Camp History
Impact 2818
The Outdoor Ministry of The INUMC
Impact 2818 is the product of over 90 years of history. It consists of seven unique camp sites operating as one single ministry. These camps were born out of, and continue to be a significant ministry of, the Indiana Conference United Methodist Church. In 2002, the four camps from the former North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church (Epworth Forest Conference Center, Camp Adventure, Pine Creek Camp and Camp Lakewood) were merged. These four existing camp sites became one purpose-driven, cooperative, camping ministry known as Impact 2818. This merge allowed the newly-created cooperative to form a more effective, relevant and progressive camping ministry that connects young campers and their families to Jesus Christ.
In 2009, Impact 2818 joined forces with The Outdoor Ministries of the South Indiana Conference camps. This ministry now has seven camp sites and multiple programming and retreat options to serve the unique needs of all.
It’s difficult to provide an exact number of just how many people the collective camping ministries of the UMC have impacted over their 90+ years of evangelism and service. Our programmed summer camps and facilities for retreats have served the spiritual needs of over a million people. Bishops, pastors, teachers, fathers, business leaders, children…all and so many more have had their lives altered as they encounter God in a unique and uncommon place.
Camp Adventure
In the year 1928, during Senior High Institute at Epworth Forest, a small group of young boys met under the direction of Edgar Moore for the beginning of what was called Boyville. 33 boys slept in tents and enjoyed a program of games, military drills, boating, swimming, athletic events and religious services. Boyville continued to grow, and in 1933 Moore Hall was constructed by a group of volunteers. A similar program was started for girls and was called Girlville. This was held in private cottages on the grounds.
In 1941 Boyville and Girlville were merged into Camp Adventure (held at EFCC), a camp for Junior High age youth. Pell Lodge was the central building for Camp Adventure, and six log cabins were clustered near it. More cabins were built in the l950s. Because of continuing growth, and the lack of space for expansion, a new site was suggested for Camp Adventure.
Epworth Hills (known as the Back 40) was purchased in 1958. This was to be the new site for Camp Adventure. Then, in 1961, a farm of 110 acres with frontage on Backwater Lake was purchased. One-third of the tract is solid ground, and the rest is swampy area and includes part of a large island and three or four smaller islands. The camp was ready for use in 1962.
It has continued to grow, and more buildings have been added. Lookout Lodge is winterized and open for retreats all year. Camp Adventure also has a high and low ropes course, a swimming pool, paintball and THE BLOB! Meals are prepared and served in Lookout Lodge.
Epworth Forest Conference Center
Long before Impact 2818, computers, and Pop-Rocks…organized youth ministry was being birthed by the Methodist Church, the Epworth League, which later became known as MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship). This group developed ground-breaking concepts of week-long events for youth to gather, worship, study scripture and fellowship. They called the camp Institute.
Institute first began in 1916 meeting at an Evangelical United Brethren Camp, Oakwood Park. The camp quickly outgrew the facility and purchased Epworth Forest Conference Center in 1923 on the shores of Lake Webster. The first buildings constructed were the Auditorium, Epworth Hotel with a kitchen and dining room (Freeland House) and a craft hall. The first Senior High Institute at Epworth Forest Conference Center was held in 1924 with 1,334 youth registered.
Since that early beginning, Epworth Forest Conference Center has continued to grow and continues to be the site for Senior High programming, as well as for Camp REYOAD, a camp for adults with special needs, and Royal Family Kids Camp, a partnership camp for at-risk children.
Camp Indicoso
The basic property of 150 acres was acquired in 1954 with the 36.08 acres parcel lying to the East acquired in 1973.
The Camp is located approximately 5 miles from Monroe Reservoir which is north on State Road 37. The city of Bloomington is located to the north approximately 15 miles.
The first buildings built on the camp was Crawford Hall, 14 rustic cabins, site manager’s residence, maintenance building, tabernacle and a bathhouse. In 1968, Merryman Center was added and remolded in 2005 and 2008. In 1973, the swimming pool was installed. The pool was updated in 2005. In 1986, a small bathhouse was added by cabin 4 along with 4 shelter houses around the camp.
In 1999, the Armstrong Center was built with a conference room and dining hall for 250 seats.
In 2001, Camp Indicoso had two cabins built with AC/Heat for year-round use and a new pool bath house with heat so it could be used year round. Also, a 35’ climbing wall was added to the camp.
Camp Lakewood
In 1954, Mr. Elmer Seagley donated his 92 acres of land to the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Blessed by this generous donation, the church then built Lakewood Lodge and used the site as a summer camp for elementary-aged students.
When the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist churches joined in 1968, Camp Lakewood became part of the camping ministry of the North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. The camp continued to serve elementary age students.
The site is nestled on spring-fed Lake of the Woods lake in Wolcottville, IN. The wooded property extends halfway around the lake and provides a wonderful beach front for our campers and guests. Camp Lakewood serves over 700 elementary-aged campers each summer with a capacity to serve 116 campers and volunteers each week.
Camp Moneto
The camp was not named Moneto until 1969-70. For most of the 1960s, the name was simply “Methodist Camp” but often referred to in churches as the “Brown County Camp.” The first building was a metal frame bam with windows and a concrete floor built only a few yards beyond the property line.
The land for Camp Moneto was purchased in the early 1960s. It was an offshoot of Camp Rivervale. Rivervale’s tent camping program had become part of a widespread movement organized by the National Council of Churches in the mid-1950s. This movement was known as decentralized small group camping. These family groups lived in tents, cooked some of their meals over a campfire, made hobo stoves and mud ovens, built a “home-in-the-woods,” planned their own activities such as lashing together a rope monkey bridge over a deep ravine, and applied Biblical passages to their interests and common experiences as a group. This approach to church camping was quite innovative at the time.
A major development and undertaking occurred in 1968 with the construction of a road up the steep side of the west ridge. This feat required major road building equipment. At the top of the ridge, a large and very well-built shelter house with a stone fireplace was completed which, in later years, served as the core for construction of a lodge. A shower house was built diagonally across the road. Hogans and tent platforms were then moved from the middle ridge to locations spread out along the west ridge. With development of the west ridge, the camp could now accommodate up to 60 young people or 6 family groups for grades 5 and 6 junior camp or 7 and 8 junior high camp.
Pine Creek Camp
Pine Creek Camp, located in West Central Indiana, was purchased in 1957 to assist in expanding the camping ministry in the Northwest Indiana Conference. When the Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren churches merged in 1968, Pine Creek became part of the North Indiana Camping ministry. Pine Creek Camp consists of over 332 acres. Its main focus is Elementary, Family and Jr. High camps and retreats
Exciting program features include Goliath the Giant Swing, Jr. Olympic swimming pool, creek tubing, horseback riding, the climbing wall and vertical challenge course.
Pine Creek is a rustic site with some year-round facilities. With only 25 percent of its land developed, there is a great potential for growth and expansion in the future with an emphasis on the ever-growing populations in and around Indianapolis.
Camp Rivervale
In 1817 Bishop Robert R. Roberts journeyed to Southern Indiana with his wife, Elizabeth, to look over a plot of land. He had seen the place three years before but had not bought it.
Elected the year before by the General Conference in Baltimore, Bishop Robert knew that the center of his activities as a frontier bishop would not lie in Philadelphia or Baltimore but in the west in Indiana or Illinois.
The place he chose was in southeastern Lawrence County near Bono. Lawrenceport was not in existence. The land was more fertile than in Pennsylvania’s Shenango Valley. He then selected a site for a log cabin. From time to time he added to his land holdings until he had approximately 1000 acres.
Do You Have More Historical Information?
We would love to list more information here to preserve our heritage and important notes. Please contact us with any details including links or references that could help us confirm the details.