Northern Light Summer '25

A Note from the Executive Director

Summer Camp Update — Heavy & Full Hearts, All at Once 

Heavy Hearts 

Before I touch on our summer at HoneyRock, I want to share that we have been and continue to pray for the Camp Mystic families and those impacted by the tragic floods in Texas. Our hearts go out to all of the affected families, and at the same time, we feel and appreciate the responsibility we have to do all we can to steward and protect the children and students entrusted to our care.  

As a HoneyRock staff team, we place a high emphasis on planning, preparation, training, and action. We seek to work as if it all depends on us, but then at the same time praying for God’s protection as if it all depends on God. Our summer staff participate in four weeks of training prior to the first campers arriving, and we feel affirmed in the priority we have placed on this training.      

You may also be interested in knowing that we annually review our emergency response and communication plans. This past Spring, we also did a comprehensive risk & safety review, where we hosted Wheaton College Risk Management and took three days to review what could go wrong, what procedures we have in place, what training we do, how it’s documented, where we can improve, etc. As you can imagine, there is some level of risk in many of the things we do, and we want to ensure that we are managing, controlling and minimizing this risk. This includes maintaining important connections with the Three Lakes Police and Fire departments. Please reach out to honey.rock@wheaton.edu if you would like to learn more.   

Full Hearts  

We are now more than half-way through our summer season. Camp is full and we are very pleased with the student leaders that have come with great hearts for service. They are the hands and feet of Christ, working hard serving our campers.     

While we know that much of the fruit from this summer camp season won’t be seen immediately (or seen at all this side of heaven), we are so very grateful for the fruit we are seeing and the stories we are hearing about:  

• Campers engaged in meaningful conversations in their cabins asking intentional questions and expressing interest in Jesus, the Bible, heaven, and living the Christian life.  

• On the first day, one camper felt very homesick but found comfort as the cabin read through Isaiah 43. 

• Another camper experienced transformation through Romans 8 as she realized that nothing could separate her from God’s love, supported by prayer from her cabin mates. 

• A Boy’s cabin celebrated a camper’s commitment to Christ. 

• A boy who started camp distracted and disengaged stepped into leadership during their cabin trip. Cabin leaders observed his growth and witnessed the camper share his re-commitment to his faith and growth in his relationship with Christ. 

We are blessed by these stories, and I hope you find encouragement from them too. A huge thanks to those of you who have been and are praying for us, and for the students and campers we’re serving. We know God is working, and we are praying that he does the most important work in the hearts of our campers. 

God Bless,  

Matt Erickson ‘95

Summer Media Team Feature 

We would like to highlight our incredible summer media team, who has been capturing all of the amazing photos featured in Bunk1, Northern Light, and throughout the year. The team consists of four college student leaders and one Catalyst 2 camper, all under the management of Samantha Martin, our marketing specialist. For the first time, our media team participated in a training course with professional photographer Adam Pratt, which has already elevated the quality of our photography! They've also put together a Session Highlight Video of Residential Camp Session 1, Advance Camp, and Voyageur below that we hope you enjoy! 

Newly Remodeled Lower Vanguard Center 

What used to be known as Basecamp for our Day Camp and other programs is now four newly remodeled hotel-style rooms so that we can host even more guests and volunteers. This project took place over the past year with our incredible facilities team and the help of a few Fellows. It’s been amazing to welcome guests in this new space this summer.