Taylor O’Heran of Paw Paw is in his fourth summer on the staff at Michiana Christian Service Camp northwest of Niles. Established in 1967, the non-denominational camp hosts up to 1,000 Michiana youth ages 5-17 each summer.

It’s the cluttered calm before the storm at Michiana Christian Service Camp.

Emily Freund, 18, the lifeguard, stocks pantry shelves with canned food.

From Kalamazoo, she just graduated from Portage Central High School.

Emily has been coming to camp since she was 5.

“My mom came here as a camper,” said Freund, anticipating her first summer on kitchen staff, too. “The absolutely genuine relationships I’ve formed are amazing. Everybody loves it here. I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘This is boring.’ It’s always such fun. I make best friends every time I come — all the way from the UP down into Indiana.”

Certified as a lifeguard June 4, it’s something she did for her Eagle Scout dad of four daughters and a lifeguard himself.

Jim Matthews became executive director of the four-member fulltime staff last Labor Day, but his ties go back to the ’90s when the southeast Ohio native ran high school week for eight years while a youth minister in Stevensville.

He and his wife, Margaret, traveled with a children’s ministry, which is how he came here and realized “this was a different kind of place with a level of excellence compared to other camps I’ve been. It’s a unique place.”

Matthews lives on the scenic grounds at 7383 Steinbauer Rd., northwest of Niles, navigating the hilly forest by golf cart.

His domain dropped in among vineyards and orchards operates year-round for all types of retreats and conferences besides the onslaught of up to 1,000 Michiana kids for which his troops are preparing for the first wave June 10.

The staff spent Wednesday in the treetops qualifying for the high ropes course with a 200-foot zip line. There are also a new paintball course; a 32-by-75-foot heated outdoor swimming pool; athletic fields; a playground; basketball and volleyball courts; a winterized, air-conditioned dining hall that seats 250; five cabins holding 25 campers; the Redwood Lodge accommodating up to 28 with a full bath and kitchen; the self-contained Cedar Lodge for groups up to 12; more meeting space above the dining hall; three wilderness huts; a 250-foot slip-and-slide; a camp store; and the vesper area overlooking Little Indian Lake.

“Kids come from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo to LaPorte over to Warsaw,” Matthews said. “It was originally part of a conglomeration of independent Christian churches and is still supported by 35 of them. Our youngest kids, kindergarten and first grade, come to day camp (First Chance, $40)” and don’t stay overnight until second grade. Fourth grade — a whole week — costs $205.

This summer’s “iServe” theme encompasses a variety of options — co-ed, boys only and girls only wilderness excursions — until the season ends with an ice cream social Aug. 19.

Paintball, high ropes and team-building “are just tools for teaching valuable lessons,” Matthews said. “The junior high and high school wilderness camps go off-site to backpacking trails in northern Michigan. Our staff is playing paintball tonight with Five Pines.”