Letter from Beef: AKA Brett Fedderson, Summer Camp Director

What an absolutely incredible year of summer camp we had! I do hope you were able to experience summer camp this year at Hidden Acres in some small (or large!) way, but if you weren’t, let me tell you about it:

This past camp season, Summer 2022, was my first year in the director’s seat (scary, I know!), and I had HUGE shoes to fill coming in after Amanda Smith and Tim Carpenter, my two predecessors. I wasn’t the only staff member taking on a new role at camp either! Over sixty percent of our summer staff was completely new to Hidden Acres and only one member of our CORE team had been on the CORE staff before. Being a new camp director and having such a new summer staff, naturally, my nerves were running pretty high going into the summer. I saw our newness and inexperience as a disadvantage and obstacle to overcome, but it forced us to fully hand the summer to God and trust that He would provide; looking back, I see that our newness is probably the best thing that could have happened to us this summer.

We experienced a summer of life change and joy at Hidden Acres. Our staff, most being fresh to both Hidden Acres and camp ministry, showed up each week of camp with hearts on fire for Jesus and immense passion to serve others. The Lord moved in big ways through them and the Gospel was shared with over 650 people this summer! During this camp season, we witnessed over thirty campers surrender their lives to Christ, multiple baptisms between campers and staff, and a constant stream of conversations about Jesus – and that doesn’t include the countless rededications and heart changes that we didn’t see! In any other summer, we might have been able to credit these successes to experienced leadership, veteran staffers, or a smooth program, but our newness and lack of these luxuries forced us to a monumentally important and simple realization: God showed up. We can’t explain the success at Hidden Acres this summer with any other fact except God showed up in undeniable, inexplicable, monumental ways.

Looking back, we are filled with inexpressible gratitude and joy for the souls that Jesus won. Looking forward, we ask you to join us in hopeful expectation and prayer that He will do it again. If you are interested in contributing but are unsure how, please reach out. I would love to speak with you about ways you can join us in our mission. As always, thank you for your support and friendship to Hidden Acres. May you be encouraged by the work the Lord has done and will do.