AUGUST EMAIL NEWSLETTER 2025

As camp draws to a close, throughout the summer, our campers learned that Hanging Rock is more than just a place. It is an experience that shapes and challenges them in their walk with Christ.

In every camp session, strangers became friends and friends became family. Campers shared stories, laughter, tears, and dreams. Moments of vulnerability—like homesickness or fears about the future—were met with empathy and encouragement.

Meals together in the new dining hall were filled with lively conversation and moments together where everyone had plenty of space.

This summer we welcomed 2,773 campers.  85 kids gave their lives to Christ and were baptized at camp; 443 adults served as Event Coordinators and faculty. We had 60 out of our 70 churches participate in camp this summer.

We are grateful for every Event Coordinator, every faculty, every volunteer, every camper and our summer staff and year around staff who made this summer so incredible. And as we look ahead, we do so with hope and anticipation, knowing that the best is yet to come.

Thank you to everyone who made this summer at Hanging Rock unforgettable. We hope to see you all again next year as we continue to grow, serve, and celebrate together!

This summer at Hanging Rock Christian Camp was nothing short of incredible. Over ten unforgettable weeks, we welcomed campers of all ages to experience Christ-centered community, powerful worship, and endless adventure. From horseback rides and paintball battles to late-night worship sessions and quiet moments by the campfire, every day was packed with meaningful memories. We saw lives changed, faith deepened, and friendships formed that will last a lifetime. Whether it was a camper’s first time or their fifth summer back, God moved in amazing ways all season long—and we’re already counting down the days until next year!

We want YOU & your family to come to Family Camp 2025 during Labor Day weekend to fellowship with us.

This year, Casey Scott will be our main speaker as he helps us dive into the different symbols of unity. We will have amazing worship, food, & of course our annual Family Challenge!

OPen to all ministers! Breakfast at 9am, first session at 10am then lunch at 11:30, second session starts 12:30 and ending at 2pm. We will do camp committee nominations at lunch. We would love for you to join us!

We are excited to announce that we have finished a couple of our handicapped private bathrooms in the Retreat Center dorms! Our JOY campers had the opportunity to use them, and they worked wonderfully! Our handicapped bathrooms include a sink, toilet, and shower with a built-in bench & a detachable wand shower head.

We also were able to use our brand-new handicapped pool lift! This purchase was made so that people could easily access the pool. We were thrilled to see how well it worked during JOY Camp.

We are so thankful for the Wheeler Foundation & it's support for funding these projects that will continue to bless Hanging Rock in so many ways.  

What a summer it has been! It feels like we just started the summer, and here we are writing our summer end articles. This summer saw the use of the new dining hall and what a blessing it has been! I still can't believe we are in the building a whole year before we thought we would be.

The Lord showed up and provided the funding needed to get the project done ahead of our timeline. And boy oh boy have we used that building. From opening day on work day, where we welcomed over 150 people to be the first to have a meal in there, to 3rd-5th grade Main that saw over 220 people eat in there, and everything in between it has been an honor watching it all unfold. We have served well over 3,000 people since opening day. There have been a few challenges, but nothing major. Little things like needing a trash can, at the serving line, to throw away hamburger bun packages, and making sure to take extra serving utensils in case something is dropped. Things like that aren't realized until you are in the middle of it. Aside from that nothing major, just blessings all around in the building! Seeing and hearing young people enjoy a meal together is absolutely amazing. This summer saw an increase in campers, which naturally lead to an increase in food consumption. Here are some stats from food service for summer 2025: meals served 43,244

That's 43,244 meals that our faculty, staff, and campers didn't have to worry about. Thats 43,244 meals that eliminated distractions of hungry bellies, so campers could focus on Jesus! There is no way I could have done all that cooking by myself. So, a huge thanks goes out to Angel Cunningham, Jim Newlin, Gary Baker, Selah Wilson, Imani Johnson, and Kelsey Hatcher for helping cook, serve, and clean after meals! You can imagine with that many meals there would be a lot of dirty dishes. So, another huge thanks goes to Sam Cunningham, Marin Rhoads, and Fyn Beedle for being an amazing dishwashing crew! 

Some more fun number for 2025: 3,120 burgers were grilled, 60 gallons of ranch dressing, 840 pounds of salad or roughly 6,700 bowls of salad, 137 gallons of apple juice, 85 gallons of orange juice, 7,200 slices of bacon, 570 pounds of eggs or roughly 5,100 eggs, and over 9,100 mini corn dogs were all consumed this summer. Now, the fan favorite numbers: 372 pizzas or 2,976 slices, over 9,600 slices of cheese were used for burgers, chicken patties sandwiches and sloppy Joe's, mac and cheese, and eggs. Over 6,700 of Todd's famous chocolate chip cookies were baked and 127 cases or 10,160 chicken tenders were cooked and eaten this summer!

Again, what an amazing summer it has been! And what a blessing this new space has been. Praise The Lord for His blessings! Thank you for everyone who played a part in getting this spaced built. To God be the glory!

 

We are making good progress on the dining hall addition loan. We still have $42,000 left to pay on the new Dining Hall. If you would like to donate to our Dining Hall Addition, click the button below. Every donation is appreciated and helps our mission to establish & strengthen relationships in Christ by funding a project that helps us eliminate distractions by providing hot & ready meals in a great environment. The goal is to have this paid off by the end of this year. 

WOW WOW WOW!! The Lord has been so good to us this summer & so many lives were changed! We had another record-breaking summer with 2,773 campers! All our main camps had over 120 campers in attendance with the most being 3rd-5th grade camp with 185 campers!

This year's theme was "Road Trip: Experiencing God along the way" coming from John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. With this theme we wanted to teach kids that their journey with the Lord will look different than others & this world will try to throw you off course in your pursuit of the Lord. A lot of our chapel stage displays had road signs & high school main had a car that they got to write their testimonies on.

This summer included a lot of fun camp games! JH Main had a Jello fight, HS Main did a carnival, and 5th & 6th Main got to play laser tag. We brought back HS Wilderness & they got to go to several cool places including Indiana Dunes! Horse camps got to go on trail rides through the woods. 1st & 2nd grade got to tie-dye pillowcases!

Finally, THANK YOU! Event Coordinators I can never thank you enough for putting together amazing weeks of camp! Faculty thank you for sacrificing time to pour into camper’s lives! Summer staff you did it! The days get long & hot but thank you for showing up to serve campers! It is a blessing to serve here as the Program Director!

 

God continues to bless the ministry of Hanging Rock. Back in May we were informed about a grant the Lilly Endowment was making for all Indiana camps. Here is what the grant is: 

The Lilly Endowment offers grants for camps in Indiana through its Capital Project Initiative for Residential Youth Camps. This initiative includes:

Phase 1 Planning Grants: Up to $150,000 for assessing and preparing for potential capital projects.

Hanging Rock was awarded this grant: We are using this to get an official master plan of our property and grounds., we will be getting a couple of architectural drawings for two future buildings, getting engineering work for the waste treatment plant, getting help with a plan for larger parking area and a look at putting an additional exit onto 263. 

Phase 2 Grants: Up to $1.5 million for upgrading or renovating existing facilities or building new ones.

Hanging Rock will be applying for this in September to help cover the cost of some of the plans from Phase 1 of the grant. 

Phase 3 Competitive Grants: Up to $10 million for large-scale projects, including construction of new facilities and major upgrades. This phase is a matching grant. Meaning we have to raise the funds and then have them matched by Lilly.

Hanging Rock board is working on a plan to at least apply for an amount that we could raise to get some of this as well. 

The Board of Directors are meeting to work out the details on what is the best way to use these resources to help expand the ministry of Hanging Rock and help it become more sustainable for the future. As we approach our 80th anniversary next year we want to make sure the camp is in a place to continue to thrive for another 80 plus years. 

Please keep this matter in your prayers. 

 

 

Visit our website at www.hangingrock.org