Josh Pulver named new manager at Camp Egan

As a youth, Josh Pulver often stayed at Camp Egan, especially during the week of Tulsa District Camp in summertime. Now he is making his home there.

On April 4, Pulver began his new job as Camp Egan’s manager; Dave Perrin is retiring.

Pulver relishes being outdoors and spent lots of time in his formative years at all three Oklahoma Conference camp facilities. The manager’s post feels "like something God was pushing me toward from the very beginning," he said.

While a student at Oklahoma State University, he worked at Canyon Camp one summer.

"That’s the summer it became apparent to me that camping was what I wanted to be doing," he said. "More than a passion—a ministry."

So Pulver majored in Leisure Studies. For five years, he worked as director of chapters and external relations for the OSU Alumni Association. This month, the OSU College of Education presents him with the Rising Star Award, which honors a recent graduate who demonstrates leadership both in the community and on campus.

Pulver performed as Pistol Pete, the OSU mascot, for two years, and he has been an announcer for high school- and college-level sports.

His father, a grandfather, and a brother-in-law are UM clergymen. At Stillwater-First UMC, Josh Pulver has been the church’s lay delegate to Annual Conference for four years and served on several committees. He was an adult volunteer for JEM and CYME camps. He is a member of the Oklahoma Conference Board of Laity.

He relishes welcoming campers to Egan. "I’d love to see Egan busy every day of the year, serving as many groups as possible."

First steps for the new manager will be further educating himself by meeting with camp staff and the other managers. And he likely will hike up the steep path to the cross, among his favorite places at Egan.

"For me, it’s symbolic that it’s a journey to get to the cross," Pulver said. "You have to stop to take your breath along the way. But you keep going.

"How can I see myself living ‘in the wilderness’? I answer that with one word: faith. I’m fully trusting this is where I need to be. God will provide everything I need, and I will be comforted in that."