Winter Camp at Camp Wingmann in Avon Park has a different theme every year, but according to  camp executive director Joshua “J.J.” Joseph, the camp maintains the same focus: building gospel-based connections. The recent Winter Camp, which took place the weekend of Dec. 27-29, had the theme “Total Surrender” and revealed the many ways Winter Camp is “taking a life of its own,” he said.

“We try really hard to make sure that Winter Camp is its own thing, separate from Summer Camp,” he explained. “It’s a great opportunity for kids to come out and kind of refuel midway through the year. If someone is experiencing camp for the first time, it’s a good way to get a taste of what it’s like before you experience a full, week-long Summer Camp. It’s also a great opportunity for kids to stay connected or get connected.”

Campers and Leaders

The 2024 Winter Camp involved about 90 students, approximately 30 each from elementary, middle and high school age groups. “They all have their individual programs, but it’s run simultaneously here on our campus,” he said. “Entering third grade, 8 or 9 years old, is when they start coming in, all the way through high school.”

Deacon Dan King, program director for Winter Camp, helps connect Scripture to campers’ lives. | Photo courtesy Camp Wingmann

Assisting those campers were 25 adults: two chaplains: the Rev. Bill Yates, former camp director who is now the camp vicar, and the Rev. Kevin Bartle, one of three youth coordinators for the Diocese of Central Florida, who also serves as rector at St. Mary of the Angels, Orlando; the Rev. Dan King, newly ordained deacon, youth and director of family ministries at St. Edward’s, Mount Dora, and the program leader for this year’s Winter Camp; camp staff; kitchen crew; volunteer staff and cabin helpers.

The Winter Camp staff members had also served during the 2024 Summer Camp sessions, Joseph said. “We do so much training during the summer, and for Winter Camp, we don’t have the opportunity to do that level of training. So we bring back staff I’ve already trained and who were a part of our Summer Camp program to come back and lead Winter Camp.”

Connections, Cocoa, Cookies

Unlike the week-long Summer Camp sessions, which allow more time for making personal connections, Winter Camp only covers one weekend. For this reason, leaders purposefully incorporate plenty of team-building activities into the schedule. Joseph said during the planning process, “We really wanted to ask, ‘How can we challenge them to work together, get to know each other and then do something really hard together?’ … we realized that’s one of the things that builds those connections and bonds.”

“We had all the different age groups working together,” he said. “We had about nine or 10 different zones that they were rotating through, and we gave them about 15 minutes at each one to work together as a group to accomplish all these different challenges – things as simple as the human knot or one where they all had to stand on top of a tarp and flip the entire tarp over without anyone stepping off, and a bunch of interesting games like that where they really had to connect.”

Campers navigating challenges and bonding in their zones. | Photo courtesy Camp Wingmann

Because of its proximity to Christmas, Winter Camp typically includes a holiday emphasis, Joseph said. On Saturday night, “The kids get to come out and we have a bunch of hot chocolate and they get to make their own cookies,” he said. “Then they all get together in the gym in their pajamas for some Christmas music.”

Angel Tree Partnership

The 2024 Winter Camp also made connections beyond the diocese. A new partnership with Prison Fellowship Angel Tree, which supports the children of incarcerated parents, allowed approximately 20 children to attend Winter Camp on scholarship. This partnership began on a trial basis during Summer Camp, and it went so well that the two ministries agreed to continue it during future camps.

“It was awesome, and they had such a good time,” Joseph said. “We’re very happy that we could serve alongside them in that way. … and the kids who come, they’re just so fantastic.”

At first, he admits, the idea of a ministry connected with families of prisoners made him a bit nervous. “But they’re the nicest, sweetest, most well-behaved kids, and they just want to have a good time,” he said. “For a lot of them, this might have been their first time at camp … it’s just a really great thing.”

Total Surrender

The Winter Camp theme of “Total Surrender” came from Galatians 2:20 (NIV): “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“It’s the gospel in a verse,” Joseph said. “That’s where that total surrender to Christ is. It’s where I realize that the life I live is in Christ, and the life I live is not my own. So I totally surrender who I am to totally accept who God is. … Dan [the Rev. Dan King] did such a phenomenal job of working with the kids and helping them understand and grasp that theme of total surrender.”

A camper with his artwork illustrating the camp theme | Photo courtesy Camp Wingmann

“I had a blast,” Bartle said of this year’s Winter Camp. “J.J. and the camp team did an amazing job of providing the camp experience in just a few days, and I thought they brilliantly navigated the challenge of having a program that was specifically and effectively geared to each age group. It was amazing seeing youth from elementary, middle and high schools all having fun and worshipping together. The highlight for me, outside of serving with Fr. Bill Yates and newly ordained Deacon Dan King, was ending Compline [nighttime prayer] on Saturday evening the same way many of our churches end their services on Christmas Eve, by singing ‘Silent Night’ quietly in the dimmed chapel. It was a blessing to be there.”

“Our children and youth (and Deacon Dan) had a great weekend at Camp Wingmann Winter Camp!” King said in a social media post, adding, “These camps have become a BIG part in the growth of our church’s children and youth. Thank you to everyone who helps make weekends like this possible for our kids!”

Summer Camp 2025

As pleased as they are with Winter Camp, Joseph and his staff are already looking ahead to Summer Camp 2025. “In my opinion, that’s one of the biggest and best offerings we can provide to our diocese,” he said. “When you think of an entire week, you spend almost double the amount of time with your Summer Camp group than you do in an entire year with your youth group,” he said. “That’s like a two-year time span that you do in one week, and it’s filled with ministry, connection and community.”

In addition, some of the relational connections that start at Camp Wingmann last a lifetime, Joseph said. “They’re the kind of friends who stick with you, the kind you can fall back on.” And while he doesn’t tout the camp as a dating ministry, he has noticed that several now-married couples first met at Camp Wingmann.

Like Winter Camp, Summer Camp serves children from incoming third graders all the way through incoming twelfth graders. Find dates, tuition costs and more at this link.