About Us :: Staff Profiles

Les & Val Klassen, Directors of Campfire Ministries & Camp Bob

Les & Val accepted the position of Executive Directors in September 2009. 2012 will mark their third summer as Directors at Camp Bob.

Prior to this, they spent 4 years of missionary service in Mexico as part of International Discipleship Training (IDT) in Vicente Guerrero, Baja Mexico. During their time there, they directed the house building program that provided housing for impoverished indigenous Mexican people. They coordinated the many groups of adults and youth that would come from Canada and the USA to spend a week at a time investing in these life changing building projects.

Prior to going to Mexico, Les was employed as a professional driver, hauling bulk milk from the Comox Valley to Island Farms in Victoria. Val worked as the Administrative Assistant at Puntledge Park Elementary School in the Comox Valley.

Both Les and Val volunteered in youth ministry much of their married life, and their passion for camp ministry began early on.

In 1976, Les was one of the first, along with several of his peers, to pioneer a "Day Camp" program out of the Black Creek MB Church. They would meet in the church parking lot and pile into whatever vehicles were available and head out into God's spectacular playground. Out-tripping became a way through which kids could experience God in nature and have fun while getting to know who God is and how much He loves them.

In 1995, Pastors of the Black Creek MB Church, Barry & Sandy Falk, began a similar Day Camp program called Campfire Ministries. Les & Val came alongside for several summers to help them. Once again, out-tripping became the way to experience God in nature. By 2001, Campfire Ministries had grown to the point where it became necessary to look for a base site for the expanding summer program. A Board of Directors was formed, and together, Campfire Ministries established Camp Bob on Roberts Lake. Les became the first Chair of the Board of Campfire Ministries, and remained in that position until the summer of 2005 when he and Val left for Mexico.

In 2004, Les & Val pioneered the first Adult Campfire Adventure Challenge, taking 5 couples on a 5 day canoe trip on the Sayward Forest Lake chain. In 2005 they ran a second Adventure Challenge canoe trip and added a separate 5 day hike into Cape Scott. They have a passion to see the Adventure Challenge program expand, offering many more backcountry experiences to adults wishing to experience camp at a whole new level.

They are excited in their position as Directors of Camfire Ministries and Camp Bob, and have a passion to see this ministry grow and equip more leaders for positive impact and social and spiritual change within a culture that cries out for hope. The North Island is another mission field ... and with Camp Bob already being established on Roverts Lake, it will become the springboard that takes this ministry into exciting new opportunities.

Benj & Lindsay Klassen, Program Directors for Camp Bob

Benj & Lindsay joined the Campfire Ministries team as volunteers beginning November 2010 and have worked closely with Les & Val since that time in continuing to develop exciting adventure programs at Camp Bob.

Benj & Lindsay share more than a last name with Les & Val (the two are not related), they share a passion to see young people impacted for God to become world changers in a culture that cries out for honesty, truth and integrity. As part-time Youth Pastors with the Black Creek MB Church, they have been able to maintain a connection with many campers and student-leaders attending their youth functions. This has given them the oportunity to continue to speak into young people's lives during the in-between camp seasons, as they mentor and raise up student-leaders who will make a difference within the cultures they live in.

Their history with Camp Bob goes back many years, as they have come up through the ranks of camper, Junior Leader, Counsellor and Program Directors.

Both have a history in the service indusctry, Benj as an Assistant Manager at Moxies, and Lindsay as a Server Supervisor at Boston Pizza. In the late Spring of 2011, they gave up their careers in the service industry to be able to focus on camp ministry and youth pastoral work.

A young couple sold out to God, Benj & Lindsay are passionate about camp, campers and youth. They are passionate about each other, their marriage and their son, Taelen. They bring an enthusiasm and excitement to camp that is contagious, providing the life-line of adrenaline that every camp thrives on.

They bring new meaning to "Living the Adventure".