top of page

About us

Carol Joy Holling Camp,
Conference & Retreat Center

Located on 317 acres of rolling hills outside of Ashland, NE, Carol Joy Holling Camp, Conference & Retreat Center serves more than 1600 campers in the summer months and more than 20,000 retreat guests annually.

 

Sullivan Hills Camp

With a full 640 acres to explore, campers and retreat guests at Sullivan Hills camp have a variety of activities and adventures at their fingertips. This beautiful site serves 150 campers and several thousand retreat guests annually. It is located 10 miles north of Lodgepole, NE.

sites & locations

Site & Locations

Faith: Alive!

At Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, in places set apart, we live out faith in ways that show everyone they belong and are unconditionally loved by God. 

ALL ARE WELCOME

As a part of our joy in serving the church and the community, as well as in justice to our guests, campers, volunteers, and staff members, Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, including its Carol Joy Holling Camp, Conference, & Retreat Center and Sullivan Hills Camp, is committed to principles that enable opportunities for full participation in its programs and activities. These programs and activities include Christian education and spiritual, psychological, social, personal, and professional development. We welcome all people, and we do not tolerate behavior that discriminates based upon race, religion, color, creed, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, age or ancestry. Such discrimination is demeaning, destructive, and directly at odds with the Gospel of Christ and our goals of fostering equity, mutual understanding, and cooperation.

Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, its staff, and representatives will work to provide systems and solutions that enable people to access and experience its buildings, grounds, facilities, and all of its programming by removing barriers that may exist that exclude underrepresented groups and individuals. 

This policy applies to year-round staff, summer staff, board members, volunteers, and any other representative of NLOM. 

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that NLOM, its camps, facilities, buildings, and programming are accessible, open, welcoming, affirming, safe, and available to all people regardless of who they are or where they come from.

IMPACT

Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries offers significant experiences that:
• provide a safe, welcoming introduction to the Christian faith
• increase the relevance of faith in one’s daily life
• promote community-building

Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries (NLOM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. 

Mission & Vales Statements
History

HISTORY

Through the Early 1960s: Nebraska Lutherans borrow camping sites to operate junior high camps. 

1964: Circle R Camp is established.  

1974: George and Irene Holling gift a half section of land near Ashland to Nebraska Synod/LCA in memory of their daughter, Carol Joy Holling.  

1975: Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries is formed. 

1979: Carol Joy Holling Camp opens with 356 campers.  

1986: Carol Joy Holling Camp serves 1000 campers for the first time. 

1994: Day Camp is established in six Nebraska Synod Congregations. 

1995: Lester & Lillian Sullivan gift a section of land near Lodgepole, Nebraska...to be known as Sullivan Hills Camp.  

1997: Sullivan Hills Camp opens with 80 campers. 

2002: The Resource Center at Carol Joy Holling Camp is finished. 

2005: The Swanson Retreat Center is completed.

2010: Campers produced 32,000 Health Kits for victims of Haiti.

2014: The New Western Town facilities are complete and replace the old Ranch bunkhouses for summer camp.

2018: New Springs Facilities, Living Water Retreat House and Monke Lodge, were completed.

2020: The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of overnight summer camp for the first time in NLOM's 40 year history

bottom of page