What Inspires “New and Improved”!

People often say that they can’t wait to return to SpringHill to see what’s new and improved. We’ve developed a reputation for not sitting comfortably on the current state of our properties, facilities, activities and programs. So people come to our camps with anticipation.

I believe this is true because SpringHill staff live with two types of dissatisfactions. The first is we continue to have that artist’s “dissatisfaction with the present” that we inherited from our Founding Director, Enoch Olson. It’s that God-given desire to create, with the belief that there’s always room for something new that will add more beauty to the present.

The other dissatisfaction, which I’ll admit may be more closely related to the first one than I’m acknowledging, is the dissatisfaction that comes from always wanting things better, more exciting, bigger and faster. It’s driven by our desire to “wow” our campers and guests the second and third time they’re at camp, not just the first.

It’s also why I looked forward, with anticipation, to visiting our camp in Indiana last week. It’s been a few months since I last visited, and I knew there’s been a lot of good work being done by our team, all inspired by these two dissatisfactions. And I wasn’t disappointed.

I saw the improved dining hall and large group meeting area with its better acoustics and stage. Also one of our campers’ favorite activities, the “Party Barge”, went through a major renovation. Then our team’s added a giant’s swing that will propel campers high into the sky, and finally, though maybe not as exciting but just as important, we’ve added electricity to all our cabins.

So I left camp confident that our campers will not be disappointed, just as I wasn’t, when they return this summer, and see what’s new and improved.

Women’s Sacred Moments at Their Sacred Place

This past weekend was SpringHill’s first Women’s Retreat of 2012 and it was a great weekend on many levels. You see, our Women’s Retreat program, alongside Family Camp, is SpringHill’s longest running program. It’s literally a carryover from the early days when SpringHill believed it would become both a Christian conference center and a camp for kids.

But in the late 80′s and early 90′s SpringHill made the very intentional decision to focus its energy on child, teens and young adults, thus all the facilities have been design and built with young people in mind. As a result, many predicted the end of such programs as Women’s Retreats.

Well, 25 years later, Women’s Retreats continue to go strong and this past weekend highlights why. As I had lunch in the Dining Hall I listened to, and witness women, sharing with my wife Denise (our Women’s Retreat Coordinator) and Glenna Salsbury (our retreat speaker), how deeply impacted they had been by the weekend. And not just this past weekend, but many shared that SpringHill Women’s Retreat is their annual, sacred moment at their sacred place.

For example, Lisa approached Denise and I, and told us she just needed to come this retreat, she knew God was going to meet her here, so, although she couldn’t find friends to come with her, she came alone. Lisa said that as soon as she stepped on camp, God affirmed His presence and this theme of God’s nearest to her, was clear throughout the entire weekend, including through Glenna’s messages, in the breakout sessions, and in the women she met. There’s no doubt, by looking into Lisa’s eyes, she encountered Jesus in a life transforming way.

So Lisa, and so many other women, answered, in a very powerful way, why we still do Women’s Retreats at SpringHill, and why we’ll continue to do so for as long as God uses them to transform the lives of women.

Embracing All Kids

SpringHill’s very first campers were from an orphanage. These kids had no family and thus no resources to attend summer camp. But through the partnership of individuals and local churches, these kids had the opportunity to be the very first SpringHill campers ever, and for many of them to hear, see and experience Jesus Christ in a way they never have before.

So you see, from its start, SpringHill’s board and staff committed to be a place that would welcome all kinds of kids from different places and backgrounds. This is why we have one of the only inclusion programs for special needs campers in the country. It’s also why we serve kids from the city, from the suburbs, and from rural America.

It’s why when we ask students “why do you come back to SpringHill every year?” they often respond “because it’s the only place I can go and be myself, I can leave the box I’m in at home, and be accepted and loved for who I really am.”

But to SpringHill, to be a welcoming place includes assuring that no camper would ever be turned away from a SpringHill Experience for financial reasons. We want to welcome all campers, including campers who cannot afford to attend camp, just like Enoch Olson and his team did for those first campers in 1969.

It’s because we’ve stayed true to this commitment over the past four economically challenging years that we’ve seen our camper scholarships grow from $380,000 to nearly $900,000 for this upcoming summer. And just like that first summer in 1969 we’ve been thankful for the many partners who have help meet this growing need.

So, in my only ask I’ll ever make on my blog, if you’d like to help send a camper to SpringHill this summer please click here. Know that you’ll have a part in giving a young person an opportunity to be a SpringHill camper and, like those kids from the orphanage, to hear, see and experience Jesus Christ in a life changing way.

A Letter of Anticipation

I love it when we receive letters from campers telling us about their summer camp experience and thanking our staff for all they did during their visit to SpringHill. But, up until this week, we’ve never received a pre-camp letter written in anticipation of a child’s visit to camp. But, as they say, there’s a first time for everything and one of our campers, Brynn, sent such a letter to her future counselor.

In it Brynn thanked, in advanced, her future counselor for a great week, for also becoming her good friend and affirming what a great counselor Brynn knows she’ll be. It obvious Brynn’s been to SpringHill before because she knows what to expect – great staff, new influential relationships, memorable experiences and transformational moments.

I, as well as the SpringHill team, are both humbled and challenged by Brynn’s confidence in us.

The Power of Shared Experiences

In response to the question in my last post – “the beach or the mountains or somewhere else?” my good friend Tony Voisin answered “honestly wherever my family and friends are. I’d hate to be either place without them.” I love Tony’s answer because it highlights the powerful impact shared experiences have on relationships.

At SpringHill we define a shared experience as any new, challenging and adventuresome activity shared within the context of a small community of people, be it a cabin group, a family or small group of friends. It’s within this context that the building of the lasting foundations of life time relationships happen.

This is why my friend Tony wants to have these experiences with those he loves and it’s why shared experiences are integral to the SpringHill Experience. We feel so strongly about shared experiences that we assure all our campers participate in all camp activities together with their cabin groups. It’s why our ziplines have 6 or 8 lines so entire cabins can go down together. It’s why we have ropes courses that can accommodate an entire cabin and why we have small distinct and creative housing villages. We want to create shared experiences because we believe they build powerful and lasting relationships with others, and most importantly with Jesus.

Over the last few years we’ve also come to believe that these same shared experiences can create power relationship building opportunities for families. We’ve witnessed God using shared experiences to heal wounded families, lay the foundation for lifelong relationships and build families able to weather the storms that will inevitably come. As a result we’ve added additional summer family camp experiences at both our overnight camps.

So plan a family vacation or attend a SpringHill family camp this summer and create some powerful and lasting shared experiences. Your family will be stronger for it.

What I Believe to Be True!

In The Leadership Challenge the authors Kouzes and Posner recommend an exercise that helps clarify one’s vision. They recommend writing on paper “what I (we) want to accomplish” followed by asking the question why, writing down your answer, and then keeping asking why until you’ve run out of reasons. The result is an insight into your core motivations and the beliefs behind what you want to accomplish.

When I did this exercise, answering the “why” behind what we do and what we want to be at SpringHill I ended with a core set of believes that I then articulated in a form of a confession.

Though this isn’t an official SpringHill statement it does, I believe, hit at the heart of many of the reasons behind why SpringHill staff are so passionate about what we do and why we do it.

What I Believe to Be True!

1. I believe the most transformational moments in a person’s life begins with a saving faith in Jesus Christ and a vibrant, growing relationship with Him.

    

2. I believe that the most likely time for a person to have these transformational moments is when they are a child.

    

3. I believe these transformational moments in a child’s life best happen through the partnership of parents, local churches and ministries such as SpringHill.

    

4. I agree with Bill Hybles, that the local church is the hope of the world.

    

5. But I also believe that the future hope of the local church rest with children. Therefore, if we want to strengthen the local church and thus change the world, the most important thing we can all do is to focus our time, energy and resources on the spiritual development of children.

    

6. I believe that, through the partnership of people and organizations that share these same convictions, we can create more opportunities for more young people to have these transformational experiences, thus preparing them to join us in creating a better world.

    

7. Finally, I believe God has called SpringHill to create significant transformational experiences for young people where they can know and grow in their relationship with Jesus. I know this to be true because I’ve been privileged to be a part of and witness to 1000′s of young lives being transformed every year.

Kids Tell A Bible Story – David and Goliath

Another video from SpringHill Winter Retreats.  Enjoy!

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The Power of a Fresh Context

In my last post I wrote about the transformational power of a fresh voice heard in a different context. That fresh voice is an essential part of a transformational experience. But it’s the fresh voice in a new and different context that makes all the difference.

What makes a context different and thus such a powerful combination with a fresh voice?

First, a different context requires, well, getting out of an old context, even if it’s for a short time. Going away, leaving the routines and the familiar behind is the only way to step into a new context. This is why going away to camp is so powerful and transformational for kids. I’ve heard of parents doing “camp” at home for their kids. This maybe a good and fun summer activity but it can’t replace going away to camp, because it will not have the transformational power that leaving home, and going to camp, can have in a child’s life.

Second, a transformational context includes excitement, adventure, challenge, and novelty. It’s why SpringHill and so many other camps have activities such as zip lines, climbing walls, blobs and horses. These are exciting, challenging and novel activities. They’re things kids do not do in their regular, everyday life. When a child or student does something for the first time, such as scale a 40 foot climbing wall, they’re also more likely to do and make positive spiritual and life decisions for the very first time. 

The power of a fresh context is also what drives SpringHill to have something new at camp every year. People come to SpringHill expectant, expectant of something new to see or do, and thus expectant of a new and fresh perspective on life and the possibility of a different direction to take.

This is The Power of Camp, and it’s why I believe all Kids Need Camp.

What’s your camp story?

The Power of Hearing a Fresh Voice

I remember a conversation with the youth pastor from our church in Grand Rapids the day after he had taken a group of students to a big Christian concert. He said something to this effect, “whatever this musician said on stage the kids would go crazy. He would say ‘you should read your Bible everyday’ and my kids would scream and jump up and down. I don’t understand it, I’ve been telling my kids they need to be reading their Bibles, but whenever I bring it up, I just get blank stares. Why can this guy, from stage and in such a short period of time, have such a powerful voice in my students’ life?”

The answer to this amazed youth pastor is simple – there is transformational power a person experiences when they hear an often repeated message in a fresh voice, spoken in a different context.

This is why going to camp, having a camp experience, is so powerful, so life changing. At camp kids hear the same message they’ve heard repeated at home, at church or in school. But the voice is different; it’s a different person, at a different age, and many times from a different place in life speaking the same message in a totally different environment – camp.

And it breaks my heart to say this, but it’s an experience that happens so rarely in a young person’s life outside a camp experience. Why? Because there are so few experiences for kids that offer this combination of fresh voice spoken in an exciting and adventuresome context that also aligns with the voices of parents, church and school.

It’s why at SpringHill, we believe so strongly that all Kids Need Camp.

Have you experienced the Power of Camp? If so please share your story, it might encourage others to help a child have the same transformational experience this summer.

The Fall of Jericho

A great video from SpringHill’s Winter Retreats, a fun 4 minutes to begin your week with.

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