My Background
My name is Stephen Helweg. I grew up in Northern most MN in a Christian family of 13. I was homeschooled and had a modest upbringing but always had a strong calling to the ministry. Throughout my high school years, I volunteered for just about every ministry opportunity available to me. These included AWANA, FCA, our church summer camp, and several other local ministries. It was through these opportunities that I met my wife Rylie, who was also involved in the same ministries. We began dating our senior year of high school, and got married the summer of 2015. Rylie and I were both fortunate to graduate from college early and with no debt thanks to scholarships and the Lord’s provision. We now have two children: our son Matthew and our daughter Aurora. They have been a great blessing in our lives and look forward to them being involved at camp with us.

It became clear to me through my volunteer ministry work that God was calling me into full time missions, which led me to enroll at Oak Hills Christian College for a degree in youth ministry and Biblical studies. During my time at Oak Hills, I worked for a local construction company which helped prepare me for my responsibilities here at Camp Oak Hills. I have always enjoyed working with my hands and have the natural ability to do well in the construction world. At the same time, I could not ignore my clear calling to ministry, which left me searching for God’s direction as to what was next. During the winter of 2016, I found myself laid off from the construction crew which opened the door to look more seriously into full time missions work. It was at this time that my wife and I discovered this position at Camp Oak Hills and after much prayer and seeking God’s will it became exceedingly clear that this is what God had been preparing us for.

We have now spent one full time summer at Camp Oak Hills and have seen first-hand the impact that we can have on young people as they come to experience God through Camp. We are still in the process of raising our support and building our ministry team. We are very excited for this opportunity and can’t wait to see how God plans to impact the lives of young people through us as we continue to serve Him and others through this position. 

My Camp Roles

My title is Facilities Director. I oversee the maintenance of all 32 buildings at camp; this includes cleaning, upkeep, remodeling, and new construction. Camp owns vehicles, boats, tractors, and equipment that I will be responsible to maintain. The camp is located on over 100 acres of woods and wetlands of which I will oversee the stewardship. I supervise our maintenance volunteers, work teams and work closely with our junior staff in their daily tasks. If needed, I may also oversee the camp foodservice. Camp ministry requires the flexibility to serve wherever needed so you may find me cooking breakfast, cleaning bathrooms, repairing a tractor, starting a campfire, hanging sheetrock, and praying with a guest all in the same day.