More than 70 participants gathered for the 2025 Puget Sound Youth Gathering at Camp Arnold on March 7-9. There were nine churches and two states represented, with groups joining from Bellingham, Washington all the way down to Aloha, Oregon. With the blessing of having 2 nights and 2 days together, the group was able to enjoy the beautiful weekend diving into the theme of “Endure,” led by Nathan Schmidt from LAMP Ministry. They also learned about how to serve their local communities with care and compassion.
Friday night saw the group settling in with games and a campfire — complete with some worship/devotions and s’mores! For the first time, this gathering included high school students as well as middle school students, embracing the common makeup of youth groups in our region. It was awesome to see how the youth interacted with each other with encouragement and leadership in everything from basketball and human foosball to a Saturday morning Service Scavenger Hunt with youth presentations to worship.
During the Saturday afternoon session, high schoolers had a chance to have their own breakout led by DCE Alanna Davis with a Bible study on God’s wisdom, games, and a service project led by Deaconess Ruth Ann Shimoi. The middle schoolers were broken into three groups, rotating between a service project, learning about surviving a bear attack while teaching about Jesus with Schmidt, and a deep dive into prayer and God’s Word with Pastor Joel Schuldheisz. DCE Amy Schweim led an adult session on the book “The Mediatrican’s Guide” during this time as well.
This year’s service projects focused on the homeless and the ministry of Vision House, a non-profit service provider with transitional housing that helps break the cycle of homelessness for families with children. Middle schoolers put together 22 food bags for families staying at Vision House and then had time to learn about the services the organization provides to single parents and families in crisis in King County. The high schoolers put together more than 60 blessing bags for the homeless including water, socks, hats, and snacks. After they finished, Deaconess Ruth Ann talked with the group about how to best utilize the bags and how to bring the project back to their churches.
Whenever the youth had free time, they were outside enjoying the mild March weather, throwing around a football, or playing basketball in the gym or ninja in the field outside the dining hall. During the organized free times, there was a group hike, a gaga ball competition, card games and coloring, human foosball fun, and lots of smiles. Saturday night saw DCE Mady Pinn and Molly Long organizing two large Mafia games in the gym before a late-night snack and final devotional worship.
After Daylight Savings Time sprung everyone forward on Sunday morning, participants woke to a beautiful sunrise behind Mt. Rainier, and with happy, tired hearts, came together for one last worship session. DCE Jan Novak and volunteers Amanda and Sam led faithfully as they had all weekend in music with Pastor John Schmidt leading the liturgy with help from youth and adult leaders. Schmidt wrapped up the theme of “Endure” with the end of the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole.
As the groups were packing up, everyone was encouraged to take a blessing bag to distribute in their communities. A representative from Vision House was able to come out to the camp on Sunday after the Gathering was done and take all the bags and the remaining food for their pantry.
The Puget Sound Youth Board would like to thank all the leaders, volunteers, and our speaker for a wonderful weekend of pouring into these youth and for the work that you do with them year-round in your own congregations, encouraging and supporting them in the callings that God has placed in their lives. They would also like to thank LCEF and the NOW District for their financial support of this event, making it possible to keep it affordable for the attendees.
And be sure to save the dates for next year’s Puget Sound Youth Gathering once again at Camp Arnold: March 6-8, 2026!
