In 2008, two of our directors felt like God was leading them to start a camp that was very focused on local missions. They spent a few weeks planning a weekend mission project for local students. They had a little over twenty students show up.
The next year, they met and formed a board of directors with several other local youth pastors. They now had five people to put together a camp and share the work. While they were planning, they came up with the name Illuminate which they took from Matthew 5:16. They also decided to make the camp a week long, instead of just a weekend.
In following years, the camp continued to grow. Instead of just having students that belonged to the directors’ youth groups, other local churches began to participate. The camp has grown and improved each year. In 2011, we were excited to bring on board some camp staff. These were young adults who had come to Illuminate as high school students and wanted to come back and help lead. The camp has also received tremendous support from the community and local businesses and churches, of which we are very thankful.
It is the hope of the Board of Directors that the camp will continue to grow and that it will stay true to its main goal, namely, bringing glory to God.