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Mark Boyd announces Councils of Stewards for sites

As executive director of outdoor ministries with the support of the PNC Board of Directors, Mark Boyd has created Council of Stewards, advisory groups for both Pilgrim Firs and N-Sid-Sen, to provide quick support for the sites.

Two women from Casting for Recovery hike on Pilgrim Firs grounds. Photo courtesy of Mark Boyd

The councils include representatives of the board of directors, churches, partner groups and people with specific skills and contact with contractors.

They will review decisions about making improvements at the sites that are proposed by the site directors. The councils will include people with expertise and history.

“Changes at the camps will need to benefit three partner groups, not just one,” Mark commented.

“By including people with history, they will bring knowledge about why to do or not do changes, not because we have always done it that way,” he clarified.

Mark said the search team is down to interviewing two candidates for site manager at N-Sid-Sen and will soon announce their choice.

He reported that both camps are doing well financially with Randy Crowe, volunteer site manager at N-Sid-Sen, bringing groups back.

Pilgrim Firs weekends and most weekdays are full through the end of January. N-Sid-Sen has the Lady of the Lake Dance camp, a North Idaho Women’s retreat and Quilters in October.

Mark also highlighted that the Casting for Recovery weekend retreat is now at both sites. He recruited it when he was at N-Sid-Sen, and Pilgrim Firs now has a camp.

Casting with Recovery works with women at different states of recovery from breast cancer and uses the symbolism of casting to promote healing.

There is one camper to one facilitator, who teaches the woman partner to tie flies and to cast.

“Pilgrim Firs pays to stock Lake Flora with fish when they come,” he said. “Women come for the weekend but build relations that they continue, so it’s not a one-and-done retreat.”

Mark said the national program has headquarters in Montana.

A Silent Day Option has been added to the PNC-UCC Women’s Retreat that will be held Oct. 9 to 11 at Pilgrim Firs.

The weekend opens Thursday at 4 p.m. with a silent retreat until 2 p.m., Friday, time for silent contemplation and wandering the site.

“Just Breathe” is the theme for the Women’s Retreat, with invitational materials noting that “in the rush of daily life, we often forget the simple, sacred act of breathing,”

Leaders note the importance of slowing down, releasing what one is carrying and simply being—finding rest, renewal and reconnection with oneself, one another and the Divine.

“Through guided reflection, creative expression, and gentle practices, we will rediscover stillness,” leaders said. “Each breath reminds us we are alive, held and enough. Come to breathe, release and renew.”

The retreat is inclusive of all women, cis and trans, and non-binary people who feel comfortable in a space centered on women’s experiences. 

Mark also reported that N-Sid-Sen hosted Pride Camp on “Rising Above with Love,” led by Spokane Pride and North Idaho Pride Alliance, Sept. 25 to 28.

Pride Camp is a gathering of people from the Inland Northwest who share a commitment to creating a foundation that encourages individuals to show up and thrive in our community. Its goal is to cultivate connection and fellowship among groups that have too often existed in isolation. In a world marked by ongoing turmoil, Pride Camp is “a collective balm—a unique opportunity to build a cohesive sense of who we are together. By strengthening our shared identity, we become more resilient as individuals and more effective as a cultural movement,” he said.

The weekend includes co-reflection, educational opportunities, facilitated group discussions, open dialogue and optional activities such as music, hikes, and campfires.

N-Sid-Sen’s Giving Back Camp (formally known as work camp) is Oct. 4 to 10.

“Giving Back” camps provide opportunities for volunteers to help care for N-Sid-Sen. Participants can come for an afternoon, a day or multiple days, bringing any skills they have to help with construction projects, cleanup tasks, clearing trails, cutting firewood, painting walls, planting flowers, making meals, stitching quilts, washing windows, sorting craft supplies, doing plumbing, mechanical repairs, sorting archives or recording history.

Campers will continue to help with cleanup and repairs needed after a destructive windstorm took down dozens of trees.

There is no fee to participate in this camp.

N-Sid-Sen is also offering a Textile Retreat Thursday to Sunday, Oct. 15 to 18 to come sew, knit, weave, crochet and chat with other folk from across the Northwest. Campers may choose a project, which will include quilting with demonstrations and teaching. 
MaryLu Vait is organizing it.

For registration information, call 360-876-2031, email executivedirector@pilgrim-firs.org or visit pilgrim-firs.org or n-sid-sen.org.

 

Pacific Northwest United Church of Christ Conference News © October 2026

 

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