30 Oct Camp Michindoh in New Hands

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
The Michindoh Camp and Conference Center (Hillsdale, Mich.) is now a ministry of Lenawee Christian Ministries, an organization founded by Orville and Ruth Merillat, who basically donated the camp to us in the first place. In April, I signed various papers on behalf of the denomination to transfer title of all camp assets to Lenawee for one dollar. I believe it was the right decision.

After the 2005 US National Conference, Michindoh Conference took action to dissolve (like other conferences), but entrusted the conference council with determining the fate of the camp.

Various possibilities were considered. In the spring of 2007, Gull Lake Ministries, a highly-respected camping ministry in Michigan, agreed to assume ownership of Michindoh. But they backed out, sending the conference council back to square one.

We expected that all annual conferences would have dissolved by the 2007 US National Conference. However, Michindoh Conference couldn’t dissolve until they settled the fate of the camp. With no resolution in sight, the following happened:

• The Executive Leadership Team asked Michindoh Conference to deed the camp to the denomination.
• The ELT became, in effect, the camp board in October 2007.
• A  temporary management agreement was signed with Lenawee Ministries to provide immediate oversight of the camp.
• This spring, the ELT, confident of the camp’s future in the hands of Lenawee Ministries, decided to deed the camp to them.

Camp Michindoh was not an asset that the denomination could maintain long-term. We’re not in the camping business, and don’t have the deep pockets to finance some of the needs currently confronting the camp. So I’m happy that we could turn everything over to Lenawee. Jim McClellen, from Lenawee, is serving as the camp CEO.