Camping Ministry: A Love Story
Robbin Houston and Greg Yothers (1984) while counselors at Lutherlyn
2021
We met in the summer of 1983 at Lutherlyn Outpost Camp. Greg, 20, was one of the regular Outpost counselors that summer, and Robbin, 19, decided to volunteer for a week and was placed at Outpost. The day we met, we were dropped on the shore of Lake Authur at Moraine State Park with a dozen Junior High campers, a half dozen canoes, and four tents.
The week started out rough, culminating in Greg giving a mid-week speech about too much “animosity” in the group. Robbin chuckled under her breath that the kids didn’t even know what that word meant. Things turned around, and by the end of the week the whole group had bonded. The week was one of those life altering times that makes a meaningful difference in a person’s life.
Both of us had been raised in the church and had a strong basic understanding of our Christian faith—but seeing the Spirit at work that week, changing our lives and the lives of our campers, was a milestone in our faith development.
That magical week brought Robbin back to camp the follwing year to work the whole summer. Greg also returned, so we spent the summer working together at Outpost. The magic of that first week together was not equalled the next summer, but we did work well together and provided a nice experience for our campers. Living closely together in that setting allowed us to see the other person, warts and all. We were never a couple at camp, but started dating soon after college in 1986. We married inthe summer of 1988.
What drew us together? Robbin was impressed with Greg’s skills working with kids. We both saw that the other valued kids, family, and our shared Lutheran faith. We had a shared love of the outdoors. We had seen each other working through difficult issues with the kids (and others) at camp. We had already learned to negotiate around Greg being grumpy in the morning and Robbin needing a break for tea after supper.
We both remember laying in a field at night teaching the campers about the constellations in the sky. We remember difficult times, for example, when we couldn’t locate one of our campers at the public beach area for half an hour, or the week it rained interminably and we couldn’t keep our fire going. We remember racing to get our canoes to shore as a thunderstorm rolled in. Greg fondly remembers Bible study in a tree, while Robbin still resents having to risk her life climbing up there.
The church camp setting was important in bringing us together. Where else are you likely to find a young single Lutheran who loves kids, family, and the outdoors? Our time working together provided about 10 weeks of shared experiences at a formative time in our lives. The shared values and experiences from our time as camp counselors have provided a strong foundation that has resulted in 34 years of marriage for us, still going strong.
Not only did we meet our spouse working at summer church camp, we both developed leadership skills, self-confidence, and appreciation for our Lutheran faith. These skills have allowed us to excel in our vocations (Greg a statistician and Robbin a nurse practitioner), as well as being leaders in our congregations and the larger church.
This is our story, but we do know a few other camp couples. We think many of the experiences we had at camp were a part of their stories too.
Thank you to the other “camp couples” who also shared their photos for this story.
Greg and Robbin Yothers
Members of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Youngwood