Horn Creek has a rich history of impacting the lives of youth and families. And it can be hard work! The mechanics of maintaining a camp and shaping a successful, impacting retreat for youth can seem pretty complex. Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about what works, and over time some of those things have changed while others seem to remain the same.

Youth pastors and leaders know the tremendous value of youth camps and retreats, but many are intimidated by the task. At Horn Creek we delight in partnering with retreat leaders, whether seasoned veterans or new leaders full of passion and heart but short on experience, to create an unforgettable retreat experience with eternal impact. We are here for you! It’s our passion.

There are so many things that come together to make a retreat “work.” But young and seasoned leaders alike always need to remember that none of our hard work and creativity is any match for the power of God to take whatever energy, experience, creativity and hard work we bring and transform it by His grace into something remarkable.

Natalie Holdren of Northland Christian Church in Topeka Kansas and Horn Creek retreat leader writes…

21 years…I wear this number as a badge of honor (or a challenge, a reminder, a privilege, a mission…) This is how many years I’ve been in student ministry and have done overnighters, camps, youth groups, small group Bible studies, Sardines, classes, and so much more!

As God has seen fit to allow me to be a part of this, I have learned much; this past season is no different. I am understanding something amazing that I’m sure I’ve taught and that God has (tried) to tell me before, however, this is totally new to me.

As we make all of the needed sacrifices to partake in student ministry, and to provide our students with every opportunity we can in which they hear, experience and know God’s Truth, it is truly all about His Grace. This grace covers our inabilities, our small offerings of fasting and prayer, our lack of whatever; His Grace makes possible our human love, our feeble use of our gifts, our excessive schedules and our years (or lack-thereof) of experience.

Therefore, I’ve come to look for the obvious hand of His Grace in the lives of our students. It’s His Grace that brings forth the fruit, His grace that builds The Kingdom, His Grace that uses a weekend retreat, a mission trip, a counseling session…His Grace that uses us to do His Work. When I look for and find the evidence of His Grace, I stop and thank Him for getting me ready for the next thing; then look for ways to teach my students to identify and experience the evidence of grace in their lives.

That’s it. At Horn Creek, we are excited to partner with you to create an opportunity to see the evidence of God’s grace working in our lives and the lives of our students!

If you want to find out more about bringing your next youth camp or retreat to Horn Creek, contact Johnny Ainsworth:
johnnyainsworth@horncreek.org
719-783-2006

Challenger Peak: Thanksgiving Family Camp – November 24-27, 2010

Thanksgiving Camp at Horn Creek is a wonderful tradition and a special way to spend Thanksgiving with friends and family. Held this year at the Horn Creek Lodge facility, this 3-day camp will be anchored by a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.

We’ll also have all the normal Horn Creek Family Camp style fun including recreation, horseback riding, nightly activities, and great teaching from Horn Creek speaker Mark Yarbrough. And yes, we’ll watch a little football too.

Register now at discounted rates!

MORE INFO HERE

The Great Commandment: Loving God and Loving Others…

June 6-12

As Christians we all have a desire to know and follow Jesus. That is at the core of who we are. But sometimes that desire gets distracted or discouraged. We may know we SHOULD follow Him, but we have lost our passion. We may know ABOUT Him, but we don’t trust His presence anymore. We may know we are SUPPOSED to do something for Him, but we aren’t so sure what that means anymore.

Still, we want Jesus. And we want our lives to matter for Jesus. And we crave a community of people seeking those things with us.

We are looking for the depth of “Love God, Love Neighbor” in real-life form.

The Horn Creek Servant Week is a brand new family camp especially focused on active faith. The theme of the week will be loving God and others. Experienced Horn Creek speaker Billy Thrall will team up with veteran camper Kurt Neale, along with the Horn Creek leadership to facilitate a unique week of challenging us to ask the question, “What does it really mean as individuals and families to put our faith into action in our communities and around world?” And, we won’t just be talking about it, we’ll be doing it! During the week, campers will have the opportunity to choose two service projects from a list of several that will need to be done at Horn Creek to be ready for the rest of the summer. Also included will be at least one project in our local community of Westcliffe. This will be a unique opportunity for campers to not only serve the ministry of Horn Creek, but also demonstrate love to the hundreds of others who will attend our camps throughout the summer and beyond. And, we’ll also be enjoying all of the regular Horn Creek family camp activities.

So, if you can come to camp June 6-12, you want to be challenged to put your faith in Christ into action, and you’re willing roll up your sleeves in service a little while you’re here, this is the camp for you. And, the registration fees for this camp are 50% of our normal regular rates!

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Horn Creek is passionate about ministering to families, and no two look exactly alike. Horn Creek Family Camps have always been welcome places for families of various shapes and sizes. Singles have always been a welcome and vibrant part of our family camps whether they have children or not and single parent families have found great welcome, encouragement and support in all of our camps through the years. We want to see that continue to flourish at Horn Creek.

Nevertheless, in conversations with some single parents and leaders in the area of ministry to single parent families, a vision was born to launch a totally new type of family camp at Horn Creek. Therefore we are pleased to announce the launch of the new Crestone Peak Single Parent Family Camp in 2010.

This new camp embraces all of the rich tradition and ministry philosophy of family camping at Horn Creek through the years along with the added emphasis of bringing single parent families together in community for encouragement, support, and fellowship. Our speaker for this new camp in 2010 will be Donnie Smith, one of Horn Creek’s veteran, dynamic speakers. Donnie has a rich history of ministry to Horn Creek families with an emphasis on what it means for families to live in a radical, missional way in their communities.

Joining Donnie and the Horn Creek leadership team will be Jennifer Erlenbusch, Director of Single Parent Ministries at Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas and Shannon Miles, the Associate Worship Leader at Irving Bible. We are excited to bring together this amazing team of leaders for a camp that will include great teaching, worship, fun, and lots of free time to decompress!

If you are a single parent, dealing with the unique challenges of parenting alone, and you need a week to get away and get with God and others who are dealing with the same challenges you are, we hope you will join us this year for the primier of this exciting new camp!

REGISTER NOW!

August 8-14

Hosted at the Horn Creek Mountain Meadows facility, this brand new camp has been organized with adoptive and foster families in mind. The camp will consist of all the fun, relaxation and family time that Horn Creek is known for — but it will also have a few special extras designed especially for adoptive and foster families. These extras will include a chance to hang out with a diverse group of families from all of the country, some focused discussion time on topics that are particularly relevant for adoptive and foster families as well as a teaching focus on our adoption in Christ. In addition, many of the families that will attend are involved in church adoption and foster care ministry, such as the leaders of Tapestry (Irving Bible Church) and LifeSong for Orphans.

As a ministry to adoptive and foster families Horn Creek is inviting children who have been adopted within the past year or have been in their current foster placement for less than a year to come free of charge. We hope you will consider joining this new and exciting camp.

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July 4-10

Register now for this great new camp!

Soccer Family Camp at Horn Creek is a unique experience that combines the majestic setting of the Rocky Mountains with spiritual renewal and challenge from a Christian perspective, and soccer!

Soccer Family Camp is a great opportunity for your child to have a lot of fun learning new soccer skills and team play in the Christ centered context of Horn Creek family camp. The soccer workshop portion of the week will be primarily in the mornings between breakfast and lunch, and will be of benefit to beginners as well as advanced players (age 3 to 13).

Each day’s instruction will include a variety of individual and group skills including: ball control, footwork, dribbling, passing, shooting, and juggling.

Our Soccer Family Camp includes great meals; a variety of activities; and our evening Round Up, a meaningful time of worship and teaching with Horn Creek speaker and soccer aficionado Tony Felich. Also directing the soccer portion of our camp is soccer expert Walter “Chico” Chiriboga. We’ll finish each evening with a different activity after Round Up, like the Hanging Log, Family Game Night, Skit Night, and our weekly Western Night variety show that includes a carnival, music and melodrama, and culminates in a huge barn dance!

The Culebra Peak camp is a traditional Horn Creek family in every way, and you’ll still have lots of freedom to spend time as a family as you see fit. We are simply adding the component of soccer camp type activities in the mornings between breakfast and lunch, for those who wish to participate. If you want to be about soccer all week, there will be plenty of opportunity, but there are many other options as well. And we’ll end the week with a final Horn Creek Cup soccer game and a big campfire!

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