The beginnings of Faith Bible Camp as told by founder Geri Thomas (1921-1997)

One day, Bill told me about a Bible camp he was planning to conduct at Bird River. I have a boat with an outboard motor, he said. I need you to run it.

Well, I figured that I could take the family and make a kind of holiday out of it. I could certainly run the boat, I’d been running boats all my life.

When we arrived at the campsite, I got a big shock. First, it was very primitive. In the little old farmhouse on site, there was only one stove in the tiny kitchen. There was another summer kitchen down by the river a couple of hundred yards away. There were no freezers, no supplies. In fact, it wasn’t organized at all like today’s Bible camps.

For example, the camp charged no fees and there was no registration. Kids just came and went. Parents would hear about the camp and drop the kids off for a day or a couple of days: or maybe for the week. From day to day we never knew how many would be there.

That would not have affected me too much as a boat operator. My job was to drive the different groups of campers up river during the afternoon games time. At least that is what I was supposed to be there for.

But, it didn’t work out that way. The cook got sick so Bill asked me if I knew anybody who could come on short notice. I told him my sister, Florence, was a great cook. We asked here if she could come and she did. Dolly (my wife) offered to help her and somehow, using small amounts of food, these two women were able to provide meals to satisfy the hungry campers. As I said, there were no supplies. Some days, they might get a small package of ground meat. Florence and Dolly magically turned it into a large casserole or some other good supper dish.

It was all working out pretty good until one of the camp counselors had to go home. That left a tent full of boys with no one to be their Bible teacher by day and their counselor at night. Bill asked me if I’d do the job.

“I can’t teach them,” I objected to Bill. “I’ve only been saved a year. I need to be taught myself.”

“If you only give them the Bible stories you grew up with, they’ll get lots,” was Bill’s response. So, after asking the boys on their next boat ride if they’d be good if I took the job (which they said they would – and they were) I reluctantly became their teacher and counselor.

There were kids saved every day at that first Bird River Bible Camp. In spite of the primitiveness, in spite of the lack of organization, in spite of the lack of staff and resources, the Lord saved 25 boys, many of whom we later learned went on with the Lord.

There were, of course, many frustrations during that week. But they were all minor. The big, major, overwhelming thing that happened to me is that God showed me what could be done through Christian camping. I came away from that week rejoicing because kids had been saved. I vowed I would find a way of sharing this new ministry idea with fellow believers.

Well, I didn’t know where to start with this business of Bible camp. This was August 1952 and I’d been a Christian for not quite a year. I spoke to my wife, Dolly, about my burden and she said, “What are you going to do about it?”

I thought we could manage a summer Bible camp if we used tents and got some couples to come and help us. I was teaching a Sunday school class of kids who didn’t come from a church, and I knew that these kids would benefit from a Bible camp like that.

My next step was to share my burden with the Elders at Arlington Street Gospel Chapel. I was invited to attend an Elders meeting.

“I only became a Christian a few months ago,” I stated. “I’ve wasted a lot of years. I have a lot of catching up to do. I want to see kids saved. I want to start a Bible camp ministry.”

One of the men stood up and gave me his hand. From the very first day, Arlington was 100% behind the project.

Other chapels got on board with the project. The name Faith Bible Camp was chosen because we were going on faith in God, we wanted all to know that the Bible was what we would be teaching, and should we ever move, that name would still apply.

I heard about an opportunity to rent eight acres on Elk Island. There was nobody else on the island. It seemed an ideal setup.

My brother Norman Thomas volunteered to build a landing barge to transport the campers and workers to the island. When it was finished, that landing barge was unsinkable.

Some people donated wood from a building that they were taking down at home, others donated money, some business owners gave a discount on other material that were needed. And in March 1954, we borrowed a tractor and crossed the frozen lake to build our first cabin.

As we sent out the registration form for the first ever Faith Bible Camp, our prayer was, “Lord, send kids and we’ll look after them.”

Well, the Lord did send kids to that first camp, 135 of them. I’d already borrowed some tents but I had to scramble to find more.

We operated with a skeleton crew. My wife Dolly and my sister Florence did the cooking on a wood stove. My nephew Ralph Thomas carried water and ran the boat. Les Knight and Bob Corbett were the co-directors of that first camp. They did the Bible teaching, morning and evening. Everybody worked well together and the Lord blessed. There, under the great prairie sky, with the stars as our roof, we gathered to hear the Word preached in God’s great outdoor cathedral. In those 2 weeks, 36 of the campers became Christians. It was a great time of seeing the Lord work.

Source: Josh Klassen, Grandson (February 2007)