What I Learned As A Summer Camp Staffer Year 3 (Summer 2019 Recap)
Man this summer has been one of learning, growth and faith.
I remember the two weeks leading up to summer wishing I was already at camp. I was ready to be around my friends and wanted to do something besides make youtube videos for hours.
If I’m being honest I don’t really remember much from the start of the summer besides being really glad that they put the staff girls who only had one roommate all in one cabin at the beginning of the summer. It gave us all a chance to bond before camps started and made it easier to hangout with each other later in the summer. I don’t know if I would have gotten as close to one of my best friends this summer had we not had that time together.
One of my favorite things I get to do over the summer is be on Team Rec. This summer I ran dodge ball, which is my favorite games to be in charge of. Each group that comes to my game has about 20 to 15 students and so my job in the mornings is to explain the game as clearly and quickly as possible, to each group of 40 or 30 students and made sure the game runs smoothly. Then when time is up I’ll send them to their next game and repeat. We have 3 rotations and the last rotation we lead in a devotional. I always like to tell a story for my devotionals because stories capture people’s attention and make them want to listen. Especially because it can be hard to get the attention of a group of teenagers with all the distractions of being around friends, nature, etc. But whenever I tell a story verses a simple one line bible verse. The entire group gets quiet, they listen and the distractions of the things happening around us very rarely draw their attention. They are able to focus on the short story and the point I’m trying to get across. After the devo I pray and dismiss the groups for lunch. Rec is one of the best parts of my day during our student camps.
A really cool moment this summer happened during our night event called Extended Worship. This is a time to respond to God and it’s an opportunity for us to show the students that worship isn’t always about music. One of the nights I was holding open a door to one of our stations as I stood there I just prayed for God to use me at that station. As soon as I finished I kid you not. Less than a minute later a girl came up to me crying and hugged me. I talked to her and prayed for her. When she walked away I said “Okay, God I see you.”
That same night a long time friend’s little sister came up to me and said her friend needed a hug. Her friend was crying and when I asked what’s up she just said “God is real!” I gave her a hug and said. “Yes, he is!” This little interaction means so much to me because as a student I had the exact same realization at Camp Zephyr. The entire reason I wanted to work at a staff member was to help create that exact experience for others. God showed me that night just how he can you use you when you submit yourself to him. Thanks to this summer my faith has grown from the two stories I just shared as well as from things like my personal devotional I went through in my quiet time.
My favorite program camp we run during the summer is Kids Camp by far. It doesn’t hurt that I get to be a Maniac (A.K.A. a color team mascot.) For that job I help lead the kids in worship, we run games on stage as well as play a few ourselves, and we get to hangout with the kids in the afternoon. Normally our groups have about 100 kids and it’s our job to help keep the groups on time and to lead them to their next station.
One of the sweetest moments this summer was when one of my Orange team girls was telling me about how during worship she started crying and accepted Christ as her savior this year and how she was going to get baptized when she got home. I feel so honored to get the chance to see first hand what God is doing in kids lives and that he used me this summer to help create a safe place for these kids find him.
This summer was honestly great I got to build amazing friendships with so many people who were on staff with me. I know these relationships will last for years to come! I don’t know if God will have me go back next summer but I do know I would go back in a heart beat.
Leave a Reply