Where Friendship and Work Come Together to Make a Difference!

There is a group of people who are instrumental in making summer camp happen at SpringHill.  These people come as volunteers to serve our campers and staff  by washing dishes, serving food, cleaning bathrooms, landscaping and being trained as future staff.  They are our TST campers.

If you don’t know TST stands for Teen Service Teams and it is one of our most popular summer programs. It’s designed for high school students and has three unique components – service, community and spiritual growth.  Each component creates one of the most unusual summer camp programs you will find. It is also truly life changing.

Yesterday I talked to a number of TST teams I bumped into on my walks around our Michigan overnight camp.  I asked each team a couple of questions.  Let me share some of the answers with you.  They will provide a glimpse into who these students are and why they become TSTer’s.

When I asked TSTer’s how many times they have been to SpringHill the answers ranged from “this is my first time” to “this is my eighth summer” and everything in between with most students having been to SpringHill multiple times.

These students are from all over the world including China, Columbus, OH, Midland MI, Birmingham, MI, Indianapolis, IN, and Rochester Hills, MI.

When I asked what they like about TST their answers included “everything”, “my crew”, “the people we get to work with”, “being with friends”, “the staff”, “the work”.

TST is truly one of our more amazing ministries.  A program where students literally come from all over the world, year after year to do the lowliest jobs at SpringHill. They do it because they love the people they serve with and because they become a part of a team that makes a signficant difference in the lives of others – the campers of SpringHill.