News

24 Years of Making a Camp a Home

Click on the blue links within the story to see short video clips of the interview with Lee Padgett. A sign at the entrance to Aldersgate Camp and Retreat Center says, “Welcome Home.” The words became a motto of the camp after a pastor’s son commented on how he really didn’t know where to call home since he had moved around so much. “Aldersgate has never moved,” he said. “It’s home. It feels like home because it’s the one consistent place...

My Time at Loucon, Home

I could never put into words everything that my time at Loucon has meant to me. I stated attending Camp Loucon at the age of ten, and I was not thrilled to be there. I am from the inner city of Louisville, KY and had never really been at a camp before. On top of that I was going to CHOIR CAMP which was very uncool to me at that time. I originally wanted to go to basketball camp, but it filled up before I got my application in, so my parents thought that choir camp was a good fit for me since I...

United Methodist Summer Camps

The Kentucky Conference of The United Methodist Church does a lot of amazing things to serve God! We need to celebrate that, and one of the things that it does well each summer is provide an amazing opportunity for children and youth to experience the Love and Message of Jesus Christ in a safe environment.   Coming to camp is definitely a fun experience; however, that isn’t why we as a conference provide camping ministry. We provide it so that children and youth may know God. They...

Aldersgate Camp Breaks Ground on New Lodge

On October 27, 2011, at a fund raising dinner for the New Aldersgate Camp Lodge and Dining Room, Lee Padgett, Aldersgate Camp Director, was pleased to announce the receipt of a gift of $100,000.00 from the J. W. Kinzer Foundation of Eastern KY. With this exciting gift, the entrance and lobby of the upcoming New Lodge and Dining Room will be named the Lucy Kinzer Lobby. The dinner, held at the Marriott Griffin-Gate Resort in Lexington, was a festive and joyful event with singing, sharing,...

Why Camp Works

Want more information about our Kentucky Conference camps? Go to www.kycamps.org. Some years ago, a study conducted by the Christian Camp and Conference Association found that attending a 48-hour retreat had the same long-term effects on children and youth as six months of attending Sunday school or youth group programs. If 48 hours of retreat—removed from the cares, pressures, and distractions of everyday life—can do so much for a young person, imagine what an entire week of...

Staff Opportunities at Camp Loucon

Since its humble beginnings in the early 1950s, Camp Loucon’s ministry has touched the lives of thousands of Kentucky young people, and God continues to change lives here every year. Many believers both within and outside the United Methodist Church can relate a story of how their time at Loucon has influenced their relationships with Christ in a lifelong, memorable way. However, the amazing things that take place each summer at Loucon are not possible without the willing service of our...

Kavanaugh's New Adventure

Kavanaugh Life Enrichment Center's first annual travel retreat made footprints in the sand January 19-26, 2008 when 29 "retreaters" left Kavanaugh and headed to Puerto Rico, where they boarded a ship for a seven day adventure.  The travel retreat combined seven days of renewal, Christian fellowship, and an escape from the winter cold.  A huge plus for Kavanaugh was the travel retreat also served as a fundraiser for the camp.  Through the benefits offered by JFF Tours, Kavanaugh...

Camping Ministry at Loucon

Helping Young People Grow in Relationship with God   Most people who are actively involved in the ministry of our United Methodist congregations across Kentucky had a significant experience with Christ during their childhood or adolescent years.  Many of those experiences were at summer camp!    Again and again in recent years we have been reminded that many of our churches in the Kentucky Annual Conference did not have even one profession of faith in the past...

Loucon's Open Air Chapel

The Open Air Chapel at Loucon has been a very important place in the spiritual lives of thousands. For Rev. Dan Smith it is the place where he accepted Christ into his heart. He still remembers the place. For Jim Butler it is a place where he has seen countless others do exactly the same. The chapel had such an impact upon Jim’s life that he wrote a song.   The Open Air Chapel was erected in 1967 as a Gift from Mr. and Mrs. W.G. Giles of Louisville, Kentucky. It has also been called the...