Dear Camp and Retreat Ministry friends and colleagues,

As many of you may have heard by now, the United Methodist Judicial Council made some important decisions last week. My hope is this letter will inspire you to seek an understanding of how this moment in our denomination’s path will impact your ministry setting and those you walk beside in mission. 

Need some more context? Following the called Special General Conference in February, the Judicial Council, United Methodism's "Supreme Court," was called upon to rule on the constitutionality of the Traditional Plan approved by that General Conference. Read more from United Methodist News Service

First, I would like to share my understanding of the Judicial Council Decision 1378. Of the 15 Traditional Plan petitions that were passed in February at the special called General Conference, eight were ruled constitutional and seven were ruled unconstitutional. The parts of the Traditional Plan that will be implemented as church law, effective January 1, 2020 (and later in 2021 for the Central Conferences – outside of the US) will bring a more detailed definition of what it means to be a “self-avowed, practicing homosexual” to the Book of Discipline, mandate specific penalties for clergy who violate the rules around conducting same gender unions, and provide clarity on the parameters of the complaint process. The parts of the Traditional Plan that will not be implemented include: tighter accountability for Bishops, stricter requirements of Boards of Ministry (example – conducting an examination of each candidate to ascertain whether an individual is a practicing homosexual), and mandated financial penalties for Annual Conferences that are not in compliance with requirements around human sexuality. An additional decision was passed (Decision 1379) and declared constitutional allowing local congregations and clergy to enter into a disaffiliation agreement for “a gracious exit” from the denomination.

The effect of these decisions is being felt in various ways and at varying degrees across our camp and retreat connection. There is not one correct interpretation or plan for moving forward that applies to all of our UMCRM sites. However, in order to truly come alongside one another in this next season of ministry, it is vital that we stay in relationship with our local communities and in healthy, compassionate, open-minded communication with the leadership of our Annual Conferences. Gracious communication about these matters and an unwillingness to criticize those with whom we disagree are necessary to the integrity of our collective ministry. I would also like to hold up the opportunity of finding support and counsel in your UMCRM colleagues as we navigate the course together.

As this journey continues, I hope that we can all remember these important sentiments:

• Although there is a divide within our denomination, this divide is not between people who love Jesus or people who believe in the Bible and those who do not love or believe. No, it is a divide between Christ-following people who have come to different interpretations about how the Bible is to be read and applied. Our role in camp and retreat ministries is to be a place for all Christ-following people (and those who do not yet know Christ), where they can have the space to come to their own understanding of God’s mysterious and wondrous plan for their life.
• Within the congregations that we serve, all across the country, there is a wide diversity of people with equally wide perspectives and convictions. By our camp and retreat centers being safe, sacred places set apart from everyday life, we can be a source of inspiration for others to become more attentive to the diversity of thought that surrounds us. Through worship, play, and relationship, people from a variety of perspectives and experiences are together, practicing living in holy community. This is an honest expression of sharing the truth that “You are loved.”
• Finally, United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries will continue to have a crucial and wonderful ministry to offer to the world for the sake of Jesus Christ, in a unique way that no one else can. We can’t shy away from proclaiming the importance of our ministry. Now is the time to find courage to reach out to donors and find new ways of promoting your ministry so these holy places of “creative dislocation” continue to grow in the future.

James 5:16 – “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

I am with you in this, friends, and I pray for you daily. Together, let’s continue to pray for our denomination, Bishops and Cabinets, local church leaders, congregations, and one another. Let’s pray for continued guidance along this complex route which we find ourselves traveling, giving thanks that we are traveling it together. I am grateful to be alongside you in this journey.

God bless,

Jessica Gamaché
UMCRM Board of Directors, Vice-Chair

Jessica Gamaché is the Camping Coordinator for the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. She has served on the UMCRM Board since 2015. 

Two years ago I chose to simplify my practice of establishing rules with campers down to giving them “three simple rules.” As you read them, you’ll no doubt find them familiar, but with a significant alteration:

1^st: Do no harm.

2^nd: Do good.

3^rd: Participate.

If you grew up in The United Methodist Church and/or are aware of our heritage (or, worse yet, were victim to one of my confirmation or new members classes!) then you know these as the General Rules of the United Societies, with an editorial adjustment to the third. For over 200 years, the people called Methodist have made use of these “rules,” not because they are obligations to be followed, but because like a ruler they delineate how to measure the fruit of our commitment to living as Christians.

In my ministry, Wesley’s expression of the third rule has often been a source of consternation and obfuscation. Wesley’s original words for the third rule are that we are to “attend upon all the ordinances of God.” Many pastors rephrase this to “use the means of grace,” while bishop and scholar Reuben P. Job succinctly shortened the idea to “stay in love with God.” For the purposes of camp behavior, I simplified it down to “participate,” recognizing that the very acts I was about to invite campers to take part in were those self-same “means of grace” and “ordinances of God” by which our faith is formed and our love for God nurtured.

John Wesley, his brother Charles, and other members of their Holy Club at Oxford received the derisive “Methodist” nickname from their “methodical” use of a variety of spiritual practices. In establishing the General Rules, they maintained this constant use of the means of grace as a “rule” to measure spiritual maturity. They recognized that it is in and through such activity that faith matures. For the same reason, as someone called by God to nurture people into a deeper Christian faith, I invite campers to participate in our camp activities because they are spiritually formative; all the more so when we pursue them with intention!

Consider for a moment the significant power of the sacraments in a camp experience. I can remember being a teenager near the fireplace when our youth director led us in communion, inviting us to serve one another after a retreat focusing on every individual’s self-worth. Since then, I have been to many camps where the week wraps up with holy communion during a particularly inspirational and moving evening worship. I’ve borne witness to commitments to Christ, and even callings to ministry, happening at such times. In much the same way, when campers gather together in community to experience the baptism of a fellow camper, the sacramental act can have a powerful and lingering impact on their understanding and living of Christian faith.

Of course, there are more faith-forming practices than just the two sacraments. Many are a regular part of our camp experiences. For simplicity, and to ensure this author doesn’t wax on endlessly, let us consider just those listed under the third rule in the General Rules:

• Public worship
  Worship is often a daily occurrence at camp, and sometimes more! Camp planners and curriculum writers work with intention to bring elements of worship to bear around particular themes. Counselors and worship leaders engage campers in active participation. Often campers are included in leading elements of worship.

• Ministry of the Word
  Many of us are diligent to ensure that camp participants encounter Scripture in different ways. Not only may they read it, hear it, or hear it discussed, as the Rules suggest, but campers may also find Scripture integrated into an art project, skit,  or a walk through the labyrinth.

• Communion (referenced above)

• Family and private prayer
  Camps build in intentional time for participants to experience prayer in different ways. We may sing grace before meals, pray the Lord’s prayer during worship, take time in silent prayer, pray at the close of a small group, or even pray for a friend in need.

• Searching the scriptures
  Interestingly, the General Rules mention the Bible twice. In this case, the phrase has to do with seeking to know something about God, and specifically Jesus Christ, as we read the Bible. As we engage in Bible study, discussion, and even worship, we often seek to find how God is speaking to us and what we are learning about Jesus, even in stories about other people.

• Fasting or abstinence  
  Okay, this practice is probably not a focus you intentionally think about often; and yet this practice of choosing to limit ourselves from other things is actually something we practice at camp. Consider the power of silence, when we abstain from talking, during prayer or a walk through the labyrinth. Or consider the beneficial (and even statistically documented!) benefits of abstaining from cell phones and other digital devices for a week at camp.

We do these things at camp, often with great intention, because we know they play a part in nurturing spiritual maturity. Our efforts may come as recommendations from a curriculum, be based around a theme or experience, or even connect to outcomes we seek to measure; but in the end, these practices are a part of our Methodist heritage precisely because they help to form faith.

“There’s nothing particularly unique about that,” you might suggest, echoing centuries-old critique of Wesley’s description of what a Methodist is. You would be right. Other Christian camps also integrate these activities into their day. But the intentionality with which we pursue these practices, the “methodical” way we integrate them into our camps’ daily schedules, are a distinct and important echo of our heritage as it is brought to bear on faith formation at camp.

(In two future posts, “Shoulders and Knees,” and “Enthusiastically Square,” I will share thoughts on how our heritage of faith formation is both holistic and structurally sound.)

This is the first in a series of three reflections on the influence of our Wesleyan heritage upon the spiritual formation that occurs at camp. Author Ron Bartlow, the Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries for the Desert Southwest Conference and member of the UMCRM Association Board of Directors, has a passion for our Methodist heritage, a lifetime of camp experience, and a white light-saber. Ron has meticulously crafted each blog post and aged it in a charred oak barrel for the smoothest texture possible.

An announcement from Alan Rogstad, Executive Director, Camp and Retreat Ministries, Pacific Northwest Conference –

The Pacific NW Conference and The Twinlow Board of Directors are excited to announce the installation of Kristen “Moonie” Moon as the new Director of Twinlow Camp and Retreat Center! After a nationwide search process, we are very pleased to have hired someone from of our local PNW camp system! Kristin first came to PNW Camping Ministries as a Lazy F staff member, and later went on to fill the position of Assistant Director of Twinlow Camp in 2014.

From Kristen:

As a kid growing up in Wyoming, I attended Baptist camps. It was there that I found the perfect place to nurture my love of Jesus and nature. I was always somewhat of a “wild child” and camp served as a perfect outlet for me. Camp also provided a strong Christian community to be a part of. Fast forward to my college years when I became a summer staff counselor at Lazy F Camp & Retreat Center in Ellensburg, WA. It was at Lazy F that I first heard the call to ministry. It was through that call that I soon found myself moving to North Idaho to work at Twinlow Camp & Retreat Center as Assistant Director. Five years later I am now blessed to be transitioning into the role of Director.

When I am not working at camp I spend most of my time in the outdoors either rock climbing, surfing (yes, we surf in North Idaho), or snowboarding. I have always been able to connect to Jesus, myself, and others best when playing outside. Because of that I am excited to be serving as Director of Twinlow Camp!

Kristen brings the perfect mix of experience, energy, and vision to her new role as Director of Twinlow. Please join us in welcoming Kristen!

I've appreciated the chance to dialogue with my UMC peers and with peers from other denominations about the similarities that we share and the different challenges that we face.  I also really appreciated the experience in our Biblical and Theological reflections class of working through the challenges in our different denominations and that we are not alone in those challenges, but share the opportunity to work together.

We so often forget that our camp’s “problems” are not just ours; everyone else is experiencing and navigating the same challenges. To be in Compass Points and to have an honest space where conversations about our difference led us to that common ground was SO refreshing. 

This has been a hard week for our beloved United Methodist Church. Barring a miracle, decisions made at the Special General Conference will fracture the church I’ve loved, for which I’ve worked my entire adult life, and that nurtured my faith from childhood.

Even so, this year over a million children, youth, and adults will visit our United Methodist camps and retreat centers. Faith will be birthed and formed in countless lives in our ministries across the country. The work to which we are called continues to have eternal value as we invest in disciples who will transform the world.

There is a quote we use in our leadership program, ELI, in North Georgia, to which I’ve become attached. It is attributed to French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Now, more than ever, the people called Methodists (and the world beyond) need to grow in our longing for the endless immensity of God’s love. We in Camp & Retreat Ministries are uniquely equipped for that work because the context of a temporary community helps us practice being the body of Christ for one another.  Campers and retreat participants leave longing for the immensity of God’s love and better equipped to build a church in which it may be made manifest.

It is time for us to do our best work! So as we wipe away tears, pray for one another, and clasp hands with all our beloved and gifted siblings in God’s family, please remember that UMCRM stands ready to offer resources, inspiration, and a network of colleagues in support of your ministry. Within our association are folks who have dealt with every challenge you might be facing, people who have your back. Let’s continue to be there for one another. The need is greater than ever for sacred places apart, fruitful partnerships in the church and community, and space to experience the endless immensity of God’s love.

May the Lord lift up God’s countenance upon you and give you peace,

Russell Davis

Chairperson, UMCRM Association

Congratulations to all of the United Methodist Camp/Retreat Ministries who received 2018 Solomon Cramer Grant funding for your innovative, youth-serving projects. 

Baltimore-Washington Conference Retreat & Camping Ministries  ($3,000)

                The camp partners with Baltimore Metropolitan District and seeks to eliminate barriers to summer camp experiences for youth in Baltimore who are impacted by high rates of violence and poverty. The program offers Spring Break Camp which is a 1-week camp offering arts, crafts, worship and activities. Residential Summer Camp offers week-long programs at West River and Manidokan throughout the summer and reaches a predominantly African-American population.

Camp Chestnut Ridge ($3,000)

                This camp launched a new Traveling Day Camp in order to expand summer camp opportunities for youth from underserved ethnic populations who may not otherwise be able to attend camp. The lower cost of the Traveling Day Camp, and the central location within the community of Chestnut Ridge will allow for more children who do not regularly attend camp to have a camp experience. Chestnut Ridge strives to create a diverse population among campers, and is located within the community of the participants, which helps overcome issues with transportation.

Camp Chippewa ($3,000)

                This camp has encompassed the mission to provide an atmosphere in a simple, outdoor setting where individuals can experience the presence of God in nature, for a relationship with Jesus Christ and others, nurture one’s journey as a disciple of Christ and experience spiritual and personal growth and renewal. Camp Chippewa offered a high-school camp for the first time which focused on leadership and was held at their camp site.

Camp in the Community ($3,000)

                This camp is a week-long day camp for children in poverty. The camp operates in partnership with a host church located in an impoverished community within the Holston Conference. A high-quality summer camp experience is offered to those who could not otherwise afford to attend summer camp.

Cedar Crest Camp ($3,000)

                The camp has a two-fold initiative including empowering immigrant faith communities in the Tennessee Conference and to inform and transform the camp culture to better serve the children of these communities. Through this initiative, children from immigrant areas were shown support, love and empowerment. Space was created to facilitate cross-cultural conversation within the camp experience to better inform staff and campers about the richness of sharing in multiple contexts of life experiences.

Don Lee Camp & Retreat Center ($3,000)

                The initiative seeks to build greater partnership and collaboration between UMC churches, local school and the AME Zion Church to strengthen, develop and renew congregations and communities in an effort to make disciples. The Voyages initiative offered camp experiences in a local church setting. The churches worked together to provide this experience to 200 children who were able to experience camp within local churches.

Go Camp NTC ($3,000)

                The camp provided camping opportunities for kids in underserved communities in North Texas which focused on faith formation, community outreach, and nature conservation. The camps were mobilized to bring the experience to communities where they would not otherwise have camp experiences and offered a way for those populations to connect with the United Methodist Church.

Lakeshore Camp & Retreat Center  ($2,000)

                The Camp Hope series is dedicated to at-risk youth from difficult, impoverished and/or minority populations. There are nine camps that focus on drug and/or alcohol abuse, anger management or sexual abuse. The funding focused on Camp Grace, which is a week-long camp for girls age 12-15 who have experienced sexual abuse.

Next Generation Ministries, the Missouri Annual Conference ($3,000)

                The initiative provided on-site camping ministries as a tool for children, youth, and young adults to encounter Christ. The camp was brought to local churches, which focused on low-income families who would have difficulty with the cost and transportation to a camp site. Local church volunteer staff help to provide one-on-one Christian mentoring and participate in reflection and discernment exercises with campers.

Pecometh Camp & Retreat Ministries ($2,000)

                The Directors’ Leadership Week develops a combination of secular and spiritual skills that develop principled Christian leaders who are prepared to serve. The program fosters a relationship between Pecometh and the local church to develop young leaders. Campers are chosen by their church with the understanding they will be placed in a position of leadership within the church in the following year.

Applications for 2019 Solomon Cramer grants are due by March 1!

View the application

"@ the Table" keynoters Beth and Travis Allison are camp pros and Canadians. How do United Methodist Camp/Retreat Leaders welcome such esteemed guests? 

With this heartfelt song, sung to the tune of "O Canada!"

O Allisons

Our friends from the True North

Teaching their ways to all camp mavericks

With each CampHacker post we see

Camp Code becomes ingrained

Their podcast shows help us make

staff trainings better than poutine!

God keep them both, awesome and free

O Allisons, we stand and clap for thee!

O Allisons, we stand and clap for thee!

Creative credit to Heather Withrow and Matt Williams.

Camp and Retreat Ministries of the Susquehanna Conference are thrilled to announce that Sam Richardson has been hired as the new Director of Camp Penn.  

Sam Richardson is from Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he grew up as an active member of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. Sam attended Edinboro University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education. After spending his summers working at Wesley Woods Camp & Conference Center during college, Sam joined the year-round staff at Wesley Woods as the Program and Marketing Director in 2013. He and his wife, Sara, met and were married in the chapel at Wesley Woods.

In 2016, Sam and Sara started the Camp to Camp project. They had both experienced the transformative power of Christian camping in their own lives and wanted to share the value of this ministry with as many people as possible. Over two years, they traveled to camps around the country, working alongside and learning from other camping professionals. They shared their experiences through a blog and YouTube channel and collected footage for a short-form documentary highlighting the amazing stories of camp. During this time, they also built a creative content business providing marketing services, design, photography, and virtual tours to camps and other nonprofits.

Sam believes that Christian camping is an amazing opportunity to offer people a safe place to explore their faith, seek answers to big life questions, and learn to trust others. Even after growing up in a Christian home, camp was the place he learned what it really meant to know Jesus and follow His path. Sam is excited to be joining the dynamic team of camping professionals and volunteers in the Susquehanna Conference and work hard to honor to legacy of Camp Penn.

Analytics 101: What They Are and Why You Should Care

by Jacob Turner, Website and Analytics Specialist, Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church

At first glance, “analytics” sounds like something that’s restricted to big corporations looking to make more money off of their products, not something that a camp or retreat center would ever need. But that’s not true! Analytics can actually be really useful to you in your work to market your camp or retreat center, as the data can tell you who your current audience is, what they’re most interested in, and what you should be putting out there to best get the word out about what you’ve got to offer. Today I’d like to take you on a brief tour of what data is, ways you can see your own data, and some good ways to make sense of it!

Which analytics are most useful for a camp/retreat center?

For a camp or retreat center, there are three sets of data analytics that are most useful: web, social media, and email. These three provide different sets of data, so here’s a sample breakdown for each one:

• Web analytics:  number of people viewing posts and pages, when/how they’re viewing them, where they’re viewing from, where they’re coming from and going to
• Social media analytics:  number of people viewing posts and liking/following the account, general information about who’s viewing them by age and gender, when they’re viewing them, where they’re viewing from
• Email analytics:  number of people reading the email or clicking links in the email, when they’re viewing them, where they’re viewing from

And while that may seem like an overwhelming amount of data, most companies actually present it in ways that help you make sense of it! What companies do that, you may ask? Well…

How can a camp/retreat center access its analytics?

A disclaimer here: I use these products personally, alongside many others, for my work with the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church. However, I don’t necessarily endorse these specific tools, and there’s a wide variety of products that you can use to get analytics for any given web/social/email platform that your camp/retreat center uses, including one big one that I’m leaving out: Google Analytics (and the reason I’m leaving it out is because it’s incredibly powerful but can be a bit tricky, especially for newcomers). However, if you’re just getting started, these are the ones that I consider quick and easy to set up.

Web Analytics: Jetpack by Automattic

This one is specific to popular content management system WordPress, but since WordPress is one of the most popular products on the web, it’s natural to include a very helpful plugin by WordPress’s creators Automattic. Jetpack does more than analytics; it’s an all-in-one plugin that allows you to do “hassle-free design, marketing, and security” through a wide variety of tools. But the site statistics are definitely one of the most useful parts of it. For example, this sample set of statistics shows us that a good number of views on our Conference website ARUMC.org came from Facebook! For more information on Jetpack, find its website at jetpack.com or its WordPress plugin page at wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack. Please note that while Jetpack is free, there are a number of paid options for it, as well, that provide enhanced features.

Social Media Analytics: Page Insights by Facebook

Of course, with Facebook being one of the largest social media networks out there, most everyone has a Facebook Page already. But have you been using “Page Insights?” This tool, part of every business Page on Facebook, allows you to access a wealth of data about your Page. Learn the most popular content, explore the demographics of your Page likes, and see how people are engaging with the content you’re putting out there! For more information on what Page Insights are and how you can use them, visit facebook.com/help/794890670645072. In addition, if your camp or retreat center uses Twitter or Instagram, you can find out how to access analytics for those platforms at  business.twitter.com/en/analytics.html and help.instagram.com/788388387972460, respectively. (Note: your Instagram account will need to be a Business Account in order for you to access your analytics on there. For more information, go to help.instagram.com/502981923235522.)

Email Analytics: Reports by Mailchimp

Finally, we come to email analytics, and with that also comes another popular platform: Mailchimp. As a platform that’s built around marketing, Mailchimp has a full-featured and robust set of tools to allow you to analyze your statistics from either overall or campaign-by-campaign, and from any number of angles including open and click rate, how people are subscribing, when they’re unsubscribing, and so on. For more information on this, go to mailchimp.com/help/about-email-campaign-reports(and if you’re using Constant Contact, you can visit knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/5562-reporting-for-an-email-campaign).

Hopefully this gives you a head start on really crunching the numbers that all of these platforms have to offer! Spend some time with the data and you’ll find it will provide you with so many ideas to consider when it comes to effectively promoting your camp or retreat ministry.

Jacob Turner is the Website and Analytics Specialist for the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church. When he’s not working, he’s a student at Hendrix College working on his Religious Studies degree and managing (and DJing on) the college’s radio station, KHDX-FM.

Recently, I found myself sitting in a camping chair in a Chick-Fil-A parking lot, cheering on a man who was a complete stranger to me a mere 12 hours before. I was chanting his name, along with 99 other strangers, as we all rallied together and watched new friends and fellow “original chicken sandwich” lovers dance and sing to songs like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Let it Go.” Later that evening I ended up participating in a bizarre game with a 5-year-old girl that involved me attempting to hula hoop whilst trying to “juggle” bean bags (okay, throw randomly) while she wore a “KanJam” barrel around her.

Chick-Fil-A opens nearly 100 new restaurants every year, and since 2003 they have been offering free Chick-Fil-A meals for a year to the first 100 people to join their “First 100 Campout.” The challenge involves staying on the restaurant grounds for up to 24 hours, not leaving the grounds (not even once), and participating in mandatory (but fun!) line checks. I have always been enamored by this idea of camping out and sleeping in a Chick-Fil-A parking lot for 24 hours to get free food for a year, so I had previously said that if a Chick-Fil-A ever opened near me, I would be one of the first in line.

Well, it finally happened. A new Chick-Fil-A opening was announced in my town and I knew I had to go. I was number 13. I arrived at 5:45 a.m. along with several other folks, got my wristband, secured my place in line, and set up my tent in the drive-thru area right in front of the menu and ordering speaker. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I brought a chair and my laptop, a few books, and several other things to occupy my time. It turns that I wouldn’t need any of those things at all! The Chick-Fil-A staff not only welcomed us and made us feel at home by using phrases like “welcome to our family,” and “we are excited to be a part of your community,” but they also had exciting community-building activities and games for us to play. There was almost no down time because in between all of the free meals and mandatory line checks we played name games, minute-to-win-it games, trivia, had scavenger hunts, dance parties, and even a lip-sync contest.

Everyone was welcomed regardless of social status or class or age or gender or background. I met mothers and fathers, the housing challenged and housed, rich and poor, students and unemployed. It didn’t matter who you were because we were all on this together and shared a common goal: free Chick-Fil-A for a year. We were all there “suffering” and “enduring” together. It was a single shared experience and we all quickly became friends and family. We became a tribe of Chick-Fil-A campers who shared meals, played games, talked about life, and even defended each other on social media after the news came, shared a story online and negative comments started rolling in.

As I was setting up a tent alongside strangers, I started to make new friends by helping them set up tents, swapping stories, sharing jokes, and even talking about Christian theology (there were a lot of seminary students there for some reason.) The whole time I kept exclaiming to my wife, “This is like camp!” – I truly felt that it was. As I thought about it, the similarities to camp became clear: we didn’t know anything about each other, we all had the same goal, we were diverse, we were in a fixed state of sabbath and retreat (limited electricity, no A/C or heat, no comfy beds) and we truly felt welcomed with the radical hospitality of this fast-food franchise’s employees. The employees would and did bend over backward for our every need – and they didn’t have to! We weren’t there to give anything, we were only there to get free chicken for a year and they treated us like we were royalty.

Chick-Fil-A’s “First 100” camp outs are, oddly, an incredible model for how to do camp. Radical hospitality and community building. Unbelievably organized. Unconditionally welcoming. Dropping a bunch of strangers from different backgrounds into a shared goal or mission is incredibly unifying and socially leveling. We were stuck together, and there was not much we could do but listen to each other, love on each other, eat with each other, and learn about each other.

We don’t have to know anything about somebody to be able to love them and to celebrate them. Every person is important to God and to the Church. At camp, we already have all we need to kindle an incredible Christian community and invoke radical hospitality. “Radical hospitality” requires intentional invitation and welcome. It requires welcoming every person as an honored guest. So let’s let people know who we are and what we value. And if it somehow involves a free chicken sandwich, even better.

Mark Walz Jr. is a life-long United Methodist Camper. He has previously worked on staff at Aldersgate Camp in Kentucky and has since then been a “permanent volunteer” working on everything from leading weeklong camps in the summer, retreats in the winter, and running the camp website and working with their communications and technology year-round. Mark and his newly-wed wife Ciara live in Lexington, KY, where he serves as the Director of Communication and Technology at St. Luke United Methodist Church. He is a type 2 on the Enneagram, the helper. As such, he is involved with volunteering for so many things, including a local community development after school Program, a secret concert series, and a monthly community personal storytelling event. Mark and Ciara will be eating a lot of chicken sandwiches this year.