Lakeside Bible Camp is thriving, thanks to plenty of help on the ground and what camp officials are convinced is an emphatic boost from above.

“Lots of camps have shut down the past few years, but we’re still here,” said Kevin Rasmussen, Lakeside director of ministries. “We’ve had 50 years of God blessing our ministry.”

The camp, on 55 acres next to Deer Lake in Clinton, will celebrate its 50th anniversary today beginning at 1 p.m. with walking tours, dinner and an evening program.

Lakeside has been host to tens of thousands of campers since it opened in July 1960, Rasmussen said.

The camp, with 12 cabins, a kitchen and dining hall, a Training in Christian Living facility and other structures, can handle as many as 200 campers at a time, he said. This past week Lakeside was entertaining about 150 residents.

“We usually sell out a couple weeks during the summer,” Rasmussen said.

A variety of sports and recreation onshore and on the water is offered at Lakeside, along with a heavy emphasis on Christian leadership and values.

There are BB guns and bows and arrows, pickleball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, boating, waterskiing and fishing.

Rasmussen said most of the campers come from throughout the Puget Sound area, but others have arrived from Eastern Washington, Canada and Oregon. Most are associated with church groups, he said.

Lakeside is run almost entirely by volunteers, Rasmussen said. There are three full-time and three part-time staff members.

“We run a pretty lean operation,” he said.

Rasmussen said the camp has a list of 450 to 500 volunteers who take care of the day-to-day activities as cooks, dishwashers, camp directors and cabin leaders. They’re from high schools, colleges and beyond.

In fact, Lakeside was built by volunteers. In only a year, working mostly on weekends, volunteers built the main portions of the camp, which opened in 1960. That includes cabins — without bathrooms, which were added later — the dining room and the chapel.

“That’s pretty impressive when you think about it,” Rasmussen said.

Lakeside got its start in the 1950s, when members of Christian congregations from throughout Western Washington were attending Island Lake Camp near Poulsbo and dreaming of a camp of their own.

The Lakeside Bible Camp Association was formed in 1955, and pursuit of the Deer Lake parcel began, spearheaded by Larry Anderson, who taught Bible classes for the group and who first spotted the property.

The first piece of land for the camp was purchased by the association for $15,000 in 1959, and construction began.

“Today, we’re the largest shoreline owner on Deer Lake,” Rasmussen said.

In 1960, a week of camping cost $12. This year the cost is $286.

Other property and buildings were added through the years, and the swim dock was constructed in 1991.

Many volunteers from the 1960s and ’70s maintain close ties to the camp, Rasmussen said.

“We create a very strong emotional attachment,” he said.

Gordon and Margaret Strom of Issaquah spent 11 summers from 1974 training young counselors to be camp leaders. Gordon Strom, now a hospital chaplain in south Seattle, will speak during Saturday night’s anniversary program.

“It’s an extraordinary camp in terms of contributing to families,” Strom said Thursday. “It was a real privilege to be asked to do that work. It’s left a mark on us.”

Rasmussen said as many as 750 people from throughout the United States are expected for the camp’s anniversary celebration, including former employees, volunteers and campers.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen and other camp officials are looking toward the next 50 years.

He said a few physical changes are planned in the short term, including a covered play area.

A special project, a climbing wall dedicated to Luke Gullberg, a former camp counselor who died recently in a mountain-climbing accident, is also under way. About half of the $49,000 for the project has been donated, Rasmussen said.

Of the camp’s plans for the future, he said: “We hope to make the program bigger and better to bring in more kids.”

And one other thing can be counted upon, he added.

“Proclaiming the Gospel,” Rasmussen said. “That hasn’t changed in 50 years, and will remain the same.”

The anniversary celebration begins at 1 p.m. today, with onshore and on-the-water activities, walking tours and refreshments. Dinner at the ballfield will be at 5 p.m., and a program featuring a look back at the past 50 years begins at 5:30. Parking is limited, Rasmussen said.

Lakeside Bible Camp is on the shore of Deer Lake at 4170 Bible Camp Drive in Clinton. For information, call 341-4170 or visit www.lakesidebiblecamp.org.