Wilderness North

To visit the Wilderness North

website please visit: www.WILDN.org

Wilderness North, the Olson-Sonstegard Leadership Institute, is situated in the Superior National Forest of Northern Minnesota, just north of Lake Superior in Brimson, Minnesota. Hundreds of visitors and student campers have experienced the beauty, quiet, and recreational opportunities here as well as the feeling that Wilderness North is "holy ground."

This is a place to find spiritual and physical rest -- as well as outdoor adventures. You can swim, boat, or fish in private Lake Murphy, walk trails, play volleyball, pick raspberries, watch wildlife, or take a hot sauna. In winter, cross-country skis, snowshoes, and ice skates are available.

Our Wilderness North facilities consists of the main log lodge with a loft library, meeting room and dining area; a shower/sauna house, two mentor suites in the mentor lodge, twelve individual log Caleb cabins for participants and a waterfront area.

Our facilities can be rented for your own group or personal retreat.

Wilderness North is also home to several of our Tentmakers programs. We currently offer the following exceptional programs: Leadership Quest, Discipleship Plunge, Young Leaders, the Caleb Institute, and the Wilderness North Component of the Joshua Institute. We also offer a fall session of our weekend Breakthrough Living program and sponsor the Annual Advance Spring Retreat. Please see each program's web pages for more detailed information.

Leadership Quest is a one week wilderness-based leadership training camping experience for responsible high school students. Objectives include building skills in relationships, gaining confidence as a leader, developing a personal management plan, leading Bible studies, and discovering a vision to impact one's church and school.

Discipleship Plunge is also a one week wilderness-based leadership training camping experience for college students and young adults. Objectives include building skills in relationships, gaining confidence as a leader, developing a personal management plan, clarifying life direction, and discovering a vision to impact one's church and community.

Young Leaders is a challenging and intensive growth program which takes place over two years. It begins with a 40 day training program, using our Caleb cabins, for people ages 17-30 at Wilderness North and continues during the next two years while the young leader is attending school or employed on a job. In addition to a substantial study and mentoring program the young leaders focus on building relationships with students and leading them to follow Jesus Christ. The focus is on making young disciples and then training those young disciples to reach out and make more young disciples.

The Caleb Institute is for busy people desiring to slow down and learning to integrate their faith into all of their life. Sharpen the mind and cultivate the soul by participating in a five-day experience that begins on Sunday evening and ends at Friday noon, using our Caleb cabins for lodging. Objectives of this course are: Learning and Thinking Skills for reasoning more clearly, asking better questions, and Bible study skills; Spiritual Disciplines for going more deeply into study, meditation, prayer, solitude, and more; Wisdom Seeking Skills for seeking relationships with mentors that provide guidance and insight for faith, life choices, and ethics; and Worldview Discernment Skills to study the worldview of Jesus Christ and gain skill in dialoging with others of different perspectives.

The Joshua Leadership Institute is for anyone with a heart and calling to love young people- staff or volunteer, seasoned veteran or relatively new. It is a five weeks in length course that includes a ten-day portion of the Wilderness North Component using our Caleb cabins. Objectives include leading effective ministry teams of adults and youth, communicating with a purpose, relationships, recruiting, managing time and people, outreach strategies, developing and leading small groups, creative thinking and problem-solving, and ministering to parents.

A Breakthrough Living weekend, using our Caleb cabins, at Wilderness North provides skills and tools to implement life change and gain a more Christ-centered direction. Objectives include clarifying a life mission, writing dreams and goals, and starting a written personal management plan. This course can also be offered at your local church or another facility.

The Annual Advance Retreat is a retreat to plan for your next advance in ministry. Thanks to volunteer alumni for their leadership in this retreat opportunity. It is a great time to get away to deepen your relationship with Jesus, and to stop, think, evaluate, refresh, plan and have fun with others in youth ministry! The retreat is not limited to alumni of a Tentmakers course, if you know of someone in youth ministry who has needs that this retreat would meet, please pass the information on (or better yet, give a gift to the youth director/pastor at your church and sponsor them).