2024 Annual Conference July 3-7

Registration begins Friday, March 1, 12:00pm Central Time

DeVos Place Convention Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan

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The 2024 Song & Story Fest family camp co-sponsored by On Earth Peace will be hosted at Camp Brethren Heights in the Michigan District, July 7-13, immediately after Annual Conference in Grand Rapids. This is the twenty-eighth Song and Story Fest. The theme for this year’s Muddy Waters Song and Story Fest is “”Exploring the Heights and Depths of Community.” The event is billed as an intergenerational camp for all ages, individuals, and families.

Director Ken Kline Smeltzer says, “It seems like we are coursing down a raging river of ignorance and regression. Bouncing around and over big and dangerous rapids that threaten to capsize us, we are in the midst of deep waters on all sides: religious, political, and economic differences that divide and conquer any unity we might experience as one people, under God’s care and guidance. Actually, today we are more mired in muddy waters than bouncing down rapids. And we don’t know about you, but our sense of community seems to be getting smaller and more limited than ever, at least domestically. Brethren, Christian, American – Do you even want to claim to be part of these communities? But maybe in these hard and muddy times we are called to witness and proclaim the values that we have learned from Jesus and these very same communities. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves that being community isn’t easy, that it carries highs and lows. So, you are invited to join us in Exploring the Heights and Depths of Community! Together we’ll find some islands of hope and understanding to rest upon and regroup, and then plunge back into the muddy waters with the exasperating/beautiful people around us.” Storytellers, musicians, and workshop leaders include Rhonda & Greg Baker, Susan Boyer, Louise Brodie, Hannah Button-Harrison, Debbie Eisenbise, Jenny & Jeffrey Faus Family, Erin & Cody Flory Robertson, Chris Good, Anna Lisa Gross, Kathy Guisewite, Jonathan Hunter, Tim & Byron Joseph & Marlene Wood, Brian Kruschwitz, Jim Lehman, Peg Lehman, and Mike Stern.

The schedule includes, in the mornings, intergenerational gatherings and worship followed by workshops for adults, children, and youth; in the afternoons, family time, recreation, story swaps, and music-making; and in the evenings, campfires, snacks, and concerts or a folk dance.

Registration includes all meals, on-site facilities, and leadership, and is based upon age: Adults $370, Teens $240, Children age 5 to 12 $160, Children 4 and under free, with a total maximum cost per family of $1,000. Daily fees are available. Registrations made after June 1 will incur a late fee of 10 percent.

Download the Song & Story Fest family camp brochure and the Poster.

Register online at onearthpeace.org/song_and_story_fest_2024. Contact Rachel Long at raquellita.long@gmail.com if you need financial help. Additional information about Song and Story Fest can be found at: onearthpeace.org/song_and_story_fest_2024. More information about the camp can be found at: campbrethrenheightsmi.org/. For questions contact Ken Kline Smeltzer, director, at 814-571-0495 or bksmeltz@comcast.net, or SongandStoryFest@gmail.com.

Song and Story Fest Planning Committee: Ken Kline Smeltzer, Rhonda Baker, Michelle Davis, Chris Good, Ben Long, Rachel Long, Clara McGilly, Carolyn Neher, and Tina Rieman.