Making Room For Growth

Since 2003, the Stepping Stones Bible Camp has operated in Deroche, British Columbia. Here, it has functioned as a refuge for youth between the ages of 8 and 16.  Set into a south-facing mountain with forests and trails all around, Stepping Stones offers a week-long place of rest for students seeking to grow in their faith. With a mission to send campers home with a deeper sense of purpose to step up at home, work, school, and church, the Stepping Stones Bible Camp needed to expand. After operating the camp out of a large tent for years, it would take a community effort to build something that could host campers for the next 50 years.

Over the years, the camp has sustained 250 campers a summer. However, with the goal of expanding to 350 campers, the camp needed to make changes to achieve such a goal. It was at this point that the leadership decided to build the clubhouse. Three different buildings that provide the camp’s necessary services comprise the clubhouse, designed to look like one. The structure contains the big house, farmhouse, and chapel building which translates to the kitchen, dining hall, and chapel.

Designing the Clubhouse

The Clubhouse design reflects and embodies the core values of the camp by physically expressing brokenness and joy, humility and exuberance, imperfection and wholeness. While there are three separate or seemingly broken buildings, they make one whole structure. The humility and simplicity of food in the kitchen juxtaposes the praise and exuberance taking place in the chapel. A timber frame structure in the middle ties the two together by showing the imperfection of the exposed beams while bringing all the buildings together in wholeness.

The Clubhouse was designed to reflect and embody the core values of the camp by physically expressing brokenness and joy, humility and exuberance, imperfection and wholeness.

A Community Effort

With hopes high, and excitement rising, a couple things had to happen to make this project a reality. First, the camp had to raise money for the project. That is when their community stepped up and raised $1,508,068 for the project. Second, they needed to find their builder and manufacturers for the project. This led them to Dave Vandergaag at Driftwood Development and Insulspan Structural Insulated Panels. With Insulspan SIPs specified for the roof of the structure, Dave wasted no time connecting. This would be Dave’s first time working with SIPs in this capacity but he met the challenge easily. “If you are looking for ease of installation and convenience, it is definitely there,” said Dave. Using Insulspan’s Ready-To-Assemble package, Dave’s subcontractors made quick work of attaching the roof panels to the building’s timber framing.

“If you are looking for ease of installation and convenience, it is definitely there,” – Dave Vandergaag,  Driftwood Development

With the energy-efficient roof installed, paid and volunteer laborers are working hard to finish the extensive project this year. Once completed, the Stepping Stones staff looks forward to welcoming new students and renters alike. During the summer, the staff will welcome campers. The rest of the year they will have the opportunity to rent the space. Some of the rentals will be for retreats, day use, or as a getaway for families seeking rest and rejuvenation. With the help of their community and companies like Driftwood Development and Insulspan, Stepping Stones Bible Camp looks forward to the next 50 years in anticipation. During that time the have the the potential to touch 17,500 lives.