Testimonials

After experiencing the talks, the prayers, the worship, the people, after seeing God in so many new ways, I felt like I took a sudden dive right into God's heart and was changed forever.

I came to CFO right after graduating from college. It was a pivotal point in my life and, looking back, I see that God stepped into that time of great change with CFO. With that very first week at CFO, after experiencing the talks, the prayers, the worship, the people, after seeing God in so many new ways, I felt like I took a sudden dive right into God's heart and was changed forever. This newness in my relationship with God shapes every aspect of my life today. For me, CFO is a place where the people of God come together to show God to one another, to share with one another, to pray for one another, and worship together. I come back every year to experience God's love, to learn, and to be changed.

CFO has ministered to me during every chapter of my life--highs and lows, times of confidence and times of questioning. To be honest, it's always my favorite week of the year.

CFO is awesome--in the literal sense of the word. I've been to camp every year of my life and have come to love the uniqueness of each week. Daunting, yes at times, but amazing, stirring, and marvelous as well. It's a place where each person is accepted, loved, ministered too, and encouraged. I have come to deeply appreciate the chance camp provides for us to interact with individuals of all ages, to gain wisdom from each age group and better learn how to love others rightly. CFO has ministered to me during every chapter of my life--highs and lows, times of confidence and times of questioning. To be honest, it's always my favorite week of the year. I am extremely excited to see my CFO family and witness the goodness of our God!

In the beginning I went along with my family because they needed a tech person to run the sound system. I soon realized that CFO was a unique place to experience the love of God and a training ground for my spiritual journey.

My first CFO was 42 years ago when I attended the B.C. Mainland Camp with my fiancé and her family. Twelve years later my in-laws helped birth the B.C. Van Isle Camp that I have attended for the past 30 years. In the beginning I was a seeker and went along with my family because they needed a tech person to run the sound system. It wasn’t long before I realized that CFO Camp was a unique place to experience the love of God and a training ground for my spiritual journey. Four generations of our family now attend our camp together.  I have made lifelong friends at  B.C. Van Isle and at the greater CFO level, as well. It has been a privilege to serve God by serving others through the Ministry of CFO.

Many of the disciplines, beliefs, and convictions I value most for my spiritual journey have come out of CFO experiences in discipline, prayer, hope, humble service, kindness, no-limits love, and edifying the body of Christ.

Many of the disciplines, beliefs, and convictions I value most for my spiritual journey have come out of CFO experiences in discipline, prayer, hope, humble service, kindness, no-limits love, and edifying the body of Christ.  Through CFO and my CFO family, I have learned much about Kingdom living and my call to continual growth and deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ.  I have been forever changed by Christ through CFO and I am and will be eternally grateful for the way CFO speaks truth into my life!  I have chosen not keep these experiences to myself and I won't hide from my family and friends how God has changed me through CFO...so each year I pray about who to invite to CFO, who might need to experience God's love for them in a new way.  What a blessing!

I found CFO through an internet search in 2008 and attended my first retreat that fall. When I arrived I immediately felt welcomed and accepted.

I found CFO through an internet search in 2008 and attended my first retreat that fall. When I arrived I immediately felt welcomed and accepted. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and the unconditional love of Jesus. I soon discovered that CFO is a safe environment where we can expose our “heart hurts” and allow God to begin to heal us through Creatives, Devotion In Motion, Prayer Groups, the Talks, and every other part of the program. I observed the impact of lifelong friendships made through CFO, and throughout the weekend I kept thinking of people whose families would love CFO and all it offers.  This is where we practice Kingdom Living.

CFO allows you to experience a time apart from the “world”, submerged in the love of Christ as expressed by the smallest child through the wisest elder. I have been encouraged, renewed, restored, and have grown stronger in Christ.

CFO is a place that we can experience Kingdom living with unconditional love and acceptance of who you are in your own unique brokenness. It allows you to experience a time apart from the “world”, submerged in the love of Christ from the smallest child to the wisest elder. You are encouraged, renewed, restored, rested and grow stronger in Christ. Every CFO event is a family reunion like no other, where everyone is welcomed even if you’ve never been there before (prepare to be hugged on a daily basis). I first attended CFO in 2004, which unbeknownst to me had prepared me for the difficult situation that awaited me upon returning home. Since then, I have attended camp every year, Zone retreats and several Annual meetings.   Every year on January 1, I mark all the CFO events I plan to attend and allocate my vacation towards those.  I’ve submerged myself into the local, regional and national administrative side of this amazing organization, determined to help others discover the Kingdom of God in the midst of today’s world.

CFO has become more than just a week for me, it's a lifestyle. CFO taught me to love and serve Jesus Christ, and more importantly, how much He loves and serves me.

Camps Farthest Out has been a huge part in growing, building, and empowering my faith and walk with Jesus Christ. From my first camp at age 11, I felt loved and accepted. Jesus Christ working through CFO has shown me many thing about myself and how I can help others. There have been times of brokenness, times of repentance, times of dancing, and times of overwhelming joy. As I grow older and more involved with CFO leadership, I see CFO actively living out Acts 2:42. The fellowship, the teaching, the passion for worship, and the powerful times of prayer have built a united family where I can really truly be myself. CFO has become more than just a week for me, it is a lifestyle - it taught me to love and serve Jesus Christ and even more importantly how much He loves and serves me.

CFO is the place where I gave my life to Jesus at 9 years old and found clarity when answering His call on my life to become a Pastor. Now, CFO is one of the places where I find rest and refuge.

I have been attending CFO since I was an infant, more than 40 years ago. God has been using CFO in my life to help disciple and grow me over that time. It is the place where I gave my life to Jesus Christ when I was 9 years old, and it's also where I found healing and clarity when the Lord was asking me to answer His call on my life to become a Pastor. Now, CFO is one of the places where I find rest and refuge. It is where I can truly get away with God and focus on my relationship with Him, which is not easy in the busyness of life in the 21st Century. After each camp, I always look forward to taking those spiritual disciplines I lived at CFO, home with me to implement each day. CFO is not an event, it is a desired lifestyle for me.

CFO: What a special place! I have experienced a beautiful way of worship, serving, singing, prayer, healing, peace, and most of all Love.

In 1979 I was a fairly new Christian and finding my way through some tough times. I was asked to attend a camp called CFO and little did I know it would become a very important part of my walk with Jesus. What a special place, as I experienced a beautiful way of worship, serving, singing, prayer, healing, peace and most of all LOVE! CFO offers us a way to go further out with God and live in His kingdom with excitement to move forward in our journey. I have met so many wonderful people that have become family and they have deeply changed my life. They loved and accepted me just as I am. I give God the glory!!!

I saw a love between them that can only be shared with Christian believers. A few years later, CFO brought Martha and me together. We met at a CFO meeting and married some two years later.

I remember when my wife, Dixie, and I took our granddaughter to her first camp. It was the last camp for Dixie. I saw a love between them that can only be shared with Christian believers.  A few years later, CFO brought Martha and me together. We met at a CFO meeting and married some two years later. What a blessing to have been blessed with two beautiful Godly women. God knew just what he was doing by giving me these saints. Dixie, myself and our two daughters began 40 years ago. We both served in CFO as God opened the doors. Now, with Martha, God has taken us to many CFO events in the U.S., South America, and Africa. I praise Him for CFO and its role of love in my life journey.

CFO in 1980 at GA Mountains CFO was an answer to prayer that was not completely fulfilled until 1998.

CFO in 1980 at GA Mountains CFO was an answer to prayer that was not completely fulfilled until 1998. I prayed from the time our sons were born for them to marry godly women. The speaker at this camp walked in with his family and my eyes were drawn immediately to one of his daughters. Eighteen years later, she became a part of our family. I have no idea what the message was that evening, but I will always remember how God highlighted this little girls auburn hair that night.

A year after losing my daughter for this lifetime, I was given the opportunity to attend a CFO with my other daughter and one of my sons. Because of the ‘ebb and flow’ of the camp days, I had time to be still and reflect.

A year after losing my daughter for this lifetime, I was given the opportunity to attend a CFO with my other daughter and one of my sons. Because of the ‘ebb and flow’ of the camp days, I had time to be still and reflect. I loved being in a camp setting with two of my children where we could interact, be together and then pursue interests of our own. I felt we left being  ‘met’ right where we were individually, ready to go on with whatever God had for us in the year ahead.

The cry: Lord teach me to pray is met and answered at CFO. I come back each time, centered, refreshed, whole, and ready to do God’s work.

CFO is more than a vacation. It is a time of renewal. It is a time to engage with Jesus, to seek God’s heart and deepen my experience with Him. CFO allows me to explore God and myself as well. I am encouraged to ‘move as the Spirit moves’ and play with color and words. But mostly CFO is about prayer. The cry: Lord teach me to pray is met and answered at CFO. I come back centered, refreshed, whole and ready to do God’s work.

Through my experiences with CFO and an ongoing relationship with God, He has turned turmoil into peace, patience into joy, and He has taken the ashes of my life and grown roses.

CFO took me out of the desert and set me free to be used by God. For 40 years, I walked in the desert, living by my standards, controlling circumstances for my results. Then in 2004, through my first experiences with CFO, everything in my life changed, all for the good. Through an ongoing relationship with God, He has turned turmoil into peace, patience into joy and taken the ashes of my life and grown roses. I now approach each day with the expectation of God working in my life to the benefit of others and I give Him glory. This all began with a visit to Montana CFO and every time I attend CFO it deepens the depth of my relationship with God.

After experiencing antisemitism in school, I developed a strong dislike for non-Jewish people. My wife convinced me to go to a CFO camp in Long Island NY. During one of the talks the Lord filled me with love for everyone there.

I grew up during World War II in a Jewish home. After experiencing antisemitism in school, I developed a strong dislike for non-Jewish people. I married a non-Jewish woman and through her and her friends’s prayers, Jesus revealed Himself to me. A few months later, she convinced me to go to a CFO camp in Long Island NY. During one of the talks the Lord filled me with love for everyone there. All the hurts and pain I felt, along with the anger was lifted off me.

When our creativity flows out of our love for Him and others, then we are blessing Him and those in our lives. I still get excited for Creative Art when I am handed supplies and given some inspiration...in silence, I create. I love it!

CFO has encouraged the creativity that God put in me. I'd never felt like I could draw, but I took a drawing course in college. Years went by and then I went to a Creative Art time at CFO. I was given materials and an inspirational thought and taught to listen and draw, then listen again to what God was saying to me through what I had drawn. God speaks to me this way.  We most resemble God when we allow ourselves the time to be creative. Creativity and love go hand in hand. When our creativity flows out of our love for Him and others, then we are blessing Him and those in our lives. I still get excited for Creative Art when I am handed supplies and given some inspiration...in silence, I create.  I love it!

The inter-generational family element of this Christian camp appealed to us. What we found there was authentic Christian faith being lived out at camp and overflowing into daily life once we got home.

Our friends invited us to come with them to a CFO fall retreat. So we loaded our children into our family van and headed north to the Black Hills CFO camp with a sense of adventure. The inter-generational family element of this Christian camp appealed to us. What we found there was authentic Christian faith being lived out at camp and overflowing into daily life once we got home. Our children wanted to go back to camp. So did we. That was over 20 years ago. We have been going to Black Hills CFO camp ever since and we invite others to come with us. It is always a Christ-centered experience. Glory and honor belong to Him.

It was at CFO where Jesus taught me to pray as he taught His disciples so long ago. The depth of prayer that I found in CFO has moved me to become a prayer warrior for others in my church.

As a child, CFO was the place I felt loved and cherished by everyone, from the youngest to the oldest camper.  I learned there what “Jesus loves me” really means.  As an adult in CFO, I deepened my relationship with Jesus and knew that not only did He love me but there were also others who loved me, no matter my sins, faults, or failures. It was at CFO where I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit so strongly. It was at CFO where Jesus taught me to pray as he taught His disciples so long ago. There has been nowhere else in my Christian walk where I have found the depth of prayer that I find in CFO. It has moved me to become a prayer warrior for others in my church and at other times.

As a young mother, I was thrilled to find a Christian organization where I could bring my family to experience Kingdom living. Having a whole week to practice unconditional love and the rhythms of the CFO program became an annual event.

As a young mother, I was thrilled to find a Christian organization where I could bring my family to experience Kingdom living. Having a whole week to practice unconditional love and the rhythms of the CFO program became an annual event. My additional experience of being on the council ring provided more training in active listening and consensus decision making. I love having a safe place to build relationships and see God’s ways. I appreciate seeing conflict resolution and reconciliation in practice. Now, my family is older and they are all active participants in CFO. We have a CFO family that extends around the globe. I thank God for CFO!

I have found CFO has provided me with people who care about me and who I am. They have challenge me to step up and become who God designed and destined me to be.

Spiritual growth comes from challenging our hearts to give, to love, to lay down our lives, to submit to one another. I have found CFO has provided me with people who care about me and who I am. My soul is enriched by the love I experience at each CFO I attend. My faith is challenged, my commitment is strengthened and the walk toward home is with greater ease because I'm not alone. CFO is family.