About us

Vision and mission

At Gull Lake Centre, we are creating space to connect. This is space for campers to connect with Christ and with each other. Space for bible studies to connect with God and their church. Space for volunteers to connect with the spirit a safe place can offer. Gull Lake Centre intentionally creates a safe and welcoming space physically, spiritually and emotionally through our staff, facilities, food, and programming. As a registered charity, we work hard to return to the community all that is given to us.

 
 
 

Although Gull Lake Centre runs retreats and rentals year-round, our primary ministry is Summer Camp and the Leadership Training & Discipleship Program. We at Gull Lake Centre are committed to the realization of lasting relationships, keeping camp affordable, and ensuring camp is accessible and available to everyone, all while developing and training leaders.

Gull Lake Centre is a member of the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, Alberta Camping Association, and the Lacombe Chamber of Commerce.

We are registered with CRA as Gull Lake Baptist Camp and our charity tax number is 11894 9718 RR0001.

Location

Gull Lake Centre is located on the East side of Gull Lake, which is near Lacombe, Alberta. Driving to Gull Lake Centre from either Edmonton or Calgary typically takes between one and a half to two hours. Check out our Contact page if you want to know more.

Facilities & amenities

Want to get the details on what we’ve got at camp? Check out the Rentals page.

News

Want to keep up to date on what’s happening at camp? Check out the Gull Lake News page.

 

Our story

The roots of Gull Lake Baptist Camp originate with the founder, Dr. C.C. McLaurin. His vision was to provide a place historical picture of cabins where Baptist families could “play and pray.” With land at Gull Lake donated by Dr. McLaurin, Gull Lake Baptist Camp was established in 1920. In those early years, campers slept on loose straw in simply constructed cabins and buildings, some of which still exist at the camp.

The years following World War II saw the camp change from an Assembly to a family camp with a vacation Bible school also developing. The camp continued to attract large numbers of young people through the 1950’s and 1960’s, causing continuous changes in facility and design to accommodate youth-oriented programs.

As each new generation brought changing expectations to Gull Lake, the growing ministry required continual changes to its facilities. New winterized cabins, washrooms and a large dining hall were constructed in the historical view of camp in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Additional property was purchased nearby which became a 37-site trailer park.

In October of 1993, a government building was sold to the camp and transformed into a 40-bed Retreat Centre. In 2007 we built a new main lodge, transforming us from a summer camp that did a few other things on the side to a year-round ministry center. We are still a summer camp and we offer exceptional Christ-centered camps just like we have for the past 99 years, but now we do so much more in the other nine months of the year as well.

Since the 1980s, our Leadership Training & Discipleship (LTD) Program has been developing as an intensive 3-year program that continues to challenge young people to grow in their faith and gifts. LTD’s are taught what it means to be disciples of Christ and to share their faith in their world. In 2007 we adopted the Encountering God Framework as our standard curriculum. The vision for the LTD program is to disciple students to encounter God as life-long, transformed participants in the Kingdom.

Through it all, Gull Lake has sought to teach vital principles of life which are rooted in scripture. It has grown over the past few years to focus even more on leadership development while maintaining a high standard on camper experience. More campers continue to come to the camp, usually returning year after year for the relationships that they established.

103 years later we are still a great place to come “play and pray”

 Full-time staff

  • Steve Roadhouse

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Steve is the Executive Director at Gull Lake Centre. Steve loves God and loves camp and feels wonderfully blessed to have the job that he does. He is married to his lovely wife Sarah and they have four children – Olivia, Wakefield, Fiona, and Koa. His favourite activities are playing outside with his kids and friends at the camp and in the mountains. There are few things that Steve likes more than heading out to his favourite spot in the mountains by himself to sit in silence with the Living God.

  • Carrie Beckner

    PROGRAM MANAGER

    Carrie joins the team as Gull Lake’s new Program Manager. She comes with many years of working in camps such as: Mill Creek Camp, Keats Camp, Green Bay Bible Camp and Southern Alberta Bible Camp. Carrie has also been a teacher with the Calgary Board of Education and is completing a Master of Education in Leadership and Creative Collaboration. She loves to ask questions and inspire creativity. Her greatest achievement has been to bring her two sons into the world and enjoys seeing the world through the eyes of two teenage boys. When she is not teasing the staff, you can find her teaching someone how to wake-surf, climb the climbing wall, playing the piano or planning out an out-of-the box wide game.

  • Donna Kenny

    OFFICE MANAGER

    Donna Kenny is the Office Administrator at Gull Lake Centre and uses her administrative and people skills on the front line. Donna and her husband Kip have two boys, Emmett and Patrick. Donna’s entire family have served on staff in various roles and they are all very invested in helping make camp all it can be. Donna brings over 20 years of administrative and management experience to the centre.

  • Jared Tangjerd

    OPERATIONS MANAGER

    Jared stepped into the role of Operations Manager after serving many years as summer staff and Program Manager. He is married to his awesome wife Rebecca and they have two sons, Evan and Carter. He is passionate about the vision at Gull Lake and loves to serve in any way he can. In Jared’s spare time, he enjoys the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and spending time with his family.

  • Christine Niederlag

    ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

    Christine helps make everything happen behind the scenes with her excellent organization skills. She grew up attending camp in Saskatchewan as a kid and served in various positions on summer staff. Her own personal experience has led her to serve in camp ministry full time. She loves the unique perspective she gets of camp through her office window which brings many laughs and smiles in summer days.

  • Shawn Lukat

    MAINTENANCE MANAGER

    Shawn is the Maintenance Manager for Gull Lake Centre. He knows this area of the country like the back of his hand. A man of the outdoors, Shawn loves fishing, hunting and the Oilers. Shawn has two children, Rebecca and Eli. Shawn has a way of always being in the right place at the right time. You likely won’t see him but you will see the fruit of where he’s been. Shawn has been a part of the Gull Lake community for over 25 years!

  • Alina Barnabé-Nelson

    HOSPITALITY MANAGER

    Alina brings her attention to detail and passion for building community connections to her role as our hospitality administrator. Alina has served as a Gull Lake summer staff for several years in various capacities. She finds inspiration from challenging ideas and intentionally creates the right atmosphere for meaningful memories. Everyone deserves that moment with the perfect blend of fun and stillness, where you have the greatest epiphanies and a resounding sense of joy. Alina finds it powerful to connect with people over simple things, which is why she enjoys assisting her family during garlic farming season or knitting with friends.

  • Samuel Cruz (Taco)

    PROGRAM ASSISTANT

    Taco has served in different positions over the last few years in different camps. He loves the camp ministry and believes camp is a crucial part of kids' development. He enjoys connecting with staff and campers by being as silly and crazy as he can. He is from Mexico and loves Mexican food (hence the nickname). In his spare time, he enjoys playing board games, sports, disc golfing, hiking, snowboarding and doing random things with friends.