The Lodge is Live at Big Sky Bible Camp!

King Solomon, who oversaw the building of God’s temple in Jerusalem, stated a powerful truth: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). As staff and volunteers at Big Sky Bible Camp in Bigfork, MT, look back over many years of hard work leading up to this summer’s inauguration of the new Peterson Lake Lodge, we can truly say it is the Lord who built this “house.”

The new lodge is first of several phases guiding BSBC’s facility expansion, focused above all on the needs of Camp Promise, a program founded in 1990 for campers with special needs. Summer camps have since expanded to monthly Bible clubs, “Friday Night Out” fellowship and fun evenings, online Zoom clubs, and a fall retreat. Since the beginning, a core objective and prayer has been that Big Sky Bible Camp would always be a place individuals with disabilities could call home.

Camp Promise

The only overnight Christian camping program in the state of Montana serving both children and adults with disabilities, Camp Promise has a tremendous opportunity to impact a growing number of special needs individuals along with their families. But while Big Sky Bible Camp continues experiencing steady growth in both programs and the population they serve, they’ve had to make do with aging, inadequate facilities stretched increasingly to their limit. So was envisioned “A Promise Kept,” a multimillion-dollar commitment to provide a fully ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant facility where campers could learn from the Bible while experiencing new activities and making friends and where caregivers and families could be ministered to as well.

The first stage was a multi-purpose lodge with dining hall, full commercial kitchen, and meeting room, all ADA-compliant. With an estimated outlay of five million dollars just for the first stage, this was a huge undertaking. From the cost and sheer magnitude of the facility to all the fundraising campaigns, grant writing, permitting, inspections, and construction details involved, only the Lord could make this “house” possible!

And He did. The Swenson Family Foundation from Orange County, CA, a family-run non-profit focused on underserved and at-risk demographics, donated $3.5 million for the facility. A wide gamut of individuals, churches, and foundations contributed the remainder. Ground broke in May 2022 (see “A Promise Kept,” BCM World Magazine, November 2022), and construction on Phase One was completed mid-2024.

A Promise Kept

On July 13, 2024, special representatives from the Swenson Family Foundation along with other donors, friends, campers, and their families gathered for a morning of prayer, worship, and praise to officially dedicate Peterson Lake Lodge to God’s service and celebrate this “promise kept.” Many a “Wow!” and “This is great!” could be overheard from guests. The Big Sky host team sheepishly shrugged and pointed upwards to the Master Builder. Truly, this was the Lord’s doing, and “it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23-24).

It was a joy over the past summer and fall to begin sharing the new facility with others. To say BSBC and Camp Promise staff, volunteers, campers, and their families are thankful would be an understatement. The site has permitted a growing number of campers and guests to enjoy food, fellowship, fun, and most importantly, to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and grow in Him. To have such a facility that adorns the gospel is an answer to prayer.