Purposeful Challenge - Core Value #6 - by Lee Christoff

Lee Christoff - HoneyRock Partner

Today's post is written by Lee Christoff.  Lee is a long time HoneyRock camper, staff member, and now partner.  As a volunteer he has served countless hours in nearly every capacity possible.  We are so grateful that Lee is a part of our ministry - I think you'll really enjoy reading his post today.

Over the two summers before seventh grade, I attended a soccer camp. But the summer of 1996 was going to be different. My mom attended HoneyRock as a camper when she was younger, and she encouraged me to give it a try. I was nervous because it was going to be my first extended stay away from home, and because I didn’t know anyone else who was going to be there. Nevertheless, I signed up for a 2-week residential camp session, and a few months later, I arrived at HoneyRock as a camper.

During my first day at camp, I knew that this place was different. For one, the food was amazing. But more importantly, it was the first time in my life where I was given a great deal of responsibility. Instead of running through a series of soccer drills all day, it was up to me to choose the activities that I wanted to do. If I wanted to go to an activity with a new camp friend, then we had to coordinate which activities we signed up for. If I worked hard enough at an activity, then I could earn an award.

Just as I had made some new camp friends and settled into the daily schedule of camp life, our counselors told us that we were going on a camping trip. We packed our personal belongings, split up and packed the group gear and trip food, and paddled away from camp. Shunning the offer by our counselors to get a brief canoeing lesson, our cabin was out on our own, and we were ready to conquer the wilderness! Well, we felt that way until our arms were sore after 10 minutes of zig-zagging across Long Lake.

Stopping for a rest break (where the wind had blown us to the shoreline), our patient counselors again offered to teach us how to canoe, and we readily accepted. We paddled the rest of the day until we reached Seven-Mile Lake. Considering how long we had paddled, that the name of the lake suggested that we were seven miles away from camp, and that we hadn’t seen another person all day, we felt like we were in true wilderness. Our group was out on our own, and the success of the trip rested on our shoulders. We set up tents and gathered firewood. Sometimes we struggled to get things right but we ultimately made it back to camp safely.

During that camping trip, our counselors shared the Gospel with us. They noted that God was with us in the wilderness, and would be with us when we returned home. They talked about how (like we had on the wilderness trip) everyone struggles in life, but through faith in Christ, we could overcome any obstacle. They described their relationship with Jesus, and pointed us to stories in the Bible where God was faithful to those who believed in Him.

The end of the session came too quickly, and I headed back home. Over the next year, I kept thinking about the things that my counselors shared.

I returned to HoneyRock as a camper over the next several summers. Each summer I learned more about God. The summer before eighth grade, I accepted Jesus into my life. I continued to grow in this relationship over the following summers through wilderness trips and high school programs. Eventually, I was asked to serve as an assistant counselor. I continued to serve afterward as a counselor for residential and high school programs.

So many impactful moments happened at HoneyRock that I can’t fit them all into one blog post. The experiences I had at HoneyRock inherently shaped who I am in ways that are hard to verbalize.

Nevertheless, a common theme throughout each of these experiences is the idea of purposeful challenge. In terms of tangible experiences, I earned a master’s award in swimming, learned how to use a map and compass on wilderness trips to Lake Superior, roofed a house, and eventually led my own cabins of residential camp and high school students. While the experiences themselves were inherently rewarding, the results of these experiences were even more meaningful.

Unlike the soccer drills, the lessons I learned at HoneyRock are enduring. I have learned perseverance, trust, service, and patience. The challenges at HoneyRock are not intended solely to be challenging but are designed instead with a greater purpose in mind. Putting campers outside of their comfort zones allows opportunities for character development and opens up discussions about faith.

I continue to support HoneyRock through the Partners' program. Many of my friends from HoneyRock are emerging leaders in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. In tandem with the other core values, the purposeful challenges that HoneyRock provided are paving the way for their futures as Christian leaders.