Registration opens Saturday, March 27 at 10:00 am Eastern / 9:00 am Central at campvineyard.com/register. We’ve got a bunch of news for you as we look forward to the official start of the Camp season!
Our Speaker: Brenn Butts
That’s right! Brenn’s return to Camp had to wait a year thanks to COVID, but we are SO excited to have him join us this year! Brenn and his wife Kristin lead the Camellia City Church in Slidell, LA. Prior to planting this church, Brenn was on staff at the Cobb Vineyard Church, and was a fixture at Camp for many years. We’re so glad to welcome him back, and we know he’s got a good word for Camp this year!
No Updates from GA Dept. of Public Health – Yet!
We originally delayed the opening of registration in order to give GDPH more time to update their guidelines for camps based on rules set by the Governor of the State of Georgia. That update has not yet been published at the time of this post. We’ve stayed in close contact with Woodland, as they are developing their own range of plans based on existing GDPH guidance.
As of our last conversation with Woodland, that update is expected to happen on or around April 1. And while there is some speculation as to what the Governor will do and what GDPH will recommend, we are going to stick with our plan until we know for sure what the changes will be: Registration will open with a 50% capacity limit, a waitlist system, and a 25 attendee per-group limit, as explained in our Feb 1 update.
If we are able to increase capacity and review the attendee limit, we will move quickly to get waitlisted Campers into confirmed spots. And, should GDPH manage to publish their update before registration opens, we will update accordingly here on the blog and through our social media channels.
Registration Tips
We know some groups are near or just over the 25-person limit, and we’ve tested what will happen if you try to add someone past that limit. Unfortunately, the system won’t default to letting you put them directly on the waitlist. Instead, it will tell you that you have reached your group’s limit and will not accept any additional Campers or Volunteers.
After discussing possible solutions, the best option is for youth leaders in that situation to get their initial group in, then come back through the registration process to add Campers to the waitlist once it has opened. There will be a countdown visible on ACTIVE’s registration page once a session has reached 90% capacity, and links to the waitlist will become visible once it has automatically opened. And no, ACTIVE will not allow us to turn on the waitlist before a session’s capacity has been reached.
We appreciate that it’s a point of potential additional stress for youth leaders in that scenario. Just know that we’re going to be on top of the waitlist and moving as fast as possible if and when our capacity increases.
Neat! Group Selections
While the GDPH update remains pending, Campers’ Neat! Group selections will have to be considered preferences and not guarantees. It is possible that our programming this year may need to rely on a “cabin group” system where churches stay within their groups for games and Neat! Groups. There may be a prescribed rotation of activities for each group in order to minimize contact between groups.
That sentence was just as fun to type as it was to read, and it would be a very different kind of Camp Vineyard. But that’s one extreme that we have to plan for. So, when you or your Campers sign up for Neat! Groups, please understand that those Groups may change. We will let you know in advance if that’s the case, and we will explain more about what a “cabin group” system would look like if we have to go that route.
In the meantime, the usual slate of Neat! Groups will be available in the registration software. Please note: There is no longer a separate “Tracks” registration category for Junior and Senior Campers in the software. While you can still select a 3-Day Track for your Neat! Group preference, we have reduced the number of Camper registration categories from 4 to 2. Just be sure you’re signing up for either a single 3-Day Track or three separate Neat! Groups, not a mix of both. We did this to help make the attendance limit easier to administer and more fair for people signing up.
Grace Abounds
As the team has been working behind the scenes, there have been two very strong emotional undercurrents. One, we are so happy to be able to get together in-person again this year. Two, we are so heartbroken knowing that, no matter how much we plan, it’s very likely that there will be many familiar faces missing this year. Every name on the waitlist will be someone we deeply want to bring to Camp.
We know local youth leaders are making some incredibly hard calls. Some churches have reached out already and let us know that they won’t be attending this year in order to keep their group together and free up space for others. Some leaders are preparing for really difficult conversations with parents and students.
With so many people of goodwill all trying to do the right thing, we have this need in common: We’re all going to need a lot of grace.
So, thank you for your patience, thank you for your service to your students, thank you for your trust and excitement in the Camp Vineyard program. We’re deeply grateful that we get to do this again this year, and we’re working hard to make it The Best Week of the Summer – Even If It’s A Little Different. (Wow, that doesn’t fit on a t-shirt…)