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  • 03 Oct 2018 7:56 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Are we really sustaining our pathways?

    A reflection on the 2018 Sustainable Pathways event


    Every year camping professionals gather to discuss important topics in sustaining our ministries. Some years those topics include marketing, finance, or development. This year, those important topics were a little more hard-hitting. With guest speakers Shane Totten, Kate Mosley, and Niambi Jaha-Echols, 2018 Sustainable Pathways participants explored what it means to really care for God’s Creation and how to build our own inclusive ‘Camptopia’.


    We started our day with traveling to the beautiful Calvin Center in Hampton, Georgia. Sessions kicked off with the topic of Creation Care and what it means to be good stewards of our resources. We discussed everything from the lightbulb lighting the storage closet in the dining hall to how you insulate your buildings, and the presenters helped us consider next steps in true stewardship. Shane Totten with Southface Energy Institute and Kate Mosley from Georgia Interfaith Power & Light grabbed the interest of those in attendance with their informative statistics and tips to better our communities.


    Lightbulbs, Water Usage, and Waste, Oh My!

    Some major topics both Shane and Kate hit on included water usage, energy efficiency, waste control, and air quality.  What do these have to do with camping? If you aren’t positive how these things connect with camping, rest assured, they do! How? Glad you asked!


    According to Shane, there are quite a few things you can do now to ensure you are taking care of the resources you already have. He suggested starting with light bulbs. By simply changing your light bulbs from incandescent to LED, you will see a great return in energy savings. Have you already made that switch? Maybe consider looking into lighting with sensors. Bri Payne, Executive Director at the John Knox Center, mentioned that switching to occupancy sensor lights has already given them great savings in energy usage.


    Have you noticed that your facility is using more water than it should be? Shane Totten suggested replacing your showerheads to ones that use less water. Being good stewards of our resources means turning off the light when you leave a room or thinking twice about water usage. Maybe we should all consider what we use now to be the resources for the next generation. What we are using now is what will end up in landfills or at recycling facilities. Are you okay knowing that those things could either help or hinder the next generation?


    Shane shared a few statistics that will surely blow your mind. 133 billion pounds of food is wasted per year. Does your camp use a buffet line or serve family style? How can you cut back on food waste? 40% of the food prepared in the U.S. is never consumed. This means that we are eating only a little over half of what we prepare! Where is all that wasted food going? Hopefully that uneaten food is going into some sort of compost, but Shane shared that one person produces about 4.4 pounds of trash per day. Surely there are some ways your camp community can help cut back on that.


    Something Kate Mosley touched on was air quality. Do we really know what is in our products? Do we know what is in the buildings where we serve our campers? According to Kate, there are more air pollutants indoors versus outdoors. Do you know what is in your products, even down to the paint used on the walls? Kate suggests looking for seals on products that validate you are using safe materials. She encourages to look for Green Seal Certified and Greenguard seals.


    Kate Mosley also explained the importance of knowing what we are throwing away and why. How do you do this? You facilitate a waste audit. Yes, it sounds time-consuming and not so enjoyable, but very necessary! Think about this: if you don't weigh yourself, how can you maintain yourself? How can you know what you need to put in your body if you don’t already know what is in your body? It works the same with waste. If we aren’t aware of what we are throwing away, how can we adjust what we consume to reduce what we throw away? Kate Mosley suggests using the free Energy Star Portfolio Manager as a place to start.


    What about your guests? How can you manage their waste? Kate and Shane both explained the importance of developing a Sustainability Policy at your facility. This could be something as simple as creating a letter you send out to your guests before their stay with a list of things you’d like for them to avoid bringing. Maybe you are planning to cut back on plastic waste so you ask that your guests bring reusable water bottles rather than plastic ones. What about asking your guests to use the plates and cups in the dining hall rather than bringing paper ones, to cut back on paper waste? Starting here can help change the culture at your facility and start making your footprint smaller.  


    Building the "Camptopia" from the Roots Up

    Switching gears to the second portion of the conference, we dove into another topic that is sometimes hard to navigate: Diversity. Niambi Jaha-Echols from Cross-Cultural Agility joined the conference for the second half to share her insights on creating the perfect ‘camptopia’. How do we do that? Niambi started at the roots. After sharing where the word ‘camp’ comes from, Niambi explained exactly what it means. The word ‘camp’ comes from the Greek word ‘campus’ meaning level ground. Niambi suggested that we do just that and get back to level ground in the camping world. Niambi uses the phrase, ‘Intentional Community Building,’ meaning that inclusion in our camp communities isn’t what we do but who we are. She quoted Albert Einstein, saying that “we cannot solve a problem at the same level that it was created.” This simply means that we cannot make our camps more culturally diverse if we are doing the same things we have always done.


    People generally like to be with people who are like us. We all have our own culture, and those personal differences play an important role in understanding culture. Niambi used an example of a vehicle to vividly illustrate this. If someone gets into a wreck, we are typically more concerned with what is in the car than the car itself. What if we would imagine our skin as the “vehicle” in this metaphor? Niambi called her skin her "skin suit," making the point that the outside is only a covering for the more important contents inside. Our culture goes much deeper than our skin tone. Our "skin suit" is just for this lifetime, not for eternity.


    Have you ever caught yourself adding new decorations or fresh flowers to a room in your home to ‘add some color’ or ‘change it up’? What happens to those fresh flowers? They usually die, right? Why do they die? They die because they aren’t rooted in our home. Niambi used this painfully accurate example to explain why it is so important to make sure all people feel rooted in our camping environments. If you plop something into a new environment just to mix it up, it won’t survive. We have to intentionally add to our camping environments to make space for all cultures to root; otherwise they will not thrive in our communities. We have to think outside of the box so we don't get trapped in our cultural boxes.


    While these topics are large and daunting, it is helpful to remember that these changes cannot happen overnight, and that is okay! Changes may be necessary, but they also take time, so start small and work your way to what is best for your facility and ministry. As Burt Goldman says, “There is only one way to get dark out of a room, and that is to let light in.” Whether that light is literal light from the lightbulbs you replaced to save energy, or the light of new cultures, let it in. Let that light in and let it shine bright, because we are in the business of changing lives for the better.



    Paige Railey is the Marketing Director for South Carolina Camps & Retreat Ministries. We’re grateful for her contributions to the UMCRM blog and for allowing those who couldn’t attend this year’s Sustainable Pathways to get a glimpse into the important topics featured. Thanks, Paige!



  • 03 Oct 2018 7:12 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Many Christians ignore environmental issues because they don’t view it as an important faith-related concern — but what if environmental justice was essential to evangelism? In many ways, taking care of our environment is a direct form of evangelism that many Christians have yet to realize, or have even rejected as truth.

    For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)


    This verse is often referenced to justify the doctrine of Natural Revelation and is the damning biblical evidence used against non-believers for rejecting God, even if they’ve never directly heard the gospel message. Christians point to this Scripture passage to show that God’s existence is visibly obvious through the beauty of creation. Is it really? Theologians have often argued that the splendor and wonder of creation — Natural Revelation — is observable proof of God and God’s awe-inspiring power. What happens when it’s not visible? What are the spiritual ramifications of destroying our world?


    The concept of Natural Revelation is often taught from a privileged and Westernized perspective, where scenes of picturesque mountain ranges, pristine lakes and rivers, beautiful wild animals, and lovely plants are used to portray the sheer majesty of God.


    When the natural physical existence is heading toward death instead of life, how does it point people to God?


    For many of us, this is an easy reality to absorb because we love nature and have access to the outdoors, scenic parks, and unpolluted land. But for many around the world, the idea of Natural Revelation is absurd, and often a theological idea that actually argues against the existence of a God. When water is too unsafe to drink, air too toxic to breathe, and the sheer decay of the surrounding environment endangers you and your family, how is God glorified? When the natural physical existence around you is taken away, broken, or heading toward death instead of life, how does this possibly point people to God? The sad reality is that Natural Revelation (as we interpret it to be) doesn’t really exist for millions of people living in conditions where their environment is being exploited for corporate and political gain.


    The sad truth is that Natural Revelation isn’t equally apparent to everyone, which is why creation care and environmental justice is so important. Because if we really believe that the earth reflects God’s glory, by not taking care of it and allowing it to become corrupted — we’re essentially keeping people from experiencing the goodness of God.


    The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)


    The Bible says that the skies declare God’s craftsmanship. So what happens when people can’t see the sky due to smog and waste? Pollution, destruction, and the exploitation of our world isn’t a victimless crime — it’s intentionally hiding God from others, and the act of making our earth less desirable is blinding others to the goodness of God. If Christians seriously want others to experience God, we should start making the earth a better place — ultimately reflecting the magnificence of God.



    Excerpted from “Why Is It Difficult to Get Christians to Care About the Earth? From Sojourners, 3/28/17, used with permission from author Stephen Mattson.


  • 05 Sep 2018 6:22 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    You’re Invited To The Table

    Join us “@ the Table” Monday, January 28th-Friday, February 1st for a week of worship, community, leadership development, and relationship building with other United Methodist Camp & Retreat Ministry Leaders from around the country.

    We’ll explore, as followers of Christ and leaders in the camp community, what it means to gather around the table: to celebrate, connect, create, and share. Each day we’ll be challenged and inspired by the words of Rev. Junius Dotson and Rev. Melissa Cooper. Additionally, some of our friends from up north, Travis & Beth Allison, will be offering guidance and practical suggestions as we “do the work” of camping ministry.

    The program fee for the Gathering is $385 for members of the UMCRM Association and $435 for non-members. (It’s not too late to join if you’re not a current member!) The inclusive room-and-board cost varies depending on which lodging option you choose. Options include bunk-style lodging, cabins (great for rooming with folks from your home camp/organization), shared hotel-style or single hotel- style rooms. There’s even a campground if you’d like to bring the RV.

    Register today to secure your place “@ the Table”:

    2019 National Gathering Registration

    Remember, you may register now and make payments later (just choose the “Invoice me” option at checkout). Contact the Registrar with questions.

    More details, including a full schedule, speaker information, and more will be released with the revamped UMCRM website in the next couple of weeks, so check back with us at UMCRM.org.


    Interested in leading a workshop “@ the Table"? Simply fill out this form to submit your proposal by October 25th.


  • 29 Aug 2018 6:33 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Sustainable Pathways

    “Tending the Common Ground through Resource Stewardship, Creation Care, and Diversity”

    September 9-12, 2018

    Hampton, Georgia


    It’s not too late! Greetings colleagues, there’s still time to take part in this most important training and discussion on Resource Stewardship, Creation Care, and Diversity. Please join us in Hampton, Georgia, at the Calvin Center (just 28 miles from the Atlanta airport!) We will dig deep to:

    • Identify the best strategies for achieving better resource efficiency in our camps and buildings. We will also examine our facilities as holistic systems, look at how this can inform how we approach future improvements, and consider how this tangibly demonstrates our faith and stewardship for Creation.
    • Explore a different dimension of diversity and inclusion with creativity, humor, insight, and a fresh perspective. With the goal of learning ways to create camp and retreat environments that are more inclusive and welcoming, we will look at how stereotypes and assumptions contribute to intentional and unintentional bias, misunderstandings, and discrimination.

    Leading the charge on these topics will be Niambi Jaha-Echols, a Cultural Agility Strategist from Charlotte, North Carolina; Shane Totten, an architect working at the Southface Energy Institute; and Rev. Kate McGregor Mosely, Executive Director at Georgia Interfaith Power & Light. UMCRM's own Kevin Witt and Arthur Spriggs will close out the event by sharing successful programs and strategies that others are currently using around the country to expand ethnic community and leadership in camping, helping you develop a plan to take back to your center.


    Don’t miss this great lineup. Take a clean break from summer, and take advantage of some great cheap airfares to Atlanta. Hope to see you soon!


    Here's the brochure with all the details

    Here's the link to register. 


    Blessings,

    Arthur



    Arthur Spriggs is the Executive Director for South Carolina Conference Camps & Retreats. He's an At-Large member of the UMCRM Association Board of Directors, and in that role he also serves on the coordinating committee for the Sustainable Pathways partnership. 

  • 15 Aug 2018 6:55 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Biggest Summer Ever! Tips From A Marketing Pro



    My name is Paige and I am the Director of Marketing & Communications for SC Camps & Retreat Ministries. I work full time handling anything that falls into the category of marketing or communications and I absolutely love it! It has definitely taken some time to get into ‘my groove’ and learn what works best for me and for Asbury Hills. We are so incredibly blessed to be in a season of growth, allowing us to experience our largest summer to date. We have watched our registration numbers soar past what we could have imagined! There have been quite a few things that have worked really well for Asbury Hills and then a few things that didn’t work so well. I want to share with you some tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way that may help bring your ministry to new levels, too.



    What has worked for us:

    –Figure out where the majority of your campers are finding out about your ministry
    We have a question on our registration form that asks parents to tell us where they heard about Asbury Hills. The options are camp fair, from a friend, my church, Parent magazine, social media, and website. Now, this is not a required section, so of the 1253 campers we had this summer, only about 35% actually responded to the question. (This may be because we have a lot of returning campers, so they may not see the relevance of the question.) While that does skew the numbers, the results make a lot of sense. According to our data, 60% of our campers hear about Asbury Hills from a friend, 33% hear about Asbury Hills in their church and the rest is either from a camp fair, Parent magazine ads, social media or our website. Once I get an idea of where the majority of our campers come from, I get to planning how to better market to those places and then the places where we aren’t showing quite as high of a referral rate.

    —Put more (time, effort, money, etc.) into where you get the majority of your campers
    Clearly we get a ton of campers from friends of campers. I do a few things to fuel this, including mailings, social media posts, and e-newsletter blasts. For example, when I mail out our summer brochure, I send 2 brochures and a little postcard in an envelope to each camper. Not only do our campers get excited about new brochures, they also get excited about sharing those brochures, which is why we send one for them and one for a friend. The postcard with the 2 brochures explains that.

    We are lucky to have a super supportive United Methodist Conference here in South Carolina. Aside from friends, churches are where a lot of our campers hear about Asbury Hills. In late fall/early winter I put together a ‘recruiting team’ of previous-year staffers who had a good rapport with campers. I train and send them out to churches to speak/share about Asbury Hills.

    —Figure out ways to fuel the places you don’t get as many campers from
    I am constantly working to grow our social media reach because I am fully aware that our social media platforms are tools to retain our campers.  We have started attending more camp fairs (I send those recruiting team folks to these) to increase our presence.

    —Plan plan plan!
    I have a plan for everything! Social media plan, marketing plan, blog post plan, newsletter plan—you name it, I probably have a plan for it. Having a plan keeps me on track and holds me accountable to follow through. There are so many ways to develop your plans, so take time to figure out what works best for you. Creating a plan for yourself allows you to see in front of you want needs to be done. 

    What NOT to do:

    —Don't have a social media plan
    We have a pretty good following on social media and like I mentioned before, social media is a good platform to retain campers/families. My first full year in this position, I just posted on social media whenever I had something to post. This made our presence inconsistent and very hit or miss with interactions. Now, I have a detailed and up to date social media plan that I stick to like glue! There is a lot I could say on this subject alone but just know it took a good year to figure out what works best for me, Asbury Hills, and our followers. 

    —Let your website become outdated
    Our website has evolved over the years and my knowledge on it has evolved, too. I realized very quickly that not keeping it up to date and regularly checking the links can hinder even just a few registrations. We all know EVERY registration counts! Example: keeping a banner about Open House up after the event has passed or page links not working properly.

    —Don't track your links and analytics 
    Before I realized that social media platforms and Google provide you with analytics if you just set it up, I was shooting in the dark with our posts and updates. Now I comb through all of our analytics on all social media platforms to see exactly who looks at our posts, how old they are, when they look at it, and if they interact or not. There are also quite a few programs you can use to track clickable links. One of my favorite pastimes is looking at those analytics! 

    —Forget the stories

    In the camping business, we don’t necessarily sell product; we sell experiences and stories! Other people’s stories and experiences are what get families to register their children for camp. They want their kid to experience what the others do. The moment I switched my brain from ‘sell registrations’ to ‘sell Asbury Hills stories’, I started to get a better hold on our ministry and mission.


    Adapting to growth

    In the introduction I mentioned that our ministry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Last year we had 1122 campers and that was one of the biggest summers we have ever had.  This summer we had 1253! Along with this amazing increase have been some challenges that pushed us to adapt. Here are a few things that we needed to do a bit differently:

    Train our seasonal staff to be flexible

    Staff have to be flexible enough as it is, but with more campers than we expected, folks had to really step out of their comfort zone and support each other. We call it ‘good growing pains’!


    Time management

    With more campers than expected, we had to be more organized and pull together as a team to use our time well.


    Pour into EVERYONE; promote self-care

    We can’t minister and serve our campers if we aren’t spiritually fed and taking care of ourselves. This is something we tell our seasonal staff a whole lot: take care of yourself!


    Determine actual max capacities

    With the influx of registrations, our full time staff had to determine what our ‘sweet spot was’ with camper numbers and ratios. How many is too many campers, that the mission and ministry could be impacted negatively? Do we have enough staff to keep our ratios in check? Do we have additional staff on standby should we need more? The answer was “yes” to those last two because our Summer Camp Director, Sarah, planned for it. We set our goal at 1150 campers, so when we started tracking that we were going to surpass that, Sarah started implementing plans to ensure our ministry wasn’t hindered.


    Hopes and plans for seasons to come

    I have already worked on getting a social media plan set for the next year, along with a marketing plan tracking into 2020. As a full time staff, we plan our summer themes about a year in advance, giving me ample time to put together print materials, marketing plans, etc. My hope is to stay ahead in our marketing by maintaining my social media and marketing plans, reading as much as I can on marketing trends, and constantly staying in communication with our full time staff on their needs.. 


    Maybe you don’t have a full time ‘Paige’ focused on your camp’s marketing and communications. Here are some options that don’t require a lot of resources:


    —Start with learning your audience. Who are you trying to reach and why?

    You can learn your audience by evaluating who calls your office asking questions, seeing who follows and interacts with your camp on social media, getting to know the type of campers your camp attracts and learning your staff (full time and seasonal). In my experience, I can reach campers on Instagram and Twitter while reaching their parents on Facebook. When you go to create a webpage or update your current one, you’ll want to keep it user- friendly to whomever you are trying to reach/whoever will be using it most.


    —Create a presence on Instagram and Facebook. Already have it? Keep it consistent.

    Do you have a summer staffer eager to help; maybe someone studying marketing or communications? Have them set up social media accounts. These are FREE platforms that college aged summer staffers are well versed in. With the insights/analytics tool on business accounts in both of these platforms, you can see exactly who is looking at/interacting with posts, when they are looking at them, and where they are from. It can get tricky allowing a summer staffer to run those social media accounts, so be sure to document and implement guidelines and expectations.


    —Create interesting content for your platforms.

    Take lots of photos and post them! (Always be sure you have a parent’s permission, of course.) You don’t need a fancy camera or photographer for social media—Instagram and Facebook are made to work well with smartphones.  People like to see happy campers doing fun things. Walk around during activities and get a few good shots to post! I’d suggest starting with ‘Happy Monday’ or ‘Yay for Friday’ posts.


    2018 Asbury Hills summer staff Encourage your staff to gather stories.

    Ask staff (and volunteers) to write down their favorite stories from the summer. Maybe even bribe them with an item from the camp store in exchange for a marketing-worthy story. (We do this and it works great!) Just by asking for the story, you save yourself time because you didn’t have to come up with the content. You also got your staff involved and there is nothing campers want more than to hear from/about their counselors. Use those stories for when you are speaking to groups about your ministry, creating a blog post, posting a photo on Instagram, encouraging your staff or just sharing your camp in general!


    —Send thank you notes.

    Who doesn’t love happy mail?! Any chance I get, I send a thank you note—handwritten, of course.  Did you have volunteers at camp? Thank them. Did you visit a church to share about your camp? Thank them. Did you meet new families at a camp fair? Thank them for their time. Thank you notes go a long way and the word spreads about your hospitality. Plus, you now have that address to add to any other mailings you want to send (with the proper permission, of course).


    —Welcome campers or retreat groups.

    New registration? Send them a welcome postcard. Get some printed ahead of time to mail out as the registrations come in. This will not only get those campers or retreat groups excited about camp but will help them feel welcomed. When people feel welcomed or valued, they want to stick around. You may get lucky and they may show their friends!


    —Subscribe to other camp newsletters.

    Even if you don’t send a newsletter out to your camp family, subscribe to your favorite camp newsletters. This gives you an inside look at what is working for other camps, how they are reaching their camp family and will hopefully give you some ideas to utilize at your own camp.


    —Don't be afraid to ask for help—I sure did!

    This camping community is FULL of folks who have been there, done that and are ready to share.


    When it comes down to it, you have to focus on building your camp family, keeping your existing camp family connected, and continuing to add members to your camp family. My biggest prayer is that the Lord will grant me the knowledge and courage to maximize our ministry resources while growing God’s kingdom. I hope I’ve inspired you to go out and build your camp family, pour into and nourish your camp family, and always be ready to add more!




    Paige Railey is the Marketing Director for South Carolina Camps & Retreat Ministries, serving Asbury Hills Camp & Retreat Center and Camp Providence Day Camp. She grew up going to summer camp and spent college summers working on summer staff, and she can’t imagine her life without the impact of camp. Outside of camp, you’ll find Paige painting, drawing or photographing a wedding.


    All photo credits to Spencer Willoughby, Asbury Hills.



  • 20 Jun 2018 5:39 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)


    How did you come to be involved with camp ministry?


    Funny you should ask that question, since I came about being involved in an interesting way. When I graduated from college, there was yet another depression in the economy, so I needed to think about what I wanted to do. I decided I needed to go somewhere where I would be paid to think about my future. I ended up in the Army Reserves. I went there like Private Benjamin without a clue as to what it would take to be in this man’s army! Anyway, long story short, while in basic training, we went to boot camp where we camped out and played army. It was there that I discovered that I could love camping if I had better equipment and better circumstances going on outside of my tent. Moving forward a few years, I became acquainted with United Methodist Camp Ministry while volunteering at my church offices, Genesis UMC in Milpitas, California. At that time, Junius Dotson (now General Secretary of Discipleship Ministries) was my minister. He had started a high school camp named Camp David. As he and the staff were planning for camp, I asked if I could volunteer, he said yes, and the rest is history! My first UMC camp experience was at Lodestar, a camp in the California-Nevada Annual Conference. I absolutely loved my camp experiences from the very start and I have been involved with camp ever since, almost 20 years later!


    Where have you served? Also, tell us about what else you do?


    After being a camp counselor for about 10 years, what I call "boots on the ground," I had the pleasure of being kicked upstairs to the Cal-Neva board. I have served on the board for about 10 years. Being a member of the board has allowed me to contribute to camp in different ways, but I often miss my boots-on-the-ground experiences. I must admit, though, I am not sure that I could handle those Leap of Faith and other high ropes elements the way I used to! As a result of being active with the Cal-Neva board, I was blessed to be invited to become a member of the United Methodist Church and Retreat Ministry.


    While serving on the UMCRM Association Board, I have continued to meet wonderful people who are involved in camp and who regularly confirm my motto that “Camp People are Great”! When I joined the board of UMCRM I noticed that I have a lot to learn. I gave myself a break because I also realized that I was probably the only person on the board who does not work with the United Methodist Church or camp. In my day job I am an attorney/mediator for the State of California. So it’s no wonder I lack the camp/retreat ministry expertise that my fellow board members have. When UMCRM offered the Immersion Experience this January, I jumped at the chance to be a part of the first Immersion Class, hoping to gain even more knowledge in a deeper and quicker manner. It was a great, great opportunity to meet more wonderful camp people but also to be immersed in the United Methodist way of camp. If you have the opportunity to take this class, I highly recommend it. [ed. note: the UMCRM Immersion Experience will be offered again in January 2020!] If you ask me what else I do, anyone who knows me knows that the great loves of my life are camp, my family, volunteering with my sorority, and hanging out at the lake with my husband and friends.


    What are the greatest blessings of camp for you?


    One of the greatest blessings of camp for me is being a part of the joy that I see camp bringing to the kids who come. For instance, in my first year of being a camp counselor, I met a young lady who was in need of attention. I was there to give it to her, and I know I helped change her path. As a result, my own life was changed. When it is right, it is so right. I see kids “get it” there at camp; I see camp profoundly affect their lives and the lives of all who they touch. But to be honest, the greatest blessing of camp for me is what it does for me. I always feel closest to God at camp. Some of my favorite places in the world are at camps, Lodestar being number one for obvious reasons.


    How would you like to see the UMCRM Association respond to our ministry's greatest challenge(s)?


    OMG, I would like to see our camps become more ethnically diverse. If you are reading this article, you know how great camp is. I want the greatness of camp to be shared with a large number of ethnically diverse kids. Being African American myself, I definitely want more African American kids to have these wonderful camp experiences. I am optimistic; so optimistic that I think we could solve half the world’s problems at camp! Let’s keep this thing going!


    What would you like the UMCRM community to know about you?


    In the movie Field of Dreams, the visionary child promised, “if you build it, they will come.” I keep hearing that message when I think about what God wants me to do and how God might use all my years in camp. If I could create the camp that I wanted to create, the camp that I think God wants me to create, that camp would be predominantly African American. For some reason, at least in Northern California, not that many African Americans go to camps. But I believe that if I build it, they will come, and it will be great! I have had the honor to experience a predominantly African American camp that was the most awesome camp that I have ever witnessed. Mine may not be as awesome as Kids Across America (whose mission it is to build Christian leaders,) a highly-funded ministry beautifully located on the water in Branson, Missouri. But if I can achieve this dream, I will have accomplished one of the greatest missions in my life. I want to see many more of God’s children becoming disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world through camp. These new disciples need to be diverse. I am scared, but I know I can make this vision a reality.



    Thanks, Sharon, for your service with the UMCRM Association and beyond, and for taking the time to help us all get to know you better. We hope you will realize your camp dream, and we hope some of us can be a part of making it come true.


  • 30 May 2018 9:36 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Those of us involved with United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries have amazing stories to tell! Stories of unity, of hope, of transformation. We help unite kids, teens, and adults from all walks of life. We help them unite in encountering the risen Christ. We use intentional experiences to help them unite together in building bridges from where they are to where they can be. We inspire them to unite in transforming the world. We live out what it means to be #UnitedInCamping!


    You're invited to join with the UMCRM community this summer in collaboratively sharing our stories through the visual medium of photography. It’s as simple as posting at least one photo each week—from June to August—that best reflects the given word for that particular week. You can post on whichever social media platform(s) you prefer, we just ask that you use the hashtag: #UnitedInCamping. If you post to Instagram or Facebook, be sure to tag @UMCRM in your photos. You might also consider inviting your campers, guests, and staff to participate (just make sure that all appropriate permissions are acquired and that individuals know your camp's social media guidelines in advance).


    Inspiration for the weekly themes comes from the 7 Foundations of United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries. We hope this helps all of us think more intentionally about our shared core values in the daily chaos of summer. We also hope this helps the people of our denomination and the world better understand the vital role Camp and Retreat Ministries plays in the current and future “Big C” Church!


    June 3 — Creation

    June 10 — Disciples

    June 17 — Transformation

    June 24 — Sacred

    July 1 — Nurture

    July 8 — Faith

    July 15 — Care

    July 22 — Appreciation

    July 29 — Partner

    August 5 — Hospitality

    August 12 — Community

    August 19 — Leader

    August 26 — Inspire


    We look forward to seeing your stories this summer!


     – Matt Williams (Sky Lake, Upper New York), Collin Grooms (Lake Lucerne, WI), and the UMCRM Board of Directors


  • 23 May 2018 7:26 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    By now most have you have received or seen promotional information for the United Methodist National Youth Event, Youth 2019.  Past events have taken place in the latter part of June, so most groups found it “doable” to attend the youth event and their regular session of summer camp.  However, in 2019, the event will take place in July, right smack dab in the middle of camp! As a person in ministry with young people in BOTH youth ministry and camping ministry, I’m committed to both, and would like to help leaders consider your options. I believe in and value the camp experience for each and every young person, and as well, I know the power of this national event on the faith formation of young people. To be in that place with THOUSANDS of other United Methodist youth in worship and service and fellowship is second to none. So WHAT IS A CAMP PERSON TO DO?  


    I suggest you make Youth 2019 part of your summer camp program! In my home conference we have some very small youth groups that did not have the numbers or resources to attend as a youth group. So our conference offered the event as a week of camp so individuals could sign up and attend. Consider the following ways to support BOTH important ministries for our young people:

    • Offer the Youth Event as a week of camp.  Here’s how our ministry did it: We did not run our regular senior high program during the week of the National Youth Event.  I sought funding for two chaperones through Camping and Young People’s Ministries at our Conference and had individuals sign up through the camp registration system. The price included the event and coordinated transportation. I also collected forms needed for both the event and my chaperones, registered the group, and arranged for the extra day activity (last time it was in Florida on a Disney property).

    • Offer it as a part of a camp experience.  Have a group attend the event with some of your staff, then return to camp for a few days to debrief and apply their experience from the event to their life of faith through a few days of reflection and further processing at your site.

    • Schedule senior high camp during a different week (NOT the week of the event), so if their youth group is attending they don’t feel that they have to choose between camp and the event.

    Bottom line, there will be those who will choose one experience over the other because of time or money or both.  There will be those who will choose the event because it only happens every four years or they aren’t a “camp person.”  I will say, the year I ran Youth 2015 as a week of camp, it gave me the opportunity to have a connection with young people with whom I had not connected before. A few of them even tried out camp the next year as a way to reconnect with the youth they had met at the national event.  I feel it is our responsibility not to be in “competition,” but to embrace and support the many ministries outside of the local church that help in creating disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.


    Learn more about Youth 2019 : http://youth2019.com/

    Connect with "Live Well" on Facebook




    Kelly Peterson-Cruse is a former Camp Director/Owner and served for 10 years as Director of Camping and Young People's Ministries in the Cal-Nevada Conference. She

    has just accepted a new position relating to Camp/Retreat Ministries at UMC Discipleship Ministries, along with her part-time role with Young Peoples' Ministries for the Western Jurisdiction of the UMC. Her ministry is fueled by good coffee, the energy of young people, and the love of Jesus.




  • 16 May 2018 7:44 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Close your eyes and imagine yourself surrounded by 300 of your colleagues, friends, and camp family...

    ...joining your hearts and voices in worship under the music leadership of Chuck Bell. Be filled with the spirit through the words of Reverend Junius Dotson and the lively teaching of Reverend Melissa Cooper.

    Breathe a few deep breaths as you consider the connections you make at tables and the connections you’ll make “@ the Table”. Forging new relationships and reestablishing old relationships—be filled with the hope that friends in ministry bring. These connections “@ the Table” will be strengthened by a variety of keynotes and workshops—brought to you by professionals in camp and retreat ministry, Beth & Travis Allison. You, too, are invited to share “@ the Table” as a workshop leader (Apply now!).

    Smile and feel the joy of soon-to-arrive campers and of the opportunity to create new communities as we offer places where children, youth, and adults feel the celebration of being fully loved and fully included. That same work and time is being placed into creating this space for you “@ the Table” this coming winter. You have a place, and we hope you’ll join us “@ the Table.”

    Registration will open in late summer. In the meantime, make sure the Gathering is on your calendar (January 28-February 1, 2019!) and in your 2018 budget.

  • 02 May 2018 8:59 PM | Jen Burch (Administrator)

    Are you trying to strengthen your board?

    The answer should be “yes!”, an ongoing goal of every director and existing board member. We always need to be on the lookout for who is needed and can bring resources to our work by serving on the board. But sometimes we go about it in ineffective ways. We think we need a lawyer or business people or people who have wealthy friends, before we take stock of what skills are already inherent in the current board membership, and what skills are needed to help us accomplish the goals for this ministry in the next several years.

    Focus on actions needed when developing a board membership matrix!

    Rather than recruit someone "with connections to city hall," ask a prospect if he would be willing and able to set up a meeting twice a year with those responsible for building and zoning regulations that might affect your next building plans. Instead of recruiting someone because she's wealthy, ask her whether she would be willing to organize three other board members into a group that would try to raise $50,000 per year as a group. Instead of framing your need for persons of various racial/ethnic backgrounds, recruit members of communities you actually want to and can serve. Together identify leaders who provide the people connections and possibly the training needed, so that more diverse populations actually participate in your ministries.

    By focusing on what people will do rather than what people are, we accomplish three goals:

    • We broaden our field of sight as we recruit for the board. Rather than just looking for someone in marketing, we think more widely and include bloggers, writers, community organizers, and others who know how to communicate a message.

    • We don't end up recruiting someone with the right demographics or professional background or financial means but who can't or won't do what we have mistakenly assumed they could or would. When we recruit people for what they will do, we get people who can and do what is needed, because we've asked them if they can and will. And someone who has joined a board to help with something they’re passionate about and able to do, is someone who will want to get started on that at his or her very first board meeting.

    • We ground board recruitment in the needs of this organization at this time in its development, rather than on a generic set of skills or attributes out of a textbook. By doing so, we focus our recruitment on the critical path of our unique organization and its strategic, pressing needs.

    So throw out that template board composition matrix. Instead, ask these questions:

    What are the three most important things for our board to accomplish in the next 1-4 years?
    Do we have the right people on the board to make those things happen?




    Rev. Lisa Jean Hoefner serves part-time as Director of Lake Tahoe UMC Retreat Center in King’s Beach, CA and pastor of the Dinner Church housed at the Center. She also chairs the UMCRM Association’s Development Committee, is UMCRM's unofficial expert on the History of United Methodist Camping, and plays in the Tahoe Toccata Symphony. Lisa Jean retired as Executive Director of Camp/Retreat Ministries for the Oregon-Idaho Conference in 2015. Her career has spanned nearly four decades serving local churches and camp/retreat ministries. Lisa Jean also holds a D.Min. in Camp/Retreat Ministry and a certificate in Nonprofit Management.




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