Upward Challenge 2023 Gets Back to the Basics

Upward Challenge 2023 Gets Back to the Basics

We are celebrating the successful week of Upward Challenge BACK IN PERSON after being online for the last three years! ...
Upward Challenge 2018: 4-D Human

Upward Challenge 2018: 4-D Human

Directors Stephanie McClain and Mark Essenburg share a testimony from Upward Challenge 4-D Human after the July 2018 retreat ...
Group image of Upward Challenge

Upward Challenge: Border Breaker 2018 was a blast!

Upward Challenge 2018 is a youth ministry experience focused on helping teens discover the power of the Holy Spirit in ...
Overflow: Upward Challenge NC 2017 helps teens grow in faith

Overflow: Upward Challenge NC 2017 helps teens grow in faith

Upward Challenge 2017 lived up to its name. Together we faced flooded tents, injuries and illnesses, and teaching challenges--all during ...
How Did Upward Challenge Alaska (2017) Help Teens and Leaders Grow in Faith?

How Did Upward Challenge Alaska (2017) Help Teens and Leaders Grow in Faith?

If I had to choose one word to sum up Upward Challenge Alaska 2017, it would be “growth” – growth ...
Walker Kids Being Baptized

What Helped These Teens Choose Baptism?

On an April Wednesday in 2017, I stood next to my two kids in the Atlantic Ocean on a Florida ...
Upward Challenge 2016, NC: Raising Up Diverse Leaders

Upward Challenge 2016, NC: Raising Up Diverse Leaders

Discover the youth and young adults at Upward Challenge 2016 developed a sense of community in a diverse and multilingual ...
Upward Challenge, Alaska 2016: Game Changers

Upward Challenge, Alaska 2016: Game Changers

We debuted a new Upward Challenge here in Alaska this summer called “Game Changers: Teaming up with the Holy Spirit” ...
Sign with a waterfall in the background

Meeting God at Upward Challenge Alaska 2015

As with every Upward Challenge, this year (2015) was different than last year, but beautiful and wonderful in its own ...
Praying for the Music Worship Team at Upward Challenge

Why are young people attracted to the Holy Spirit?

Why are young people attracted to the Holy Spirit? The answer quite honestly is not all that different from why ...
Upward Challenge Alaska has a Hot Year (2013)

Upward Challenge Alaska has a Hot Year (2013)

Upward Challenge 2013 kicked off the year in Wasilla, Alaska, June 16-22 2013 with forty-five youth and adults in attendance ...
A group of youth on a screened in porch

Youth and Young Adults Programs Keep Growing

Since I started attending Upward Challenge many years ago, I have seen how we have gone from one small camp ...
Woman with hands on an open Bible

God’s Voice at Upward Challenge (2012)

God can speak to us in many ways. Here is a sample of how He spoke to and through the ...
God’s promise unfolding

God’s promise unfolding

“… I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will ...
Upward Challenge (England) 2011: Border Breaker

Upward Challenge (England) 2011: Border Breaker

This year’s (2011) Upward Challenge camp in England was awesome! It was a steep learning curve for the Student Leaders, ...
Youth Attending Upward Challenge Alaska

Youth are meeting Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit at Upward Challenge Alaska – 2011

Amazing Reports are just now coming back from our first Upward Challenge in Alaska (2011). Bill Ferree, who worked hand ...
Barnes Close Center

Please Pray For Upward Challenge

We ask for special prayer for the upcoming Upward Challenge youth camps in North Carolina and in England. July 25-30, ...
Pair of binoculars

Upward Challenge for Youth – 2010

Are you up for a challenge? Upward Challenge is a Christian youth camp in the UK and the USA that ...
Canoes near the water, rocks in the distance

Stories from 2009 Upward Challenge

See how our young people speak for themselves, sharing how their faith in Jesus Christ was deepened and how they ...
Sign with a waterfall in the background

Our Children Coming To Faith in Jesus

Upward Challenge is producing productive disciples and an experience of each person of the Trinity ...

Video – How Do We Bring Our Children To Faith In Jesus?

The Key is to provide the context where they can experience, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit ...