Running on Miracles: Camp Wawona’s Comeback Summer

CAMP WAWONA, Calif.— “Buildings and swimming pools and budgets aren’t what matter in eternity,” Brian Simmons says, “it’s the smile when a camper tells you they felt the peace of Christ.” Still, to make those moments possible, everything else has to work. As year-round director at Camp Wawona, Simmons and new youth/young adult & summer camp director Delinda Hamilton set out to do the hard things—then watched God do the impossible.

This spring, county health inspectors walked Wawona’s grounds: kitchen—passed; medical facilities—excellent; pool—chemistry exact after months of meticulous prep. But the team aimed higher. They pursued American Camp Association (ACA) accreditation—the gold standard—requiring 266 safety and program elements. Most camps budget 18 months to prepare. Wawona, with help from Pastor Timmy Baze and a swarm of volunteers, did it in two months. Hundreds of documents later, the assessors arrived—and Wawona passed every single element. “Unheard of,” Delinda says, still a little breathless.

Then came summer. After five years of closure, no one knew if campers would come back. “We guessed maybe forty,” Delinda admits. Instead, 188 campers arrived, with waitlists pushing the total near 200. Three of the four camp sessions maxed out. God also sent a staff team Delinda calls “the best in the world”—young adults who carried a holy hunger into every cabin, activity, and worship. By week’s end, the comments piled up: “The most spiritual camp I’ve ever been to.” “The best week of my life.” “This is the most peace I’ve ever felt.” One camper told a counselor, “You said the kindest words I’ve ever heard.” A staffer summed it up: “At other camps, fun is first and God is second. At Camp Wawona, it’s reversed—God first, fun second.”

The fruit was as real as the granite peaks around them. Mid-summer, a camper made a decision for Christ—and so did his mother—and then his grandfather. Three generations entered the waters of baptism together. Another night, the team revived a beloved Wawona tradition: inviting campers to sign their names in the Book of Life as a symbol of choosing Jesus. When one girl with a hurt leg couldn’t make the walk, a staff member simply picked her up and carried her there. “That’s camp,” Hamilton says. “We bring people to Jesus so their names are written in His book.”

Youth Camper Jacob felt that journey firsthand. “When I arrived, I wasn’t as close to God as I wanted to be,” he shares. “By the end, I was filled with His love—and peace. I’m so thankful.” Then he turns recruiter: if you have kids or grandkids ages 7–17, “get them to Camp Wawona.” If they’re older, “send them to serve.”

Provision kept pace with the praise. When pool upgrades threatened a $23,000 bill, a “just-so” connection surfaced: the brother-in-law of that week’s camp pastor runs a pool company. One phone call later, he began donating over $10,000 of labor to strengthen the pool for next year. “We’re literally running on miracles,” Brian says. “From start to finish, this summer was a prayer journey—and you, our church family, were part of it through your gifts and intercession.”

What’s next? More of the same—only deeper. Staff are already saying, “I’m coming back next year. God isn’t done here, and I want in.” Neither are Delinda and Brian. Accreditation raised the bar. A rebuilt team set the tone. And the Spirit kept doing what only He can do: turning inspections into invitations, waitlists into worship, and a reopened camp into holy ground.

A phone, a pool, a place set apart—and a community that prays. That’s the recipe God used to bring Camp Wawona roaring back to life. Imagine what He’ll do next summer if we keep asking, keep serving, and keep saying yes.