Fall CamasCon 2019

CamasCon is our strategy board game camp. A way to connect Christian Geeks and Gamers with each other, some amazing games both new and old, and with their Lord through the awesome chapel sessions.

This of course necessitates the arrival of many games. So, so, so, many games! Games with beautiful cover art and massively thick rule books.

Games with fascinating miniatures and intricate pieces of all kinds.

Games with adorable Medieval villages and towering cityscapes.

Games with cool spacecraft.

Games with galloping camels.

Actually, there’s more than one game with galloping camels!

Games with fearsome lady pirates and their unique pets.

Games with intricate maps of the world, both realistic and fantastical.

And everyone’s favorite, games that employ both cute, wooden meeples and ferocious dragons!

Amidst all these games, are competitors of all kinds. New gamers, lifelong gamers, non-gamers who simply wandered in, and even individuals who work in the gaming industry. Though they employ many different stratagems and love many different genres, they all share a passion for table top board gaming and the way it brings people together.

In a world where our eyes are constantly glued to screens, a board game provides fun, competition, and a way to actually look another human being and see them for what they are, beautiful sons and daughters of the Lord.

This year our speaker was Chris Gwaltney of Love Thy Nerd fame.

With Choco leading everyone in some amazing worship

The campers took a moment to step away from the fierce competition, let go of the fact that Scruffy probably was a Cylon even through he swears to his humanity, and come together as the people of Jesus Christ, called to love in His name in a broken world.

After a beautiful weekend together, the CamasCon campers left refilled, refreshed, and ready to try out all the new games they learned on their unsuspecting friends.

Perhaps your passion isn’t strategy board games. But something that CamasCon always reminds me of, is that God made each of us uniquely. After creating us to be like none other upon His world, God then desires to use our passions and abilities for His kingdom. So what about you? How do you connect with others face to face? And are you willing to use that hobby, talent, gifting, or even geekiness for the Holy Kingdom of God?

2 Corinthians 4:7–“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Boo Boo

The Mountain Muse 2019

The small logging road we hiked during a break between writing sessions.

2019 marked our third annual Mountain Muse Christian Writer’s Retreat and this year brought us the fabulous (and award-winning) Becca Whitham to be our speaker!

I wanted the Mountain Muse to be similar to reading a great book on the craft of writing and then jumping right into the creation process immediately afterward. So Becca, brought us together for short sessions on the craft of writing and then released us into the wild to write or wander, whatever our creative process demanded.

For some, that meant rushing to the computer to get to work.

For others, it meant chatting with the speaker about their plot or characters.

And for others, it was a walk in God’s glorious creation to get those creative juices flowing.

This stunning view is only about a mile from the camp and was well worth the hike there.

Add in worship time with Choco

And the loving attentions of Princess Leia Freyja our Mascot

And the weekend was just what I had envisioned. A time for writers to gather, learn, encourage one another, and relish in some much needed quiet so that they could create.

Princess Leia Freyja is all ready for next year’s retreat! What about you?

Boo Boo