Stave Chapel at Green Lake Bible Camp is a sought-after wedding venue BY CAROLYN LANGE | WEST CENTRAL TRIBUNE
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irsten Palen and Jake Schwinghammer met in the summer of 2016 when they both worked as camp counselors at the Green Lake Bible Camp in Spicer. There, they sang and prayed with campers in the Stave Chapel â a striking structure on a tree-lined hill built in 1940 in the style of an old Norwegian church â that is the focal place of worship at the Lutheran camp. Four years later, during the pandemic,
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the couple was married in the chapel. âItâs where we became friends and fell in love,â said Palen. âWe loved the space so much and the many memories we have there together,â said Palen, who now works as the marketing and development director at Green Lake Bible Camp. They didnât consider any other wedding venue. Nate and Chelsey Crary have a similar story.
They met while working at Green Lake Lutheran Ministries about a decade ago and were married in the Stave Chapel in 2012. Knowing that the chapel is a popular wedding venue and booked well into the future, as soon as they were engaged at Christmastime they called the camp to find out which â if any â dates were open for the next summer. âIt happened there were still two weekends available, so thatâs how we
