Sacred Playgrounds Podcast

Did you make it to the UMCRM or LOM Annual Confererences? The Sacred Playgrounds team did, and in addition to hearing valuable things from conference presenters and conversations, we paid some attention to the spirit of camp leaders right now, and how important it was to get the chance to gather in person.

Camp is meant to be participatory - we know from the research it is most effective when it is designed that way. It seems the same holds true for many of our interactions in life, and if this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that being together is precious.

So how and why do in-person experiences matter so much, and what do we do with these digital ways of being together?

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Meet Jessica Gamache, Director of the United Method Camp and Retreat Ministries Association, an organization connecting more than 180 camp and retreat ministries across the country.

Jessica has been leading this association since 2019, and in addition to hearing her journey in outdoor ministry and into this exciting role, we'll hear some encouraging words she has for you, ministry leaders during this uniquely challenging time and into the future.

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Camp has the power to help heal society.

That's powerful. The research says bullying has increased in prevalence in the past few years, with a breakdown in positive public discourse, online pathways to saying what shouldn't be said, and a pandemic that stunted social growth for many children and youth. Camp isn't immune to these realities, and may also be created unique space and experience to help in healing, building resilience, learning to be in relationship together, and learning forgiveness in real time.

In this episode, we'll talk about what is and isn't bullying, where the increases may come from, and what we can do about it.

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We've always FELT like there was a connection between camp experiences and leadership development. Let's take a look at some data to see if we were right.

The Camp and Church Leadership Project explored camp, along with a handful of other key faith formation experiences to see what the secret sauce was to developing talented, motivated, prepared ministry leaders.

Learn more, download the one-page summary, read the full report, and share the interesting news at sacredplaygrounds.com/cclp.

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If you're a camp person, you'd love to pick camp up and take it on the road with you wherever you go.

That's effectively what we get to do in traveling day camps, a way for the camp experience to go on the road and, in partnership with churches and their leaders, give kids and families a taste of what camp is like while supplementing their faith formation in their congregations.

The research and stories on the viability and even profitability of this model are interesting. Start here as we break down some of the major findings, and then read more and take a next step at camp2congregation.com.

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Good news. The glass is way more than half full for outdoor ministry.

We're talking Covid-19 and the effect this pandemic has had on outdoor ministry. What changed, how were camps able to operate safely, and what did we learn?

This episode, you'll find us acknowledging and bringing a story or two about how hard these past two summers, 2020 and 2021 were. Yet, God won't waste a thing, and we believe there is a bright future for camp, with these experiences having revealed some enlightening things about the need for camp and camp-like experiences for kids and families.

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Here's the Sacred Playgrounds Podcast launch episode!

Dr. Jake Sorenson, Lead Researcher and Founder of Sacred Playgrounds, shares its origin story, down to the seminary coffee shop conversation that ended up where most good ideas start, with the phrase "maybe you should do something about that."

We'll give you a definition of what a Sacred Playground is and why that idea was worthy of naming the whole organization after.

We also get to hear a camp story about a hard time at camp from host Jared Rendell, and how it all makes sense now thanks to the 5 Fundamentals uncovered in the Effective Camp Project.

*Note: There are few sounds we weren't able to edit out, but had a great conversation and didn't want to miss out on the chance to share it, so we did. New microphone for episode #2!

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Camp enthusiast, this podcast is for you! We're sharing the latest research in outdoor ministry, learning how to apply it in your own sacred spaces, and telling a good camp story or two. Welcome to the Sacred Playgrounds podcast.

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