News
The Nights of Christmas held at Lake Metigoshe
Heather Milbrath
01/03/2012
Metigoshe Ministries celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. While the church has seen many changes since it first started, one thing that remains to be a big-hit at the Christian Center is the Nights of Christmas.
This three-day event is filled with talented musicians and singers the whole family can enjoy. As hundreds of guests arrived at the Lakeside Christian Center last week, they were greeted by thousands of lights illuminating the many trees on the grounds.
This year, 14,000 large bulbs and 10,000 small bulbs were hung on the trees at the Christian Center. This is a large task which takes site director Dennis Hanson nearly six weeks to complete. Hanson is not alone, however, the Christian Center staff takes a day to help Hanson. Tim Hoffman assists by bringing his cherry picker to decorate the tops of the trees.
The freshly fallen snow made for bad roads to Nights of Christmas, but helped the decorated trees to look even more festive.
The 2011 Nights of Christmas took place on December 27, 28 and 29 starting at 7 p.m. each night. The Nights of Christmas has had an average turnout of 750 guests over the course of the three-day event. Jon Skogen, the interim executive director for Metigoshe Ministries, as well as being part of the Camp Metigoshe summer staff, led the programs each night.
This year, the Nights of Christmas had an array of performers for attendees to enjoy. Many of those who performed are friends of Metigoshe, or came highly recommended by staff. Andrew Baumann and Dave Schnackenberg performed on the first night of Nights of Christmas. Baumann, a 2005 graduate of Bottineau High School sang a mix of traditional Christmas songs for the crowd. Baumann was a life-long camper, and is a recent graduate of NDSU in Vocal Music Education.
Schnackenberg showed off his talents on the piano with a medley of Christmas songs. Schnackenberg is a music educator at Turtle Mountain Elementary School in Belcourt.
On the second night, Tina and Lena, two women from Minnesota, entertained the crowd with comedy and singing. These two ladies kept the crowd laughing and amused throughout the evening.
Wednesday night was also Century III donors’ night. A banquet for the donors was held following the program.
The Treble Makers and Trio Dolce were the last groups to perform at this year’s Nights of Christmas. The Treble Makers is an ensemble from the Minot area who has been singing together for nearly twenty years. This group mixed Broadway hits with a cappella ballads for a fun performance.
Three women from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., make up Trio Dolce. This group performed classical music as well as arrangements of folk tunes and jazz numbers.
Nights of Christmas is a fun event for the members of the community to watch, but it is also loved by the camp staff and campers who attend Camp Metigoshe.
Melissa Reinhart, Program Director for Metigoshe Ministries and former Camp Metigoshe counselor enjoys the love and warmth of Nights of Christmas.
“It’s a nice time to slow down, relax and let the meaning of Christmas sink in.” Reinhart says. “To do so with the Metigoshe community and returning summer staff is heartwarming. It feels like a family reunion with hundreds of aunts and uncles.”
Nora Uhrich, a longtime Camp Metigoshe camper was also at Nights of Christmas this year.
“I wanted to attend because it’s a nice ending to the Christmas season, very festive decorating that is fun to see and to see Camp Metigoshe camp staff.” Uhrich said. “My favorite part is singing Christmas songs, the variety of entertainment, and the focus on Christ at Christmas.”
Jon Halvorson, the newest executive director for Metigoshe Ministries, was also able to attend Nights of Christmas. Halvorson will be filling in the position left by former executive director Kyle Debertin.
Halvorson severed as a pastor in Sioux Fall, S.D., for three and a half years prior to taking this position.
“I am honored and thrilled to be called as the new executive director at Metigoshe Ministries.” Halvorson said. “There is such a deeply-rooted history of faith building ministry here and I am excited to bring my voice to this strong tradition. I look forward to working alongside our staff, board of trustees and congregations to continually strengthen our existing ministries, and, at the same time, explore creative and faithful new ways to move Metigoshe forward into the future.”