First gathering Tuesday,
May 28, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
at the Ranch Building on Canyonview Campus.
Free; no registration required.
13000 Finlay Road NE, Silverton
971-239-1347
www.canyonviewcamp.org
By Brenna Wiegand
In March, Canyonview Camp hosted a men’s getaway around Family Life Today’s Men Stepping Up video series.
Among many good things to come out of that weekend is the creation of a new Canyonview ministry: ‘The Mighty Men of Canyonview’; its catchphrase ‘Making Good Men Better.’
Don’t be turned away by the title, says Lance Kamstra of Canyonview; they’re welcoming any man – single, married, young, old.
“I thought about putting ‘Making Bad Men Better’ but that didn’t work as well,” Kamstra joked.
“What we want to do is reach men of all ages; one of our main focuses is older men mentoring younger men.”
Like the Family Life series, the goal is helping each other grow and become godly, courageous men in their family and culture.
For Kamstra and a few dozen others, Saturday morning breakfasts and an annual retreat just didn’t cut it.
“No. 1, it takes you away from your family after you’ve been working all week – it just doesn’t make sense,” Kamstra said.
“We don’t know how it will end up looking, but we’re after things that bring families together – couples and individuals of differing ages; single parents, those with different ages of kids…”
It could be a father-daughter bowling night, snowmobile camping for hardcore adventurers or an easy game night at church.
“Guys bond better doing things together; we may even have a service project weekend; we just don’t know until we get together,” Kamstra said. “The thing is you cannot break the age groups down.”
Kamstra’s longtime mentor Roger Duercksen will speak at the get-together.
“Over the last seven years we’ve been meeting, Roger has shown me how important mentoring is,” Kamstra said.
“Mentorship is so important in anyone’s life – not just men, but men especially.”
One of the results of that March conference was that Kamstra went from being “a father who was just trying to get his 19-year-old son to do stuff to a dad who can throw his (arm) around him and take a walk.”
And tell him “I love you.”
“I know what happened at that event – I know that I can speak into my son’s life,” he said.
“But there are other men who can speak more into my son’s life – that he will listen to – than I can.
“…and I want to gather those men so that my son can be brought up in that way.”
The other night they had a softball game.
“It doesn’t get any better than having my son with me on a team.”
