MUUUCE 2026 marks 40 years of faith, fun and fellowship
This year marked 40 years since MUUUCE became a Northwest Conference tradition, and 519 middle school and jr. high students and leaders from 30 churches gathered to celebrate it Aug. 6-8 at Crossroads Covenant Church in Woodbury, MN.
The History
MUUUCE was started in 1985, when Tony Deach was a youth pastor at Faith Covenant Church in Burnsville, MN. That first year, the event drew 50 kids from Faith. The next year, Tony was joined by John Skelly, also a Faith Covenant youth pastor, and that began the collaboration with the Northwest Conference. Tony and John envisioned churches from the Northwest Conference bringing a van load of kids to ‘the Cities’ for MUUUCE, at its original location at Faith Covenant Church in Burnsville, to build relationships with their group.
John recalls, “The youth leaders didn’t have to do the planning; they just got to purposely hang out and participate with their junior high and middle schoolers. It was designed to be different from a summer camp experience. It was different from CHIC. It was designed for you to leave the headaches to us and just have a great time with your group. This would allow for the time and opportunity to have meaningful gospel focused conversations. Those may not have happened at Valleyfair. However, the groundwork had been laid so that when the time came, kids realized that there was a caring adult who loved them. And that caring adult might be able to lead them to a Savior who loved them too.”
By 1997, MUUUCE had grown to 700 kids and 100 leaders from 47 NWC churches. In its first 12 years, it ministered to over 4,000 kids. It was, and still is, the largest middle school/jr high event in the Evangelical Covenant Church.
The purpose behind MUUUCE never changed. As stated in 1997, it still seeks to “provide an opportunity for junior high students [expanded to include middle schoolers] to bolster their faith through vibrant worship, devotions that are aimed directly at them and a chance to spend quality time with adults that represent Jesus to them.”
MUUUCE 2026
This year’s MUUUCE theme was “Found,” and Eric Samuel Timm brought it to life through his teaching and live art, walking students through what it means to be found by Jesus. On Friday night, when the invitation to follow him was given, over a third of the group stood up. Hundreds of middle schoolers made decisions that could shape the rest of their lives.
Leaders felt it too. “MUUUCE gave our students a chance to step away from normal life, have a ton of fun together, and hear again and again from Luke 15 that they are seen, loved and sought after by Jesus,” said Chris Kelly (Linwood Covenant). “Watching our students worship, open their Bibles and respond to the gospel reminded me why experiences like this matter so much.”
“MUUUCE was an opportunity for our students to live out their faith in community,” said Davey Neubauer (Lakeview Covenant). “When two of our students made commitments to follow Jesus, our little community gathered together, encouraged and prayed over those students. A beautiful picture of the Church in action.”
MUUUCE was also generous. Our students and leaders gave $1,261 in an offering for Adventurous Christians, one of our camps that’s been hit hard by the fires burning through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area this summer.
It takes a huge team to make MUUUCE happen
Jessie Nelson and the team from Crossroads Covenant Church were incredible hosts from start to finish; their volunteers welcomed us, fed us, watched over us and cleaned up after us all weekend long. The Crossroads Youth Worship band led us in worship in a way that middle schoolers connected with. New Life Academy opened their gyms, so 27 of our groups had an air-conditioned gym to sleep in (the others slept at Crossroads).
Sarah St. Louis created two sensory spaces where students could step away from the noise and activity to regulate. Well over 60 students used them over the weekend, as part of our ongoing commitment to ensure every student who wants to come to MUUUCE can come to MUUUCE.
Many volunteers from various Covenant churches gave up their weekend to make MUUUCE happen, some staying up into the wee hours running security shifts, others watching over students in the sensory rooms. We are grateful for the sacrifice they made to serve our kids.
Between Valleyfair, the silent disco, movie night on the patio and impressively humongous inflatables, there was no shortage of fun. Tony Ducklow and his team from Summerfest did a fantastic job of putting together a weekend curated for middle schoolers. North Park University was once again a generous sponsor of this year’s MUUUCE T-shirts.
Forty years in, MUUUCE is still doing what Tony Deach and John Skelly set out to do at the beginning: give kids a weekend where a caring adult shows up for them and lays the groundwork for a Savior who loves them even more. Thank you to every leader, volunteer and church that said yes to bringing their students this year. May what started this weekend keep growing in those 519 kids for years to come, just as it has for 40 years.
