Summer Staff – Giving on Top of Giving
Can you imagine a person who’s willing to work almost all their waking hours 6 out of every 7 days for less than a couple hundred dollars a week plus room and board? Now take it another step and picture 700 people making this kind of commitment.Go one final step and imagine that these 700 individuals believe so much in their work that they’ll give some of their pay back so that others can benefit from the jobs they do.
If you’ve created this mental picture then what you’re looking at is the SpringHill summer staff team.
Our summer staff, like camp staff all over the world, work incredibly hard for very little money. But what makes our team unique is this – they’ve also given over $14,000 out of their paychecks so that kids from economically challenged situations can attend SpringHill.
Think about it, people who are going to college, starting careers and working for very little keep giving on top of giving by contributing over $14,000 to further help those they’ve already committed to serving.
So what’s the secret to having a team that’ll keep giving on top of giving? It’s a simple combination.
First it starts with great people (and our summer staff are great people).
Second it requires an organization that’s mission and values aligns with and inspires its staff.
Finally leadership’s needed that creates a vision of the impact giving can make in the life of another person.
Combine these three factors and you have a team, like our summer staff team, who’ll keep giving on top of giving resulting in transformed lives – both the campers and their own.
By the way if you’d like to join our staff in helping kids attend SpringHill click here. Thanks!
Ga-ga Ball and There’s Nothing New Under the Sun
Not Lady Gaga but Ga-ga Ball. It’s actually a dodge ball type game that’s caught fire at every SpringHill location this summer rivaling our traditional six square games for popularity among our campers and staff.Now as with many of the things we do at SpringHill we can’t take credit for inventing Ga-ga Ball. It’s actually been popular in many places in the world for a number of decades (it’s believed to started in the Australian Jewish community in the 1960’s). But as we do with any good idea we stumble upon we’ll copy it and if necessary adapted it so it fits the SpringHill Experience.
So the question’s what did we see in Ga-ga Ball that indicated it would fit well into a SpringHill Experience?
First, it allows a large number of people to participate at one time creating shared experiences among our small/cabin groups.
Second, it’s fun, high energy and exciting either playing or watching.
Third, just about anyone can play with no requirements for needing super athlete skills.
Finally it’s a safe and controlled game where injury is unlikely.
All of which add up to the kind of activity we love to include in a SpringHill Experience.
So as you can see we take seriously the words of Ecclesiastes that “there’s nothing new under the sun” knowing that there’s no new ideas just great copies and improvements of old ones such as Ga-ga Ball.
“Mom, Four More Sleeps?”
“Mom, four more sleeps?” asked a Storybrook camper when being picked up by his mom after completing our Junior Explorer program. (Storybrook’s our early elementary overnight camp in Michigan)His mom answered “no, not four more sleeps.”
“Three more sleeps?” he asked.
“No, not three more sleeps” mom answered once again.
“Two more sleeps?” this persistent camper asked.
“No, not two more sleeps.”
“Mom, one more sleep?” he asked seeing hope slip away that he could extend his stay at SpringHill one more sleep (night).
“No, your stay at camp is over and it’s time to come home” was all the mom could say.
In one final plea this young camper said “but I want to stay, can’t I stay?”
And to that mom answered “I know you want to stay but I want and need you at home with me.”
Sometimes going away to camp’s harder for mom and dad than it’s for the camper. Why? Because we love our kids and so it’s hard to let them go, even for just a few nights. But in truth our kids grow (and we as parents sometimes grow) when we allow them the opportunity to experience new places, do new things and meet new people in a positive, encouraging environment such as camp. So occasionally love compels us to send our kids off even if it’s just for a few nights.
Now in this camper’s case I have a good sense that he’ll be back at SpringHill next summer and it’ll be for a few more “sleeps” than this year.
Thanks to Amanda Thompson and her Storybrook staff for creating such an outstanding experience for all these young campers and for blessing us with this story.
“This Week was Different…”
I love SpringHill closing days and in particular our “closing rally”. It’s fun, inspirational and downright moving to hear the testimonies of campers who share their SpringHill Experience with the other campers, staff and camper families attending the rally.It takes courage to share your story in front of 100’s and sometime’s 1000’s of people. But when campers do everyone’s blessed.
This past Friday was closing day week 1 of our Indiana overnight camp. It was a perfect day with incredible weather to celebrate what God’s done in the lives of campers.
I stood at the back of our amphitheater taking in all the sights and sounds of the rally as the InPursuit campers (our Indiana middle school camp) came on stage. One of our InPursuit Area Directors stepped forward with a female camper and asked her…
“Can you tell us about your week at SpringHill?”
The camper replied “I love SpringHill so much I’ve been here 14 times. But this week was different, I sensed God’s presence in a way I never have before. As a result I’ve made a decision to really focus on my relationship with Christ like I’ve never done before.”
Wow! After 9 months of hard work preparing SpringHill for the arrival of campers, hearing these words was a gift greater than any paycheck, perk or benefit our staff could ever desire or receive.
But more importantly I just happen to be standing by this camper’s mom and, as you might expect, it was obvious that this camper’s words blessed her mom more deeply and more profoundly than she’ll ever know.
Watching this mom listen to her daughter was a gift I graciously accepted and it left me more thankful than ever for the privilege we have to do what we do on behalf of kids, families and Christ.
“Because You Were There”
The daily "Counselor Splash Off" at SpringHill/River Oaks Day Camp A young camper, whose mom abandoned her at age five, made her way to the top of the climbing wall. Her counselor encouraged, reassured and cheered as she worked towards and then grabbed the top of the wall.
When this young girl made it back down to the ground she said to her counselor “thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me, you’re the one who made it to the top?” her counselor answered.
“Because you were there!” she said.
“Because you were there.” Think about the significance of “being there” for this young girl whose mom abandoned her, whose life lost the consistent presence of a loving, nurturing adult, who lost that person who could and should have been there to encourage and celebrate with her as she tackled and conquered life’s mountains.
Thankfully the people of Liberty Bible Church provided the needed scholarship so this young girl could attend the SpringHill/Liberty Bible Day Camp. But more importantly the people of Liberty are providing an adult mentor for this young girl through the Kid’s Hope program, someone who will “be there” on a regular basis and help assure that the SpringHill climbing wall isn’t the only successful climb she experiences in her life.The SpringHill/Liberty Bible Church relationship’s the kind of partnership that I spoke about in my last post; it’s the kind that God uses to make a long-term impact on the lives of young people.By the way if you’d like to “be there” for other kids, like this young camper, by helping them attend a SpringHill Experience this summer please click on Kids Need Camp. You may become part of changing the course of a young person’s life that’s both life-giving and eternal.
From a Place to an Experience
This past week Todd Leinberger, great friend and our VP for our Michigan overnight night camp (soon to be VP of the Great Lakes Region) stopped me in the New Frontiers Dining Hall and said to me…“Isn’t it amazing that this week we’ll have 1000 summer campers in a SpringHill Experience and none of them will be here at our Michigan camp” (because of school calendars our Michigan camp starts a week later).
Yes it’s amazing because it wasn’t that long ago that SpringHill was just one place in Evart, Michigan.
In my first summer at SpringHill, 1998, we had about 500 – 600 kids per week and they were all at our Michigan camp – our only SpringHill camp.
Today, the summer of 2011, SpringHill will create life changing experiences for nearly 2000 kids per week in 6 locations around the Midwest. It’s an incredible change (and quite the ride) in a relatively short period of time.
But understand the change hasn’t been just about the numbers and the locations it’s been about the change in the perspective we bring to our work. Today we don’t see SpringHill as a place, though places are very important to our work, we see SpringHill as an experience.
But SpringHill’s even more than just an experience – SpringHill’s a talented and committed team of people creating these experiences that Christ uses to transform young lives.
It’s who God’s called us to be and what God’s called us to do. So we’ll continue to build into a great team of people who’ll keep creating SpringHill Experiences where ever and whenever there are kids to reach and there’s an opportunity to serve.
Lessons from a Farmer
I have one of those jobs that on any given day I find myself involved with really cool and engaging activities and people. And today was one of those days. I spent the afternoon with three of our staff on the Winkel Dairy Farm in Vogel Center, Michigan shooting video.We’re producing a video of farming illustrations we’ll use in our weekly summer staff worship and small group time. Our summer staff theme’s “100 Fold” based on Mark 4:20 which says “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
So it was natural to go to a farmer and talk about yield. We asked Jim Winkel, a friend of mine, if he’d provide us some farming analogies that align with each of our 10 themes. Jim ended up graciously giving us over 3 hours of his precious time as we shot video of him providing agricultural insights on different locations of his family’s dairy farm.
The afternoon was a blast.
First because Jim and our Michigan Events Manger Eric Woods did a great job in front of the camera and our video team of Jason Bultema and John Costakis did a great job behind the camera.Second it was a beautiful day to be outside.
Third, I’ve never been on a large dairy farm and I learned a lot (we all need to be thankful for the dedicated people who’ve committed their lives to feeding the world).
Finally, it allowed me to be a part of creating a curriculum that we pray will help our staff serve well this summer and more importantly grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
So I was with great people outside in God’s creation learning new things and doing important work – yes it was a great afternoon.
Cascading Community
I love SpringHill in May because our summer staff begin arriving in cascading waves for training. One of the most important lessons they’ll learns the importance of small communities in creating SpringHill Experiences.Small communities, such as families, are powerful places for life transformation. They’re transformational because they’re relational. And it’s within the context of relationships that the important stuff that God uses to transform people takes place.
We build SpringHill summer camps on this reality. We begin with hiring people that can both thrive and create transformational communities. Then we follow with training that shows staff how to create small communities in a SpringHill way.
For the training to stick we don’t just tell our staff how to create transformational communities we also have them experience it by doing our training within small communities. Our staff learn it by living it for the weeks they’re in training.
To accomplish training in this way requires an enormous amount of coordination, investment in leadership development, trust, and empowerment.
So we start with our summer professional (resident) staff. They’re trained in small communities with the goal of having an integral part in the training of the next staff (summer leadership) to arrive. Summer leadership staff then’s trained to be involved in training the final wave of arriving staff.
This cascading of training in small communities allows us to multiple our trainers which then allows us to multiple our small communities as each new wave of staff arrive. In this way all our staff not only hear but also experience being a part of and leading a small community.So when the 1000’s of campers arrive this summer our staff’s prepared to create 100’s more small communities where young people can know and grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ and thus be transformed.
Ultimate Frisbee
You know summer camps’ approaching at SpringHill when almost every free hour our summer staff plays Ultimate Frisbee. It’s a SpringHill tradition we hold as a sacred part of our summer staff’s experience.Last night our Indiana summer leadership staff met at Carey Edgren, our Indiana Camp Director, and his wife Kate’s home for desert and some team building. Right across the road from their house’s a sports field that had Ultimate Frisbee written all over it.
So before you know it there’s a serious game being played. Because I wasn’t drafted by either team I nominated myself as the game photographer (click here to see more photos).
I love the game because it’s both competitive and fun. But I love it more because it’s a game that all staff can be involved with, either as a fan or a player, and it’s a small component in building a strong staff team. There’s something about playing together that cements relationships, builds memories and creates shared experiences. Each of which is essential in building a team that’s focused on fulfilling together a shared mission.
We finished the evening which desert and each of our staff sharing how they came to SpringHill for the summer – again all a part of our goal of building a strong team. What was cool was each story reflected the variety of ways God guides and directs individuals to the places He’s planned for them. Hearing each other’s stories provided our staff with more confidence that God would use them this summer in a great way.For me, it was inspiring to hear each story and to get to know each person a bit better. It also helped to continue to build the excitement for Day 1 of camp when this team will have the opportunity to take all they’ve learned and built together and serve 1000’s of kids by creating SpringHill Experiences that will allow campers know and grow in their relationships with Christ.
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.
