Camp Timber-lee in East Troy to close. It had been site of annual Burn Camp

Editor's note: On March 2 Trinity International University announced they had reached a purchase agreement with a new owner to keep the camp open. Read more about the sale here.

Camp Timber-lee, an evangelical Christian camp in East Troy, is used to teaching about miracles.  

Now, camp supporters are praying for one of their own.  

Camp owner Trinity International University, a Christian university based in Deerfield, Ill., announced on Feb. 17 that it would close the camp for good effective March 5.  

“The University’s Board of Regents ... saw no other path forward in the wake of business and revenue losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which only compounded the challenges it already faced in recent years,” TIU President Nicholas Perrin wrote in a statement posted online. “Our love for Timber-lee’s mission makes the decision to close the Camp especially hard. But the financial risks and liabilities associated with maintaining the Camp’s operations have now far exceeded the University’s ability to subsidize it.”   

Timber-lee first opened in 1947 as Camp Willabay on 20 acres of marshy land in Williams Bay. After operating there for 25 years, the camp moved to a 550-acre plot of land in East Troy and began operating as Timber-Lee Christian Center. In 2016, the camp was bequeathed to TIU. Today Timber-lee offers overnight summer and winter camps for youth, outdoor education programs, group retreats and more, with activities ranging from swimming and horseback riding to rock climbing and archery.

For nearly 30 years the camp has also played host to Burn Camp, a free weeklong camp for youth burn survivors put on by the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation Inc. This year’s camp is scheduled for Aug. 13-19.  

Foundation Executive Director Mike Wos said Burn Camp will continue this year no matter what happens to Timber-lee, and more than a dozen other summer camps already have come forward offering to host it.

But he said Timber-lee has been good to their organization over the past 28 years, allowing them to to do things not all camps allow these days due to liability issues, from bringing in their own staff and meals to helicopters and dozens of firetrucks.

"It’s hard to imagine doing it anywhere else," he said.

More:At Wisconsin's Burn Camp, injury survivors find family, confidence and resilience

TIU's Perrin cited financial struggles as a reason for closing the camp, noting Timber-lee had a $2.8 million cumulative loss since the first full summer the university began operating it and only two years of operating in the black in the previous decade. The camp has struggled to recover from the record losses it suffered in 2020 and 2021, according to Perrin, with other factors presenting more challenges for future financial stability.  

“Now, public schools are increasingly choosing not to partner with evangelical Christian camps; there are perpetual labor shortages; and inflation spikes are adding just another wave of disadvantageous factors,” he wrote.   

The university hasn't been immune to financial struggles, either.

"Trinity International University has also faced its own challenges such as declining enrollments, reduced market share, and dwindling endowments for more than a decade," Perrin wrote.

In addition to closing Timber-lee, TIU is discontinuing residential and in-person undergraduate education (except for the BA/MDiv program) at the end of the spring semester, instead moving to completely online programs for both Trinity College and Trinity Graduate School.

"At Trinity we are sharpening our mission focus, and the Board of Regents had to make the difficult decision that as valuable as the Timber-lee ministry may be, it does not tightly align with Trinity’s distinctive mission of 'educating men and women' for the sake of the gospel. Nor is Trinity International University any longer in a position to absorb the kind of risk incurred by the Camp since it was bequeathed in 2016," Perrin wrote.

Some are questioning the financial losses TIU cited in their statement, pointing to the university’s IRS filings from 2017 through 2020 that show Timber-lee's program revenue exceeding expenses for all but one fiscal year ending April 30, 2021 (2021 filings are not publicly available yet). The previous three returns show a cumulative net revenue for Timber-lee of more than $1 million. TIU did not respond to questions about the disparity or what it plans to do with the property.

Timber-lee staff, alumni and others with ties to the camp are holding on to hope that it can be saved, with some beginning to organize an effort to do just that.  

“We at Timber-lee Ministries are fervently seeking God in prayer that He will provide a benefactor or benefactors who are able to provide the funds needed for Timber-lee Ministries to continue operations and return to independent ministry,” the camp wrote in a statement posted on its website. Camp staff declined to comment further at this time.  

Contact Chelsey Lewis at clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.