Category: Student Ministry

Burnout in 3 Easy Mistakes

Fresh out of college, I scored a killer job as a high school youth pastor at a church of 1,500.  I went hard.  I built an impressive senior high ministry.  Nearly everyone in the church was happy with my work.  And yet, five years later I was completely done.  Toast.  Burnt out.  How did I do it?  It really only took three mistakes…

THE ME SHOW

My church hired me to do ministry, so that’s what I did.  I led worship, taught twice a week, counseled students, organized and led trips, events, and retreats and even kept the budget.  Along the way, I discovered that I’m pretty good at most of these skills.  Partly because it was the expectation of the church and partly because I’m a control freak, I continued to personally do everything for years.

I’m convinced that my biggest mistake was not empowering others to do the work of ministry.  I was terrible at developing and equipping volunteers.  My unwillingness to empower others for meaningful roles directly led to my burnout.

KEEPING BUSY

I came into ministry thinking that a full schedule of programs, events and trips was a sign of a healthy ministry.  I now believe the opposite.  My first student ministry consisted of three weekly programs, events twice a month, 2 retreats and 3 mission trips per year.  Maybe this would have been OK if I had delegated the leadership of a few of these elements to someone else…but I didn’t.  I planned, organized and led all of these things myself for 5 years.

Looking back I can’t believe I survived as long as I did.  I also can’t believe that someone didn’t pull me aside and say, “Slow down buckaroo!”  Either way, I kept an insane schedule for 5 years and then crashed.  I’ve learned that sustainability is a key concept for longevity.

KEEP IT INSIDE

I am convinced that many youth pastors burnout and become bitter because they mishandle conflict.

There have been times in my career in which I encountered conflict—not a shocker.  But here was my problem:    Instead of going directly to the people that I had issues with, I took my frustrations to my “bitter bubble”.  You know what I’m talking about—that safe place where you back up the dump truck of resentment and let it fly.

I felt like I was protecting work relationships and doing my church a favor by not introducing conflict but truthfully I was doing them and myself a huge disservice.

Conflict, when handled with maturity is always good.  It sharpens vision and actually builds trust and confidence.  Confrontation, handled well, is a gift that provides us with the opportunity to evaluate and grow.

Because I was afraid to handle conflict with confidence and maturity I became bitter—this is what happens in the bitter bubble.  Over time, this led to insurmountable misunderstanding and resentment that never should have existed in the first place.

IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL

So, if you want to stay in ministry for a good long while, I have 3 tips:

  1. Empower and delegate
  2. Stick to a sustainable schedule
  3. Be honest with your frustrations—do not participate in a bitter bubble!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing Our Newest LifeLine Staff

I have big news!  I am so excited to announce that we have hired Kirk Bierens as our Knapp Street High School Pastor.  I’m so pumped about this that I can barely contain myself.  Kirk and I have been friends for years.  I couldn’t be happier that he’s joining the LifeLine team.

For those of you who don’t know Kirk, I’d like to introduce you to him and share why I’m so excited that he’s joining the LifeLine team.  Here you go.

FEARLESSLY FUN

Fortunately for LifeLine, Kirk never exactly grew up.  When society told him to calm down, chill out and sit down in a lazy chair he went snowboarding.  He’s never slowed down and is still incredibly fun.  Earlier this summer, Kirk joined up as a cabin leader at Camp LifeLine and brought it strong.  His cabin was named “Kung-Fu Panda” and he showed up with a 6 ft. replica.  I’m pretty sure there was even a string that produced Jack Black’s voice attached to it.

Kung fu

After camp, when most of us were nearly in a coma, Kirk was going on about how he and his buddies were going to build a raft, float down the Grand River from Grand Rapids to Lake Michigan and then sink it in the big lake.  Who is this guy?

I love that Kirk is fun.  He’s got that crazy edge—He’ll do anything.  I’m sort of thinking of using him as a stuntman for our LifeLine videos.  I love bringing his kind of energy to the LifeLine team.  I never want to get stale or boring and I’m pretty sure Kirk is incapable of either.

THE BEARD

the beard

Quite simply, you just have to fear the beard.  A few months ago, Kirk and his buddies registered for a trail marathon.  You have to be hard to run one of these.  It’s such a manly run that they decided to forgo shaving until after the run.  Respect.

GENEROSITY

As a friend, Kirk has always been incredibly generous to me and my family.  A few years back, my family went through what we now call “the year of poverty.”  It’s a long story but basically everything went wrong.  During this year, Kirk hooked me up with a moonlighting job in his painting business.  We painted a beauty school–no joke.  I’d work at the church until 4 or 5 and then paint with Kirk until 2am.  The thing is, I’m a terrible painter and I’m pretty sure he and his real crew had to fix my mistakes but his generosity during our time of need helped us get through a hard time.

Later that same year, he showed up at my house with a free washer and dryer that we still use.  Did I mention that he’s generous?

FAMILY FIRST

I love Kirk’s family.  He has one of those families that you just love to watch because their interactions are so authentic and loving.  I’ve heard him talk about the uniqueness of each of his kids and how’s he’s trying to draw out each of their passions and gifting in individualized ways.  He’s a great dad.

kirk fam 3

LifeLine is about family.  We want to resource and inspire parents toward greatness.  We recognize that we exist to partner with families.  Kirk brings a lot to the table in this area.  I know that he will be a great model and resource for the families of our Knapp Street Campus.

no beard

HUMILITY

Kirk is not about Kirk.  I love this about him.  He once wore a simple white v-neck for about 2 years straight because he felt like fashion had become too important to him.  He just wants to follow Jesus, serve the church and his family and keep the spotlight on others. In fact, when he sees this post and how much I’ve highlighted his life and character, I’m pretty sure he’s going to want to fight me…privately, in a quiet place, because he wouldn’t want it to be a big deal.

CREATIVITY

I’ve already mentioned the life size Kung-Fu Panda.  Kirk is an artist, and a good one.  Here’s one of his paintings…yes, it’s a painting and not a photo.

kirk's painting

I’m excited to see how Kirk’s creative gifts will influence LifeLine.  And, I’m secretly hoping he’ll do a portrait of me for posterity.

NOTHING HELD BACK FROM JESUS

Kirk is one of those rare guys who is dead serious about following Jesus.  He applied for this LifeLine job because he wanted to be obedient to how God was leading him.  A few years ago, after a deeply impactful mission trip to China, he and his family were ready to drop everything and move to China as missionaries.  And when I say ready, I mean they were inches away from moving across the globe when Molly, Kirk’s wife, became pregnant.  Change of plans.

I love that Kirk doesn’t hold anything back from Jesus.  Everything is in play.  Here’s the truth:  I want Kirk on the LifeLine team because I want my faith to look like his.  I want our students to live like Kirk does.  He follows Jesus passionately and recklessly.  He puts his time, money, talents, possessions, passions—his everything on the table.

Welcome to the team Kirk!  I’m looking forward to serving together.  Our team and ministry will be better and stronger with you on board.

 

Worship Night in a Box

Year after year, our most impactful night of camp is worship night. The experience this year was the most amazing yet. We built the experience around the theme of surrender. What transpired so was powerful that I thought I’d share our script. Feel free to steal all or some of it for your own ministry.

ATMOSPHERE

We always begin our worship nights with small group time. The purpose of this time is to set the tone for the night. Instead of a countdown, explosive music and beach balls flying through the air, small groups walk in silently.

For the most part, we lit the room exclusively with candles. On a side note, it is much easier to employ minimal lighting if the band uses iPads for their chord charts. We use a mobile app from planningcenteronline.com. Check it out.

NOTES

  • We always attempt to keep our worship experiences at an hour or less. Always leave your students wanting more.
  • I usually build our worship nights around a new song that fits the theme very well. This year the theme song was Arms Open Wide. It’s cool to bookend the experience with the same song.
  • Our worship nights usually include a few short talks—no more than 5 minutes, several videos and an interactive element or two.

SETUP MODULE

Intro Song (as students are walking in)

Arms Open Wide (chill and without bridge)

Intro Talk

We welcomed the students to worship night and invited them to connect with God. We introduced the theme, invited everyone to experience the event as they felt comfortable and then led the group in prayer—everyone with palmed lifted upward, ready to receive whatever God had for them. It’s important to note that we gave them permission to sit, stand, sing, pray, be quiet, write, or basically whatever else would help them connect with God.

Worship

Here for You

The Lord our God

 

CONFESSION MODULE

Confession Video

Confession from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

 

Confession Letters

We spoke to our students for a few minutes about what confession is and how it unlocks our hearts toward God. We shared 1 John 1:9 and then invited each student to write their own letter of confession to God.

Worship

Instrumental during letter writing

Never Once

 

CROSS MODULE

Communion Video

Communion Talk

We spent 5 minutes describing what communion is and how to participate in it. We also invited students to come down and nail their letters of confession to the cross after communion.

Communion (The Wonderful Cross during)

We stationed pairs of leaders with bread and juice at stations around the crowd. We like to have students come forward to the elements. It makes the experience more interactive.

Nailing Letters of Confession to Cross (Beautiful Things during)

photo(4)All Things New

 

SURRENDER MODULE

At this point we brought the cross, which had been in the shadows, to the forefront of the stage. It was a powerful moment as we talked about how, at the cross, all our sin has been washed away. In Christ we have a new identity. We are sons and daughters. We are no longer defined by our mistakes or what has been done to us.

Then, I read Romans 12:1-2:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Jesus is asking for for our lives. He is looking for disciples—for partners in His kingdom work on this planet. We then brought all of our volunteer leaders to the front and invited students to surrender their lives to Jesus to and come forward to be prayed over.

Worship

Here’s My Heart Lord (During prayer time)

Arms Open Wide (full version)

No One Higher

SMALL GROUPS

After the final song we sent our students to their small groups to process and share. As always, groups are central to what we do. Middle school students, especially, need help understanding and communicating what they experienced at worship night.

So that’s it–pretty simple really. Go ahead and steal all or some of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dynamite and Sledgehammers

img_drilling-1957-with-new-rig

I come from a long line of water well drillers.  My family even has a picture of my Great-Great Grandfather drilling a well with a horse.  Now that’s old school.  I worked in the industry off and on for over 10 years and enjoyed most of it.  I’ll be honest; working outside during the winter in Michigan was not my favorite.  Also, I’m kind of a sissy because I was developing tendonitis of basically every joint possible.  In 2003 I transitioned out of water well drilling and into student ministry.  I know that I’m exactly where God wants me as a student pastor but there are some things I love and miss about drilling.  The biggest thing I miss is just that…”things”.  There is a huge difference between working with people and working with things.  Let me explain.

When you’re repairing an old well it is perfectly acceptable and often necessary to beat the heck out of it with a sledge hammer.  This is especially helpful when the repair is not going well and you need to let off some angst.  With my children, we call this throwing a tantrum. Let me just say that I throw an excellent sledge hammer tantrum. I’m guessing it would be frowned upon to unleash the sledge in the church office.  When you get upset in the church office you have to do something constructive like take a walk.  Lame.

Secondly, dynamite. Yes, I’m being serious. Back in the day, water well drillers would regularly obliterate underground obstacles with dynamite.  I cannot adequately put into words the euphoria a person experiences when touching off a half-stick of dynamite. I’m still trying to figure out a way to incorporate dynamite in student ministry…

As much as I fondly remember working with things rather than people, I’ve chosen a different path.  I’m a student pastor and not a well driller.  I don’t work with things. I work with people.   Although I often miss wanton destruction I have to admit that for me, only student ministry stirs my soul.  God has wired me in such a way that only people can bring me to tears–both out of sadness and joy. Only student ministry and more specifically, students and volunteers bring out the passion that God built into me.

I’ll always be grateful to the people who pointed me toward my life’s passion.  I’ll always be thankful that God guided me to the mission He designed me for.  Sometimes people drive me crazy but I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I know there are days when you want to throw in the towel.  Sometimes people can break your heart or betray your trust.  Maybe that happened today.  In these moments, remember what it is that stirs your soul.  The fact that you as upset as you are betrays how much you care.  You’re right where you’re supposed to be.

5 Things Your Volunteers Are Asking

I don’t care how gifted, relational or vision minded you are as a youth pastor, you can only effectively shepherd 5 or 6 students.  If your ministry is bigger than six, volunteers are a necessity.  The more effectively your volunteers serve, the more effective your ministry will be.  As we approach the fall season, there are 5 things our volunteers will be asking.  Answer these questions well and your volunteers will have a fantastic experience.

HOW DO I DO THIS?

Most people want to do good work.  Volunteers wouldn’t be volunteering unless they cared deeply about the ministry.  The trouble is that we don’t often provide volunteers with the tools to do ministry effectively.  Providing your volunteers with constant training is important.  In our ministry, we start every large group program with 30 minutes of volunteer training.

Secondly, provide your volunteers with clear expectations.  In the absence of clarity, people come up with their own expectations.  You won’t always be happy with what they come up with.  Make it clear and equip them for the work and then sit back and watch the magic.

HOW AM I DOING?

A lack of feedback drives people mad.  “Does she like me?”   “Did I pass the test?”  “Is my spinach casserole tasty?”  It’s no different with volunteering.  People want to know if they are doing a good job or not.  And, in the absence of feedback a new volunteer will almost always feel like they are bombing.  It’s important that ministry leaders see and praise good work.  On the flip side, if a volunteer isn’t doing a good job, gently tell him.  Most of the time, the issue is a lack of clarity on expectations.

DO I MATTER?

We all have a revolutionary streak.  We all want to belong to something big and meaningful.  Thankfully, kingdom work is incredibly compelling.  Share stories of why your volunteers matter.  Highlight the wins.  Paint a picture of what a caring adult can do in the life of a lonely teenager.  Stories are fuel for volunteers.  And, volunteers who deeply believe in the mission of the ministry and the importance of their role in it will likely stick around for years.

HOW DO I HANDLE THIS?

Crisis situations can be terrifying for a volunteer (and staff!).  “She is cutting.  What do I do?”  “He’s addicted to porn and his parents don’t know.”  “She says that her dad hits her.”

The best thing you can do for a volunteer is help her understand the process of how your ministry handles these situations.  And, it needs to be in advance.  Make this process very clear.  Help your volunteers understand what they are legally responsible for in terms of mandatory reporting.  The more you communicate these things in advance the more at ease your volunteers will feel.

Secondly, make sure they understand that they are not alone.  Staff should take lead on crisis situations as soon as possible.  Don’t leave difficult conversations with parents and calls to CPS to your volunteers.

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Every person had a deep inner need to feel significant.  There is one simple test to determine if someone values you as a person—do they listen to you?

Your volunteers will naturally develop opinions about the ministry and their experiences.  If they don’t they aren’t truly engaged in the ministry.  The way in which you listen to them will tell them very clearly whether or not you value them.  Volunteers who don’t feel valued will not stick around for long.  However, volunteers who feel significant will likely plug in for years.

Listen to your volunteers.  Provide simple ways for them to provide feedback.  Survey Monkey is one of our favorites.  Also, regular talks over coffee are a key ingredient to our care strategy.

Volunteers are crucial to student ministry.  Great ministries have great volunteers and a lot of them.  Equipping and keeping great volunteers isn’t rocket science but it does take intentionality and hard work.  These are the 5 questions I believe volunteers are asking.  Feel free to add a sixth if you think I’m missing one.

Best Posts of the Week

In my wanderings around the blogosphere this week I found some great stuff.  Two posts in particular captured my attention:

This post on Donald Miller’s Storyline blog made me laugh real hard.  How Do You Get Rejected by eHarmony?

Stephen Ingram is a student ministry pro who writes on a blog called Organic Student Ministry.  This post killed me: 10 Antiquated Words in Student Ministry 

As for my own blog, A Tribute to Christina was the most read post of the week.  Check it out.

 

 

photo credited to east_lothian museums

A Tribute to Christina

Today, one of my favorite co-workers of all time is saying goodbye to our student ministry team.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so sad to see a teammate go.  Christina Thelen has been on staff with us for the last four years.  She’s brought an incredible amount of life, passion and professionalism to our team.  We’re going to miss her terribly.

Today’s post is for you Christina.  There are so many things that I appreciate about you and here’s my attempt to highlight a few of them:

DEVOTION

You’ll never find a more devoted friend than Christina.  If she’s in your corner you have a serious ally.  If we were in the old west, she would be at your side at the OK Corral.  She will always defend you and fight for you—even when you’re wrong, which has been great for me because I’m often wrong.

I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be a good friend from Christina.  She is always there, always on your team and will always willing to give when you are in need.  You’re not going to find a more devoted friend than Christina

FUN

Our team is ridiculously fun.  We’ve been told by others that whenever they visit the LifeLine office that they just want to sit and hang out all day.  We pride ourselves on being fun.  Christina has been a huge part of this.  She has a fantastic sense of humor.  Truthfully, many of the ideas for our funny videos have come from her.  We just like to steal the credit because it makes her mad.  And honesty, one of our favorite activities is making Christina mad.  It’s just too entertaining.

PASSION

I’ve always been a little timid when it comes to conflict.  I’m prone to roll over and surrender when the conversation gets heated.  That’s not how Christina rolls.  At first I thought she was just “likes to fight girl” but now I understand that she lives with conviction and passion and she deeply believes in student ministry.  When it comes to fighting for an idea that will increase ministry effectiveness or help students, she’ll go to the mattresses.

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One of the things I’ve learned from Christina is that some things are worth fighting for.  When it comes to the things you believe in—your passions and convictions, don’t roll over when you hit resistance.  “You gotta fight for your right…”

STRENGTH

Christina has made me a stronger person—literally…by hurting me…a lot.

Christina Tribute from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

EMPATHY

Christina is simultaneously one of the toughest people I know and the most sensitive.  She truly loves students and empathizes with their pain.  She can do “empathy face”—you know, when you’re listening to a painful story and your face displays the same emotion that the story teller is feeling?  She cries with those who cry and celebrates with those who are celebrating.  I don’t really know how to do this because I’m a “F-“ at empathy.

One of the things I’ve noticed about Christina is that students and volunteers constantly go to her when they are in pain.  She is great at listening and truly caring about what you’re going through.  I learned this during my failed adoption.  She was a very good and empathetic friend during one of the most painful episodes of my life.

Christina loves people exceptionally well—especially when they are hurting.  She’s taught me so much about student ministry.  She’s been a star player on our team and we’re going to miss her.  We love you Christina and wish you the very best in your transition.

Nickleback+Nursery Rhymes= Nurseryback

We place a premium on fun.  If you’re not having fun in student ministry then you’re not doing it right.  We show a funny video of some sort every time our student ministry meets.  Sometimes, as in the case of this one, the topic is really for our volunteers.  We don’t mind being occasionally irrelevant to our students because one of our values is providing a fun environment for volunteers as well as students.

Last week at Camp LifeLine we made a bunch of ridiculous videos and this one is probably our best ever.  Just watch it.  If you laugh…share it!  Feel free to show it in your student ministry if you need a funny video this week.  Enjoy…

NurseryBack from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

 

4 Things I Learned at Camp

One of the keys to success in ministry (or any field) is to never stop learning.  Never stop observing and listening.  Last week our staff and 60 volunteers put on an epic week of camp.  Camp LifeLine is my favorite week of the year because it’s ridiculously fun and because God always does amazing things in the lives of our people.

I learned a lot last week just by watching our students and our leaders.  Here’s what I picked up.

CAMP IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO TACKLE HARD TOPICS

One of the reasons we put on our own camp is that we can tailor the curriculum to our students.  And one of the things we’ve learned over the years is that camp is the perfect context for complicated or difficult issues.  Camp provides the time, space and relationships to unpack and wrestle with difficult issues.

THERE IS HOPE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

I hear a lot of doomsday talk about the future of our country and the next generation’s lack of potential.  Let me say that I deeply believe in this generation.  I believe in them because I have seen them leading and serving.

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Last week our student leaders absolutely killed it.  They put their own agendas and issues aside and loved and led middle schoolers exceptionally well.  They were heroes in the eyes of our middle schoolers.  I can’t speak to the future of our country but I’m confident in the future of the church.

ONE-ON-ONES ARE THE SECRET WEAPON OF STUDENT MINISTRY

It’s painful to admit that students don’t remember much of what we teach.  I’d estimate that 90% of our communications are forgotten within one day.  However, students always remember relationships—specifically relationships with adults or older students who loved them.

This is why we build our student ministry around mentoring relationships.  The key to mentoring relationships is one-on-one time.  One-on-one meetings are the secret sauce in our ministry.  I firmly believe they are the most strategic thing a volunteer can do.

One of my favorite memories from last week was watching leaders do one-on-ones with their students.  These conversations led to many students embracing the gospel for the first time.  But they also led to many tearful follow-up conversations between our volunteers and our staff, which leads me to my next learning.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE DEEPLY HURTING

I used to consider middle school ministry as less complex than high school ministry because high school students wrestle with heavier issues.  After last week I’m not so sure anymore.  The one-on-ones between our volunteers and students dredged up a lot of pain.  Our middle school students are hurting—pressure to perform, families that are disintegrating, bullying, pornography, loneliness, depression, and a whole lot more.  My heart breaks for the students of this generation.  They feel alone and unloved.

On the one hand, I feel incredibly grateful that our staff and volunteers put on an excellent camp and that 250 middle schoolers walked away feeling loved and valuable.

On the other hand, can we as parents and churches start engaging and loving our kids better?  Our children are the most valuable treasure that we have.  Why do they feel alone?  Why do they feel abandoned and unloved?  How in the world can a 7th grader be wrestling with depression?!? Let’s engage them.  Let’s pay attention to them.  Let’s love them well and point them to Jesus.

 

Why We Do Summer Camp

Last week was Camp LifeLine—a week of camp on the illustrious shores of Stoney Lake.  It was an incredible experience for everyone—staff, volunteers and students.  I’m so grateful for how our volunteers left it all on the field.  Our team absolutely killed it and most importantly, God showed up in a big way.

I can’t imagine our student ministry without camp.  It’s an indispensable part of what we do.  Here are a few reasons why we believe in camp.

GOD MOVES

On Thursday night we led our students in an hour long worship experience.  God moved powerfully.   Near the end of the night I invited students to surrender their lives to Jesus.  200 middle school students came forward to pray with their leaders.  It was amazing.  There’s just something special about getting away with students and creating space for God to move.

IT’S JUST TOO FUN

Camp is where we drop our most ridiculous and hilarious videos.  For example…

NurseryBack from LifeLine Student Ministries on Vimeo.

TRAINING

Throughout the week, high school students who served as junior cabin leaders came to me with extraordinarily difficult questions from their small group time.  Some were theological, some were practical and some were downright ridiculous.  I love the fact that our high school students were wrestling through tough issues with our middle school students.  When it comes to ministry and leadership training, it really doesn’t get much better than camp.

“I FEEL LOVED BY THE WAY THEY TEACH”

Halfway through the week, one of our cabin leaders came to us with a story about an incoming 6th grade girl.  During their cabin small group time, the question was raised, “What makes you feel loved.”  The girl’s response was that the teachings that our staff were giving made her feel loved.

I love camp because in the span of a week you can teach your students somewhere between 8-10 times.  And truthfully, kids listen better at camp.  This means that you can really dig into issues or clearly communicate a few ideas.  For this 6th grade girl, who for whatever reason doesn’t feel loved; we were able to drive home the fact that she is desperately loved by her Creator.  That truth, well understood, can transform a life.

AN ENTIRE CABIN COMING TO CHRIST

Very early in our week of camp we went old school.  We preached the gospel and called for a commitment.  We didn’t go Billy Graham and ask people to come forward but we did send them to their small groups with a few pointed questions.  After the salvation teaching, an entire cabin of middle school boys gave their lives to Jesus.

Many other students decided to follow Jesus during the week and I love the fact that many of our high school leaders participated in the conversations and prayers.  What a life changing experience for them.

BUILDING TRUST WITH PARENTS

Lastly, I love summer camp because it is our best marketing tool with parents.  As it turns out, when you have their middle schooler with you at camp for the week, parents listen to your communications.  They watch the videos and read the blog attentively.  This is a big opportunity for us to communicate our values.

We received an astronomical amount of appreciation from parents through social media during the week and in person at the end of the week.  Camp provides our ministry with an opportunity to build trust with parents.  We’re a ministry that highly values partnering with parents, so for us, camp is a huge win.