Get to know one of our former campers and now staff, Noah Bend. Noah is Covenant Bay’s summer camp program coordinator. Learn about Noah’s faith and why he has chosen to work at Covenant Bay Bible Camp!
Tell people about where you grew up, your family, what church you are a part of and what occupies your days.
At the time I was born my family was living in Breton, Alberta and before I was a year old we had moved to Chicago so my Dad could attend school at North Park University. My earliest memories are of growing up in the parsonage of Fairfield Covenant Church in Haxtun, Colorado, where my Dad was the pastor at the time. During this time, my parents had two more girls making for a total of four boys and three girls in the family. At the age of eight, we moved back to Breton, which I’ve come to see as my hometown ever since.
Currently, I attend Faith Evangelical Covenant Church in Breton and work at Covenant Bay Bible Camp where I have been a program coordinator the last few summers and a part-time intern during the rest of the year while also attending school at NAIT taking business.
I realized I was a follower of Christ while attending Sunday school at Fairfield. We were learning about how Jesus had died for my sins so that I could be with him in Heaven for eternity, and there was nothing I wanted more than that.
In Jr. High, I started to realize the importance of how I live my life as a Christian, that as a follower of Christ, I am dying to my sinful nature and becoming a new creation as I become more and more like Jesus. I’m thankful to God for putting many people who have been teachers and examples to me in my life, from my Sunday school teacher Mrs. Vickey in Fairfield to my Youth Pastor growing up, Marc Lantz and my small group leader Alan Myles.
I can’t remember the first time I came to Covenant Bay, but since my family moved back to Alberta, Covenant Bay has been a part of my life, from Sunday services to jumping in a van with family friends to go to Family Camp, to coming to summer camp for entire weeks. In my Gr. 11 year, I had a job lined up to work at a power plant during the summer but a month before school ended I learned that the plant was shutting down and my summer job was cancelled. I was explaining my predicament to a friend at Church one Sunday after the service saying, “I guess I will have to find somewhere else to work this summer.” Judy Hart, another member of my Church and very involved at the camp, approached me and told me I should apply to be a Jr. cabin leader at Covenant Bay, and I thought, sure, that could be fun! Yes, it was so much fun, I loved working and playing games with the campers and other staff, and from that summer on, I was hooked. Moving forward, I tried to work every summer I could at Covenant Bay or find a week I could volunteer in the summers I couldn’t. What kept me coming back year after year was both the joy and satisfaction I found in working with and serving children and youth, as well as the many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus and dive deeper into my own faith. As I continue in my time here, I hope that campers will continue to find moments where they encounter God and that Covenant Bay can be a place where they feel they are welcomed and belong.
