Who We Are
Mission. Core Values. Statement Of Faith.
Our Mission
Our mission is to make apprentices of Jesus Christ through camp and conference ministry.
Calvin Crest has always existed to create a space where God can change lives. These sacred grounds are “a thin place” where heaven meets earth and the Spirit of God works in hearts in life-changing ways. Our vision is to be a thriving center for spiritual transformation.
Core Values
The essence of our Triune God is the foundation for everything we do and how we do it. Because God is relational at his core and created us in his image, we value relational ministry with campers and guests. As a result, time and energy may be devoted to building relationships over creating heavily produced programming.
A healthy culture is a result of building trust, engaging in conflict, committing to one another, maintaining accountability, and focusing on desired results. We believe creating healthy teams is a worthy use of time and resources, and we will get better at what we do as a natural bi-product.
We believe no one drifts into discipleship; rather it requires intentional decision and practice in the ways of Jesus. We take seriously the calling to become like Christ, and we understand who we are becoming is just as important as what we are doing. Our staff seeks to point to Jesus Christ in all things, and our programming is designed to help our guests pay attention and be drawn to Jesus. We seek to empower youth pastors, parents, and churches to facilitate on-going discipleship with students after returning home.
For nearly 70 years, God has been meeting people on the sacred grounds at Calvin Crest. In this thin space where heaven meets earth, guests experience deep restoration and transformation. It is our goal to create a “friendly, empty space” where friends and strangers can enter in and feel welcomed and loved.
Surrounded by the Sierra National Forest, Calvin Crest is secluded and set apart. We are passionate about stewarding well this piece of ground entrusted to us, and we work with various partners to remember and honor the indigenous people who came before us, care for the forest, and teach future generations about the land. We are committed to ethical sustainability and conscientious care of God’s gifts of people, land, facilities, and money.
We believe the way of Jesus is found in dying to ourselves and serving the needs of others. We recognize this camp belongs to God, and this ministry is not about us so we can abandon all outcomes to God. We seek to live with a posture of non-defensiveness, curiosity, and wonder, lifelong learning and growth, admitting wrong and seeking forgiveness when needed.
We are committed to the formation of young men and women into servant leaders to help shape their vocation and direction. Everything we do, we do with an aim to empower staff to grow and develop their God-given gifts and skills. This also means leaders share power and give space for others to try new things, fail, and learn as a critical means of development.
Statement of faith
God has revealed himself to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all his ways, one in essence, existing eternally in the three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God, who discloses himself to humankind through his creation, has savingly spoken in the words and events of redemptive history. This history is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, who is made known to us by the Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture.
Scripture is an essential part and trustworthy record of this divine self-disclosure. All the books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, are the written word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They are to be interpreted according to their context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through them in living power.
God, by his word and for his glory, freely created the world out of nothing. He made man and woman in his own image, as the crown of creation, that they might have fellowship with him. Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being estranged from their Maker, yet responsible to him, they became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved and, apart from grace, incapable of returning to God.
The only mediator between God and humankind is Christ Jesus our Lord, God’s eternal son, who, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, fully shared and fulfilled our humanity in a life of perfect obedience. By his death in our stead, he revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day he rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all.
The Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the gospel, renews our hearts, persuading us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit we are led to trust in divine mercy, whereby we are forgiven all our sins, justified by faith alone through the merit of Christ our Savior, and granted the free gift of eternal life.
God graciously adopts us into his family and enables us to call him Father. As we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring so to live in the world that all may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.
God, by his Word and Spirit creates the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, calling sinners out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ’s Body. By the same Word and Spirit, he guides and preserves for eternity that new, redeemed humanity, which, being formed in every culture, is spiritually one with the people of God in all ages.
The Church is summoned by Christ to offer acceptable worship to God and to serve him by preaching the gospel and making disciples of all nations, by tending the flock through the ministry of the word and sacraments and through daily pastoral care, by striving for social justice, and by relieving human distress and need.
God’s redemptive purpose will be consummated by the return of Christ to raise the dead, to judge all people according to the deeds done in the Body, and to establish his glorious kingdom. The wicked shall be separated from God’s presence, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with him forever. Then shall the eager expectation of the creation be fulfilled and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new.