The Hands and Feet of Camp
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been at camp so long or simply that I’m getting older, but I’m frequently surprised by how quickly time passes. It seems like just a week ago that we were wrapping up our last fall retreat at Echo Ranch Haines, and now it’s practically Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving though, so you won’t hear me complain; great food, time with family and friends, and opportunity to reflect on what God has done are all part of what makes Thanksgiving the most special part of November to me.
For the Echo Ranch staff, November also marks another exciting time that goes hand in hand with thankfulness: the opening of our summer staff application period. Every year, and this year especially, we have been overwhelmed and thankful for the team of 40 to 50 young adults God has sent us to help make summer camp happen. As a ministry, recruitment is one of our biggest faith-builders. If at least a few dozen young adults don’t sign up to come and serve as counselors, kitchen help, wranglers, or facilities crew, we can’t run summer camp, and ministry ceases to happen. Our summer staff are the hands and feet of our team that make Echo Ranch run in the summer months.
But as a ministry, we don’t simply see our summer staff as workhorses, the bodies needed to make camp function. We full-time Echo Ranch staff prize the opportunity that we have to teach, love, and disciple our summer staff as they serve at camp, and just about every one of them go home in August awed by how much spiritual growth they experienced in just a few months. We also aim to help prepare these faithful young people to step into ongoing ministry when they leave camp, whether that means coming back for another summer in southeast Alaska, serving in their local church or campus ministry, or stepping out to go overseas on a foreign mission field.
Speaking from personal experience, the summers that I spent at camp as a junior counselor and counselor were instrumental in shaping me into who I am today and making my faith my own. Being in the metaphorical trenches of spiritual warfare week after week, answering questions from campers, and enjoying conversations about ministry, faith, and theology with fellow summer staff were all invaluable experiences that prepared me to step into the full-time ministry I am in today.
So, as we all step into the whirlwind holiday season – when, amidst all the busyness and festivities, so many young adults are already starting to make plans for next summer – will you join our staff in praying for the team of summer staff that God will raise up to join us next summer? We don’t know who most of them are yet, but God does! Additionally, will you think about a young person you may know who loves Jesus and may be interested in spending their summer as part of a fantastic, fun, faith-building ministry? Coming to serve at Echo Ranch may be the greatest opportunity of his or her life. One thing I can guarantee: they will come home with a greater understanding of who they are, who God is, and how those two things overlap.