Asian Camp
The United Methodist Church Asian American Summer Camp, in its 46 year history of empowering and inspirational ministry, has developed a reputation amongst its participants as a family-like community, yielding lifelong relationships and faithful servants of God.
Our Mission Statement
Asian American Summer Camp (AC) is a Christian youth camp sponsored by the National Japanese American United Methodist Caucus (NJAUMC) for all youth entering 10th grade to sophomores in college in the Fall of 2019. In its 45 year history of empowering and inspirational ministry, Asian Camp has developed a reputation amongst it’s participants as a family-like community, yielding lifelong relationships and faithful servants of God.
The mission of “Asian Camp” is to reach out to youth and young adults in our Asian American churches and communities, in effort to lead them toward a closer relationship with Christ. Through worship, fellowship, prayer, growth groups, community builders, and other outdoor activities, Asian Camp encourages campers, as well as staff, to explore their faiths, reflect on their personal identities, and use their spiritual gifts for God’s glory. With special focus on equipping for the future, Asian Camp seeks to instill pride in each camper’s spiritual, cultural, and ethnic identity.
A hallmark of Asian Camp that sets it apart from other Christian summer camps is a tradition of creating its own programming, with inclusion of activities that focus on our Asian heritages and social justice issues relevant to today’s youth. With every aspect of programming, Asian Camp aims to foster an atmosphere of love and acceptance, where youth feel secure in their personal identities, but are still challenged to be all that God has created them to be. Within this context, our intent is to create life-affirming experiences that will root Asian Camp participants in understanding of their relationships with God and their identity.
Meet The Directors
2022
Evan Hamada
Evan Hamada is originally from United Japanese Christian Church in Fresno, and while pursuing his undergraduate degree he attended Faith United Methodist Church in Torrance. While at Faith he served as a TGIF leader both in-person and virtually. He currently serves as the interim youth leader at UJCC. He has attended NJAUMC camps as a camper and counselor in the past and directed JHC four years before joining the Asian Camp team this year. He is a graduate of CSU Long Beach, and currently attends the University of Oregon, where he is pursuing his Masters in Jazz Trumpet Performance and teaches as a graduate employee. After graduating this year he hopes to pursue his teaching credential. Outside of school he occasionally works as a private tutor and trumpet teacher. Evan understands how important it is to see that Asian Camp continues be an inclusive and loving place for all. In his first year as an Asian Camp director he is excited to see how God's love flows through all who work to make camp great and through all who attend it.
Lawrence Paltep
Lawrence Paltep is currently co-directing the youth group at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church. He has counseled in Asian Camp for 2 years and led in Christmas Institute PNW (winter camp) for 7 years. He graduated from Seattle University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with Environmental specialization. He is excited to be part of the director team for Asian Camp this year because he knows and witnessed the growth and transformative spirit that works in this space. He is determined to grow in faith with the people around him through this experience.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.