Camps diligently spend months programming what happens during the five days the campers are with them, knowing the moment those campers leave, their ability to disciple or even connect is minimal, at best. Dozens of camps publish the number of first-time decisions, but very few publish (or even know) where those campers are months later. So what do you do when you have thousands of campers at your camp, but minimal continued connection with them, or their churches, when they are not there?
An amazing amount of life gets lived out in a week of camp. Campers sit in cabins each night talking through what they heard and saw that day. They find themselves in an environment where they feel free to ask tough questions. Campers are often able to share their deepest concerns and fears with a caring counselor. Deep issues are revealed, progress is made in their lives and some come to faith in Jesus. This camp experience, for many a mountaintop experience, is duplicated many times all across our country and world. God has seen fit to bless, using the camp experience to transform lives.
But what happens after camp? Summer camp ministry can be compared to your church sponsoring a massive “Get to Know the Neighborhood Campaign,” and then moving the church to another town the next week. Some camps attempt to help the problem with variations of a follow-up card sent to churches. This is well-intentioned, but not effective for continuing those relationships.
Four years ago Camp Tadmor began a major philosophical paradigm shift. Driving this shift was the question, how do we best serve our churches? We concluded that churches (youth and youth workers) would be best served by keeping their organic relationship intact. Campers involved with their own youth workers—what a novel concept! Mountaintop experiences would now be shared with a counselor who could be involved the other 51 weeks of the year.
Starting from zero in 2002, we turned a significant corner this summer, having 28.5% of our 2005 campers come with, and most importantly go home with, a counselor from their church. Instead of hearing counselors make hopeful promises of “I’ll e-mail you” or “I’ll see you next summer,” we see campers ride away with their camp counselors. Hopeful promises are now definite realities. “See you later,” means “See you tomorrow.”
The paradigm shift was a simple concept, but in reality it meant changing much more than we had anticipated. For starters, having fresh counselors each week who know their kids but have no knowledge of camp is dramatically different from having counselors who have no idea who the campers are, but understand camp and the schedule like the back of their hands. We had to change the meetings, rethink every schedule, fine-tune explanations and reposition staff. Little did we know that the move from sending your kids to bringing your kids would cause such a complete change.
From a parental perspective, the shift was easy—entrusting your son or daughter to a person you know from your church family was embraceable. From a church perspective, some responded with an “it’s about time” attitude while others were more wary. Walking into churches and explaining the shift from using Tadmor’s trained counselors to using their own youth workers, even parents, seemed daunting.
For the youth worker/parent who has never counseled, the fear of giving a week’s time to such an endeavor can seem insurmountable. But each summer brave souls have done just that—using vacation time to invest relationally in the youth of their church. The most amazing fact is that an overwhelming majority of those who take vacation time to run around in the woods for a week with students end up returning the next year.
The benefits of the shift are easy to see. Instead of youth pastors spending months planning their own camp down to the last detail and wearing themselves out making sure everything runs smoothly, they spend time talking with their kids and staff, maximizing the dramatic gift of extended time. The details are handled by the Tadmor staff who plan and prepare everything. What’s left is all relational. One week becomes the setup for the other 51. Perhaps that is overstating it, but we see churches using this paradigm shift very strategically.
The journey is far from over, but the goal is clear: Churches have a ministry that exists 52 weeks out of the year, and Camp Tadmor must do our best to serve churches dynamically for the one week, knowing that the bulk of the effort lies with the other 51.
