In the second part of our conversation with Jeff, we asked him about the benefits of coming to camp for your church’s youth ministry, volunteer team, and your kids.
CV: I want to talk for a minute about local churches. Say you’re talking to a senior pastor about the benefits of his church coming to Camp Vineyard, especially for growing the youth ministry. What do you tell them?
JA: Well, if you want your youth ministry to grow, you need some showcase events that unify and galvanize your group. You have to have events throughout the year that you can use to get not only your kids to go to, but you can get them to invite their friends to as well. It has to be something where they get to have shared memories and shared experiences – that’s really where the power of youth ministry is.
When you take kids out of their normal circumstances and put them in a camp, there’s something that happens. They’re freed of all those strings from the world that they’re attached to, and it helps them hear from God. It’s really powerful to see how their lives are changed.
More than that, at Camp Vineyard, the worship is led by teams made up of kids from within the region who have a real heart for ministry. So our kids get to see their peers in leadership, and I think that’s huge! It gives the kids a vision for what can happen within their own group, it gives them a vision for how they can step out in leadership.
Camp Vineyard is the kind of showcase event that happens every summer where kids know that they’re going to have a great summer camp experience, play incredible games, and do things that are memory makers like Humans vs. Zombies, being slimed, having an incredible worship experience, or praying with their peers. All of these things create an event that these kids want to be a part of every year. When we showed the promo video on Easter, our kids stood up and cheered in the middle of the service!
CV: Most of our churches in the region have volunteer or bi-vocational youth ministers. How does coming to camp strengthen a volunteer youth team?
JA: In that situation, you need a practical place where your youth leaders are developing a network of peers and mentors. That’s what happens at Camp Vineyard: You have all these volunteer leaders coming in from eight different states getting to know each other through all the same shared experiences that I just talked about. Then they get to meet the full-time youth pastors from some of the larger churches that can provide mentoring, as well as the senior leaders like Thor Colberg, Tim Holt, Kent Moore, Gary Peil, and myself, just to name a very few. They have a network of people they can go to if things get tough, when they need ideas, or when they need encouragement.
It also gives these leaders a picture of what youth ministry can be. Often, when we’re involved in smaller ministries, we’ve never developed a vision of a full-out student ministry and the power it can have in evangelizing and connecting kids. Camp gives these leaders a vision of what youth ministry on a large scale looks like: We’re doing over-the-top games, videos, music, and we’re showing how you build synergy and excitement with large numbers of kids. If you as a senior pastor have a desire for your church to grow larger, then your team leaders need to have a vision of how to step it up to the next level.
CV: So, lastly, finances are a big deal these days. Churches and families have to make every dollar work harder, and something like Camp Vineyard might seem like a stretch. Do you think it’s worth it?
JA: Oh my gosh, yes! When I was doing youth ministry 13 years ago, there wasn’t a week-long camp I could take my kids to for $199. If you think about what this camp costs compared to sending your teen to another big Christian camp somewhere in the southeast, you’re talking about a $200-$300 difference. When these kids come to camp, we’re providing a quality camp experience. Woodland has beautiful woods and a lake, nice cabins, and good camp food. The kids are doing the archery, mountain bikes, wall climbing, canoeing, the crazy, wild games, but they’re doing it in a uniquely Vineyard environment. Even things like the snacks and t-shirts are provided at this one price, and it’s amazing.
Part of the reason we’re able to do this (and senior pastors, you need to know this) is due to a few Vineyard churches who have sponsored this camp. Thanks to them, we’re able to keep the price at that level while offering an excellent camp experience. Sponsoring the camp is a great way for your church to have an impact in the lives of kids all over the region.
Got questions? Drop us a line. Catch the first part of this interview here. We believe in the value of Camp for your church, and we hope to see you at Camp Vineyard!