Getting Ready for 9000 Winter Retreaters
This weekend kicks off our Winter Teen Retreat season at our Michigan camp. We are expecting over 9000 students and their leaders over 12 weekends. This means there’s a lot of work to do to before we welcome them to SpringHill on Friday night.
Each year during the week before the season begins we have an all staff work day to help prepare camp. We have teams building sets, cleaning cabins and buildings, prepping activity areas, creating a prayer labyrinth and a host of other essential work. It’s a great chance for staff members who normally don’t work directly with our campers and guests to be involved in our second biggest season of the year. It helps all of us feel a part of these weekends.
One of the coolest things we do on this day is pray for every one of the 300 or so churches who will attend this winter along with the speakers and bands who will be part of each weekend. It’s important to us that the entire season, including each weekend be covered in pray. We pray for safety, for community building within groups and especially that the life of each student and leader be transformed through hearing, seeing and experience Christ.
So, as you think of Winter Teen Retreats over the next few months, please join us in praying for these students, their leaders and churches that their SpringHill Experience will be all God intends it to be.
“It’s Not a Camp it’s a Life Changing Experience”
Indiana TSTer’s welcoming campers to SpringHill
“It’s not camp it’s a life changing experience.”
These are the words of Tori Nishida, mother of Joel, one of our TST campers this past summer. Bill Dinsmore (our VP and Director of our Indiana overnight camp), his wife Jo Ann, Hank and Tori Nishida and I had dinner together this week in Indianapolis. It was encouraging to hear Hank and Tori tell us about Joel Nishida’s SpringHill experience.Here are some of the other comments the Nishida’s shared with us about the impact Christ made on Joel’s life while at SpringHill:
“He came back and realized it’s not about him but about others.’
“He loves contact sports like Lacrosse yet this experience tenderized his heart”
“Built real community where the kids he served with are still staying in touch and encouraging each other.”
“He received a Styrofoam cup as part of his character award – the ‘Peter Award’ for being rock solid. He still has it displayed in his room. The words his counselor said about and to him were so affirming and impactful. It’s a reminder of how powerful words are.”
I love hearing summer camp stories especially when it’s winter outside and summer camp seems far off. It reminds me of how impactful an encounter with Jesus Christ is for a young person and how blessed we are at SpringHill to be a part of such encounters.
By the way, the first quote, it pretty much sums up the SpringHill mission and Tori could articulate it, not because she memorized it, but because she has seen the reality of it in her son’s life.
Photos of SpringHill after the Blizzard
I walked to my office today, as I do whenever I can, and was able to see the chilling beauty of our Michigan camp property after a winter storm. For those of you who normally experience SpringHill in the summer here are some photos of what camp looks like in the winter.
New Frontier’s ropes course in -10° F wind chill
New Frontier’s amphitheater in hibernation.
Founder’s House – a cozy place for a cold winter day.
SpringHill Barn and Site area.
Copper Country Entrance
Copper Country craft house closed for the season.
Little different from Summer Camp Opening Days
Our Site staff had camp up with power when our office staff arrived today.
Olson Auditorium just a few weeks away from 1000’s of campers attending Winter Retreats
The New Frontier’s climbing wall, it isn’t
Mount Everest but it would still be a cold climb.
Sounds of the Season
Summer time brings the sounds of SpringHill Camps to the porch of our home where I can sit and listen to camp fire songs, kids racing down the zipline and the weekly crud war.
Winter brings a whole new set of SpringHill sounds to our home. Though I don’t sit on the deck during these winter months I do love to be outside taking a walk, going for a run or just standing for a few minutes in the evening looking at the stars.
During these winter moments I hear the SpringHill sound of the season – the hum of snow making equipment covering the tubing/snowboarding hill with snow. This happens nearly 24/7 until our hill has the right base.
Then in January the humming sound’s replaced with the laughter and screams of kids racing down the hill. We expect at least 10,000 people will tube or snow board on the SpringHIll snow hill this winter including most of the over 9000 campers and their leaders attending one of our 12 Winter Retreats.
As I listened to those snow makers on my early morning run today I began to think of the snow maker hum as the prelude to an even greater sound – 1000’s of kids experiencing SpringHill this winter and more importantly experiencing Jesus Christ in a life changing way.
Faith of a Fourth Grader
“I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.” –CS Lewis from his book The Silver Chair
I love pre-teen kids especially just before they become teenagers. They are at a place emotionally and intellectually where they have begun to grasp the world around them. They authentically and spontaneously express and live their faith. In most cases they have not lived long enough to become cynical and trust comes naturally to them. These are the kids that the person who coined the term “child like faith” must have seen in their mind’s eye.
Over the fall we provide retreats at both of our overnight camps, called Juniors, designed specifically for this age group of kids – 4th, 5th and 6th graders. I love being around our Juniors Retreats because it allows me to be around these kids. They dance and sing with great passion in the large group sessions, they will ask stumping questions of their leaders in their small groups and they will attempt every activity we offer at camp.
In 36 hours they will worship, play and socialize until they’ve run through all their energy. Their leaders on the other hand seem to run out of natural energy long before the 36 hours are up. We know this based on the higher than normal coffee consumption and caffeinated drink sales at the Trading Post. But it’s the child like qualities – energy, trust, passion and faith that these kids possess that draw folks like these leaders, our staff and me to work and minister to and with them.
Every time I’m a part of one of these weekends, as I was a week ago and again this weekend, I leave inspired in my walk with Christ and wanting to live my life with the same faith and gusto as these kids do.