Dear MCKC Community,

MCKC Youth Camp 2023 was our first year meeting in person since we made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 retreat due to the Covid-19 outbreak. During that time, we learned new ways to continue reaching the community through online or hybrid events. However, nothing fully satisfied our desire to be with one another in community, and in 2023, both students and staff were overjoyed to be reunited once again.

In 2022, our Administrative Team met to pray over our students. We discussed our vision and goals for the 2023 retreat, focusing on 3 main questions:

1. Who are our campers?

2. How do we want them to feel, and what do we want them to learn?

3. How do we want them to respond?

We spent the next few months in prayer and connecting with local youth leaders/pastors, and prayerfully decided on the theme: Closer Than You Know, with a focus on Romans 8:37-39. We hoped the students would know how loved and deeply known they were, recognizing the depths to which the Lord knows them and is close to them, even when they felt distanced. We prayed they would leave the camp pursuing a personal relationship with God.

“...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 8:37-39

For our first year after the pandemic, we expected 70 participants (staff and campers combined). However, we ended up with 35 staff and 98 campers, making our final head count 133 participants! There were moments of uncertainty since we had not prepared for this volume, however, it was a true reminder of God’s love for Michigan and His provision.

Pastor Jane Chun flew in from Boston to share 5 messages with us. Each of these messages opened and closed with a time of praise and prayer.

Throughout the week, we also provided our students with seminars, given by local pastors on topics they had expertise and passion about. Much of our time was also spent in praising the goodness of God and praying for our families, friends, and churches.

We are thankful for you – our pastors, parents, and communities – for continuous prayer, guidance, and support so we could create a space for God to move in the students’ lives. I am confident our students will bear fruit from this experience, and this work could not have been done without you. As we look ahead to the 2024 year, we are already praying over each name and church in the community. We are looking forward to partnering with you for another year of MCKC Youth Camp.

In Christ,

Irene Kim / 김민정