I Was Once a Camp Counselor

I understand that the above statement is not that rare of an assertion. Many of us were camp counselors for a stint in high school or college. For about 10 years, people have been throwing around the statistic that 75% of ELCA church leaders got their ministry "start" in camping ministry. Since I am a churchy person and many of my friends are pastors or church leaders, many of us have had some experience with a camp.

Working at a summer camp is a wonderful experience. The pay is low, but they make up for it by feeding and housing you all summer. Usually, the camp staff can get really close and create a special bond. In my experience, I worked at the same camp that I attended as a kid. In fact, I'm one of those kids who goes from being a camper to a sr. high volunteer to SIT to counselor to program coordinator. I climbed the camping ladder, as it were.

When I was the program coordinator, my best friend was the waterfront director and health-care coordinator. She and I have remained close, even though she has moved to SD to live with her husband. We also were joined by another friend who was the worship/music coordinator. The three of us made the Triumvirate (we decided that calling ourselves the Trinity was a little too sac religious). I don't like to brag, but we were good. We kept the camp running. We were entertaining. We all had different gifts that worked well together. It was a good time.

Fast forward about 10 years, and I'm finding out what's wrong with this. We can't seem to see a camp staff without evaluating how good they are. Just yesterday, I talked to my former-health care/waterfront director friend. She now does youth ministry at a church in SD. She left me a depressed message, because her church has a day camp led by a local camp. The called me to tell me they were lifeless. They had no flow or order to what they were doing. It's like they were making it up off the top of their heads. I attempted to talk her through the experience, but I have to admit that I was also frustrated. It seems that these staff had no energy and no plan for how to get through the week.

I say this as I'm preparing to go back to my camp for a few days. They have created a Fine Arts Camp, and I was invited to be a resource person. Another close friend is coordinating the camp, and she's stressing out about it a bit. I'm not sure why so many outsiders are running this camp, but I'm looking forward to pretending that I'm just a simple college student who has chosen to work at this camp for the summer. Of course, it won't be the same. You can't go back. But I want to.