Working Together on Behalf of Young People
GCC Counselor & SpringHill Staff encouraging a camper on the solo challenge Three hundred junior high students and their leaders from Granger Community Church (GCC) are in the middle of their annual summer experience here at our Michigan overnight camp.
It’s a key part of GCC’s junior high ministry, something they’ve done for years. But it’s the first time SpringHill’s had the privilege of hosting their camp and we’re excited and thankful for the opportunity.
Over the last few years GCC and SpringHill have developed a ministry partnership that has as its goal to help young people know and grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ. Our partnership includes GCC hosting two weeks of SpringHill Day Camps and SpringHill hosting their junior high summer camp.
Church partnerships like GCC’s are the cornerstone of SpringHill’s work. SpringHill exists to create life changing experiences for young people, yet not in isolation, but instead doing it in context of the wider Kingdom of Christ.
On the other hand the local church’s mission’s to be involved in a young person’s life on a daily and weekly basis. God’s ordained the local church to be the place where the ongoing nurture of God’s people takes place. So we see SpringHill’s responsibility as coming along side the local church and helping it fulfill this mission by creating these experiences.
Thus relationships such as the one between SpringHill and GCC are absolutely critical to the spiritual development of young people. Because when the local church and ministries such as SpringHill integrate their efforts to serve young people the results are long-term, memorable, eternal and ultimately life transforming.
Be Prepared!
As a Boy Scout the motto Be Prepare was drilled into my psyche. It became a part of who I am and there’s not a thing I can do about, not that I really want to.When I pack for a trip I tend to over pack. Why? There’s this still small be prepared voice in my head that’s saying “you might need that.”
On my annual Canadian fishing trips I carry a “survival kit” when I go back into the bush. Why? It’s that be prepared voice asking me “what if you get lost or someone gets hurt or you just can’t get back and have to spend the night out there?”
And each time I hear that voice I respond, as any good Boy Scout would do, by saying “on my honor I will do my best to do my duty… to be prepared for anything that might happen.”
It’s the same voice that has pushed SpringHill day by day, week by week and year by year to continually be prepared by improving our emergency planning and safety efforts. Emergency Preparedness Plans (EPP’s), Safety Councils, near miss reports, etc. aren’t the sexiest, most exciting parts of camp but they, accompanied by a well prepared and committed staff, are absolutely essential to providing an outstanding SpringHill Experience.
You see we consider the care of a child the highest trust given to us by any parent and caregiver. It’s our commitment to provide children with a physically, emotional and spiritually safe camp experience.
And, like my obsessive packing, we can do nothing less than live up to this trust and listen to that still small voice that tells us to always be prepared.
Sometimes the Questions are More Telling than the Answers
“Which SpringHill camp’s your favorite?” asked of one of our mischievous Indiana overnight summer staffers.The question was part of an informal Q&A I’m having with each of our summer staff teams. The goal’s to get to know them better and for them to get to know both me and SpringHill better. It’s the first time I’ve done this in training and my first session was with our Indiana staff.
It’s amazing what you can learn about people by the questions they ask – and the questions they don’t ask. Questions reflect the circumstances people are in, their values, their perspectives and their observations. Questions are revealing, sometimes more so than the answers.
In addition to the question above here are some of the other questions that came my way. See what they tell you about our Indiana summer staff team:
“How did you come to SpringHill?”
“Did you feel called to SpringHill and how did you know?”
“What’s the vision for SpringHill?”
“How do you feel about the fact that people stop going to church after graduating from high school? What can SpringHill do about it?”
“How can I combine my business degree with my interest in overseas missions?”
“How do I know I’m called to a particular work or field?”
The most personal question of the night was…
“How did you propose to your wife?” My answer spurred on a whole litany of follow-up questions.
And finally the most challenging question was…
“Will you do ‘Brown Squirrel’ for us?” This was the hardest question because it took the most courage for me to answer. If you know the camp song “Brown Squirrel” and its accompanying motions you understand my trepidation in answering yes.
And of course I did answer “yes” and concluded our evening together, with the help of Carey Edgren, performing a little song and dance.
Telling Fish Stories
Fishermen (and fisherwomen) love to tell stories. And this group of SpringHill fishermen isn’t any different. Within 24 hours of our first annual spring fishing trip to our SpringHill Indiana overnight camp we’ve already heard lots of them.
Our group’s made up mostly of guys who attend our annual fall Canadian fishing trip. On our last trip we decided we needed to do a spring one as well. Ironically all these guys (and their families) have been great supporters of SpringHill for years but have never had the opportunity to see SpringHill Indiana.
So we’ve “killed two birds with one stone.” We created a chance to do a spring fishing trip and an opportunity to show off SpringHill Indiana to a group of people who have been instrumental in growth and effectiveness of SpringHill overall.
It’s been a blast and there have been lots of fish stories. But the truth is the best story that’s been told is the story about the history of SpringHill Indiana and God’s gracious hand in its founding, development and impact it has had on the lives of 1000’s of kids each year. The best fish stories just can’t compare.
Check out some of photo’s by clicking here
The Jesus Tree
Every camp has its sacred places. Spots considered holy ground because they’re the places over years and years where people have made life changing decisions.
These decisions usually start with significant conversations between camp staff and campers, between campers and other campers and most often between a camper and the God of the universe. As a result, over time, there’s an expectation that something significant will happen when someone’s sitting in one of these places.
At our two overnight camps there are a number of these pieces of holy ground. One spot at our Michigan overnight camp has become known as the “Jesus Tree”. It’s a beautiful old crab apple tree surrounded by stone seats located between the entrance of the Olson Auditorium and the New Frontier’s Dining Hall.
Over the years it’s been a place where a camp counselor and his/her campers have sat before or after a meal to discuss the spiritual theme of the day. Through these conversations many campers have made significant spiritual decisions. Thus this crab apple tree became known as “the Jesus tree.”
When we began the construction of Olson Auditorium one former staffer pulled me aside to ask for my assurance that we wouldn’t cut down “the Jesus tree” in the process. It was a request rooted in the knowledge that places can be sacred and thus needs saving even from the “progress of ministry.”
I agreed and so our construction team protected “the Jesus tree” during the entire building process though it sits in a less than ideal spot in our landscape plan.
And the Jesus tree still stands today on the edge of full bloom in anticipation of another summer of campers making life changing decisions and having transforming encounters with Jesus while sitting in the cool of its shade and in the midst of the aroma of its fruit.
Why Kids Need Camp!
Do you know that the average elementary age child spends 1680 minutes per week in front of a television? That’s 28 hours.
Or that the average child –
Plays 1880 minutes or 30 hours of video games per week?
And spends another 623 minutes (over 10 hours) a week on a computer?
That’s a total of 68 hours sitting inside in front of a screen. Even if this number’s exaggerated by 2x that would still mean that the average child spends 34 hours a week inside interacting with technology.
In contrast research tells us that the average child spends –
- 30 minutes a week playing outside
- 3.5 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with their parents
- And less than an hour in a church, youth group or youth ministry gathering
- Which means kids spend just over an hour a week in meaningful engagements with people and places that can positively shape and influence their lives?
34 hours compared to 1.25 hours. Think about the implications of that for a moment.
Kids need much more than screen time to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually
- Kids need to interact with God’s creation by being outside
- They need to be nurtured within their family – God created the family for just this purpose.
- Finally kids need to be a part of a faith community such as a local church or other ministry
Yet these vital interactions are being squeezed out by technology. Not by war, famine or economic collapse but by a little screen.
Here’s another reality – all those negative trends about kids can be reversed by a week at a Christian camp (such as SpringHill Camps) where the average camper spends
- 36 hours outside per week doing incredibly fun, exciting and growing activities
- 300 minutes in a meaningful conversation with a staff person (that’s nearly two year’s worth of meaningful conversation with a parent)
- 10 to 12 hours a week in individual Bible study and small and large group settings learning about God and His plan for their lives.
So if you want to make a difference in the life of a young person give them the opportunity to attend summer camp. It may just change their life forever. (Click here to find out how you can help as well as share this post with others)
When I’m Mr. Denise Perry
There are two weekends a year when I’m clearly Mr. Denise Perry. It’s SpringHill’s spring and fall Women’s Retreats.Denise along with Sarah Soderdahl are SpringHill’s Women’s Retreat’s coordinators.
And this past weekend was our spring event. So I spent the past week working for and serving Denise (and Sarah).
I gave a tour of camp on a freezing cold and wind sweep Friday evening to 25 women packed into a tour tram. I did this not because I’m the best tour guide but because I was the only one available (I think everyone else smartly checked the weather before checking their calendars) and there was no way I could say no to my supervisor so I cleared my Friday evening calendar for her.
Then I did two breakout sessions to over 100 women on Saturday. I always ask the women to be gracious in their evaluations of my session because Denise will be reading all the feedback. Thankfully they always grant my request and as a result Denise’s pleased with my performance.
In addition to the tours and breakout sessions I helped move a keyboard, delivered rain gear to camp, helped with formatting PowerPoint presentations, found tables for other breakout presenters, called for an elevator key, turned in a purse to lost and found, got a projector and computer working, consulted on a number of personnel and operational issues and did my best to keep things at home in some semblance of order.
In other words I’m at Denise’s beck and call. And I love it. And I love these weekends. I’m proud of what Denise and Sarah do in putting these weekends together and I love what God does in the lives of so many women. So it’s a privilege to be Mr. Denise Perry. And I’m already looking forward to our next Women’s Retreat so I can be him again.
On Being Lost
“Psychologists have observed that one of the most basic human needs, beginning at birth, is to be gazed upon by another.” Therefore, “part of the terror of being lost stems from the idea of never being seen again” from Laurence Gonzales’ Deep Survival – Who Lives, Who Dies and Why.
If you’ve ever been lost you know the truth of this statement.
As I’ve thought about this statement I’ve been struck by the very real relationship between being lost geographically and being lost spiritually.
No wonder the Biblical writers, pastors and theologians talk of being separated from God as being lost.
And there are few things worse than being lost. Because ultimately being lost means we are no longer “seen” thus no longer known. And this is an even more frightening thought when we think of it in spiritual terms.
Now the truth is we’ve all been lost, and to some degree, we are probably all a bit lost now in some part of our lives which is why we understand this deep need to be “gazed upon” by God.
So as I reflected on the meaning of “being lost” I’ve been personally convicted that I need to continue helping those who are lost and who desperately want to be “seen again” and be “gazed upon” by their Creator.
I’ve also become more convinced than ever of the importance of ministries like SpringHill that exist to help lost people become “seen again” by the One whose gaze changes everything. There is no greater gift to give or receive.
Praying to Thrive!
“God this is yours…. Let me not be consumed by the physical expectations of the world, but by the path you have set for my life.” The prayer of a winter teen retreat student left on our Thrive tree.
Over the years the SpringHill team has worked to create a life transforming winter retreat experiences that’s attended by 1000’s of teenage students each season…
We have a tubing and snowboarding hill, indoor pool, horses as well as great bands and speakers. But one part of the experience many students continue to say is most impactful is our prayer labyrinth.
In the prayer labyrinth students spend time in a series of rooms or “stations” where they’re asked to reflect on Scripture while in the presence of a visual display that reflects a particular focus under the umbrella of our retreat theme “Thrive”.
Each focus revolves around questions about who we are, who is God, what should our relationship with others look like and what should our relationship with Christ need to be like? Our goal is that these reflections will help each student live a life that is growing and thriving.
The last station allows students to write out a prayer about something that is hindering them from thriving and hang it on the “thrive” tree. By the end of the weekend the tree is full of multi color tags with 100’s of prayers.
The tree is a powerful symbol of 1000’s of teenagers reaching out to Christ with their challenges, hopes and dreams.
Then at the end of the weekend our team collects the prayers and sets them out in our office allowing our staff the privilege of praying for and with all these students throughout the week.
It is a humbling experience but one I’m thankful we’ve been entrusted with.
So, if you would, please take a moment and pray for a teenager you know, asking Christ to remove anything that maybe getting in the way of them having a thriving life. The “thrive” tree is full and the opportunity is great.
A Superb SpringHill Weekend
This past weekend was our first Junior High Winter Retreat of the season. We had nearly 1000 students and their leaders from 39 different churches attend.
Junior High weekends definitely have a different feel compared to our Senior High weekends. For one thing there is much more energy and motion. These students bring along an enthusiasm for the weekend that seems to fill camp.
To add to the natural energy of this particular weekend we had RO Smith as our speaker. RO is a former SpringHill program director and one of the early architects of the current version of our Winter Retreat program. He and his wife Mindy (who was with him) currently serve as the Co-Directors of Youth Discipleship at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.
RO is a high energy, animated and humorous speaker who connects well with teenagers resulting in an even more exciting Junior High weekend.
He is also committed to communicating God’s truth, as presented in the Scriptures, in a way that junior highers can relate to and grasp. This makes for a very powerful weekend of ministry.
One other benefit to having RO and Mindy at SpringHill is that we typically have a mini reunion with other past staff coming back to spend time with the Smith’s. So on top of great ministry we can connect with old friends.
So it’s the perfect combination for a superb weekend – junior highers at SpringHill, great ministry and spending time with close friends. What else can a guy ask for on a winter weekend?
