAL LEADERSHIP...

To meet this need, Robert Vernon, Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department created the Pointman Leadership Institute, which is now an official arm of Hume Ministries. The Institute was established fourteen years ago and has a worldwide outreach.

Pointman instructors have spoken at the College of Generals in Moscow, for all of the top leadership for the Men's, Women's and Youth Prisons for the entire Russian Federation, for Parliament Members in seven different countries, the FBI Academy in Quantico, the U.S. Air Force Academy, leadership for Focus On The Family, four times to the People's Republic of China, and recently to police leaders in the Bahamas which was our 50th country to influence. The focus is to present ethical leadership based on Biblical principles. High level police officials, top ranking military leaders, business executives, all levels of government workers, educators, church leaders and community groups have nothing but praise for this outstanding program.

Many churches have asked us to put on this seminar for their general congregation, church staff, or as an outreach program to their community. The seminar has been a tremendous stimulator for men's ministries in the church.

The world desperately needs leaders who can make a positive impact in their nation and society by displaying honesty, courage, and integrity.

FOR INFO ABOUT HAVING A PRINCIPLE-BASED LEADERSHIP SEMINAR AT YOUR CHURCH

CONTACT JIM HUFFMAN
559.335.2718
pointmanjim@msn.com