Welcome to Living My Faith, a weekly show that celebrates the everyday believers who are walking with Jesus not just on Sundays, but in every area of their lives. From relationships and parenting to health, habits, and home, our guests share how they keep their faith at the center of it all. Hosted in Jacksonville, Florida and supported by Christ-centered partners, Living My Faith is a space where real life meets real faith. Today our host, James Fenimore, spoke with Dan Lovaglia of Camp Paradise
Transcript:
00;00;05;09 – 00;00;13;13
James
Hi and welcome to Living My Faith. I’m James Fenimore, and joining me today is a very special guest. Today we have Dan Lovaglia. Dan, how are you?
00;00;13;15 – 00;00;15;13
Dan
I’m doing great, James. Thanks for having me.
00;00;15;15 – 00;00;23;05
James
Oh, thank you so much for joining me, Dan. It’s a real treat. Dan, we like to start this show with one simple question. How are you living your faith?
00;00;23;07 – 00;00;52;04
Dan
Wow, that’s a big question. That’s a big question. People always ask me like, what do you do with Camp Paradise? I’ve been, part of this ministry now since, 2007. I was a camper. And one of the things that Camp Paradise has been doing for 50 years is inviting people to pursue the best connections, both with their relationship with, Heavenly Father, with God, in community, with other people that are significant to them.
00;00;52;07 – 00;01;21;11
Dan
And then living out their faith. Either whether they’re supporting the ministry, but taking it home. Right. So Camp Paradise is, Retreat center in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s, self-supporting ministry, out of Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois. It started in 1976, and then in 1991, we shifted from having, teens and young adults as campers to to doing what we call dads camp.
00;01;21;13 – 00;01;43;25
Dan
And so for the past 35 years, we’ve been inviting dads. With children ages 8 to 12. Every summer they come out and, they get to, bond better in their relationship with the Heavenly Father, with their child, and in community with other fathers and father figures. It happens. It’s like a three full day retreat.
00;01;43;28 – 00;02;07;26
Dan
Up in the middle of nowhere. And, we have dads and kids coming from 27 different states. This past year, we had, nearly a thousand, campers show up. We also do a women’s retreat a couple times a season, in the summer. And, and so we just it’s it’s something that we do to build into families.
00;02;08;02 – 00;02;37;16
Dan
And like I said, I’ve been coming since 2007. So for, I don’t know, seven years, I brought both of my boys one on one. And, really, it, it built into my soul, as a, as a father who wanted to be, devoted follower of Jesus, but also knew that my role as dad was incredibly significant. And then to also build some relationships with people that for me, you know, I it wasn’t always easy.
00;02;37;19 – 00;03;03;16
Dan
I, I grew up in a home that wasn’t particularly rooted in faith. I became a Christian as a kid. I was eight years old. My mom had sent me to a church for a daycare that had just started, and. And she was divorced and didn’t want have anything to do with faith, but it was cheap. And so, you know, she said, if you tell my kid about God, church or Jesus, I’ll burn your building down.
00;03;03;19 – 00;03;20;00
Dan
And and so, you know, they were like, well, bring it on. It’s a little Baptist church. They’re like, bring it on. And so sure enough, you know, that’s kind of how it went. And and it was cool because, you know, they’re like, well, we see Danny on Monday. And so I showed up, I became a Christian, went home, told my mom what happened.
00;03;20;01 – 00;03;42;22
Dan
Anyway, I’ve been through a whole lot of things in my life, different roles. But I’ve been a pastor now 30 years, and being the camp pastor at Camp Paradise over the past five years has been transformational, just not just for me, but for the people that we serve. And, just love the ministry that we’re doing and the fact that it’s been around for 50 years, 35 years of, dad’s camp.
00;03;42;22 – 00;03;51;15
Dan
And now with the women’s retreat, we just we’re seeing lives changed, of all ages. In so many different ways. It’s pretty powerful.
00;03;51;17 – 00;04;09;03
James
I really love what you’re doing, especially this day and age. I feel like, you know, men, men in the church and men as fathers. We really need to stand up and really kind of kind of grab the bull by the horns again as men. And, because I feel like the women have been kind of doing their job when it comes to the church.
00;04;09;07 – 00;04;34;02
Dan
It’s funny, we did a, we asked some moms, hey, would you come up to camp? We had some past summer staffers and some moms and people who’d been past campers back when it was a teenage camp. You know, they came up and we were like, hey, maybe we do a moms retreat. And the thing that came out of it that surprised us was that they were like, we get to drive seven hours from Chicago to camp alone.
00;04;34;04 – 00;04;54;12
Dan
We got to listen to what I wanted to listen to do what I wanted to do. Our first women’s retreat in 2024. I had a mom standing next to me, and we’re out by the waterfront. I was just kind of checking how things were going. She goes, this is the first time that I have stood by a body of water and not held a towel or a bottle of, you know, sunscreen or somebody’s snack.
00;04;54;15 – 00;05;07;03
Dan
And so what we learned was, don’t do a moms retreat, do a women’s retreat because they need a break and rest and recharge. Let’s keep the dads camp thing special for dads and kids because they need that too. That was super cool.
00;05;07;05 – 00;05;15;03
James
That’s very cool. So. So what can, What can dads expect when they get there? Is there anything specific that you do?
00;05;15;05 – 00;05;36;20
Dan
Yeah. So from the time they say yes, right. They sign up for camp, they drive, all the way into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A lot of people have never been there before. You get to a dirt road and you drive five miles on a on a sandy dirt road down to a parking lot. We take a dad and child and then, you know, we we take them on boats a quarter mile down the river.
00;05;36;22 – 00;05;59;17
Dan
They arrive, they get a huge welcome of, you know, welcome to camp. And then that night and then for three full days, what they get to experience is, time to connect with, each other as a father and a child. Right. So we have father son retreats and father daughter retreats. In the mornings, you know, you start with, you know, you’ve got some free time, some breakfast.
00;05;59;17 – 00;06;21;14
Dan
We do chapel. So, we have a game that will play and, some worship. That’s pretty low key, but then I’ll do some teaching, and then dads get some solitude time, which for many of them that it’s unheard of, that they would spend an hour by themselves, in God’s Word, in nature. Well, we got the kids taken care of.
00;06;21;16 – 00;06;40;29
Dan
Then they get one on one time together. And so that’s special to, you know, a lot of them that’s they’re getting introduced to that lunchtime and then afternoons as a cabin. So it’s we have a limited space. So every cabin is about five dads and five kids. And so as a cabin, they’ll have some different things assigned to them.
00;06;40;29 – 00;07;02;25
Dan
But we’ve got a ropes tower. We’ve got a climbing wall. We’ve got a bunch of high adventure activities like that. We’ve got a waterfront, we’ve got some water trampolines, canoes and kayaks and all that kind of stuff. And then, you know, obviously we have a camp store. You got to have root beer and, you know, but, you know, in the evenings, dads go to chapel, kids get to play.
00;07;02;25 – 00;07;20;29
Dan
They got some games, and then we meet up for a campfire in the evening. Share memories that were made, eat a bunch of s’mores and that kind of deal. But, man, it’s it’s three full days. Focused on your relationship with God, your relationship with your child, and relationship with some other fathers and father figures. And it’s powerful.
00;07;21;01 – 00;07;36;25
James
It’s, It sounds amazing. I’m so glad you joined us today. Tell us about it, Dan, because I really, I, I’m glad our audience hears about it, because I’m sure they’re going to want to know more about it. All your information is going to be on the show page. So. Fantastic. Yeah. If anybody wants more information, it’s all right here.
00;07;36;28 – 00;07;41;19
James
But, Dan, thank you so much for coming here and telling us all about Camp Paradise. Thank you.
00;07;41;25 – 00;07;44;09
Dan
You are so welcome. Thanks for inviting us. Yeah.
00;07;44;09 – 00;07;45;17
James
Hopefully we’ll have you on again soon.
00;07;45;18 – 00;07;47;23
Dan
Thank you. Excellent.
00;07;47;26 – 00;07;53;10
James
Thank you so much for joining us today. This has been living my faith. I’m James Fenimore. Can’t wait to see you next time.
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