Sacred Playgrounds Podcast

Spoiler alert. The key ingredient in the secret sauce to an effective summer camp experience is a well-equipped, well-trained, faith-filled camp staff. It makes so much sense to give them the support they need to thrive. That's what Holy Ground: A Guide for Summer Camp Staff was created to do. It's a powerful, yet accessible guide and 12-week devotional designed to accompany summer camp staff through the journey they are about to take.

In this episode, we'll walk and talk through this resource, share the how and why it came about, and break down its three sections. This pairs well with the preview pages you can find by clicking the link below to download the sample.

DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE

Ready to take this step to support and equip your staff? Preorder your copies by May 1 to ensure we can get them to you for mid-May staff training.

PREORDER NOW

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There's a path for summer camp staff to be well, really well, in body, mind, and spirit this summer. When they, and you, are supported in mental wellbeing, it lays a foundation for a season of less staff attrition, more energy, and incredible ministry. On this episode Jake sits down with Joy Hensel, a youth and outdoor ministry veteran with training and experience in mental health care.

Joy Hensel, MA, LADC, ADC-MN, is from Duluth Minnesota. Joy attended graduate school at Luther Seminary, the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies and at the Adler Graduate School. Joy’s background in youth and family ministry includes eight years in congregations, and as the Program Director at Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry.  Joy has worked as an outpatient chemical dependency counselor in a dual diagnosis program for adolescents. Currently, she is working as the grant program consultant for the youth ministry and mental health initiative with the Northeastern Minnesota Synod ELCA, is an Adult Mental Health First Aid Instructor, and a full-time parent.  She enjoys opportunities to speak, teach and be a resource to congregations.

We've been promising a deeper dive on this topic, and our conversation with Joy provides really important insight and action steps for camp leaders to consider right now as you prepare for the summer ahead.

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How Christian are you?

That's a real question, one that camp leaders get. It's a question that parents are wondering when they're making choices about the kinds of experiences to say yes to for their kids. They wonder what happens to their kids if they send them to a camp that's "too religious" just as much, or maybe more, than a camp that isn't faith-centric.

They say society is "getting more secular" in our collective understanding of the world. What that means for the Church, how we approach that as camp leaders is worth exploring. It's not time to be ambiguous about who we are, and Whose we are.

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99%

We share some statistics and such on this podcast, and that's one we don't share very often. 99% of parents say that camp is a place to unplug from technology. What's even more interesting - the kids like it.

On this episode, we're giving a bit of a State of the Screen for 2022 - how is technology affecting children and youth and why does it matter. Then, we make the case that camp is one of the last places on the planet where youth and free from screens, and they prefer it that way.

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Camp leaders - looking for summer staff? What difference would it make in the recruiting and hiring process if you knew what motivates people to say yes to working at camp? What about in how we support and retain these staff?

Church leaders - wonder what difference a summer working at camp would make for someone who has come through your education and youth programs?

The Camp and Church Leadership project findings around summer staff, gathered through a layered survey process in the summer of 2021, are starting to take shape, and as we are in the midst of finding those that will make ministry happen this summer, the story these numbers tell offers us the chance to be proactive and creative while recruiting, hiring, and setting up our summers staff experience.

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We've been there. Everything is prepared, deposits are made, details are nearly sorted, lodging and transportation and meals  - and then the message comes - canceled.

Whether it's something epic like the recent cancellation of the ELCA National Young Gathering, a band trip, an important event. Whatever it may be, we acknowledge and maybe even grieve, and then we pivot.

In this episode, we're talking about what camp can do to fill the void created when something like this happens, and how connecting and creating space for your displaced ministry partners is something outdoor ministry is uniquely suited to do.

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Which are you? More importantly, which are they.

They are your pastoral partners in ministry, and they've got a POV on camp. What does that look like and why does it matter.  In the Camp and Church Leadership Project, we uncovered something we weren't necessarily searching for - a gauge on their engagement - and it turns out there are 3 groups of leaders. It also turns out that the ways we connect with them, serve them, and communicate with them might make a huge difference.

Listen in, then learn more about the project and read the articles further breaking down each group at sacredplaygrounds.com/cclp. Listen back to the CCLP overview episode here.

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Happy New Year camp folks!

Let's kick off this year with 5 resolutions for camp in 2022. In this episode Jake and Jared offer 5 things camp could focus on this year, based on research, current events, and what might matter most in the months ahead.

This episode includes references to:
Episode 8: Democracy at Camp
Episode 5: The B Word
Episode 2: COVID and Camp

We're also talking about (and giving away) a simple communications resource to take and contextualize to your events, programs, or higher-level planning.

Communications Grid:
DOC   ·   PDF   ·    PPT

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Merry Christmas (and Happy Advent if Jake has anything to say about it)!

It's a Sacred Playgrounds podcast Christmas episode. We've got a story or two of our own family traditions to share, and then we explore how ritual and tradition, something that camp is incredible at creating, can be a key to faith formation and a way for camp to come home, entering into holy moments with families and impacting faith.

What traditions matter most for you, or for your camp? How are camp traditions, rituals, and practices impact your campers at home?

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We're getting a little historical and a little political this episode, and we're not sorry.

Camp is rooted in democratic process - one built on participation, shared decision making, and shared outcomes. The space we create has the potential to actually impact dialogue and discourse, values and ideas.

If you've ever wondered where and how camp started, we'll go there too, tracing the path back to one of the first camps and the island it started on.

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