Camping & Youth Ministries

Get to Know Dawn Young, the Executive Director of Sky Lodge!

Dawn and Wes Young met at Sky Lodge where they served on staff for 16 years.  Dawn developed the Zone Summer Staff discipleship program in those years. When the Young family left Sky Lodge 13 years ago, they settled in McPherson, Kansas. As a Central Christian College of Kansas graduate, Wes had fond memories of McPherson as a family-friendly town. He was able to secure a good job at a pharmaceutical company where he worked his way up to machine operator. Dawn’s full-time job has been as a mother to their only child, Taiya. She has held a variety of part-time jobs through the years including middle school ministry director, muffin factory tech, starting a wood sign painting business, and administrative assistant at the hospital. Dawn also took the lead in developing a team to revive the camping ministry for youth and teens in the Great Plains Conference of the Free Methodist Church.  These Refuge camps have been very successful and fruitful. Taiya has kept the family busy as she pursued a variety of interests. Notably, she earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and made it to state in doubles tennis. Her first love, though, is wrestling where she found team camaraderie, discipline, and grit. She will be pursuing welding this fall at the Missouri Welding Institute. Each member of the family is excited to return “home” to Sky Lodge. Fond memories of both the place and the people abound.