Living out CAMP: Engaging with Campers

Connect

We want to see each camper as an individual, someone made specifically by God, with unique talents and gifts. Your goal as a counselor is to really know the girls you interact with daily: the ones in your classes, at your table in the Dining Hall, and in your cabin.

Our intention is to befriend every camper we come into contact with. This goal changes the way we treat each other! We do not only tell a camper what she is supposed to do; we use each interaction as a way to extend the roots of friendship and really connect with who she is. We are sensitive to what her situation is and how her actions might not be understood. Put yourself in her shoes and genuinely empathize, especially if it is hard to do so.

How can you connect with the people in this community? Sit with a camper and ask about her day. Find the quietest girl in your class and see if she wants to tell you about the Morning Assembly Devotion. Pick out the girl without a close friend in your class, and be her friend. Find a fellow staff member who you don’t know well, and strike up a conversation, asking questions about your new friend. Your efforts to connect, and then befriend, validate someone’s worth and can produce abundant joy in her life.

Appreciate

Try to appreciate and “cheer on” our campers (and each other!) with every interaction. It might be simply an affirmation of a good thing (something nice that someone does for you, someone’s abilities, someone’s impact); it might be an affirmation of a situation (the weather, the Evening Program, the food). It might be to cheer someone on when when things don’t go well (can’t quite reach the top of the climbing wall).

By carefully noting positive things about another person (especially when those are specific), you show genuine interest that builds a foundation for friendship. This will facilitate your ability to encourage positivity in the community and really know these campers.

Model

Our campers watch everything you do! If you use a specific shampoo, they will too. Campers don’t always listen to what we say, but they will follow what we do. This makes our actions even more important and meaningful this summer!

If a camper sees you using positive words, guess what she is going to do? Copy that behavior! If a girl in your class notices that you mess up but then try again, she is more apt to do the same. When a camper sees that you know how to act goofy and don’t care what you look like, she will more inclined to be crazy along with you. We want to model what we want to see in the campers all the time - with our actions, our words, our facial expressions, our demeanor - we are always modeling, in all ways at all times!

Pray

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Phil 4:6-7

At camp we encourage you to pray for people all the time, even before you meet them! Pray for campers, Cabin Staff, Program Staff, Head Staff, Maintenance staff, Junior Staff, nurses, and Kitchen Staff. Pray that they will be blessed, encouraged, comforted by the Love of Jesus. Pray that you will be used as a blessing in their life. Pray that opportunities for friendship will arise. Pray that you will love them as Christ loved us.

Pray for people specifically and by name, for those in your classes, those in your camper or staff cabin, those you walk by randomly on the Lower Road, for your fellow staff members in your department and even those you don’t know well. If someone looks a little down or seems a little off, start praying.

God is able to change the heart. Pray that He would work in your own heart to have the right response to any people that you meet. Pray that he would work in the hearts of people you interact with, to bring peace, to calm anxiety, to heal hurts, to find joy, and work together for good in all situations.

When you have a difficult time with another person, the first priority should be to pray for that person. We’ve found that it’s really hard to stay frustrated or annoyed when you are praying for someone! When faced with a camper or staff member who is driving you crazy, pray before you talk to them (even if it is a simple one sentence prayer said in the moment) and remember the attributes of love:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”. I Cor 13:5-7