August 2026 Member Letter

August 2026

Dear Brethren,

I am writing this letter on Sunday, Aug. 2. On Tuesday, Aug. 4, my wife and I leave for a two-week trip to Europe, where we will join the Horchaks and Meekers in visiting the brethren scattered throughout Europe. This was a trip we had scheduled for last year, but I had to cancel due to my heart surgery. I feel good this year, and I am looking forward to the trip.

We will be gone for two Sabbaths—in Switzerland Aug. 8 and Paris Aug. 15. We hope that most of the European brethren will be able to meet with us on one of these two Sabbaths. This will be my first trip to Europe since the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, began in 2010. It is a trip I have been looking forward to since we had to cancel last year.

Yesterday (Aug. 1), my wife and I visited our youth camp in Athens, Texas. There is something invigorating about being around so many young people. Camp Athens was our largest teen camp this summer, with 125 campers and more than 80 staff. This was my first visit to one of our camps in a number of years. My surgery in 2025 and my travel schedule during most summers prevented me from visiting our youth camps for a few years. I assure you it was never a lack of interest in our young people that kept me away from camp. In fact, for a period of 25 years, beginning in 1988, I attended at least one camp every summer.

According to the historical records that I was able to access, the camp program of the Radio Church of God began in the summer of 1962 on property donated to the Church by the Hammer family, in Big Sandy, Texas. The Radio Church of God held two camps in East Texas—the first in the summer of 1962 and the next in the summer of 1963. In those early days in Texas, camp was an eight-week program. There was apparently no camp in the summer of 1964, at least according to the records I was able to locate. The Church took that year to prepare a new property in Orr, Minnesota, for its grand opening in 1965.

The first camp in Orr was held on Pelican Lake, which is located in upper Minnesota near the Canadian border. The property used for camp was donated to the Church by the Erickson family. According to historical records, there were 400 campers that first summer and the program lasted six weeks. Orr eventually became the flagship youth camp of the Worldwide Church of God’s Summer Educational Program (SEP). For more than three decades, WCG hosted multiple sessions, with each lasting for three to four weeks. Many of those who worked at camp in those early years were Ambassador College students from the three campuses—Pasadena, Big Sandy and Bricket Wood. By the 1980s, SEP had expanded to half a dozen different countries.

My first experience at camp in Orr was in 1988, when I was asked to teach softball to the campers during one of the August sessions. It was a wonderful experience that we repeated over the next three summers. We drove from Houston, where I was pastoring, all the way to Orr. It was a wonderful road trip with my wife and our three girls. An added benefit was that our children got to experience summer camp. That first year, one daughter was a camper and the other two participated in a mini version of the program. Later all three of our daughters returned as campers.

All of that changed in the summer of 1995. Beginning that spring, doctrinal changes swept over the Worldwide Church of God, and thousands left that organization. When we began anew in 1995, we focused on two immediate priorities—finding a summer camp for our youth and organizing the Feast of Tabernacles. These were considered urgent, and within a short period of time, we had accomplished both. We secured regional Feast sites, and we secured regional camps for our young people.

In those years after 1995, there were a number of pastors that worked diligently for the youth of the Church to ensure that they had a camp to attend. Larry Greider and his wife Bonnie were two people who were instrumental in promoting and establishing regional camps. (We had no property that we could use for a central camp.) The two of them, along with several other pastoral couples, worked together as a team under Doug Horchak from Ministerial Services to establish these regional camps. Our camps were much smaller than they were in the days of Orr, but they reflected the same enthusiasm for providing this outlet for our young people. The regional camps became hugely successful and continue to this day—31 years later—with more than 1,000 campers and staff attending each summer.

A major key to what has been accomplished for our youth (and for our current organization, the Church of God, a Worldwide Association) over the past 31 years is the dedication of men and women in serving the youth of the Church. I have enjoyed all these years of working with so many dedicated and gifted people. I mention the Greiders specifically as advocates for our youth in those difficult years, transitioning to a new organization, but I could certainly name many others as well. Ken and Kathy Treybig took over leadership of our camp directors’ team after the Greiders retired, and have guided it over the past several years. We owe all of those involved in the development of our camp program our gratitude for making camp possible for the past 64 years (1962-2026). In WCG days, the overwhelming number of potential campers meant teens were limited to one year as a camper. But with the regional system, our teens can attend a camp each and every year.

On the Sabbath of July 25, my wife and I, along with Britt and Donna Taylor attended the 60th anniversary of the Radio Church of God in New England. Then on Sunday, July 26, we had lunch with another retired minister and his wife, Paul and Jane Suckling. They were instrumental in the youth camp program in Scotland. Mr. Suckling served as the director of the camp in Loch Lomond for 25 years. During our lunch, he spoke with great enthusiasm about the joy of directing the youth camp. His ministry covered a 50-year period, but the real highlight for him was the youth camp. He took great pleasure in showing us pictures from his years as camp director in Scotland.

In Hebrews 6:10 we read: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” We are told in this verse that God does not forget the work done by those who serve the saints. Being at camp this past week, and visiting with the Sucklings in Massachusetts, inspired me not to forget those who made it possible for the Church to hold camps around the world over a period of 64 years. Of course, God is the true source of all good gifts (James 1:17). Our young people are one of God’s greatest gifts to the Church, and they are vital to our future.

While our camp program has changed over the years—from a single property in Big Sandy and Orr to regional camps around the country and around the world—its purpose has never changed: to help young people build lasting friendships, develop godly character and strengthen their relationship with God.

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks