DON’T PANIC!

It all started with coffee. A few years ago I was introduced to Fair Trade coffee and tea and excitedly got on the bandwagon, doing my part to save Earth and her people. For some reason I stopped there, content that I was doing my part. So it rocked my world when a wonderful college-age intern introduced me to the horrors of chocolate production, including slavery, child labor, kidnapping, injuries from unsafe working conditions, and worse. As I made changes in my life to embrace only Fair Trade chocolate, my mind began to wonder,"is there more?”

The Theology of Ecology certification course brought together a great deal for me and broke my heart as I faced the enormity of the environmental and social justice issues before us in today’s world. I became overwhelmed as I tried to figure out steps of action in my own life, and encouraged others to make changes and learn more. My heart broke all over again as friends and family chose to bury their heads in the sand rather than (gasp) give up daily chocolate, make changes in their purchasing habits, etc.  

“Don’t Panic” is the opening line in the introduction of Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson. This is a practical guidebook for beginners and more long-term eco-justice folks. In individual chapters, Clawson explores the whys and wherefores of seven areas of our lives where we can begin to make changes for a more just world.  

What is fair trade?  What do we mean by justice?  What has it all got to do with me?  These questions and so many more were on my heart and mind as I began my journey.  I’ll try to give you the answers and process I’ve been working on for quite a few years now.  It’s a continual journey of growth, challenge, change,--repeat!  

Coffee, chocolate, clothing, and many more things we use on a daily basis are typically produced in foreign countries by people (often children) forced to work inhumanely long hours under horrific conditions.  It’s all in the name of cheap products that folks in the West gobble up with great delight. Fair Trade products help to insure that the item we are purchasing is produced by a person working under decent conditions and getting a living wage.

Yes, these products can cost more. But what is the price of human decency?  What is the price of a child’s life?  If my purchasing habits can help make a change in one person’s life, or a family, or a village, isn’t it imperative that I make those changes?  For so many years, I was content to donate funds to organizations dealing with the very issues I was causing by my own behavior!  Now, with the knowledge that I have, I must make daily decisions about what I buy and where.  

I see justice as very simply the practical result of loving God and loving others. We must seek the well-being of all people and creatures on Earth, and justice for our Earth as well.  We are created to live our lives gently upon Earth and to impact in a positive way the lives of those who share our fragile planet.

My decisions have impacted my ministry, and in turn the lives of the children, youth, and leaders who participate in our camping program. Each day of camp, we focus on one social/environmental justice issue.  We now have meatless Mondays. No chocolate is served during camp unless it is Fair Trade. We compost all food waste, weighing a bucket of scraps after each meal and discussing our waste producing system.  Turning the water off when washing hands, brushing teeth, etc., are simple ways to teach participants how to conserve our most precious commodity on earth. Turning off lights and turning up the A/C gives us the chance to discuss mountaintop removal to produce coal for our comfort. Visiting the chickens opens up dialogue about factory farming and the inhumane treatment of animals and humans in our food system.  It’s surprising how transforming these simple programs can be.  

Personally, I’ve become ever more aware of the environmental and social impact my every decision has on the world around me. Buying local, shopping at Fair Trade stores (many are found online), exploring options for environmentally- and humanely-produced clothing, challenging myself to do without instead of purchasing items from abusive systems. It has ceased to be a burden and become a “game” as I explore how I can live well while improving the lives of others.  

As excited as I have become about issues of eco-justice, I’ve learned that I cannot force others into behavior changes. Knowledge is powerful. When you know something, you are spurred into action. Your beliefs will form your actions, which are a visible witness to others around you. I’ve become the “geek” in the group now, learning that I can educate, share, and challenge; but I must then let God turn hearts and lives around in His time.  

I pray you will join me in working to make our world a better place for all her inhabitants.  

Resources for a Better World

“Building Better Boards” was the focus of the Sustainable Pathways training at the Florida Life Enrichment Center April 4-6.   With a large new class of Trustees and a recent success in a grassroots fundraising effort, the Blue Lake Board was primed for this opportunity to experience the high quality training available through our camping network.  Although I have attended many conferences and trainings over the years, this was a first for two board members who traveled with me.  I was eager for them to meet other camp professionals and volunteers, and to experience the strong relationships we develop in this ministry.  The retreat gave them a great perspective on the vital part the Board plays in our camp and its mission.  

Here’s what one of them had to say:

“The Sustainability Retreat helped me formulate my mission on the Board of Trustees of Blue Lake Assembly.  I feel better equipped to refocus my energy and talents toward long range planning instead of involvement in day-to-day activities, which are the responsibility of the staff instead of the board. The friendships and contacts made during this retreat will be extremely helpful as we all face issues in sustaining our camping ministry in the United Methodist Church.” - Elizabeth Sandoe, Board Member

The event design team did a great job scheduling important training by Rev. Dan Hotchkiss and making time available for (always significant!) one-on-one and small group interaction.

Rev. Hotchkiss’s experience with camps and churches of all sizes gave each participant the feeling that plenty of resources are available that will apply to their situation.  Large and small camp representatives including staff, Board members, and volunteers had opportunities to review their own practices, listen to the successes and challenges of others, and discuss possible solutions among experienced colleagues.

The discussions on time management in board meetings brought a lot of comments as everyone seemed to be seeking ways to be good stewards of time, and to stay on task for the issues needing attention.  The process of using a consent agenda was well-received and discussed at length, as it would appear many groups struggle with the issue of staying within a time frame and giving balance time to all the issues at meetings.

One common concern seemed to be boards’ abilities to delegate management issues to staff with clear guidance so that the board can focus most of its attention on longer-term strategic challenges and opportunities.  Having a yearly calendar for board responsibilities seemed such a simple yet important tool.  

As always, the devotion time and worship, along with time for personal reflection and rest, focused attendees on the  important perspective of our ministry as a part of God’s work in the church.

Pages of notes, a long list of reference folks and resources, and a renewed sense of commitment came home with us, and I’m excited to see this retreat as the foundation for new focus and continuing growth in our board and our ministry.

Recommended resources:

• www.boardsource.org

• www.danhotchkiss.com/publications

• Reinventing Your Board: A Step By Step Guide to Iimplementing Policy Governance by John Carver

Phyllis Murray has shared her gifts of hospitality and connection in camping and retreat ministry since 1994 at Potosi Pines in Las Vegas, and recently at Blue Lake Assembly in Alabama. As she anticipates retiring in June, she looks forward to visiting family and friends, and volunteering in areas that hold her passion.

(Originally published at EricDingler.com)

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS SPECIFIC FOR SEASONAL SUMMER CAMP STAFF:

• Develop an organizational structure of your staff so no person, including the camp director, has more than 6 direct reports.
• Build time into each day of training for supervisors to meet with the team they lead.
• Require your supervisors to perform one-on-one evaluations with everyone on their team starting in week one.
• Utilize the Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. (I lead a workshop called, The Love Languages Go To Camp if you’d be interested in that)
• Prior to camp, create agendas for meetings your supervisors will have with the teams they support. The agenda should start the meeting with a time of sharing and conversation to strengthen trust. Then, have the agenda guide the meeting through the camp’s core values. For example, our first core value is Safety First. Our first agenda question, “Does anyone have any safety concerns?” We do this with every core value. (Check out my post on this topic)
• Assign sleeping accommodations to resident staff so supervisors and the staff they support don’t sleep in the same space.
• Model well. More is caught than is taught.
• Train both ends of leadership. The leading and the following.
• Bring in returning staff 24 hours before new staff. Bring them up to speed on changes. Get all of the “but we’ve always done it that way” out of their systems. I also give out assignments of who will be leading what during training. I require all supervisors to lead one thing during training and encourage all other returning staff to do the same.
• On the first night of all staff training, cook together. We use a menu with lots of different items that need prepped. Individual Pizzas with all kinds of toppings, taco bar, pasta bar, fondu etc. While everyone is cutting veggies, rolling dough, making sauce etc…the are free to talk. Check out my post on Distracted Listening to see why this is effective. In the past we have also created scavenger hunts and hid the ingredients all over camp. This accomplished a camp tour for new staff at the same time. You can do this with a large staff. We’ve done this type of activity with up to 50 people. Our summer staff is around 30.
• Play lots of games in the first 24 hours. This both teaches games to lead with campers, but it develops the staff as a group.
• I ask returning staff not to tell stories of “last summer” at least until day 3 of training. I don’t want to create false expectations for the new staff based on stories they hear without context. Also, new staff can feel overwhelmed with the idea that they are never going to be part of “this place”.

TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS SPECIFIC FOR SUPERVISORS:

• Have each supervisor write a letter to each staff member they support. The letter is to be given to the staff member at the end of summer. It should include promises and goals about the kind of leader the supervisor wants to be.
• I avoid the low ropes course during training my supervisors. They’ve all been through it. And, most of them are trained facilitators by this point.
• Make training hands on and active as much as possible. Telling isn’t training.
• Read my comment about the popcorn kernel experiment I gave in reply to a question on a previous post.

 

ACTIVITIES:

EVERYONE HAS A PART

I use this to introduce the training session on leading and following.

• Have each small team (the supervisor and the staff they support) work together on this.
• Give each group a box or two of dominos.
• Give them 10 minutes to create a domino design using anything they want located within the space you are training in. Encourage them to think of having one domino knock down two, using different heights, incorporating an incline, etc.
• After 10 minutes (or less if they finish early) have each group watch each masterpiece unfold.
• Now, the conversation can go forward. Here are some questions you can ask.

1. Did every domino have a role to play?
2. What would have happened if I would have removed specific dominos from your sequence?
3. What would have happened if 1 one domino would have “decided” to fall sideways instead of in the direction it was encouraged to go?
4. ?? What Question Would You Ask ?? Please comment below.

 COFFEE TALK

• In an empty coffee container, place several pieces of paper with fun questions and quick activities.
• At the start of various training sessions, meals or meetings, pull one of the pieces out.
• Have everyone answer the question or do the activity as a group.
• Suggestions:
  • What superpower do you wish you had and why?
  • Who is someone famous from history (fiction or nonfiction) that you would want to have dinner with and why? What would you order?
  • Everyone write a note of encouragement to the person on your left.
  • Write letters of appreciation to the kitchen and maintenance staff.
  • ?? What Suggestions Do You Have ?? Please, comment below

 THE WELL DRESSED STAFFER

• On the ground, place two pieces of newsprint. Each one large enough for a person to lay on and be traced around.
• Now you have two silhouettes. Label one as “Leader” and the other as “Follower”.
• Have the teams “dress” and equip each “person”. Everything they draw on the paper has to represent a quality they agree a person should have and demonstrate to be successful at leading and following.
  • For example, a hat could represent everything happens under the covering of truth. Hiking boats represents that a leader should manage by walking around, supervision from observation.
• If you are a Christian camp, you could also reference the Armor of God as a scriptural example of this activity.
• Conversations questions you can use:
  • Is there anyone on our staff that only ever serves in one of these capacities the entire season? The answer here should be no.  If they staff bring up a position explore that role to discover the times when the person is in each category.
  • What do you feel is the most important character trait on the leader?  The follower?
  • Aren’t good followers really being good leaders when they follow well?
  • ?? What Question Would You Ask?? Please, comment below.

ACTION STEPS:

• Write down a specific goal you have relating to your supervisory staff for the upcoming camp season
• Subscribe to Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast
  
• Subscribe to Michael Hyatt’s Podcast: This Is Your Life
  
• Read The 5 Languages of Appreciation In The Workplace
  

 

 

United Methodist Camp and Retreat Ministries has seven foundations that lay the groundwork for all we do. These range from providing intentional places apart to encounter God, to developing Christian leaders, and inspiring guests toward love and justice. (View all Seven Foundations.) These foundations were evident as over 75 camp leaders from around the West from Southern California to Colorado and Alaska, gathered at Camp Magruder in Rockaway Beach, Oregon from March 10-13, 2014. Camp directors, board members, maintenance staff, kitchen managers, program directors, volunteers, workshop presenters and more came together for a time of retreat, learning, and fellowship.

Whether a ministry is separately incorporated or functions under the umbrella of an Annual Conference, it is a safe assumption that they fall into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s exempt non-profit status 501(c)(3), exempting them from federal income tax. This status is also a ticket to accessing technology for free or at greatly discounted prices.

FREE:

Google Apps for Nonprofits

As a registered and recognized 501(c)(3) organization, you are eligible to receive for free a group of premium Google services for which a for-profit business would pay $50 per user, per year.

Collaboration is made easy through Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. Google Drive is cloud-based storage that allows you to store and share files seamlessly. Your Google Drive and Gmail account share 30GB of storage. Google also allows you to provide customized URLs. In other words, you can provide your staff and volunteers with a simple domain name to access their applications, e.g., mail.umcrm.org. For MS Outlook aficionados, there is a plug-in that allows for seamless integration. Click for Outlook Sync for Google Apps 

Google Apps for Nonprofit members also receive access to:

•   YouTube - An enriched version that allows users to customize the look and feel of their channel, and place Call-to-Action overlays directly on their videos.

•   Google Earth - Free licensing for Google Earth Pro and Maps API for Business.

•   Google Ad Grants - Google Ad Grants is the nonprofit edition of AdWords, Google's online advertising tool. Google Ad Grants empowers nonprofit organizations, through $10,000 per month in in-kind AdWords advertising, to promote their missions and initiatives on Google search result pages.

Google Analytics is a product that is available for free outside of the Google for Nonprofits program. Google Analytics tracks how people find and interact with information on your website. This data can be very important when making strategic decisions regarding a web presence. Click for more information on Google Analytics.

Vertical Response

Vertical Response provides easy, fast, and measurable e-mail marketing services.

Eligible 501(c)(3) organizations receive 10,000 free email credits at the start of each month. It’s a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ system, so credits will expire at the end of that month. Additional credits can be purchased at a 15% discount.

DreamHost

DreamHost offers a free hosting plan to non-profit, charitable organizations registered in the United States. This discount applies to a single hosting plan per non-profit, hosted within only one account, for US-based 501(c)(3) organizations.

DISCOUNTS:

Tech Shop Ministries

Tech Shop Hardware Partners provides discounted computer hardware for United Methodist churches and ministries. Current partnerships include HP, Dell, CDW, and Apple. Individual camps and retreat centers are able to leverage the same discounted rates large nonprofit organizations enjoy by purchasing products as a group. For example, a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and three years of AppleCare cost $2,118.00 purchased through the Tech Shop Ministries portal. Fair Market Price: $2,348.00. This represents a 10% discount. This may not sound like a lot, but a 10% discount from Apple is almost unheard of. In addition to the discount, Apple makes it relatively easy for non-profits to avoid paying sales tax. Believe it or not, Apple requires you to fax a copy of your state sales tax exemption certificate (if applicable) to them. Analog fax is the only way they will currently accept this document.

Techsoup

Techsoup offers generously discounted or donated software to the nonprofit community. The eligibility for discounts and donations is calculated by each donor. Eligibility will vary depending on a number of factors including program budget and whether or not the donor considers faith-based organizations to be “Charitable.” Late in 2013, Microsoft announced that faith-based 501(c)(3) organizations are now eligible for discounted pricing through Techsoup. Faith-based organizations were previously exempt from receiving discounted software.

Techsoup pricing example:  Microsoft OneNote 2013

Fair Market Price: $111.00   Techsoup Price: $4.00   Discount: 96%!

Ian Hall lives with his wife Laura (whom he met at camp!) and their two children, Elliot (6) and Nolan (2), in Bloomington, Indiana. Ian serves as the Associate Director of Financial Services for the Indiana Conference and volunteers his time as the Treasurer for UMCRM. He also maintains his camp cred through backpacking, youth missions, and other camp-y pursuits.

We're coming out of the worst economic times since the Depression.  The church certainly needs to hit the reset button in a lot of areas.  Happily, we have the opportunity to fund ministries that share our Wesleyan heritage with young generations and new and changing populations, creating a bright future for the church we love. Camp and retreat ministries, supported in key areas, can leverage the gifts of focus and intention to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

1.  Camperships: Inclusion in Action. The middle class is shrinking and the wealth gap is growing. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty more than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.  To de-fund camping could make it a ministry that only serves those who can afford it, and it becomes an exclusive, elite experience.

2.  Outreach: Marketing Beyond the Local Church.  The Millennials are the generation least interested in the church in U.S. history.  They are the next group of parents with camper-aged kids. Our traditional camper population has come out of Sunday schools and youth programs, which in many places are shrinking and disappearing, but the kids are still out there in our communities. Many non-churched families want their kids to have some spiritual roots and foundation without the perceived baggage some see in the institutional church. A well-presented Christian camp experience can meet this felt need in an attractive way, providing exposure to God’s good news and faith formation opportunities for those outside the church. We miss a big part of our call when we only market camp to children and youth who are already in church.

3.  Spiritual Food for Hungry Adults.  Adults are still looking for spiritual nourishment, but are less and less interested in church membership.  Marketing our retreats beyond the local church into our communities is another opportunity for outreach to a generation not interested in institutions.

4.  Leadership Development for Young Adults. Many of our church leaders have come out of summer camp staff experiences: Deacons, Elders, and even Bishops. How many more of our good laity are strong leaders because of volunteering and working at church camp?  Underwriting young adult roles for the summer at your camps gives them a couple of weeks of solid leadership training and a summer of practical experience in mentored relationships.  In some Conferences, our camping ministries have more contact with young adults than any other ministry.

5.  Opportunities for Ethnic Families.  The Hispanic population is the fastest-growing population in the U.S., and we're very close to having children of color be the majority in the U.S.  Offering events like confirmation retreats where parents can accompany their kids can build relationships of trust, making it easier to send their kids to camp on their own later.  Non-white kids will be the future majority population in our country.  As we find ways to welcome them, grow them into leadership, and let go of the reins, our denomination will have a renewed future that better reflects the changing face of our country.

Jim Parkhurst, an ordained Deacon in the UMC, serves as Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries for the Detroit Annual Conference and Vice Chair of the UMCRM Association. We're amazed that Jim has spare time, but he sings in church and community choirs, travels internationally on adventures involving spiritual pilgrimage and/or skydiving, and eagerly consumes literature, Kentucky basketball, weather forecasts, and ice cream.

Are you Pinterested? If not, you might want to consider adding Pinterest to your social media strategies. Pinterest ranks second only to Facebook for driving people to your website, according to a study from Fall 2013. Pinterest is essentially a public bulletin board where you can post anything that interests you. In the case of your camp, this could include anything from current projects to wish lists and everything in between. Pinterest allows users to organize pins into “boards.” These boards are best used to group your ideas into areas of interest to potential audiences. Don’t limit your scope to just campers and potential campers. Try to think about all the different groups that interact, or you would like to interact, with your ministry. Potential donors? Prospective summer staff? Parents? Here are a few boards you might consider setting up under your camp or retreat center’s account:

• Camp Activities To Try at Home

• Local Church “Camp Night” or “Camp Sunday” Activities

• Local Points of Interest (close to camp)

• Preparing for Camp

• Retreat Ideas

• Services and Programs

• Signs and Structures around your Site

• Staff Profiles

• Wish Lists (for volunteers or donations)

Your ministry needs its own boards, separate from your personal accounts. Make sure to use account and board headings to provide detail about who you are (as a ministry) and what you do. Updating your boards at least once a month will help them show up in Pinterest’s version of the “news feed” for potential campers and friends.

Sometimes keeping up with social media can be daunting, but it pays dividends for your camp. Keep it fun and fresh!

Heather Withrow serves as the Director of Camping and Outdoor Ministries for the West Virginia Annual Conference. When she's not working, um...she's a Camp Director, so never mind. She sometimes spends time on Pinterest, but we promise it’s for Camp, so she’s still working.

Some ideas from around Pinterest:

Program Directors may want to check out: 

10 Pinterest Pins I Tried This Summer at Camp

A general summer camp board anyone can contribute to: 

BEST OF: Summer Camp Ideas

Camp Wightman (CT) has a great collection of boards: 

Camp Wightman - A Christian Summer Camp

Check out Camp Deerhorn, (WI)’s What People Are Saying About Our Camp board, or another one showcasing their camp’s Activities

Usually with A/V equipment, you get what you pay for. That’s true with microphones, and especially wireless systems. So we were skeptical when we read the reviews of this inexpensive GTD system. However, after a weekend of heavy use, both with the wireless headsets and handheld mics, I would recommend this system to most camp and retreat centers.

The system is not professional grade. It’s not a replacement for $600 wireless microphones. However, for average camp use, it’s a good, inexpensive option. The headsets are also surprisingly comfortable and stay on even when you're leading active songs and games.

Amazon also offers a very inexpensive 2-year drops and spills warranty, which is a must for the camp world! And you can purchase additional headset packs or wireless handheld units for a small fraction of the cost of most mics.

They aren’t perfect – we had to do some tweaking on our sound board, especially when we passed the mics among different people. We still have more tweaking to do; but we are definitely not sending them back!

Grab a piece of steel wool. Rub it on the top of your hand every day for a week. That’s how camp feels to some kids. Their brains are scraped raw and on fire.  Camp’s not supposed to feel like that! But how can we ease the pain if we don’t know campers are hurting?

Kids are good at keeping secrets. And parents are good at helping them. In 30 years of being a camp counselor, director and volunteer, I’ve probably heard more about bedwetting issues than I have about learning or processing disorders. After all, you can’t hide a wet bed, but you can hide, at least for a short time at camp, other disabilities. When your child begs you to PLEEEEEZE not tell the counselor she doesn’t read well (in fact freaks out if asked to read aloud), it’s hard not to go along. Maybe no one will ever notice.

Then there are the issues parents don’t themselves know, but that can make life at camp difficult. Steve Grcevich’s “Barriers to Inclusion” article discusses hidden disabilities and church life, which inspired me to reflect about camp. Surely with all that outdoor space and low adult-to-camper ratios, we’ve got it covered? Nope. And we’re not totally to blame. Again, secrets. And shame. Often the only clue is the camper doesn’t come back.

We must start the inclusion process before anyone even gets to camp. Address the issue of hidden disabilities openly in your promotional materials and in welcome letters. Parents of these kids are often terrified when they send their child to camp. They are on edge all week wondering how it’s going. Demonstrating right up front that your camp cares and inviting additional data may reassure parents and yield more information. Ask parents specific questions on health forms or forms for counselors. Noise and lights bother your child? Likes to read? Needs an hour of quiet every day to function well? Gets upset when plans change? Anything your child would be embarrassed if other campers knew?

Address the issue with campers and ask the same questions. I had one staff person born with a very small thumb. She used that every week to show how some things are obvious, like her thumb, and some are hidden, but that we’re really all the same. “We want you to tell us what you need to make this week great.” Campers were fascinated. And they were completely open with her, even in large groups, about what made them uncomfortable or what they were afraid people might discover about them.

Teach staff and counselors to be observant and to notice when a camper is uncomfortable. Linguistically-oriented Bible studies are a dreaded part of the day for a child with a reading disability or anxiety disorder. A child with a social communication disorder may find get-acquainted games, especially name games, terrifying. That 13-year-old who always forgets to pack his towel in his shower bag? A child with ADHD or specific learning disorder may truly not remember, even if you reminded the group what to pack. A light hand on his shoulder (if he tolerates touch)may help, or a suggestion that everyone imagine his bag and then each item as you list it. Worship or group singing may overload a child with a sensory processing disorder. Consider providing a designated quiet place at cabins or campsites or in your worship space, where no one can talk to the person in it. That could be a piece of heaven to some campers.

Use training materials that allow counselors to experience life from the perspective of campers. We tend to assume people experience the world like we do, and if someone behaves differently, it’s because of a character flaw - psychologists call this “fundamental attribution error.” We attribute people’s behavior to their character instead of to their situation, in this case how their brain or the rest of the body works. We need training on those hidden disabilities if we’re going to avoid making assumptions. We don’t think someone in a wheelchair is lazy for not running to the dining hall, but just assume a camper is bossy and irritating with her demands that we stick to the schedule, rather than seeing the signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Seek expert help and training from school professionals and mental health professionals who specifically work with children with hidden disabilities. Pull in parents of children with hidden disabilities and let them tell counselors what it’s like from their perspective. Finally, consider adding a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to your camp library. The new version is well organized and easy to read, and can be a great source when a parent shares a diagnosis and staff would benefit from knowing more.

Recently, the 2013 National Camp Executives Gathering discussed ministering to “those in society who many times just get passed by” and the necessity of changing whom we’re reaching as camp and retreat ministries of the United Methodist Church. If we want to move forward in that direction, we need to expand our understanding to actively include campers with hidden disabilities. Dream big.

Jackie Cordon was certified in Camp and Retreat Ministries in the United Methodist Church in 2004 and was a camp and retreat center director in Iowa and New York for 14 years. She is also the parent of four children who did their best to give her experience with hidden disabilities. Currently finishing a master’s degree in clinical counseling, Jackie owns an editing business and serves camp and retreat ministries as a volunteer in the Iowa Conference.

As most of you know, United Methodist Camp & Retreat Ministries (UMCRM) formed a member Association in 2013. This year we’ll experience our first Board elections under the new system, so we want to be certain that all of our Members, un-renewed Charter Members, and potential Members are aware of the process. One significant difference from our former system is that the elected UMCRM Board is responsible for the governance of the Association. The Board does not plan the bi-annual National Gathering. That event is organized by a separate, illustrious Design Team of volunteers coordinated by the Event Chair, an officer elected by the Board.

The most important piece we want to emphasize is that **Only UMCRM Members are eligible to vote in elections or run for Board of Directors**.  

The South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ) has one Board position to be filled immediately, so we are planning to hold an election this Spring. Several other jurisdictions will need to hold elections in the Fall to fill seats vacated by Directors completing their terms in January 2015. All elections will be held electronically to allow for inclusive participation.

During the transition from the National Camp & Retreat Committee to UMCRM, it became clear that a consistent election process across all jurisdictions was a top priority. Our new bylaws reflect this. Accordingly, we will use the following timeline:

• Members must be notified of an election 90 days before the date voting will close. At that time, interested persons have 30 days to submit the one-page candidate form.

• No less than 30 days prior to the close of voting, an email will be sent to eligible Members in the candidate’s jurisdiction with the slate of candidate profiles and the link to cast a vote.

• Notification of election results will be mailed out promptly after the close of the 30-day voting period.

Interested in serving on the UMCRM Governance Board?

1. The first step is to confirm your membership.  Click to access member website.

2. Next, review the Board Member Job Description.

3. Fill out the Candidate Application Questions, and submit by email to info@umcrm.org at least 60 days prior to the election date for your jurisdiction.

4. Watch your email for notice of the election, and be sure to vote by the deadline.

If you’re a Bundle Administrator for your Center or Conference, please check your member list. If you’ve not yet filled all of your eligible spots (4 individuals for Camps, 7 for Conferences), you’re encouraged to do so, as each of your designated members can run for office, vote, and receive member discounts. Make the most of your membership!  Additional Members are $75, beyond those included with your base membership. If you need assistance editing your member bundle, I am glad to help.

Please contact me (Jen Burch, your friendly Registrar) with any questions on this process.Thanks for your support of the UMCRM Association!