Hume Lake Christian Camps

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Hume Lake Christian Camps is a nonprofit, non-denominational Christian organization that runs a large camp and conference center at Hume Lake in California. It offers year‑round camps and conferences at Hume Lake and other locations for youth, families, and adults, and has welcomed more than a million visitors over the years. The camp sits on 365 acres in the Sequoia National Forest, about 65 miles east of Fresno, near the town of Hume, California, next to Hume Lake. It can host up to 3,000 people at once and serves more than 40,000 visitors each year. The facilities include four chapels and three dining halls.

History: Hume Lake started as Fellowship Conferences, founded by Walter Warkentin and partners in 1945 in Dinuba, California. On January 9, 1946, they bought 320 acres by Hume Lake for $140,000, including the Hume Lake Hotel, a store, a post office, cottages, and boats. They reused many buildings from the old Hume‑Bennett Lumber Company mill town. In the first year, 670 campers attended with volunteer staff. Attendance grew through the 1960s, reaching into the thousands. In December 1966 a severe storm damaged buildings and the waterfront. In 1991 a dispute with the U.S. Forest Service over land boundaries was resolved; a 1978 discovery that part of the camp sat on Forest Service land led to a long land swap that allowed continued use. In 2011 the organization bought Hume New England in Monterey, Massachusetts. In 2015 the Rough Fire forced the evacuation of more than 2,500 people and all events were canceled. In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Hume locations closed for the first time in 74 years.