Labor of love at Camp
Canyon Camp is an Oklahoma ‘gem’ By Melanie Wilderman A
bout eight miles south of I-40 off exit 104 is one of the state’s three National Natural Landmarks. Follow a few turns, and as the drive descends into a sandstone canyon, the plants start to look different.
Layers of Oklahoma red rock contrast sharply with a blue sky, and cellphones lose all hope of reception. Nestled about 40 to 60 feet deep in this area lies a campground, one that its visitors speak highly of both for the natural beauty of the land and the hospitality of its caretakers. The United Methodist Church established Canyon Camp
and Conference Center, previously known as Devil’s Canyon, in 1953. Today the center hosts about 8,000 guests each year. David and Jodi Combs serve as directors and managers of Canyon Camp, and the married couple is in their seventh year at the facility near Hinton, Okla.
David has a long history with the camp—it was the first one he attended as a sixth-grader in 1979. The couple also met at a camp. “We are a result of a camp romance—summer of ’99,” David
said. They married in December 2000. Their oldest daughter Haley, now 9, was just a toddler when they moved to Hinton, and they have a new addition to the family with 6-month-old daughter Riley.
David said he focused on customer service from day one of the Canyon Camp job. “First impressions are key,” he said.
Gary Haynes, pastor of Hinton First United Methodist
Church and chair of the Canyon Campsite Development Committee, got his first impression of the camp in 2000 with a spiritual retreat he has been participating in for 14 years. He said the couple’s efforts are “tireless.” “David and Jodi are true servants. They understand hospital- ity and serve all those who come to the canyon,” Haynes said. While Canyon Camp is part of the Oklahoma Conference of
the United Methodist Church (OKUMC), everyone is wel- come, just as the large sign hanging in the dining hall proclaims.
“I hope everyone who comes here feels there’s a spirit about the place, and they feel welcome and reaffirmed,” Jodi said. Director of member services, education and youth for the
Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, Jennifer Dempsey, has been working with the YouthPower Energy Camp, a camp for eighth-graders that focuses on cooperation, team- work and leadership, since 2000. In fact, it was Dempsey’s idea
8
WWW.OK-LIVING.COOP
Left: The natural geography of the sandstone canyons offers diverse views and challenging cliffs.
Right: Canyon Camp, part of the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, welcomes a variety of non-profit groups. Photos by Melanie Wilderman
to move the event to Canyon Camp in 2001. Dempsey is im- pressed by how hands-on the caretakers are and with the im- provements she sees every year. “You can tell camp feels like home to them, and they want to welcome everyone to their home,” Dempsey said. Randy McGuire recently became the pastor at Lakeside United
Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, but spent the previous 18 years as the director of camps for Oklahoma United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries, of which Canyon Camp is one of three facilities in the state. He hired David, and described the Combses as a “package deal of Christian hospitality.” The camp runs with the work of four salaried positions, but in the busyness of summer, the camp benefits from having 16 ad- ditional paid staff and a slew of volunteers. Kaci Hansen has spent the last four summers in many roles at
Canyon Camp, including staff member, camper and camp counselor.
“David and Jodi work extremely hard to make the camp run how it does, and most of the time they are behind the scenes doing work nobody wants to do so. They fill the camp with so much love and joy,” Hansen said. David said the church camp environment gets campers out of their normal routines and “lets God touch their lives.” He be- lieves relationships are an important focus of the camp. “There aren’t as many bells and whistles as you might get at sports camps, but once kids get a chance to come here, the return rate is pretty great,” he said. Reverend Ed Parker is the new director of camps for OKUMC, hired about a month ago to replace McGuire. He said the Combses have a “servant’s heart;” they prioritize hospitality and the ministry and manage to balance it with their family needs. Parker, an avid outdoorsman, has backpacked and hiked all over the country, but he describes the canyon area as something worth seeing and is looking forward to exploring all the canyons in the area.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162