2025 BC Camping conference


Jan 27 - 30 2025


hosted by: Stillwood Camp & Conference



Meet the keynote speakers for the next BC Camping Conference!

Krista Penner

FCC Keynote Speaker


You can catch Krista Penner's keynote presentations on Jan 29 & 30 ,2025.


Krista Penner currently serves Fellowship Pacific churches as the Team Lead of the Build Team and through management of Immerse, the in-church contextualized theologically grounded leadership education program offering a Masters of Arts in Biblical Leadership and a Master of Divinity through Northwest Seminary. 


As part of her portfolio, Krista works with churches to coach and develop the next generation of leaders.  Krista loves to cast vision, preach and teach in churches across BC as she desires to mentor, equip, and encourage continued significant gospel impact through local church ministry in the communities they serve across Canada.   To learn more about Krista visit her website at www.kristapenner.net.  


Ryan Walter

BCCA Keynote Speaker


Ryan’s Keynote presentations on January 27th & 28th


Ryan Walter spent 17 seasons in the NHL as both a player and a coach, before broadcasting hockey games for radio and TV, choreographing hockey for Hollywood, and leading a professional hockey team as their President and CEO.

Ryan believes that great leaders learn or are trained to see things differently and focus where others pay little attention. Leaders see the opportunity, the best in people, the future-positive direction. In hockey terms, leaders focus on where the puck will be and go to where it will be, instead of focusing on where the puck is. As a speaker Ryan shares motivating and inspiring stories from his time in the NHL and his post-NHL career in broadcasting, business, movies, corporate coaching and more. To learn more about Ryan visit his website at www.ryanwalter.com

We look forward to welcoming Ryan to the BC Camping Conference on behalf of the BCCA and hearing his amazing perspectives on life, leadership and all things hockey 🏒

BC Camping Conference Recap!

Thank you to everyone who came to the BC Camping Conference! It was a great time of connecting, learning and fellowship! Highlights include:

  • FCC AGM - Paul Bailey and Art Loewen have resigned from the board, and new members have been added. More on this later in this newsletter!
  • $1250 was raised through the fundraising auction! Thanks to everyone who purchased something in the auction, or donated to the work party happening in April! More details on that below.
  • Over 200 people showed up, and we’re so thankful for Stillwood Camp for putting so much effort into hosting us!

A LINKED CONFERENCE

The BC Camping Conference: A ‘Linked Conference’ co-sponsored by the BCCA and FCC


As far as we know, the BC Camping Conference (BCCC) is unique in North America. It is a ‘linked conference,’ co-sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Camps (FCC-BC) and the BC Camps Association (BCCA). The two organizations work together to create one event that serves the unique needs of both memberships.

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The first joint conferences were held at Squeah (1995) and Kawkawa (1996). For a variety of reasons, the two organizations did separate conferences again in 1997, but participants missed being together. Further discussion led to the adoption of a new format in 1998. The ‘linked conference’ has been very successful, and over the years, the BCCC has grown to include up to 180 delegates from 50 camps.

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Throughout the 1980’s, Christian Camping International (CCI-BC) ran a thriving annual conference, but the BCCA Camping Conference was faltering. Just as it is today, the majority of BC’s Christian camps were also members of BCCA. Because budgets and time constraints are always tight, many camps felt that they couldn’t afford the time and expense to participate in two conferences. For a variety of reasons, a majority of those camps that were members of both organizations chose to attend the CCI-BC event and pass on the BCCA event. The executive of BCCA approached CCI-BC (now known as the FCC-BC) to see if the two organizations could join forces.

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After much discussion and some trial and error, the idea of a ‘linked conference’ was born. Today, two representatives from BCCA and two representatives from FCC plus one representative from the host facility form the Conference Committee. The first 36 hours of the conference is run by the BCCA (they pick the speaker, set the content and hold their AGM) and the second 36 hours is run by the FCC (they pick the speaker, set the content and hold their AGM). The workshop tracks are organized by the committee, and except for a very small number of sessions aimed specifically at topics for Christian camps (still the bulk of the camps and delegates in attendance each year), the majority of the workshops have no faith content.

 

In this “linked” format, the BCCA serves its mandate and membership by providing inspirational and thoughtful speakers to challenge and equip those serving at their member camps (faith based or otherwise) while the FCC serves its mandate and membership by providing speakers to encourage and strengthen the faith of those serving at their member camps.

 

The change in style and content after the first three plenary sessions is by design, and it is understood to be a reflection of our decision to work together in a linked conference format. Typically delegates will grab a coffee and network if a particular session doesn’t interest them: there is always a lot to process and new people to get to know!

 

We have a great thing going between BCCA and FCC, and over the years we have built strong relationships with one another. 

 

The Conference Committee looks forward to having you join us this year as we celebrate camping in its various forms and work together to build vibrant and professional camping industry in BC!

 

–  Written by Paul Bailey